Grayson's First Road Trip

We've slowly but surely started venturing out with Grayson. As first time parents with a slightly moody baby, we were admittedly a little nervous about taking him with us to do our normal everyday things. First I started taking him on quick shopping trips with me, and then we tested out a couple of meals in restaurants. And he has been amazing! We have never had an issue at all. He normally sleeps the entire time, and if he's not sleeping he's just sort of looking around, taking it all in. But even though he was doing SO good at every new thing we tried, we were still a little leery about our first out of town trip.

Last weekend we loaded up the car (ohmygoodness babies require A LOT of stuff) and headed north to Oklahoma, along with my mom. Most of my family still hadn't met Grayson, and Arsen decided to take a week of vacation to recharge and relax, so we thought this would be the perfect time. After about four hours of packing on Thursday night (which wouldn't have taken so long if G wouldn't have needed me several times) we were ready to go.

Friday morning we got up and headed out for my dad's house. It's about a two hour drive from our house to his, and Grayson slept pretty much the entire way. I knew car rides normally put him to sleep, but this was the first time we were going more than 20 minutes or so from home. He slept like a little champ! We didn't have to make any stops or anything, so we made it to dad's just in time for a feeding and avoided any major meltdowns.

After spending a bit of time there, we headed over to my Grandmother's house so Grayson could meet his second cousin Isabella, who is just about a month older than him...although you would never know it because he's so huge they are about the same size. It's so, so much fun for my cousin Amanda and I to have little ones so close together in age. AND, we recently found out that BOTH of her brothers are expecting later this year, only 12 days apart this December. On my mom's side of the family it's just the four of us and two younger cousins, so it's pretty crazy that all four of us older cousins are having babies in one year. And it's the first baby for three of the four of us. I can't wait for holidays now...all those sweet little babes in one place!

My uncles and an aunt came over later in the day, and we all just spent a lot of time staring at the babies. Isn't it crazy how a group of adults can just gather around and stare at a child? And if they do something remotely cute the reaction from the adults is quite hilarious. I would love to have it on video.

The next day we spent time back over at my dad's with his side of the family. Grayson got the chance to meet several of my cousins, their kids, my uncle and aunt, and my dad's girlfriend. We all went over to her place so the kids could swim in her pool and we sat around and chatted for a couple of hours. That side of my family doesn't get together very often, so it was so much fun to see everyone.

Later that night we went to Norman (just outside of Oklahoma City) to stay with my uncles for a couple of nights. We spent the next day lounging by their pool, going out to eat, and doing a whole lot of nothing. So nice.

My mom, her cousin, and I went and drove through her old neighborhood in Moore after dinner on Sunday. It is unbelievable the damage that the May 20th tornado did. Seeing it in person made it so much more real. It hit literally a few streets away from where my mom lived. The first few houses in her neighborhood were pretty severely damaged, and just across the street houses were completely gone. The shopping center right down the road was basically demolished, and across the street from her neighborhood was also one of the elementary schools that took a direct hit. It's so crazy to see all those familiar places like that. Just so awful.

We stopped back by to see my dad on the way home on Monday...he might freak out on us if we were anywhere in the vicinity of his place and didn't bring Grayson by to see him. After visiting for a couple hours and then stopping by to see my Grandmother again, it was time to head back home to Texas. And that was pretty much the entire trip. A whole lotta family time crammed into just a few days. Definitely a good time, and I loved introducing the little one to everyone.

Unfortunately, the trip didn't end so well. About an hour from home, I was asleep in the backseat with Grayson when the car jerked and I heard a loud noise that woke me up. Apparently the car in front of us hit a huge piece of semi tire that was laying on the highway, and it flipped up and flew into our car. Arsen couldn't dodge it, so we ran over it. And it ripped off the passenger side of my front bumper to where it was hanging down and hitting the tire...so we were stranded on the side of the highway. In 100 degree heat. For almost two hours. It was miserable. Thankfully my dad was able to come pick us up and drive us home to Texas, and they towed my car to a nearby Hyundai place to be repaired. Other than the $500 deductible that we have to pay (on top of allllll the medical bills we've been paying from G's birth) it wasn't too terrible. I'm just so incredibly relieved that it wasn't anything more damaging and that none of us were injured. It is CRAZY how much scarier something like that is with a baby!

Aside from that craziness, it was a great trip and Grayson was such a good baby. I can't believe how much he has changed and how much better he handles things now. Even a few weeks ago there is no way I would have even attempted to take him out of town. So proud of him! And of me and Arsen. I think we're doing a pretty decent job at this parent thing so far.