Have Toddler, Will Travel

I can't believe I've actually made it to the day that Chocolate Covered Peanut will tolerate a two hour car ride in peace! Hot Chocolate is from a town two hours away, and I lived there for nearly ten years, too. So we like to take fairly frequent trips back to visit friends and family. That is, until the travel-hating CCP came along. I still remember the first trip I took when she was only a month or two old. She slept little, cried a lot, and we stopped nearly every thirty minutes to nurse because that was the only thing that made the screaming stop. A two hour trip quickly turned into a three or four hour ordeal. A twenty minute trip across town to the grocery store was excruciating, too, but at least it was short! Our trip to celebrate Christmas yesterday with HC's family (yeah, I know, why bother this late?) was so blissful, I almost forgot she was in the car with us. And now, I only have three short months to enjoy it before the next chocolate-covered-car-hater comes along to spoil the trips! Technically, that's probably only two months because I really shouldn't stray that far from home the last month of pregnancy.

The Christmas celebration itself was a little less peaceful. HC's immediate family has a real talent for drama and sucking everyone else into it. HC's sister has been stirring up a lot of it recently and unfortunately HC has been the focus. Anyhow, she and I ended up buying the same gift for their mother. I knew this ahead of time, but I bought it first and figured their mom could choose to either return one or keep both based on her needs and taste. When the mother-in-law opened both gifts and the sister-in-law realized that I hadn't returned the one I bought, she was seething! At least now she can focus on how much she hates me rather than create more problems for HC. The drama in that family is ridiculous. I just hope that I can keep my kids ignorant of it as much as possible.