The Story of the Silly Parents Who Took Their Eight Month Old on an Seven Hour Car Trip!

Each year my husband and I would travel to the Outer Banks for vacation. We'd break up the eight hour drive by taking turns driving, stopping to buy some fireworks and getting some greasy food from the occasional roadside restaurant.

This past summer our drive to the Outer Banks was very different as we had my 8 month old daughter with us. It was going to be our first long car trip with her and we deluded ourselves into thinking she would sleep. Boy, were we wrong!

Basically the car ride was misery - there was crying and my daughter hated being in the car seat. In the course of the nine hours it took us to get there we had a diaper explosion and our car looked like it had been ransacked. At one point in time we just ripped open the bags we had packed to get her snacks, let her play with laundry and every toy we had packed. We tried to play baby CD's like Raffi, but they didn't stop her tears. We even had to pull into a truck stop - so I could breastfeed her. About an hour before we got there the little sweetie finally dozed off for a nap and then we had to wake her up upon arrival.

My daughter did the best she could - it was really our faults for not being very prepared. You can make certain we were prepared for the worst on the way home. We strategically left at bedtime, packed yummy snacks and lots more activities. Needless to say it was a much more pleasant drive for both parents and baby!