Baby on the Go

Baby on the move… Travelling and Schooling with a baby When Baby # 3 was born in April we expected to basically stay close to home for a couple of months and then slowly begin taking him more places as we went as a family. We of course knew that he would go to the doctor’s office several times and church, the grocery store and the like but we didn’t plan on any road trips. But the best laid plans…. We received a phone call when the baby was only a few days old that my husband’s grandfather had been moved to hospice a few hours from us and had only days left on this earth, so less than a week after he was born we packed up the family and took off on our first day trip as a family of 5. That first day trip lasted from 7 am until after 11 pm and was the start of many more to come for reasons of both pain and pleasure. I’ll be writing about our trips and the fun we have and the lessons we learn as we track the many miles traveled by this youngster. I’ll also discuss a bit of how we use these trips to help in our home school. Our First Day Trip Our first trip was not planned and it was a long and difficult day in many ways but it is also a trip that I’m so glad we got to take. A few days after the baby was born we received a call that my husband’s grandfather was in hospice with just a few days left to live. We wanted a chance to say our goodbye’s and also to let him meet his newest great grandchild. So on a Tuesday morning just shy of a week after he was born we packed up the family and took off on our first day trip. We left at 7 am that morning, going through Duplin County, NC so my husband could attend a quick meeting at work and then heading to Durham, NC. We have learned that our health and sanity (not to mention budget) do better when we pack at least some of the meals for these road trips and serve them as picnics at parks or rest stops. So we had lunch on the road at a rest stop giving me a chance to feed the baby and the older kids a chance to run and play for a minutes to burn off some of that never ending energy. We spent the afternoon in Durham visiting with Chris’s grandfather and the rest of the family. I have found that children can be great therapy for people that are going through the difficult and stressful process of losing a loved one. They seem to remind us all that life will go on and it is still worth living. Thankfully the baby was fairly content and spent most of that time eating and sleeping. The hospice center was a very nice place with outdoor areas that the kids could play as well as a playroom for them to sit and color and play games. This trip was primarily about being with family and saying good bye while supporting those that were going to be left behind. However, the big kids also got a chance to go geocaching with their great-aunts while we were there. It was a welcome diversion for both the adults and the kids. After eating a quick meal of some yummy Mexican food for dinner we headed back home. It was a rainy night and traveling was very slow due to the downpours so it was a difficult trip home. However, we did make it a little better by getting HOT Krispie Kreme doughnuts when we stopped so I could feed the baby about half way back. If you have never had a HOT Krispie Kreme doughnut you don’t know what you are missing. The doughnuts aren’t bad anytime but when the HOT sign is on and you can get them fresh they are absolutely wonderful. We finally arrived home after 11 that night and got the older kids (who slept most of the way back) but to bed and crawled in bed for what I hoped would be at least a couple of hours of rest. I was worried that after sleeping on much of the car ride the baby wouldn’t sleep well. However, I was blessed and he slept for 6 hours straight allowing me to get some rest and recuperate a bit.