Dallas or Bust (Can't believe we didn't bust)

Friday May 1:
7am(ish): I woke up excited... we are going to Dallas for the Dave Matthew's Band concert!!! This will be MY first night away from Sam. I finally get my Valentine's Day present :) YAHH! I was a little overwhelmed thinking about everything I had to accomplish before we left that next morning (little did I know). My mother in law was coming to stay with Sam so we didn't have to pack him up and bring him somewhere too (hahah).

8:15am: My phone starts ringing, telling me that Cliff is calling. Uh oh! It's never good when he calls me that early in the morning... I just saw him 45 mins ago. Cliff, "Umm... my mom thinks she has the swine flu, she can't come to babysit this weekend". Me, "WHAT, you're kidding, right"..... Cliff, "No, she has a high fever and is achy all over, she can't come. Why don't you take Sam up to NWA to your parent house today and then we can still leave from LR tomorrow morning".

So, this started my panicking. I had to now pack Sam, drive 6+ hours to drop him off all by myself, and figure out how I am going to leave him for not just 1 night, but now 2 nights?!?! HUH? So, I of course decide that there is no way we are going to do all of that. I told Cliff to try to sell the tickets... I told him there was no way we were going to do all of that! Well, then after thinking about it all for awhile I realized that we've been planning this trip for many months and there is no way that I'm going to let one little (BIG) thing get in the way of us going!

9am-12pm: So, I call different family members to get their opinions on my situation. My dad said that we could bring Sam up, mom said it wouldn't be a problem. My sister, Julie, said she would meet me in Alma to cut down on my driving time... I just didn't know what to do! Then some genius (I don't remember who it was) told me to just drive up that evening with Cliff after he got off of work! DUH! Why didn't I think of that earlier?!?! (Maybe because I was freaking out) I run this idea by Cliff and he agrees that it would be the best way to approach this (disaster) I mean challenge.

1pm: So now I have to pack for Sam, Cliff and myself. Joy of all joys. Instead I decide to make some strawberry muffins. I saw the recipe yesterday on my container of yummy organic vanilla yogurt. Lowfat, delicious strawberry muffins can cure any problem, right? (except the problem of having to pack for my entire family) So, I made the muffins... they smelled heavenly!

2:30pm: Now, I'm ready to get some packing done. I pack all of Sam's bedroom up just to make sure that I don't forget anything that he may need, want or desire on his first night away from me (WAIL!!!!)! That part isn't so bad, I can do the rest... so I head upstairs and immediately my mood changes. I HATE PACKING. I don't know why this is the case, it's just so annoying to me. I never know what to bring to wear. I know the weather in Dallas said that there is about a 30-40% chance of rain on Saturday evening (this is laughable now), so I better pack some clothes that could get wet and possible messed up at the concert. So, I finally just throw some stuff in a bag for myself and Cliff and call it a success.

4pm: I'm just waiting around for Cliff at this point. He said he would try to get off of work early so we could get on the road at a good time.

4:30pm: Cliff calls and says that he is just leaving work.

4:45pm: Cliff gets home and we quickly depart for NWA. Because of my excellence in packing/preparing, we are on the road in no time! Yeah!!!

8pm: We arrive in Rogers! Sam was great on the trip and it wasn't a bad drive. We only hit scary driving downpouring rain for a few minutes on the interstate around Johnson and we only had to slow down for one accident at Wagon Wheel! Not bad not bad. Maybe this weekend is looking up!!!

10pm: I get Sam to stop screaming because he doesn't want to go to bed. Now if everyone will just leave him alone so he can get to sleep....

10:05pm: WAHHHHHH WAHHHHH WAHHHH MOOOOOMMMMA!!!! I rush out of the bathroom to pick up a screaming baby...his dad went in to go to bed a little too soon... he coughed and scared Sam to death. Great.... now what.

11pm: Sam and I finally fall asleep with him lying right inbetween mommy and daddy. sweet...

2am: I wake up and try to lay Sam in the pack-n-play. No success there. He's screaming again. I go back to bed with him and he's rolling around hitting Cliff in the head, back, face. Nothing is working. I try to lay him down again, screaming wailing, great...

3:30am: I finally go to sleep on the couch with Sam. Fun.

7:30am: Sam's awake for the day. Great... perfect. He never sleeps in, regardless of whether he sleeps for 12 hours or 6. I'm freakin' exhausted. Perfection.

Stay tuned for the REALLY great part of our trip!!!!!