I'm (almost) out

My head is spinning with preparations for our upcoming trip. We are actually setting out Friday evening, in the hopes that we can put a few hundred miles behind us under the cover of darkness while Bubba snoozes. Eventually he will wake up, and then he will protest, vigorously and loudly, his entrapment in the car seat, so we want to avoid as much of that as we can. Alas, Bubba is not a car seat baby. Five minute trips to WalMart make him quite unhappy, so I can just imagine how he will feel about a sixteen hour jaunt up the east coast. I think Bella will do well - she has been on long car trips before, and we will be loaded up on the entertainment options - lots of chapter books and puzzle books, and her gameboy and the portable DVD player - so she will be busy and happy. Bubba, however - different story. My in-laws, who are making the trip with us, are considerably more stressed by listening to Bubba yowl from the backseat, so I'm certain they will insist on stopping more frequently. Which is fine by me, but my husband is one of those people who hates stopping on long trips, so this should be interesting.

I jokingly - well, half jokingly - asked my husband if someone could just do a 'Mr. T' (hopefully someone will get the A-Team reference) for myself and Bubba - you know, just give us something to knock us out until we get where we are going, but he did not seem to think that was the best idea. I'm betting somewhere around South Carolina he might change his mind. I don't sleep well in cars, and I tend to get a bit queasy riding in the backseat of a car - not full on, bring-me-a-bucket car sick, just uncomfortable-and-slightly-grumpy-nausea.

I am packing and frantically cleaning the house, so that when we arrive home exhausted and bearing multiple loads of dirty laundry, the house won't already be a mess. And also so that my sister and nephew, who will be feeding our fish while we are gone, won't think that we are disgusting people who live like animals. My problem is that I am packing and frantically cleaning while also working, so I have been up until at least 1AM every night this week. Maybe I will accumulate such sleep debt that I will conk out in the car anyway. Hey, there's the upside to this whole lack-of-sleep thing!

I am getting excited about this trip - I get to meet my new niece, whom I plan to spoil relentlessly - as much as you can spoil a 2-month old infant, anyway. I get to hang out with my SIL and her husband, and take the kids to new places....it will be fun. It will all be worth 16 hours in a car with my children and my MIL and FIL. It will all be worth it. :-)

My sister-in-law does not have a computer nor we will really be anywhere with access to one, so I will be away from the internet for (gasp!) the entirety of our trip - roughly eight days or so. That has crossed my mind more than I would like to admit, so maybe I need a break. More than once I have felt a little concerned about my e-mail languishing unread, both work and personal, and about the blog posts I would miss reading and all the other little things I count on to waste time instead of doing housework keep me entertained, amused and in touch. But, it will all be there when I get back, and it will do me some good to get away.

I want to wish everyone a happy and blessed Easter! I will be in church on Sunday with the whole family, together again. Exciting!