Our weekend trip to Dallas turned into the weekend from hell. Mishaps alone are not a big deal, but add 100+ degree weather and you have a recipie for disaster!!!
Most of you who know my family and me know that they make fun of my 2 degree thermostat. My mom (lovingly, I think) jokes that I have a 2 degree thermostat. I’m either burning up or freezing cold. There is no in between and since I live in South Texas, I’m usually burning up. I know, what a brat. I tell you this because I want you to keep in mind that everything I’m about to explain happened on the hottest weekend of the year in 100-105 degree weather.
We left San Antonio at 10am Friday morning headed for a relaxing weekend in Dallas where Randy would get to play volleyball and I would get to spend lots of time with all of my friends in Dallas who I don’t get to see very often. When we were in San Marcos the air conditioner in Randy’s car decided to stop working. We had to turn around and change cars. (Don’t forget that we had to drive 45 minutes home with no a/c.) Not only was it scorching hot in the car, but the thermostat kept beeping the entire time. Randy and I didn’t speak. The whole way home I kept praying that Reed was ok and that he would stay asleep. I don’t think I could have dealt with a screaming baby on top of the heat and stress. He proved he IS the best baby in the world because he slept the whole way home.
We got home and moved all our stuff to my car. At noon we were headed out for the second time. The rest of the trip was long and 35 was full of traffic, but it was uneventful. We even got to Dallas in time to have dinner with the Browns and the Keiths, which was the whole reason Reed and I came on the trip. Unfortunately we had to cut our time short because we hadn’t checked into the hotel yet and didn’t know what we were going to find. Thank the Lord we left when we did.
We got to our hotel (which I foolishly picked out online and prepaid for). It was next door to a strip club. I could probably stop talking right there and you would get the picture. I won’t go into details because this post is going to be long enough, but I have never felt more dirty and unsafe in my life. We walked up to the room took one look and walked back out to our car, drove off and never looked back. At this point it is 10:30 and we have had a terribly exhausting day, we are still hot and smelly and we have no idea where we are going to sleep. I drove to Grand Prairie and luckily we found a hotel. We finally got into bed at midnight.
The next day was Randy’s tournament. We prepared for the heat, but there really is no way to prepare for it. As we leave the hotel we notice that I-20 West is completely shut down. Luckily we didn’t have to get on it, but there was an accident and it had been shut down since 5am.
The tournament was good. Randy’s team was having a good time and surviving the heat. Reed slept most of the morning and I was sweaty, but ok. At 1pm I decide I need to get Reed (and me) out of the heat so we head back to the hotel. Randy had a 2 hour break so we were going to cool down and then come back for his last match. I completely forgot about I-20. I got on the highway before I could see that the traffic was still stopped. It took me an hour to go one exit. I was in tears because I was so sweaty and hot and truly didn’t know how long I would be stuck. Plus, my a/c was working but there is only so much it can do in stopped traffic. Once again, Reed is a life saver. He slept the whole time. I think I might have had a nervous breakdown if he had been screaming in the back seat because I already felt like a terrible mom for keeping him in the heat as long as I did. Needless to say we did not watch Randy’s last match.
The rest of the weekend was fine. We had dinner with Amanda and John Saturday night and Sunday the boys played again. They finished playing in time for us to take showers in the hotel before we hit the road again. The drive home was SO much better than the drive up there. Totally uneventful.
The reason for the title of my post is that all weekend I kept saying how greatful I am that Reed is such a good sleeper and is so laid back. I wonder where he gets it from, because it obviously isn’t from me!!!!
J
Enter, the Bumbo. This incredible invention provides great support in all directions for babies that can’t quite sit on their own. The only requirement is head/neck control. So… we swung by Target last Saturday and picked one up. We honestly thought that Reed had to still be a bit older to use one, but our friends confirmed that as long as he had the head control, he would be safe and comfortable.
We’ve got lots to tell you about Reed, so in no particular order we are going to brain dump on you what we have experienced in the last month. We are likely going to update this list in the days to come as we remember stuff, so check back later as well.
