Ethan on the Road

Ethan has never been a carseat sleeper.  As soon as he's strapped into it, he's wide-eyed and alert and stays that way until we reach our final destination.... even when it's 3 hours away. 

A few weeks ago we went to the Atlanta area to visit family and had the joy of listening to a LOT of backseat screaming on the way.  (Ugh.)  As a part of this trip, we spent a day in Gainesville.  We visited Josh's family, which involved going to his Grandmama's house, out to lunch, then to see his Granddaddy in a hospice type place, then we went to visit my grandparents.  With all that activity, Ethan didn't get a single "real" nap 9am til 7pm.  (In addition to not sleeping in a carseat, he doesn't like to sleep while being held either!)

We'd put him in the car as we'd go from one place to another and he'd wail for about 15 minutes, then *finally* begin to nod off, and we'd be to our next destination.  It was so sad having to get him out of the car again knowing he'd be wide awake within a minute.  Thankfully he was a perfect little angel baby for our relatives, but we got the brunt of his crankiness in the car.

A day or two after that, we drove 3 hours south to Warner Robbins for a college friend's wedding reception and planned to visit other friends north of Atlanta afterward.  What was suppsoed to be another 2 hour trek turned into 4 when we got stuck in all the spring breakers returning from Florida.  Ethan screamed a LOT that day... but in the end it was worth it:  he's learned to sleep in his carseat!!!  Now, even on our short drives around town, he'll nod off without crying first.  Praise the Lord!!

With Ethan's new skill handy, we decided to make a 7.5 hour road trip to Virginia to visit Joel, Steph, and Caitlyn.  Overall, Ethan managed better than I expected.  Of course, I had to sit in the backseat with him 80% of the way... and he did grunt, arch his back and try to squirm out of his seat the closer we got, but I can't really blame him.  That's a long time to be strapped into one place!

And just because we couldn't be so close and not visit, on the way home, we made a 2 hour detour to visit other college friends with a new baby in North Carolina.  All totalled, Ethan spent about 10 hours in his carseat that day.  Whew!!

When we brought him into the house, I immediately took him to his room and laid him down in his crib on his belly (his favorite!).  He immediately laid his head down, stroked the sheets with his hands and kicked his legs a few times.  Then, he lifted his head, looked at me and grinned the biggest toothless grin I've ever seen.  I started cracking up and Josh came in the room to see what was up.  Ethan gave him a big smile, too.  Who knew that even babies realize that there's no place like home?  :)