Adventures in Indy

You may remember this picture from last summer:

Well here are most of us now...

A few months ago Miles and I headed down to Indy to visit some really good friends from Purdue and their kiddos. Miss Julie and Macy came for a visit all the way from Rochester, and we hadn't seen Cari, Rigg, and Ryder in awhile, so we had to make a quick one day visit to see everyone. In my mind I thought no problem! We got this! Up until this point I could time so that during Miles's nap time, I could throw him in the car and he would sleep for at least 1.5 hours, which is a big chunk of the 3 hour drive to Indy. He would usually then proceed to wake up and happily coo and play with some of his toys. Was even hoping we wouldn't even have to stop because I had timed it so well that he wouldn't need to eat until we got there. WELL NOT THIS TIME!!!!

Here are some numbers for you from that little trip:

3: The number of hours it should take us to get from Chicago to Indy
5: How many hours it actually took us to get to Indy
3+: How long Miles screamed his little head off, hours that is
489: The number of times I called Nick panicking (as if there was anything he could do from home)
3: Stops we needed to take to regain sanity
10: How many minutes I sat in Park on the skyway at one time
74: Mommy break down moments
3: How many times I almost turned around and went home
30: Total minutes Miles slept
5: Phone calls from sweet friends in Indy checking on my sanity (they "witnessed" the screaming child in the back seat)
3: Number of friends that greeted me with open arms once we reached our destination
1: Very sleepy (but happy????) boy once out of the car and one very tired mommy

It was an adventure that I do not wish to repeat anytime soon but once we got there it was SO great to visit with friends and meet Miss Macy for the first time. The only sad part was that our good friend Michele was not able to join us this visit, but we all get to rendezvous again next week (sans Miles) where she will be able to come.

After sharing some mommy stories, Julie and I came to the conclusion that we have the same type of child. They had and have the same dispositions, struggled and succeeded with similar things, and made their mommy's feel the same frustrations and joys. So nice to hear we weren't alone! It's almost as if they could feel how similar they are because it seemed as though there was some competition between the two with toys, location in a room, mobility, you name it. It was pretty funny.

Cari's son Rigg is 2 and it was so fun to see him interact with us and the other babies, watch him dance and sing, and just be silly. Loved seeing how big the youngest of the group, Ryder, is compared to his "older" friends. Cari even has a dog named Bo that we swear is Maddie's long lost brother, or "brother from another mother" as Cari would say.

As always, the visit was too short, but I am so glad we went despite the trip down.


P.S.- Sorry for the blurry shots, it's hard capturing active babies!