Road Trip: Part 1 "Trip to Grammy and Pop's"

Last Friday, Eli and I set out on our first trip together to visit my parents. Josh and his mom were kind of nervous about me going 4 hours away on my own with an 8 month old baby, but for some reason, I wasn't worried at all. I had already decided that I would go the Monroe way since it had more places along the highway I could stop if Eli got really upset. I also planned a little pit stop in Monroe to allow us to stretch our legs before the final 2 hours of the trip. I wasn't worried at all; in fact, I was pretty excited about our trip. The plan was to leave around 8:30 that morning, but typical me left about an hour late. I knew that Eli would be really tired, assuring me a peaceful trip to Monroe at least. Just like I predicted, he was sound asleep literally minutes after leaving Vidalia. We made it to Monroe for our first pit stop. I parked the car in the mall parking lot, got Eli's bottle out, and when I jumped in the back seat to feed him, this is what I found. (The gold thing in his mouth is one of my bangles that I gave him to help keep him focused during his bottle.) Look at his sweet angelic face! I love this boy so much!!!


About a year ago, I went to the eye doctor for the first time and found out that my vision is not quite as perfect as it used to be. I have this pair of glasses that I pretty much only wear when I drive (or when I remember that I have them). This was Eli's first time to see Mommy with glasses and it threw him for a loop. He didn't know what had happened to his Mommy.


We stayed in Monroe for almost 2 hours and accomplished quite a bit. We shopped at Old Navy, JCPenney, and a few other stores in the mall, both ate our lunch, shopped at Target, and then got back on the road again. Eli ate his baby food while we shopped in Target, so when we got on the road again, he went to sleep before we got on the interstate. I was so happy! He didn't wake up until we were about 30 minutes away from my parents' house and still didn't fuss or cry. He was a super traveler!!

When we got to the house, Uncle Caleb was just leaving for work, so that left just the two of us and lots of animals (dogs-Meg, Sophie, Annabelle, and Max; cats-Sunnye, Baby, A.J. and Thomas). Eli was in heaven!! I think he's definitely going to be an animal lover like his Mommy because anytime one of the animals would walk by him, he'd let out a loud, high-pitched squeal of delight. It was precious!

After his bottle and one of his classic 30 minute naps, Eli was ready to go swimming. Pop and Grammy have a pool and at first, I just let Eli dip his feet into the water, but that wasn't good enough for him. He kept straining so much to get in the pool completely that we finally just got our swimsuits on and went for a swim. We were walking out the door when my Uncle David and my cousin, Emily, showed up ready to swim as well. They came in for a couple of days to celebrate my grandmother's birthday and were staying with her (she lives behind my parents). We all jumped in the pool and Eli and Emily had a wonderful time swimming together. Eli even gave her a few kisses :) While we were swimming Grammy arrived home from work bearing wonderful gifts-coffee birthday cake and Johnny's pizza (possibly, the BEST pizza ever!). She changed clothes and came to see her little man. Eli was so happy to see her!


Eli ate his supper out by the pool. (Sidenote: You probably are thinking that I'm a horrible mother who isn't concerned at all about how her child looks because Eli's face is always dirty. Guilty, I know. But, my child hates to have his face cleaned, and we always bathe after supper, so I usually wait until then.) Then it was time for him to get his bath and get his jammies on for bedtime. He was going to have a very busy day the next day and needed his sleep.

Meg, one of the resident "dog"phins at Mom and Dad's house.

Grammy bought Eli 2 baseball hats and they really
make him look like a little boy.

Trying to figure out who Uncle David is