Car Riding

We just got our first car in over 10 years...by choice, hubby and I have been car-less for a very long time.  We live in the city where everything we need is just a walk or a subway ride away and anyplace that we need to drive to is handled with zip car.  We recently leases a Honda CRV...very exciting for us - nice and big enough for all the baby stuff you inevitably lug around and big enough for a potentially 'growing' family. 

But here's the thing - Jenna is not used to being in the car and by not used to I mean not happy in it.  Especially since she's been able to walk she doesn't really appreciate being strapped into anything (strollers, carseats).  So even though I always said I would never plan my life around her naps, I'm finding myself doing just that (how many things do we say we'd never do and end up doing them anyway) - but you know what - that doesn't always work!

We took a day trip to Pennsylvania this weekend to visit some friends and family.  It's about a 2 hour car trip door to door.  We left in the morning and timed it with Jenna's morning nap - and she did nap - sort of...closed her eyes for a bit then would open them then close them again (not sure that it really counts as a nap if she's never fully out).  And then when we had about 15-20 minutes left to our trip the crying and whining began. Fun times! On cue, hubby looked over at me and said "why'd we get a car?" (getting the car was more my push than his).  So we listened to her Music Together CD - well just the first song (it's her favorite) over and over until we finally got to grandma's house.  Okay - not horrible...but not wonderful either...

Coming home - probably left too late, but c'mon she typically goes to bed on the earlier side (I'm talking 6:30ish) - we're not going to leave a barbecue on a beautiful Saturday at 6:00!  So we ended up getting on the road around 8ish...it was really dark by then but again, Jenna was in and out of sleep the entire ride home.  To the point where I had to climb into the backseat to keep her in sleepy-land....Again, not horrible, but certainly not relaxing either...On the bright side she transferred into her crib pretty well - only took a few minutes to get comfortable and then slept through the night. 

I'm not really complaining, well maybe a little bit!  I'm thinking it could be just getting used to being in a car a little more often or maybe getting used to her new big girl carseat (facing forward now!), or maybe she's just not into road trips!