State Tour

Well, we survived touring the state to our south to visit family and friends (and show off our oh-so-adorable son). It was a lot of fun and Gavin was FABULOUS.

We first visited some of Mr. S's family in a city about 2 hours away. Gavin needed to stop about halfway there to eat and get a car seat break (not a big deal though). When we got there Gavin was of course passed around and gushed over. Probably the best part though was the look on Grandma's face throughout our visit. It was pretty obvious that even if Gavin had cried a bit more on the trip it still would have been worth it.

We only stayed a few hours and then headed further south to Mr. S's parents' house. Gavin again needed to stop after about an hour to eat. He was a little more fussy on this leg of the trip but still not that bad (THANK YOU for the musical Pooh!!!). By this time it was getting towards evening, which is not his best time of day. But once we got the house I basically just nursed him the rest of the evening and all was well.

Sunday through Tuesday was spent visiting with friends and showing off our boy. Again, Gavin did really really well overall, although I think he did get a little over stimulated. We saw quite a few people, some I hadn't seen in years. My favorite though was probably taking him to my Grandma's house for a couple hours. Her health hasn't been the best as of late and I wanted to make sure she had the opportunity to meet and hold him as soon as possible. Since she lives so close to Mr. S' parents, I may try to take him over as much as possible.

On Wednesday we headed over to my parent's house to spend the latter half of the week. It was much more quiet there (not as many visitors) but I think Gavin and I appreciated the slower pace. I do wish some people had stopped by to visit but I guess schedules didn't quite work out. Oh well....maybe another time? We also, while with my parents, went out to dinner at a really nice steakhouse. I was super nervous about this because Gavin can be pretty fussy in the evenings and the only way to calm him is to nurse him (though I've done it, breastfeeding in public scares me to death). I don't think I could have asked for a better behaved baby. :) He was quiet until our entrees arrived but we quickly pulled him out of his car seat and I discreetly nursed him under a blanket while facing away from the dining room (we were also at a table that was kind of sectioned off by curtains so it was even more private). Once he was done, Mr. S took him to change him and by then Dad had finished eating so he held Gavin while I finished my own dinner. He did need to eat one more time before leaving the restaurant but it was still fine. A successful outing... yay!!!

Probably the worst part of the journey was coming home. It's aboout 4 hours from my parents to our house and even though we had a really good break at the halfway point Gavin got particularly fussy on the latter half of the journey. We ended up stopping a couple of times but then got to the point where we just let him cry it out a little so we could get home. Since we'll be heading even further south next weekend to visit my grandparents (6 hour drive) I'm now thinking of ways to break up the trip a bit more so we don't overdo it but we'll see how things go.

Despite some minor frustrations the trip was TOTALLY worth it. I know that our families really appreciated us coming to visit, and it was nice for Gavin and I to escape our house for a few days. Ultimately, Mr. S and I want Gavin to feel comfortable with longer car trips so that was another reason for making this trip and doing it now while 1) he's still relatively portable, 2) sleeps most of the day and 3) is young enough to learn that road trips can be fun. I'll keep you posted though on how well he really does on our travels though. ;)

Once we've settle back down over the next few days I'll post pictures from the trip. He's just getting cuter all the time! :)