I’ll be honest and say right off the hop that it was probably our rockiest road trip home ever. So. Much. Crying. But, from the top.
We left our hotel around 9:00-9:30 ish this morning. I don’t remember the exact time. I wish someone had a picture of us. Brady hauled our huge luggage cart with our industrial tubs, garbage bags, Superstore green bins, and milk jugs hanging from the hangers at the top, and the kids and I walked together, holding hands in a long row. Dare I say, we were cute. I liked us.
We were on the for about an hour before Dekker fell asleep, and Solly was out fairly quickly after that. I was surprised, but in a nice way. The first leg was easy peasy. We stopped for lunch, and that was easy enough, too. Its usually after lunch that everyone who naps does so. But there is far less control on that front on a road trip.
Solly made other arrangements and cried basically from the MB/SK border to Regina. Ok, not that long but a pretty long time. For a while, we were thinking he was just overtired and was having trouble falling asleep in the daylight. But it continued. I tried to give him some more to eat. Nope. Something to drink. Nope. Wet diaper? Nope. I finally moved to sit back beside his car seat to help him out, but I could not console him. He didn’t want me to touch him, or hold his hand, or anything. Of course, we were ill prepared and had forgotten to leave a blanket out so I gave him my sweatshirt to snuggle with (read: wipe his snotty face on) and I shivered away in a tank top. It didn’t really help :/
We finally made a stop and I snatched him out of his seat the moment the vehicle was parked. He was all scrunched into a ball and grabbed onto my arms with such grip. He didn’t have to worry, I had NO plans of putting him down anytime soon. He calmed and lay totally still on me for a nice long time. Brady took the big kids for a bathroom break at a gas station. I eventually set Solly down to check his diaper again. He’s had a bit of a diaper rash for the past few days, so I loaded him up with some diaper cream, just in case he was feeling irritated, and then we continued our snuggle. And after just a couple more minutes, he was nice and fresh and goofy and charming as all get out. Putting him back in his seat and continuing our trip didn’t set him back at all. Everything was right with the world again.
Who knew drinking water could look so sneaky?
I’ll admit, that stretch was SO hard. I had a hard time shaking it off. I’m still feeling pretty overwhelmed, and I’m home in my bed. I’m SO glad we went on our trip. It was EXACTLY what had hoped for when we planned it, however spontaneously. But I’m pretty shaken up, and this drive home appears to have fried my last nerve. Lots of things are swirling around in my head, my anxiety is pretty high up there, but the good absolutely outweighs the bad!! No regrets!
Home feels good. I’m SO happy to be home. And I’m glad we made the choice to come home today rather than tomorrow. A recovery day for the family before school and work kick off again seems necessary, and I know the kids will appreciate it, too!