The Drive.

I think I have finally recovered from the whirlwind road trip to Minnesota Isla and I took last week. I had predicted the drive there would take 7 1/2 hours and I was overestimating...hoping to beat that time! HAHAHA. I wish. It took me 9 1/2 hours. That included breaks. By hour 7 I was starting to hallucinate. By hour 8 I was starting to question my sanity. By hour 9 I was ready to burst into tears at any given moment. Let's recap...

Isla and I got on the road at exactly 9am. Isla whined a little in the backseat, but eventually fell asleep for about 45-50 minutes. Not nearly what I was expecting! When she woke up, she continued to be fussy, so I pulled over in Edgerton, WI (the BURG! where Abb and I stayed back in January) and fed Isla in the backseat. Hilariously, I got myself locked back there since the child locks were turned on. I debated hurling my body over the front seat, but there was very little wiggle room. I also considering crawling over all of our luggage in an attempt to escape through the back door. After a minute or so of slight panic, I realized I could reach the ignition, so I put the keys in and rolled down my window (duh!) to open the door. We were on the road within 20 mins and Isla seemed pretty content.

At 12:00 we hit Wisconsin Dells where I decided to stop and have lunch. We went to a McDonalds with a lovely outside eating area. Isla and I spent almost an hour here. Isla is a slow eater, plus factor in the bottle, bathroom break for me, and diaper change...it was taking a while! Isla was enjoying the fresh air so I didn't feel like rushing us. After all, road tripping with a baby is no longer about how fast I can get anywhere...it's about enjoying the ride!

We were back on the road a little after 1 and proceeded to hit TONS of construction and lane closures. Isla fell asleep for another 45 minutes and for the most part did pretty well this part of the trip. She was a little fussy, but tolerated being strapped in.

Eventually Isla started crying and getting hungry again. I let her cry for a while, hoping she'd fall asleep...no such luck. I kept wanting to make it to Eau Claire to feed her, but it wasn't happening. My head was POUNDING so I pulled off at some random town to feed Isla a bottle, change her diaper, and get myself some Aleve.

Isla was not happy about returning to her carseat and proceeded to scream from this town (outside of Eau Claire) to Hudson. That is A LOT of screaming! At least an hours worth. I decided to stop in Woodbury (my old home...best city ever!) to give Isla a snack and some fresh air. Plus, I needed to pick up a gift at Babies R Us! Right as we pulled in the parking lot, she fell asleep!! I should have just continued on my journey, but I was seeing a former coworker the following day and I had to finish her baby gift! So I woke up Isla and gave her some Cheerios as we shopped.

Now it is a little after 5pm and I realize I will have to drive through St. Paul and Minneapolis during rush hour to get to my final destination. By this time we've been traveling for 8 hours and I'm really not sure I can make it much longer. I prayed that traffic wasn't horrible and we continued on. Isla pretty much cried the entire hour it took to get to my friend Alicia's house. We arrived at 6:20pm...delirious, hungry, and exhausted.

Traveling alone with an infant is definitely a challenge. It's exhausting and it requires a lot of planning and patience. Seeing my friends and family definitely made the drive worth it though. I am just not sure I'll drive alone again with Isla for a while. Having a little help on the way up would have been nice! But I'm proud of myself for being able to do the trip alone...it is something I wasn't sure I would be able to do! It definitely made me realize I'm capable of doing much more than I give myself credit for!

Randoms:

1. Both of Isla's top front teeth have finally made an appearance. After her extreme moodiness lately, I knew it was only a matter of time!

2. My brother, sister, and I signed up for a boot camp fitness class MWFs from 5:45am-6:35am. It starts next week and I couldn't be more terrified. It was $110 so there is no skipping or backing out. I will most certainly be taping my eyelids open and praying bugs don't fly into my eyeballs. I'm sort of regretting this decision already, but I do need a good ass kicking to get myself into shape.

3. We had our new car for less than a week when suddenly, none of the gauges were working. I couldn't tell how much gas I had, or how fast I was going. It was a quick fix at Chevy, but very annoying to already be bringing the car in.

4. We hired a college student to come to our house on Mondays from 11-2 so I could get some stuff done without Isla. She started this week and it was lovely. Not that I don't love my munchkin, but running errands without her is a bit easier :) Plus, it's impossible to bring her to the dentist, hair appointments, and various doctor appointments. We used sittercity.com and have been pleased with it.

5. Isla and I have our first mommy daughter roadtrip today. Send good thoughts our way that all goes well. It will be roughly a 7 1/2 hour drive to Minnesota with the stops factored in. Yes, I'm probably crazy for doing this on my own.

I have a yellow bike.

There are always certain cashiers I remember at stores for various reason. I have a small portion of my brain reserved exclusively for remembering really random/ridiculous things. I think this falls into that area quite nicely. Usually these cashiers they are too chatty, too crabby, or too slow. I tend to avoid these people, even if they have the shortest line. There has recently been a new addition to my "Cashiers to Avoid" list. Crazy grocery store cashier.

2 weeks ago I was unloading my grocery cart when all the sudden this lady exclaims, "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" I kind of looked around awkwardly to see if I missed something, and to be sure she was talking to me.

