As you may know, this past weekend was our first road trip/show with our little guy. We were invited to perform on Friday in Bluffton, IN (umm, hello cold. More on that later.) for a Forgotten Children Worldwide benefit.
Gone are the days of leaving the day of the show, especially if it's a long drive, so we left Thursday.
How I checked on Oliver: I took a picture and then looked at it =)
Our tunes when Oliver got a bit fussy. He loved it!
Oliver did great. He slept pretty much the whole time. We made two pit stops during the trip, and they were about 45 minutes each. They looked like this:
- get out of car and get in back to feed O
- Trent goes to empty his bladder and get either coffee or lunch
- T comes back to car
- I finish feeding
- T gets diaper bag and I get O
- go into bathroom and change diaper (and one time, the outfit, too)
- take O back to car
- I go back in to use the bathroom and wash hands
- hit the road
-repeat in 2 1/2 hours
We handled it quite well! The only thing is, it was freezing. And it only got colder the more we headed north. The area where we were going had just gotten LOTS of snow, courtesy of The Winter That Won't Quit, but thankfully all the roads were fine. (I will say, I was prepared with snacks and blankets and water, thanks to the lessons learned from the Atlanta debacle.)
By the time we got to our hotel, it was -12 degrees. And that's when I was even more thankful I didn't have to unload the car.
Oliver and I got in the room and this was waiting! (I've said before, we don't require snacks, so it is always a big treat. And a baby gift was included. Thank you Nichole! So sweet.)
I made a random decision to bathe Oliver. I hadn't planned on bathing him on the quick trip, so I didn't have my supplies. BUT…warm water + a little ivory soap + an ice bucket = baby bath. Ha!
Hotel tummy time.
Pack 'n' Play assembly!
The next morning, we ate breakfast and worked out and got ready to head to the venue. After napping, of course!
Pretty set-up!
Oliver's first sound check! He was mesmerized by the LED screens.
Then he got fussy. I calmed him and was sound checking while holding him, but that lasted only a few minutes. A baby's screams really sound a lot louder and more severe while being directed into a mic. Luckily, the sound guys were very patient and understanding. I left and nursed Oliver and then we got back to it. By this time, Nichole (our contact person) had made it, so she watched O while we finished. He just sat in his Rock and Play in the kitchen while she cut cake.
Here we are hanging out before show time.
I nursed O again, so he'd be satisfied while we played. Then I handed him to Nichole and we took the stage. I have to admit, it made me a little sad. But he slept the whole time! I'm sure the music he heard all while being in the womb, calms him.
He woke up right when we were finished! The night was set up with the music split up (two 40 minute sets). We planned it where Trent would play the 2nd set by himself, so I could go to merch and nurse O.
The timing was such, where I didn't have time to nurse before people came to buy CDs. But, Oliver held it together pretty well and only started getting fussy right as Trent came to join us. Then I headed to nurse and came back to merch.
Whew!
(We realized we should get Oliver used to a bottle just in case we run into crazy timing issues again.)
It was a long day. Sound check was at 4:30 and we didn't leave until 9:30. And that's when Oliver started SCREAMING. It was so sad! It was like he had reached his limit…he was over it.
(I can't blame him. Sometimes all I want to do after a long day of socializing is scream and cry and put on pajamas and eat and then sleep.)
That night, he slept from 11:00 to 4:45! It was awesome…except one word: engorged.
We left the next day with a feeling of "we just rocked that." Yes, it's more challenging traveling with a baby. Yes, babies require a lot of stuff. Yes, pit stops are longer. BUT, for first time parents on the road with a 7 week old in this:
we will not be ashamed if we toot our own horn.
Toot, toot.
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