This weekend, Mike and I packed our suitcases, strapped The Boss Lady in her car seat, and headed off for our 16 hour (round trip) car ride to New Orleans to visit my dad's side of the family. We weren't sure what to expect this trip since it had been nearly a year since we made the drive but we were ready for whatever came our way. Well, lo and behold, aside from a small playing incident where Oli ended up with a black eye, the trip was excellent!
Since Olivia's first birthday, one of the things I find the most fascinating is to look back on where we were a year ago. For instance, when football season started up again this year, Mike was so excited to spend Sundays watching the Cowboys (don't hate!) with Olivia. I, however, had horrible flashbacks to our attempts at nice family Sunday evenings from last year. I remember that first Cowboys' game vividly. We dressed Olivia up in her little Cowboys onsesie, turned on the game, then listened to her scream for several hours. Mike walked around the living room with her in her carrier, just swinging it back and forth trying to calm her.
This year though, she's perfectly content to run around the living room playing with her dolls while Mike cheers on the 'Boys. She'll even stop on occasion to clap for the guys. It's pretty darn cute.
Similarly, our trip to Louisiana this year was VASTLY different than our experience last year. Last year, we weren't even able to get out of the house before 9 a.m. This year, we woke at 5 and were out the door by 6:45. Ha!
During most of the drive last year, our sweet, then 6 week old daughter, screeched at the top of her lungs while I pumped breastmilk from the front seat of the car. I'm sure a few truck drivers got a view that probably took weeks to erase from their memories. The louder Olivia cried, the faster we drove, just hoping to get to our destination as quickly as possible. And of course, we got stuck in 2 major traffic jams. Of course.
Eventually, we discovered that those bumpy things on the side of the road helped calm Oli so we would drive half on the shoulder and half on the road. When she would settle down, we'd slowly ease back on the road only to have her start up again and we would swerve back onto the shoulder. It's a wonder we didn't get stopped for suspicion of drunk driving!
I remember both of us just staring at the road ahead, our eyes glazed over. I remember having a little pep talk with Mike and saying something like "Well, this is just how our life is gonna be now. Better buck up and get used to it." I was convinced we had another 18 years of screeching in store for us before we could ship her off to college.
Last year, when we got to New Orleans, we picked up my sister and brother-in-law who had flown in earlier that day and had been spending the afternoon in the French Quarter sampling some of Louisiana's finest beverages. During the hour long drive to my aunt's house, Olivia screeched uncontrollably prompting Mike to tell Michael and Michelle, "Well, I guess that pretty much sobered you up!"
Throughout our trip this year, Mike and I would just stop to reminisce about where we were just one short year ago and how different things are. It really is incredible how much has changed. What once seemed like utter insanity that I would never adjust to is now completely normal. And it's really not that insane.
Olivia really did great on this trip. Sure, we had a few fussy moments but for the most part she was excellent. At my grandparents' house, she played all over the yard while we all hung out. In the French Quarter, she sat back and enjoyed the sights and through most of the car ride she was pretty good. Instead of lots of screeching, we mostly heard her chatting to herself and her doll.
As we were out and about with her, people would stop to ask how old Oli was. I was surprised every time to hear myself say "13 months." WHAT??? When did that happen? When did we suddenly enter into the 2nd year of our child's life?
The small, screeching baby we brought to New Orleans a year ago, is now a babbling toddler who walked up to a perfect stranger at a restaurant and tried to crawl up onto his lap (or maybe she was just trying to get to his Bloody Mary).
I could seriously go on for hours about how fun and cute Olivia is these days. When we stopped to visit on the way back into town, my step-mom asked "Did you ever think you'd have this much fun with her?" NOPE!
We are having such a great time watching her little personality develop. It seems she has the best of Mike and me and a little of the worst of me (my head-strong tendencies and temper) and she is a fantastic little kid. She is mimicking everything she sees us do and she's starting to try to say a few words. "Uh-oh" is a favorite these days.
So, yeah, we're pretty glad we never really dropped her off at one of those safe-baby-drop-off-zones because we would have missed out on this really cool kid. And maybe on one of our future trips to Louisiana, Olivia will care less about playing in the dirty street puddles and I'll get to share with her some of the cool stuff I did as a kid. Based on the changes of the past year, I think anything is possible!
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