Cashier: "A LADY JUST ABOUT GAVE BIRTH IN MY LINE AN HOUR AGO. YOU JUST MISSED IT!"
Me: "Oh wow. That's crazy."
Cashier: "Yeah. Her water broke all over the place. I looked over at her and she didn't look good. I saw her the week before and I told her she'd be giving birth in this store AND THEN SHE ALMOST DID!"
Me: "Going into labor at the grocery store doesn't sound fun..."
Cashier: "Last week when I told her she'd be having a baby here at the store, she was like, 'No I won't be having a baby at this store', and then today she was like, 'How did you know I'd be having a baby at this store?' I told her I just knew."
Me: ...ahhh...

The conversation continued with something about her sister knowing someone who had a baby in the car. It was an amazingly long conversation to have with someone while waiting to pay for my groceries.

Yesterday, I had the luck of getting this same cashier. I almost escaped without conversation when...

Cashier: You ever had puppy chow before!?
Me: What? (Having no idea how this even came up??)
Cashier: Puppy chow? You know. It's delicious.
Me: Ohhh yeah. I don't think I have...
Cashier: YOU HAVEN'T?! You are missing out. Here's what you need to do...

She then proceeded to tell me how to make puppy chow (none of the ingredients I purchased) and gave me specific examples of places to bring my puppy chow (BBQs, parties, holidays...). As I was walking away I mumbled something about trying it soon and she said, "YOU BETTER TRY IT SOON, IT'S DELICIOUS."

I may have to give her one more try...just because I love randomness so much.

Getting pooped on by a bird does not bring good luck.

On Thursday I got pooped on by a bird. Well, I'm actually convinced it was a terradactyl because the amount of poop on both my car and my left butt cheek was astonishing. Isla and I had just left the apartment and I stopped to get gas before heading out to run various errands. As I was pumping gas I felt something hit my butt. I assumed it was a bug or something, so when I brushed my hand over my ass I didn't expect to get it coated in bird poop. I was seriously beyond disgusted. Thank goodness I had Isla and the diaper bag with me. I had an arsenal of diaper wipes, hand sanitizer, and hand cleaning wipes to wash the poo off with. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out how I got pooped on though. The gas pumps were covered and there were no birds flying by. I swear a bird plopped it's ass over the roof and intentionally aimed for me...hate crime style. I debated going home and changing, but decided against it. I mean, getting pooped on by a bird had to be good luck, right?! So I just went with it...hoping to find $100 on the ground at Target or something.

It's been 5 days and I've had no good luck. Actually, there was a glimmer of good luck when my sister and I scored Lee DeWyze tickets for Friday's mini concert, but that good luck was short lived as Andy forgot he had a meeting at 6:00 that evening and we had no babysitter.

Events also qualifying as NOT lucky: Isla continuously banging rattles against her head until she cries (giving me a massive headache), Isla shoving her head under the ottoman and getting it stuck multiple times (screaming ensues and headache resumes), eczema returning on my right eyelid...which looks more like a warty growth than dry skin, and me dying my hair light brown and having it turn out black.

So yeah. Getting pooped on by a bird is really nothing more than a crappy situation. No good luck follows. But at least it's a good story to tell :)

It's my kid in a box.

Tuesday was another one of those days I needed to pray for strength to get through the day. The temper tantrums and overall fussiness really tested my sanity. Plus, the sleep deprivation from all of the times Isla woke up the night before was really getting to me. Oh yeah, and she decided to only nap for 40 minutes, instead of the normal 2 hours. I had little time to recharge, much less shower or even nap.

This gave me 15 minutes of glorious silence. It was lovely.







Thank you pink toy bin and Yo Gabba Gabba for giving me a tiny moment of calm in a day full of madness. It was much needed.

Ignorance is Bliss.

In college I rarely watched the news, and hardly read news websites. I was in love with Drudge Report (I still am!), but I didn't let the news consume me. Fast forward to present day. I check several news sites regularly, and I know this just feeds my anxiety. I know I need to take the "ignorance is bliss" approach, and avoid the news whenever possible at least until I can get my anxiety under control. Aside from all of the world troubles making me anxious, some of the news just makes me plain sad. I was reading an article from a Minnesota new site about a man who raped his 9 month old niece, and I was heartbroken. I couldn't shake the sadness all day. I wish the news would focus more on positive, uplifting stories. How great would it be to sit down in the morning and read about all of the good in the world?! I think the world would be a much better place if we could focus on the good, and not get caught up in all of the bad.

Wooo!

Andy and I are now the proud owners of this lovely 2008 Chevy Equinox! I'm in LOVE! First of all, we have never had 2 cars that we can both drive. I absolutely refused to drive his school bus, I mean Ford Excursion. It was an enormous beast of a "truck" that I did not feel comfortable driving around. It was near impossible for me to get Isla in her carseat because it was so high off of the ground. It will be lovely having 2 cars we can interchangeably drive. I will mostly drive this car because it is ultimately safer than my car, and I drive much less than Andy so we'll save money on gas if this is my primary car.

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I love everything about this SUV, aside from the dirty floor mats which I will be replacing. My favorite features are OnStar (a must!), side curtain airbags, a sliding back seat that allows Isla to be much closer to us (and slides back to give adults riding in the back TONS of leg room), XM radio and all wheel drive. Plus I now have room for the stroller and groceries in the trunk. Something I did not have with my car. I think Andy misses his "truck" already, but I'm hoping he'll love our new family friendly car as much as I do :)