Road trip
Well the time has finally come....we are making our first trip to North Carolina to celebrate my niece's first birthday and to visit family. The husband, The Great and myself have made this trip several times which makes us pro road warriors, however, we have never taken TWO 4 month old babies on an extended trip in the car. In my mind I had everything planned out and I knew exactly how I wanted things to go BUT that is not reality and stuff happens. We were scheduled to leave on Friday after work. I had already planned on getting off early so that we could get ahead of the dreaded Atlanta traffic. Well all that changed when the husband said "I have a conference for my job that does not end until 5:00 on Friday".
"What did you say", I said calmly.
"We are not going to be able to leave until late Friday night because my conference doesn't end until 5:00 pm".
Insert obstacle number one: departure time has now been moved to peak traffic time. I started to sweat and get nervous. All I kept thinking about was sitting in traffic with with twins screaming because the car isn't moving and The Great saying "I'm hungry".
Side note: The Great has been killing the pantry, refrigerator, and drive thru lately. This boy can eat!!!
So I had to decide do we leave late Friday or get up early Saturday morning and make the trip to NC. We decided to stick with Friday because the party began at noon and it's a six hour trip without twins. With the twins you have to factor in multiple stops and so leaving late on Friday was a better option than leaving early on Saturday morning.
While the husband packed our bag in the car and grabbed some snacks for the road I fed the twins. By the time we backed out of the garage and pulled out of the neighborhood it was 7:30 pm. I knew we had a long drive ahead of us but we could go at least four hours non stop while the twins slept. Wrong, wrong, wrong.......we are on the road for less than two hours and The General is awake and ready to eat. When she makes a request we try our best to accommodate. SMH. We decide to stop at Wendy's (gasp - fast food) and grab something to eat which would allow me time to feed The General. Fed. Check. Diaper changed. Check. We get back on the road after our 20 minute pit stop and all is well or so I think.
Presenting obstacle number two: are we there yet? When The Great said those words as we hit the South Carolina border I chuckled because we had just hit a milestone. The are we there yet, how much longer milestone that every parent has endured on family road trips came knocked at our door. Well after repeating that phrase a trillion times and telling us that he was ready to get out I handed him the phone (double gasp) to watch Peppa Pig. Whew all is well. The car was quiet, we had about four hours left in the trip and the husband was flying down I-85 like mad man.
Wait what is that I hear in the backseat? That sounds like little feet rustled and lips smacking on a blanket.....The Guardian has decided to join the party. Then the husband turns to me and says, "I'm sleepy".
Hey obstacle three: who is going to drive because I was already dozing off. I knew it was time to feed The Guardian but I wasn't prepared to drive. Getting a hotel wasn't an option because we were so close and at that time I was just ready to get to North Carolina. So like any good nursing mom we stopped at Quick Trip filled up the tank, I purchased a Mountain Dew (triple gasp) and prepared to take over the remainder of the drive.
We cannot forget The Great who is hanging tough at 11:30 pm. While the husband fills up the car The Great and I use the restroom. When we return to the car The Husband is reclining in the passenger seat with The Guardian. I feed him while The Great stretches his legs and talks non-stop about the struggles of being three. "Dad please don't put me back in my car seat". Unfortunately we put him back in his car seat, I burp The Guardian and we are back on the road.
At this point I'm thinking the twins will not need to be fed for another four hours, The Great has to crash at some point and the husband is resting which means we will make it to our destination without another stop!!! I turn the radio to listen to mommy music but The Great quickly lets me know that he was still awake by saying, "mommy it's not your turn to listen to music". I don't even feel like arguing so I put on his favorite Cd and listen to "Thank you Lord for saving me" for the ten millionth time.
We hit Charlotte, Concord, Salisbury and then Greensboro and I think to myself this is awesome. No traffic, everyone is finally asleep and I am cruising down the highway without a care in the world. The mommy radio station is on and I push my foot down on the accelerator because I know we have 90 minutes left in the trip and we are going to make it without another stop. Wait....what are those flashing lights off in the distance? Why do I see an arrow flashing at me? What do you mean only one lane is open? Whoa! Why am I slowing down? Wait, why have I come to a complete stop? Are you kidding me!!!!!
