Trips with baby V

Her first long car ride was on day 5. Destination: Frost, MN to meet great Gma and Gpa Oswald before they headed to Arizona for the winter. She slept the whole way both there and back thank goodness. :) The whole Oswald clan was there which was super nice...so Miss V got to meet the whole crew. :) Great gpa too commented on how perfect she is...it was so sweet to see the sparkle in their eyes getting to meet her (they hadn't seen any of their great grandkids as tiny babies since they were all born while they were in AZ).

Somewhere in between 5 days and 3 weeks (haha...didn't write down when we headed out)...around 2 weeks we headed to Target for the first time. I was CRAZY nervous CONSTANTLY thinking/worrying about what if this, what if that. I definitely have never moved through Target that fast before. All that worrying and V slept through the whole trip. :) My second trip in though...a different story- quickly after getting in the doors I found myself with a very loudly crying baby and the piercing stares. So we headed to the bathroom so I could breastfeed her while sitting on the toilet. Wasn't so bad but it IS hard to shop while holding a baby and pushing a cart. It's hard to shop with a kid/baby period, is what I've concluded. :)

At 4 weeks, Miss V made her debut at the Mall of America. I just find it so hard to shop with her...I feel so much pressure to get my ass moving- NO BROWSING MOM!!! GET GOING!!! And I can't really be at the MOA without slowly moving about the racks of amazingness. :) It went ok, thanks to Steph and Ariane who I had just picked up from the airport. I didn't think I needed the stroller but I did have the carrier. Again, I continue to learn the hard way...so you have your baby in the carrier, and you're carrying the diaper bag and all your purchases and things you are wanting to buy...not bright. What did we learn? Neither Vera, nor I (at this juncture in time) have the stamina for the MOA. :) And always bring the stroller- even if it's just to carry all my garbage. :)

At 7 wks...we made the 3.5 hour trek to Sioux Falls for Xmas...or at least that's what it would have been if there wasn't a horrible snowstorm thus nearly doubling the amount of time it normally takes. 6 hours later we arrived at our destination. Vera was such a champ!!! Since we left around 8pm V was in sleep-mode so we only needed to stop once for her to eat...otherwise she slept the whole time- thank goodness!!! On the way home, however (which took 5.5 hrs), we left during the day so we had to stop 3 times for her to eat. Lesson learned? Traveling long distances = leaving at night. :)