Girls Weekend Out

Alisa and I went to meet my old college roommate Courtney and her 5-month-old daughter Hayden in Macon, GA this past weekend. They live in Alabama and we wanted to meet halfway, but there isn't much of anything in the middle of Alabama so we looked into meeting in Georgia. I discovered that Macon is almost the same distance from both of us and they were having their annual Cherry Blossom Festival so we decided to meet there. Courtney reserved 2 nights at a Days Inn for all of us.



Alisa and I left Florida at noon and arrived in Macon just after 4 PM. I had to stop to feed Alisa and she really took her time drinking her bottle so it took us an hour longer to get there (I needed a restroom break too). Courtney and Hayden were already settled into the room when we got there so they helped us unload the many bags from our car. I brought more bags on this trip than any other because of Alisa and her stage in life--I brought her regular diaper bag, a bag of her food (baby food in jars, oatmeal in box, snacks in bags), a bag of her drinks and dishes (formula, bottles, bottle cleaning supplies, bowls, spoons), a bag with her CD player in it, a bag of her toys, a bag with her Pack 'N Play bed, a small suitcase for both of our clothes, a small ice chest, her large stroller, her new booster seat, and 2 baby carriers that strap on me (the hip hammock is a new one I got and it folds up small so I brought it in case I wanted to try it instead of the normal one). Unfortunately, our room was on the 2nd floor and the place didn't seem to have an elevator nearby so we made many trips up and down the stairs. Since Alisa had just met Courtney, I couldn't leave her in the room with her while I unloaded the car because she'd be really upset. So, we both carried stuff in one arm and our baby in the other arm.

Rain was predicted for Saturday so we decided to go downtown and check out the festival right away. We stayed for about 2 hours looking at the people, the rides, the many food vendors, the cherry blossom trees and the park. We ate some chicken fingers and fries for dinner and I thought the chicken fingers were excellent and certainly the best I've ever had at a place like that. We had to wait 8 minutes for them to cook so we knew they were fresh and hot. Yes, very hot--I gave Alisa some tiny pieces of the chicken and I kept burning my fingers trying to break the strips apart to cool them for her. We would have stayed a bit longer but the rain storm was about to hit and we wanted to get back to the hotel before it started. We got our lemonade and funnel cake to go.









We played with the babies in the hotel room, took pictures and talked till about midnight. I drank some Gatorade and it was so good I couldn't get enough of it (and I had just recently had a slushee and some lemonade so it's not like I was parched). I let Alisa crawl around on the bed until she fell asleep around 10:30 PM. If I had put her in bed at the normal time (9 PM) she would have cried to get out because she could still see us. I couldn't let her cry because she would wake Hayden, who has a difficult time staying asleep. I was able to put sleeping Alisa in her Pack 'N Play bed so I could get some sleep alone in the queen-size bed.







Much to our surprise, however, Courtney's cell phone made a loud noise around 4 AM because she had been sent text message. That woke Alisa up and she cried and seemed confused about where she was. I picked her up quickly to quiet her. I put her music on and rocked her in my arms to get her to fall back asleep. I figured it would take 20 minutes max...boy, was I wrong. That little stinker stayed awake for 2 hours! My arms and back started hurting from standing and swaying with her so I layed down on the bed and cuddled her on my chest. She laid her head down and was sucking her thumb for awhile like she was going to go to sleep but then she picked her head up and was wide awake. She crawled around on the bed and me and started talking, playing and giving me kisses. She frequently looked over at the bed Courtney and Hayden were on--it was too dark to see them but she knew they were there. She was being so super cute and silly but I had to refrain from laughing and playing with her because she needed to go back to sleep since it was only about 5 AM and I was tired.

I tried to put her back in her bed a couple of times when it seemed that she had drifted off to sleep but she screamed as soon as I did. I had to take her back to bed with me to keep her quiet. I love snuggling with her but didn't want her sleeping in bed with me because I was afraid she'd fall off the bed and hurt herself with all the movement she does at night. And I wouldn't be able to get in the shower in the morning before she woke up because she would likely wake up while I was in there and start crying and crawl off the bed. We ended up sleeping till about 10 AM and I managed to get a shower while Courtney played with the babies.

It rained off and on all day Saturday so the festival events were cancelled. I was bummed about that because I wanted to eat some international foods and see the arts and crafts, fireworks, etc. We got lunch at Chick Fil-A on the way to the mall and ate it in the car while the babies slept--it was the tastiest it's ever been for me. We spent about 5 hours at the mall pushing the babies in strollers, shopping, feeding the babies and changing their diapers and shopping some more. There was a great store there called Steve & Barry's. Everything there was $8.98 or less and it was a huge place with all kinds of stuff--shirts, shorts, jeans, nice pants, skirts, backpacks, coats, shoes, etc. Nothing I tried on fit me right so I didn't get anything for me, but I bought some t-shirts for Craig and pants for Alisa.

