We're Here

It has been an exhausting three days. Or was it four days? I don't even know. The road trip wasn't too bad: no flat tires, sticky gas pedals or even wrong turns. Sean and I managed to stay within ten minutes of each other the whole way and I only had one "Jesus Take the Wheel" moment which was basically me trying to fish a sippy cup of milk out from under the passenger seat. Also, at one point I had to repair Buzz Lightyear's wing while in a 70 mph zone. We survived.

I was amazed at the fact that there were almost NO tolls outside of New York. My primary driving experience has been in New York, followed by Massachusetts, and it always costs a fortune to go anywhere. Once we were outside of Pennsylvania we didn't hit a single toll. Also, we drove through Virginville and Maiden Town. I giggled. We made a pit stop somewhere in rural West Virginia or Virginia (we couldn't figure out quite where we were) and we felt like foreigners. It was a Saturday night at the Dairy Queen and Sean and I drive up in our Japanese cars with NY plates and they'd barely acknowledge us. Other than that little town (I think it was called Fancy Gap) everyone has been pretty nice.

The various hotels we stayed at were lovely. We'd done a lot of research to make sure they were pet friendly but it still felt very strange to let the fifty pound ball of fur roam around fancy lobbies. Aiden started out very nervous about the idea of sleeping in a hotel, but he got over it quickly when he realized it meant mommy or daddy had to sleep with him. The first night he slept in my bed and I woke up with an awful cramp in my leg because he had used his head like a battering ram against my thigh all night. After that, daddy had the honor of keeping him company.

Unfortunately, Aiden's behavior pretty much deteriorated after that first night. Yesterday he threw a full bowl of cereal across the hotel bed. Twice he's dumped full bottles of water on the carpet. There's been hitting and yelling and meltdowns left and right. I feel so bad that he's overtired and overemotional, but I am too, and we're doing what we can to get him acclimated. It's made a big difference now that his bed and toys are here. A couple of times today he's gone and laid right down in his bed to calm down, without any prompting. He's trying and I think things will settle down in a few days.

I had planned to take pictures and show you all our new apartment but after I took the pictures I realize that everything looked sort of rumpled and disorganized so I'll post them after I clean this place. In the mean time: pictures of Aiden in a rare moment of calm.