Obstacle four: road construction project in the great state of North Carolina. Shocker.....ever since I was a little girl they have been working on the roads in North Carolina. At this point the husband wakes up and proceeds to give me aggressive driving tips on how to navigate through the construction zone. In short, do not allow any cars who decided to merge into the one functioning lane over because they should've moved over when the warning signs indicated. In my mind by letting the cars over it decreases the amount of traffic and wait time but hey what do I know. As we continue to creep along the highway at a snails pace at 1:00 am I begin to wonder how long before the twins wake up due to a decrease in car movement. The answer to that question was 5 minutes.....first The Guardian starts to stir and The General follows suit. At first they gave us a warning whimper but as we continued to move slowly on the highway the whimpers turned into wails. Yup.....they were not happy campers and I was praying that this lane closure would be brief. We tried white noise, rocking the car back and forth by tapping the brakes, giving words of encouragement such as "we're almost there" which was a lie but none of it worked. What seemed like an eternity but probably was 30 minutes ended with all the lanes being opened and the twins going back to sleep as soon as I reached 65 mph.
Ok now we are finally in the home stretch. I could see myself pulling up into my sisters driveway. I move over into the far left lane, turn up the radio and focus on the last 45 minutes of the drive. The husband has dozed back off to sleep and I see the "Welcome to Durham" sign on the side of the road. Tears begin to well up in my eyes because we did it!!!!
Tears didn't well up in my eyes.
As we approach my sisters neighborhood I wake up the husband and ask him to text my brother in law that we have arrived. I back into the driveway, turn off the car and wait for my brother in law to turn on the front porch light. Nothing......its 2:30 am, pitch black outside and neither my sister or brother in law has responded to our text messages or calls. This cannot be happening!!!! The Guardian begins to shuffle her feet in the car seat and I start to sweat. All of a sudden my phone vibrates, " hey sister we are here".
"Ok, I'm coming to let you in", she replies.
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾. We get the crew in the house and put everyone to bed. I change into pajamas and get in the bed. I give the husband a high five because we did it. As he rolls over onto his side he says, "are you going to be ready to do it again in less than 48 hours"?
Without missing a beat I reply, "the twins fly for free until they are two, right"?
Well the time has finally come....we are making our first trip to North Carolina to celebrate my niece's first birthday and to visit family. The husband, The Great and myself have made this trip several times which makes us pro road warriors, however, we have never taken TWO 4 month old babies on an extended trip in the car. In my mind I had everything planned out and I knew exactly how I wanted things to go BUT that is not reality and stuff happens. We were scheduled to leave on Friday after work. I had already planned on getting off early so that we could get ahead of the dreaded Atlanta traffic. Well all that changed when the husband said "I have a conference for my job that does not end until 5:00 on Friday".
"What did you say", I said calmly.
"We are not going to be able to leave until late Friday night because my conference doesn't end until 5:00 pm".
Insert obstacle number one: departure time has now been moved to peak traffic time. I started to sweat and get nervous. All I kept thinking about was sitting in traffic with with twins screaming because the car isn't moving and The Great saying "I'm hungry".
Side note: The Great has been killing the pantry, refrigerator, and drive thru lately. This boy can eat!!!
So I had to decide do we leave late Friday or get up early Saturday morning and make the trip to NC. We decided to stick with Friday because the party began at noon and it's a six hour trip without twins. With the twins you have to factor in multiple stops and so leaving late on Friday was a better option than leaving early on Saturday morning.
While the husband packed our bag in the car and grabbed some snacks for the road I fed the twins. By the time we backed out of the garage and pulled out of the neighborhood it was 7:30 pm. I knew we had a long drive ahead of us but we could go at least four hours non stop while the twins slept. Wrong, wrong, wrong.......we are on the road for less than two hours and The General is awake and ready to eat. When she makes a request we try our best to accommodate. SMH. We decide to stop at Wendy's (gasp - fast food) and grab something to eat which would allow me time to feed The General. Fed. Check. Diaper changed. Check. We get back on the road after our 20 minute pit stop and all is well or so I think.
Presenting obstacle number two: are we there yet? When The Great said those words as we hit the South Carolina border I chuckled because we had just hit a milestone. The are we there yet, how much longer milestone that every parent has endured on family road trips came knocked at our door. Well after repeating that phrase a trillion times and telling us that he was ready to get out I handed him the phone (double gasp) to watch Peppa Pig. Whew all is well. The car was quiet, we had about four hours left in the trip and the husband was flying down I-85 like mad man.