The babies did pretty well, though Alisa started crying when Courtney and I were laughing in the photo booth at the end of the photo session of the babies. She was tired and overreacted to our loud laughing. A while later she screamed her head off while I changed her diaper. We were about to leave and didn't want to walk all the way to the restroom which was far away (Alisa freaks out when I put her on the changing table in public restrooms anyway) so I changed her in the stroller in the deserted hallway. I wanted to change her outside because she likes being outside, but it was raining and that exit didn't have much of a covering so we would have gotten wet. Anyway, I hated that whole event and will not ever do that again. People did start walking by and were probably wondering what I was doing to my baby because she was screaming so loudly and squirming so badly, which only made the whole ordeal last longer. She is difficult when tired. I should have changed her in the stroller in a quieter department store bathroom but I didn't think of that then.

Hayden was dozing off in the car on the way to get dinner so we went to the drive-thru at Zaxby's. Alisa started crying because she was tired of being strapped into a seat all day (stroller and carseat). I offered her some Cheerios because it was getting close to her dinner time but she didn't want any. She cried and woke Hayden who then cried. The cries escalated as they both upset each other with their crying. Hayden's cries turned into loud high-pitched scream-crying, which Courtney said she hadn't heard before. There were only 2 or 3 cars ahead of us in the drive-thru line but it took forever to get our food. The girls hardly stopped to take a breath for at least 20 minutes. It was bad, real bad. During the middle of it all, when we knew there was nothing we could do but hurry back to the hotel as soon as we were out of the drive-thru line, Courtney and I started laughing to relieve our stress. We took some videos of the screaming girls. Then, we finally had our food in hand and raced back to the hotel. The girls stopped crying as soon as they were out of their carseats.

It was then time for Alisa to eat so I made her a bottle and she drank it on my lap while I ate my food. It was the best Zaxby's chicken strips and fries I have ever had (that seems to be the theme of the weekend--all the food was especially good). I gave Alisa some bits of chicken and toast after she finished her bottle because she was still hungry. We once again played with the babies in the hotel room (I remembered that I had brought glow sticks for them to play with), took pictures, talked till about 11:30 PM and watched TV. There was a show on about parenting multiples and they had babies in events like a diaper derby, finger painting contest and eating contest. It was fun to watch.

That night I was able to put Alisa in bed before 10 PM and before she was totally asleep. I put her music on repeat so it would block out the noise of the many trains that kept coming through the area. She slept until 6:30 AM when she woke up crying. I think she was cold or something because I didn't hear any loud noises this time. I let her sleep in bed with me and didn't even try to put her back in her bed. We slept till 9 AM Sunday morning and then loaded up the cars and said our goodbyes. I was so hot and sweaty from loading the car and from standing in the hotel office to pay my portion of the bill because the room was like a sauna. Ugh. What a way to begin the drive home.

Alisa slept for an hour and 45 minutes during the drive home. It took 4 hours to get home because I had to stop to feed Alisa (since we didn't leave immediately after she ate breakfast). I wasn't in a hurry so I didn't mind--the stopping time doesn't bother me like the driving time does (I get tired and sore from driving, not from food/bathroom breaks). As I was feeding Alisa, I noticed that her pants were wet. I realized I had forgotten to change her diaper right before leaving, but she had only been in it for a few hours so it shouldn't have leaked (she can go all night without leaking). I didn't want to change her inside Taco Bell, I didn't want to take the stroller out of the trunk because it was partially buried and I can't change her on the seats in the car anymore because she getting so big and her carseat is in the middle...so I opted to change her on the trunk of the car because it's spacious and flat. I didn't want her to squirm and try to roll over while I was changing her because I could smell that she had pooped too, so I decided to change her while she was still drinking her bottle. I got out of the front seat with her still leaning back on my left arm and shoulder drinking her bottle and squatted by the back seat to get the diaper changing supplies out. Then I carried her back by the trunk and spread out the changing pad and laid her on it. The plan was awkward at first (since I carried her so she could keep drinking during the setup time too) but it worked like a charm because she was happily distracted by her bottle and didn't squirm at all during the diaper change. She finished drinking it as I put the stuff away and sat back in the front seat. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. I just got her a new big girl carseat so I didn't have the luxury of her infant carrier carseat where I could have carried her into the bathroom in that and set it on the floor without her touching the floor. And again, the stroller was buried so I didn't want to pull that out to put her in it. I ended up strapping on the baby carrier and putting her in that because even though it was awkward using the toilet with her strapped to my front, it was better than trying to hold her by myself or having her sit on the dirty bathroom floor (I knew she wouldn't stand up the whole time). Oh, the things we moms do with/for our children!

Alisa started getting fussy during the last half hour of driving, as she did on the way to Macon. We made it home though, safe and sound. It was a fun weekend in spite of the baby crying episodes and it was so good to see Courtney again and meet baby Hayden. I think we will plan to meet up again next year or sooner.