First Trip

This past weekend we took our first long distance trip with Alexander, up to Maine so that Alexander could meet his great-grandparents and see some of his other relatives again. The trip went about as well as can be expected with a two month old baby. We left Thursday evening to beat the Memorial Day traffic, and Alexander was somewhat fussy on the way up because I couldn't indulge his usual evening cluster feeding without doubling the length of the trip, couldn't pump more than a half ounce at at time, and the pacifier would only satisfy him for so long. But honestly, he did pretty good - we only had one period of extended fussing, and once we stopped so he could get some cuddle time and nursing in he settled down and fell asleep.

Alexander was an abosulte champ once we got to Maine - he met a TON of new people, ranging from new relatives to neighbors and coworkers of the relatives, and he laughed and smiled and generally made a lot of new friends. Every once in a while it would get to be a bit too much and you could see a bit of panic creep into his face, or an imminent crying fit approaching, but once he looked around and saw that mom or dad was still there, or was held by one of us for a few minutes, he was back to his normal happy self. I do think by Sunday he was missing his swing/play gym/bouncy chair/thing to lay back and look at, but we went outside and laid down under the trees and watched the branches for a while, and that settled him.

He also had no problems with sleeping in a strange place. In fact, out of the 4 nights we were there, he slept at least 7 hours in a row for 3 of them. That makes 5 out of 7 nights last week that he slept through the night. Nice! I'll enjoy it when it comes. :)

This morning we watched Grampy march in the memorial day parade, then drove back. We again managed to avoid getting stuck in any major traffic jams, and again Alexander was very good. We stopped once to change a diaper, feed him and get food for us, and again to get gas and a quick nurse and a diaper change. By the time we were almost home he was getting fussy again, but we were within about a half hour of home by that point, and the pacifier and bottle were able to keep him at least somewhat settled until we got home. He then went into his swing and took a nice long nap - he seemed very happy to be back in familiar surroundings.