Wait what is that I hear in the backseat? That sounds like little feet rustled and lips smacking on a blanket.....The Guardian has decided to join the party. Then the husband turns to me and says, "I'm sleepy".
Hey obstacle three: who is going to drive because I was already dozing off. I knew it was time to feed The Guardian but I wasn't prepared to drive. Getting a hotel wasn't an option because we were so close and at that time I was just ready to get to North Carolina. So like any good nursing mom we stopped at Quick Trip filled up the tank, I purchased a Mountain Dew (triple gasp) and prepared to take over the remainder of the drive.
We cannot forget The Great who is hanging tough at 11:30 pm. While the husband fills up the car The Great and I use the restroom. When we return to the car The Husband is reclining in the passenger seat with The Guardian. I feed him while The Great stretches his legs and talks non-stop about the struggles of being three. "Dad please don't put me back in my car seat". Unfortunately we put him back in his car seat, I burp The Guardian and we are back on the road.
At this point I'm thinking the twins will not need to be fed for another four hours, The Great has to crash at some point and the husband is resting which means we will make it to our destination without another stop!!! I turn the radio to listen to mommy music but The Great quickly lets me know that he was still awake by saying, "mommy it's not your turn to listen to music". I don't even feel like arguing so I put on his favorite Cd and listen to "Thank you Lord for saving me" for the ten millionth time.
We hit Charlotte, Concord, Salisbury and then Greensboro and I think to myself this is awesome. No traffic, everyone is finally asleep and I am cruising down the highway without a care in the world. The mommy radio station is on and I push my foot down on the accelerator because I know we have 90 minutes left in the trip and we are going to make it without another stop. Wait....what are those flashing lights off in the distance? Why do I see an arrow flashing at me? What do you mean only one lane is open? Whoa! Why am I slowing down? Wait, why have I come to a complete stop? Are you kidding me!!!!!
Obstacle four: road construction project in the great state of North Carolina. Shocker.....ever since I was a little girl they have been working on the roads in North Carolina. At this point the husband wakes up and proceeds to give me aggressive driving tips on how to navigate through the construction zone. In short, do not allow any cars who decided to merge into the one functioning lane over because they should've moved over when the warning signs indicated. In my mind by letting the cars over it decreases the amount of traffic and wait time but hey what do I know. As we continue to creep along the highway at a snails pace at 1:00 am I begin to wonder how long before the twins wake up due to a decrease in car movement. The answer to that question was 5 minutes.....first The Guardian starts to stir and The General follows suit. At first they gave us a warning whimper but as we continued to move slowly on the highway the whimpers turned into wails. Yup.....they were not happy campers and I was praying that this lane closure would be brief. We tried white noise, rocking the car back and forth by tapping the brakes, giving words of encouragement such as "we're almost there" which was a lie but none of it worked. What seemed like an eternity but probably was 30 minutes ended with all the lanes being opened and the twins going back to sleep as soon as I reached 65 mph.
Ok now we are finally in the home stretch. I could see myself pulling up into my sisters driveway. I move over into the far left lane, turn up the radio and focus on the last 45 minutes of the drive. The husband has dozed back off to sleep and I see the "Welcome to Durham" sign on the side of the road. Tears begin to well up in my eyes because we did it!!!!
Tears didn't well up in my eyes.
As we approach my sisters neighborhood I wake up the husband and ask him to text my brother in law that we have arrived. I back into the driveway, turn off the car and wait for my brother in law to turn on the front porch light. Nothing......its 2:30 am, pitch black outside and neither my sister or brother in law has responded to our text messages or calls. This cannot be happening!!!! The Guardian begins to shuffle her feet in the car seat and I start to sweat. All of a sudden my phone vibrates, " hey sister we are here".
"Ok, I'm coming to let you in", she replies.
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾. We get the crew in the house and put everyone to bed. I change into pajamas and get in the bed. I give the husband a high five because we did it. As he rolls over onto his side he says, "are you going to be ready to do it again in less than 48 hours"?
Without missing a beat I reply, "the twins fly for free until they are two, right"?