August 27th, 2011

**I would never know what date or day it was without checking...all the days run together when you're a stay-at-home-Ma.**

So here we are in Maine! It's muggy & foggy out this morning, feel right at home. ;) It was a LOOOONG drive down. Normally, it would take around 4 hours to get here from the border. Yesterday, we were in the car for...almost 7 hours, from the boat to here. Ughhhh. Brendan was good most of the way, but as the day dragged on, he grew VERY very tired of being stuck in his little car seat, and I don't blame him! I was getting stiff, and I wasn't strapped down with a 5-point harness in a hard little seat! :(

We stopped a fair bit along the way for stretch/pee/food breaks, that's why it took so much longer to get here. Also, we got stopped on the highway for almost half an hour for roadwork. That slowed us down significantly.

There was actually one point along the "airline" where I couldn't stand it anymore, I made Geoff stop, just so I could snuggle the baby (and nurse him). Lol! He hadn't eaten much at our last stop, he was too distracted by everything going on in the Irving restaurant where I was trying to nurse him. So I really wanted to make sure he had a good nurse, especially because it was so hot out. So I'm like, "So, pull in at the next place you see where you can stop please,". We drove by several little driveways...no slowing...no stopping. "Hey ah...he really didn't nurse for long enough, I really wanna feed him soon,"...still going...Finally I said, "PULL OVER! Next driveway you come to. PLEASE." I'm so used to holding & playing with Brendan most of the day, I was literally aching to snuggle him & play with him.

We stopped again in Brewer, and I found a juice, I forget what it's called, but it's 100% juice and fruit purees, no sugar, no sweeteners, no preservatives. The best before date was actually Sept. 27th. It was mango puree, banana puree, orange juice, and apple juice. So the baby had quite a bit of that, as sort of a baby food substitute. I think I'll buy him some mango when we go to the store later, he LOVED it.

After we left Brewer, the rest of the drive was pretty much horrible. He was getting sooo tired, and he wouldn't sleep, and he just wanted me to hold him. So he cried and cried, in between me trying to keep him entertained, for the last hour and a half of the drive. :( I DEFINITELY will not be making this trip again until he's older. It's just waaaay too long for a 6-month-old to be stuck in the car.

After we got here, I thought I should cool him off a bit (and his shirt was covered in mango juice anyway), so I took that off him. Then I thought, ah what the heck, we're outdoors, so I took his diaper off, too. And he ran around naked for a while. Yes, ran around. If you hold him by the hands he will try to RUN. :) He needed to burn a little energy and have a good stretch after sitting in the car for 6 hours!

Then he had a cool bath in Grammy Donna's sink...

and Grammy whizzed up some cantaloupe for him, which he also loved. When I finally got him to bed, in a house he's never seen before, in a playpen, he crashed. He slept like a rock all night, and even slept an hour later this morning.

Hurricane...or Tropical Storm Irene (I think it's been downgraded now), is heading our way soon! Vic said the description on the Weather Channel was, "Think of it as the worst Nor-Easter you've ever seen." :/ Batten down the hatches!! It's supposed to start raining tonight, and there are flood warnings for this area, and of course high wind warnings. Luck favours the prepared, no?

The baby is napping upstairs, and I am gonna REEEEEEEEE-LAX til he wakes up! Soooo tired. Donna wants us to go to her friend's house later and swim, b/c she hasn't seen Brendan swimming. And she also made us dinner reservations at a classy restaurant in town. Apparently they serve SEVEN-COURSE meals! :| She's just trying to steal the baby for as long as possible. :P She thinks I need to let go a little. :P I think not. But we'll go anyway, and try to enjoy some alone time together, and try not to worry too much. It's only a couple hours, after all.

And I'd like to go into town after the baby wakes up and check out the 2 baby second-hand stores, and Wal-Mart, for a few things I wanted to get for him. Yeah, so, my entire life revolves around the baby. I might be a bit baby-obsessed. Maybe. ;)

Be praying Irene doesn't slam us too hard, bye for now!