And the opposite of a successful trip is..

Kutaisi - near Gelati Monastery

 I was feeling pretty good after our first overnight trip with Cora.  "I can do this!", says I... to myself.  Of course, I'm sure I only half believed myself, because, well - I'm not always that honest.  Mostly I am, but nobody's perfect.  It's hard to be honest when you WANT to believe something.  Then it seems really true even when it's not.  Which brings us back to me thinking I can do this.

Just a few short days after our trip to Sighnaghi, James had a work trip to Kutaisi.  Cora and I decided to tag along.  Mostly because I am terrified of staying alone overnight in our house.  You may be thinking I'm terrified because it would be hard to take care of her alone.  Sure - yes, but that is not what terrifies me.  Or you might be thinking I'm afraid of an intruder breaking in.  You bet that would be scary, but we kind of live in a safe area with big fences and guards and we know all our neighbors.  So no, not terrified of that.  I am terrified of ghosts.  I am afraid that if I am alone I might be like the kid in Sixth Sense and see dead people.  Or hear them.  And I swear sometimes when James is late and I'm alone I have.  Heard them.  Anyway, who is really rational in the middle of the night?  Not me.  Truth be told I'm hardly rational during the day.  So the fact is, I went to Kutaisi to avoid the ghosts that will come to our house if I am alone.

Ha, ha.  Laugh it up. But just so you know...you're laughing alone.  (or are you?)

The night before we left, M.B. (I've decided it's time to give Cora a nickname in my blogs, and I think Mafia Boss or M.B. for short is endearing (no), cute (no), and entirely accurate (yes).  As I was saying, M.B. threw up all of her dinner the night before we left.  I was a little nervous that we might be taking a sick child with us, but she seemed fine all night and the next morning.  So off we went.

And here are the lessons I learned:

1.  You should not ever travel with any other people.  Especially adults without children.  Why?  Because they will think it's OK to stop and go as they please.  That you should eat when you are hungry, or pee when you have the urge.  Nay.  You must only stop the car when your child is awake, or they will wake up.  You must only let them out of their car seat when you are sure you can get them back in.  And above all else, you must GET TO YOUR DESTINATION AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  M.B.'s usual 1.5 hour car nap became a 45 minute nap when our partners in crime stopped for a rest stop 1 hour in to our trip.  That set the tone for the next 48 hours.

2.  You should not believe that because your baby doesn't throw up again that they aren't sick.  M.B. (mafia boss) got congested and spent the next 48 hours in misery.  She couldn't breathe, she was hot and cold and she wouldn't sleep more than 10 minutes at a time w/o waking up and screaming because she couldn't breathe.  I got up with her every 30 minutes to rock her back to sleep from 11:30pm - 4:00am.  Which means that when she woke up for good at 5:30 am, I had no sleep under my belt.

3.  Remember that hotel walls are thin.  Even if you wouldn't rock your baby every time they cry at home....

4.  Don't assume your baby will sleep anywhere.  Crib, yes.  Pack 'n play....maybe not.

5.  If your child is sick, a car ride home can be miserable.  Ours included a complete inability on the part of M.B. to sleep, breathe and eat for 3.5 hours, coupled with a stressed out daddy who needed to be working in the car, and an exhausted mommy who had to drive the car so daddy could (not) work, but care for screaming baby while mommy tried to stay awake and not crash.  Did daddy have a complete melt down and yell things like "Don't answer me when I'm saying crazy things!!!!" right before throwing his blackberry into the front of the car?  I'll never tell.  (Yes, it's funny now.)

So yeah, the second overnight gave us a little more of a reality check, but will we give up?  Not yet.  One more and we'll see. 

On a positive note, I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed the town of Kutaisi which was about 10 degrees warmer than Tbilisi (78 degrees baby!), had sidewalks to walk on, and friendly people.  Cora was cheek pinched by another million people and only one actually snatched her right out of James' arms in a bakery.  Now I know why I love the Baby Bjorn. 

A couple of photos from our visit to the Gelati Monastery, where the priests and nuns gave M.B. a very special photo of (I think) Mother Teresa and asked for a photo with her.

Question:  At 8 months did anyone's baby start to go crazy at bedtime?  Suddenly waking up every time you put them down asleep and screaming for 30 minutes with no identifiable pain?  I read about separation anxiety which is what it feels like - but what do you do?  She was so good at just going to sleep the last 2 months....