Traveling Alone with Three Kids

Sounds like an oxymoron right? How can you be alone when you're with your kids? Ask any Mom and she'll smile and nod in agreement. Being a stay-at-home mom can be one of the loneliest jobs out there! So, why was I making the trip to Chad's family's home without Chad? Short Answer: He was already there. Long Answer: Chad went to Seattle last Monday for work. He needed to stay the whole week and since there was no way I'd live through a whole week as a single parent, we decided to go up on Wednesday (after Gavin and Alayna's dentist appointments) and stay until Friday. So, here are the highlights of our trip to Puyallup: Went through the drive through at Burger King before getting on the road. Didn't want Alayna to spill her root beer (yes, she drinks pop...I'm so ashamed to admit it!), so I pulled over and gave her several sips and then kept the drink in my drink holder. While on the road, she kept asking for more and I (stupidly) handed it back to her. Few minutes later, I glanced back and she had the lid off and was so close to dumping it all over herself; my heart stopped. Took the next exit, found her sippy cup, dumped out the water that was in it and poured the root beer into the sippy. Got back on the road. Short time later, "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom". Oh Gavin! Alright. Take the next exit. Everyone out of the car. And Cade was asleep too! Now he's awake, crying, wanting to be nursed. Since I hate using the restroom at gas stations without buying anything, I let the kids each pick a treat for the rest of the trip. Alayna chooses gummy worms. That's pretty safe, I think. Wrong! Within minutes, I hear her saying "icky" and I look back and she's got wet gummy worms stuck to her hands. How in the world!?! Next thing I know there are gummy remnants on the seat, in her hair, stuck to her shoe. Oh Alayna! Our normally 2.5 hour trip took 3.5 hours! By the time we arrived, I was about to kill someone!

Sounds like fun, huh? Doesn't beat the trip back! Both Cade and Alayna were not excited about another several-hour-trip-home and decided to protest by crying as loud as possible. We were about half way home when traffic came to a halt! Great.....just when I thought there was nothing worse than driving with two screaming kids in the car. Luckily, the traffic jam didn't last long and both Cade and Alayna cried themselves to sleep....ahh, a few quiet minutes!

So, I found a TV show that I now love! I've heard about it, but I had never watched it. Ever hear of Jon & Kate Plus 8? Its so cool! Kate is this hip, urban Mom with spikey blond hair and a sassy attitude. Jon is this laid back Korean guy and compliments Kate very well. They have 8 (yes 8!) kids. Twin girls and sextuplets (3 boys and 3 girls)! If I ever feel like I have it tough, watching this show makes me feel much better! Plus, one of their twins (Madelyn) reminds me a lot of Gavin. Its interesting for me to watch how Kate deals with her. In the couple of episodes I watched, the twins are 7 and the sextuplets are 3. I was telling Chad about the show and said "That's like 2 Gavin's and 6 Alayna's"!!! Seriously, I don't know how they do it!