The ATL

Sorry to just up and disappear on ya! We decided to take a little family road trip to Atlanta for Memorial Day weekend. We invaded Ba Ba and Ong Noi's house for a few days, which is always nice. The only downside was that all of the nasty weather we had in Florida last week seemed to follow us North. I can't begin to describe how excited I am to finally see the sun today! I think I can officially rule out ever living in the Pacific Northwest.

Oh, there was one other negative aspect to the trip. We have finally accepted that while Baylor is extremely cute (in my completely unbiased opinion), he has also got to be the most inflexible child in the world. He does not cope well when you deviate from his routine. Therefore, we knew that the 6-hour drive would be somewhat challenging for the kids.

Actually, I wasn't too worried about Jax. I knew he would be able to pass the time watching his movies on the car DVD player. Plus, he's old enough to tell us (with warning) if he needs to stop for something, like a potty break. Baylor, however, we knew would have issues on the road. He can't nap anywhere except in his crib for some strange reason, and as anyone who's ever met Baylor knows, when he's ready to sleep...HE'S READY TO SLEEP!

Anh & I came up with a plan to hit the road after dinner, thinking that since Baylor would be drowsy it might make it easier for him to sleep. Wrong! The trip up wasn't too bad though. Baylor didn't sleep more than 45 minutes of the trip, but he wasn't entirely uncooperative either. We stopped about half way to let him stretch his legs for a bit and that seemed to work wonders.

When it was time to head home yesterday, Anh and I thought we'd implement the same strategy. It had worked once. Maybe lightening would strike twice. No such luck! We were doing well until the last hour, when Baylor snapped despite having just stopped for a break from the carseat. He was wailing and thrashing around in his seat, pretty much losing his mind, which was making us feel like we were losing ours too.

In my attempt to combat the the tantrum, I tried to distract Baylor. I started handing him random items that were in the car: a tube of sunscreen, my sunglasses case, the coiled GPS cord, DVD cases, and finally, a can of Pringles. That was a big hit! Baylor was shaking that can like a rattle, turning the Pringles inside into Pringle bits. Fine, no big deal...UNTIL...the lid came off, sending the Pringle bits EVERYWHERE. Oops!

After a little meltdown by Baylor who had lost his rattle and Anh who had been doused in Pringle bits, a new plan was devised. Anh thought he would bribe Baylor with grapes. Not good! Grapes after a tantrum = Puke! Not good! That had to be the longest hour ever, and that last 30 minutes with the lovely aroma we had going on of Pringles and puke, was pure agony. So, I think it's pretty safe to say that we won't be taking any more road trips in the near future.