Sweet Home Chicago

We are back from our first road trip with a baby and we survived!  There is always a story of course so let’s begin…

As departure day approached my anxiety over this trip kept building and building.  I know how Eli sleeps in the comfort of his home and it is not very good so I had no idea what to expect out of him in the car.  I do know he loves sleeping in the car but we are never in the car for very long so I couldn’t necessarily find comfort in that.  On average Eli wakes up about every 45 minutes for the first 2 hours of sleep at night.  Most of the time he won’t go back to sleep without one of us helping him which usually involves back rubbing or rocking.  I kept trying to imagine how we were going to comfort this little guy while he is strapped in the seat.  I am envisioning this 11 hour trip turning into 15 hours. 

I wish I could say that I only had one anxiety but I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t worried about something else!  The plan was to drive at night so Eli would sleep and not get antsy in the car.  The problem with this scenario is I am chronically over tired and I hate driving at night.  Nighttime is for sleeping not driving.  I was never one of those people who stayed up all night cramming for a test.  If the clock reads 10pm then I am going to bed no matter what.  Milan claims he prefers driving at night and assures me it will be fine.  What Milan doesn’t want to admit is that he is not 20 anymore and can’t stay awake until the wee hours of the night but I didn’t remind him of that little fact.  I have to admit I was envisioning all sorts of scary things happening as Milan, Eli, and I all sleep in the car as it moves at 70 mph. 

Departure day… Eli is bathed, put into pajamas, and snuggled in the car seat at 8:15 just as planned.  We are on schedule.  I start to tell Milan I am crossing my fingers that Eli falls asleep and in doing so I turn around to find my little guy sound asleep before we even get out of the neighborhood!  Woo hoo!  An hour passes and then two.  I keep listening carefully for the sound of Eli breathing because he never sleeps that long without waking up.  I am beginning to wonder if he is ok.  Finally at 4 hours I turn on the light to see his face and sure enough he is out cold.  He looked so content.  It is so rare for him to sleep a solid four hours.  At this point Milan and I are making plans to hire a night chauffer to drive Eli around for us so we can all get some rest!  Finally at 3am we get to Evansville, IN and I realize I am about to burst from having so much milk. It never occurred to me that I would overflow due to Eli sleeping for so long!  Another first!  It was a risky move but we decided to wake him up so I could feed him.  We pull into the Holiday Inn parking lot and he wakes up like the sweetest honey bear ever.  He chows down and goes right back to sleep.  Is this really my baby?  Eli finally woke up at 6:15am when we were 10 minutes from my Mom’s house.  That was the first time in his entire life that he slept through the night.  All that worrying for nothing of course!  Just for the record though, driving through the night was not easy.  It took everything in us to stay awake. 

As always our trip “home” was jam packed with plans every single day.  It used to be crazy when we didn’t have a baby and now it’s ten times worse!  Worse in a good way of course.  It was so nice to be back in Chicago.  It is hard living so far away and not having family and friends nearby to share in the joy of watching Eli grow and change daily.  It is always so bittersweet when we visit.  Thank goodness the weather there stinks because we’d really have a hard time leaving if it was warm and sunny like Georgia!

 

Eli’s first trip to Lake Michigan.  Burrrr.  It was freezing!

Eli finally got to meet his cousin Kim, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Linda!  They surprised us and drove in from Michigan to see baby Eli.  Thank you for such a sweet surprise.  It was great to see you guys. 

 

Eli also got to meet his Uncle Dan and Aunt Julie finally! They drove all the way in from Kansas.  Thank you so much for coming in.  It was great to see you guys too! Eli loves his stuffed puppy and Go Dog Go book.

At Milan’s request Laura made us a huge authentic Mexican meal.  Eli got to hang out with his Buddy Eli too.  Thanks Laura, it was delicious!  Hey, where’s that shrimp and avocado recipe you promised?

Cica Dan is the only one Eli will sit with like this.  Eli wore his Steelers onesie  and socks that day just for his Cica Dan and Deda!  We also got to spend time getting to know Theresa better.  We can’t wait for them to come visit us in August. We miss you.

Eli and his Cica Luke had lots of fun together.  Hopefully Cica Luke can come visit us soon!  We miss him too!

Eli loves and misses his Baba.  Baba was so happy to have both her little guys on her lap looking at a book together.

You can’t see it but the guys are sitting around a baby pool soaking their feet!  It was too cold for Eli to get in so he took turns hanging out on his Cica Adam and Deda’s laps. 

Eli loves Baba Soph!    Snuggling with Deda is a good end to a long day.

It was nearly impossible to get Luke and Eli in a picture together.  Does this picture of Luke look like an older version of Eli or what!

Next stop… Kumovi Zagorac’s house.  Nicole and I took the kids to Brookfield Zoo and it rained the entire time so there are no pictures of our trip.  I am so bummed about that.  Here are the three Kums (Gino, Eli, and Sammy) and Eli’s Kum Sam and Kuma Nicole. We miss you guys and can’t wait to see you soon.  Maybe we can try the zoo again.

Off to meet new the new baby Kuma Chelsie.  Eli enjoyed playing with his Kuma Chloe and Kum Christopher.  We sure do wish we lived closer so we could play together more often.

Sweet baby Chelsie is the newest Kumovi addition.  She is just precious.

We finally got to visit Grandpa at his new house. Eli is at the stage now where he enjoys climbing all over you.  He gave Grandpa a real dose of that!  Better hold on tight Grandpa!

When we weren’t off visiting we were hanging around Grammy and Pappy’s house.  Eli had lots of fun doing new things there!

Pappy and Eli with Pappy’s cool car.     Hey Pappy can I drive your car?

Visiting the horses next to Grammy’s house. Hey Grammy can we do that again?

Eli thinks this little grill is just his size.  He also thinks it would be fun to “ride tractor” like his buddy Jack does in Oklahoma!

Crusin’ Grammy & Pappy’s yard in his walker.  Eli wanted the flower but once he smelled it and touched it he wasn’t too sure he liked it.

And the ride home… well…. it was more like I expected.  We left at 7:45pm and all three of us were super tired.  I drove first.  Eli fell right to sleep but woke up every 30 minutes or so.  He was either crying with his eyes wide open or fussing uncomfortably with his eyes closed.  About 3 hours into the trip we pulled over so I could feed Eli.  The only safe looking place, oddly enough, was another Holiday Inn parking lot.  As we are talking I say to Milan how nice it would be if we could stay the night and drive in the morning.  After hemming and hawing over it we got back on the road.  Within the hour neither of us could keep our eyes open and Eli was back to crying again so we stopped and got a room at the Marriot in Evansville, IN.  It was worth every penny!  We all fell asleep within seconds.  5 hours later we are back on the road with the welcome of daylight and sunny weather.  The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful except for Eli being so unhappy in the backseat. 

Hey Tata can I drive for a while it is so boring in the backseat!

As sad as it is to leave “home” it is always nice to be back in the comfort of our house.  It is Wednesday though and I am still trying to get things back in order.  I think Eli is teething again.  He is clingy and fussy during the day and screaming out at night.  I feel so bad for him.  Milan is out of town again so it’s just been the two of us.  I quickly forget after being “home” and around so many people how hard it is to juggle a baby and a house by myself.  If only we didn’t live so far away….  oh well can’t dwell on that thought too much.