We managed to get Adaline to take her medicine and her fever broke after only a day. When asking my husband to fill up her bottle with some fresh soy milk before bed he and my mother discovered that for the past day I had been giving my daughter spoiled soy milk (and the Mother of the Year Award goes to…not me!). Poor baby. No wonder she didn’t want to take her bottle. The milk didn’t give her the fever since she had the fever prior to me opening up the brand new, factory sealed container of soy milk (with a May 2011 expiration date) for her in the van on Saturday. It may, however, have contributed to the vomiting experience we had.
Adaline decided that after be traumatized by a long, grueling ride strapped into a car seat with a fever while being force-fed spoiled soy milk that the only way that she was going to sleep on Saturday night, and Sunday night, and Monday night would be directly on my chest. She would take naps the same way (if she napped at all). That’s okay, though, right? Because with all of the sleep that she’s getting now surely she’ll be in a great mood during the days and I can get some rest while her Grandma and others take turns fawning over her.
But…

Adaline napped on Mommy throughout the trip

Adaline also decided that she would want to be attached to me every single minute of every single day or incessantly cry “Mama!” until your ears would bleed. Daddy? No, thank you. Grandma? No, thank you. Aunt Jessie or Uncle Matt? No, thank you. Mommy? Yes, please! All Mommy, all the time.
Mommy while sleeping, Mommy while awake, on Mommy’s lap while she uses the toilet, Mommy in the bathtub with me when I take a bath, on Mommy’s lap while she tries to eat.
Walking with Mommy? No, thank you. Strapped to Mommy in an Ergo Baby Carrier? Yes, please. Sitting next to Mommy? No thank, you. Sitting on Mommy’s lap clinging to her like a baby monkey? Yes, please.
Oh, the separation anxiety…it was extreme, intense, severe, and unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my life. Luckily as the week went on she became a little more herself. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights she slept in the pack-n-play. And while she still wanted to be attached to me a good bit of the time she began to warm up to the rest of the family again and let them hold her on occasion and she began playing a lot more. We would be heading back home soon and hopefully the return trip would go much better since Adaline was feeling well.
But…

Adaline's attached to Mommy

On Thursday we spent all day at the Magic Kingdom and it was cold. Friday morning Adaline woke up with a wet sounding cough and a mildly runny nose and…her diaper had exploded. I’m not talking about some wet jammies…I mean that the diaper busted open and she was covered in pee-filled gel. We had to go right directly into the tub to try to wash the junk off of her. The runny nose and cough must’ve made it hard for her to sleep, so she slept on my chest again on Friday night (and left an outrageous amount of drool soaking on my shoulder). We left for home around 9am on Saturday morning. We planned on stopping to stay at hotel again since the whole “driving straight through” thing didn’t work for us the last time. Adaline did really well. Although she had her moments from time to time she was pretty quiet through most of the trip and took regular naps (one of them lasting three hours).

Adaline sleeping during the trip home

Adaline would not sleep in her pack-n-play. I had to put her in bed with me (something I’ve never done before). She wouldn’t lie next to me, but rather slept on my chest the whole night. I did not sleep at all because aside from the fact that I was afraid to fall asleep and either crush my daughter or send her rolling off of the bed, I was also kept awake by a freight train driving right through the room my mom snoring and hungry screaming pterodactyls my nephew waking up crying every 45 minutes (*sweet dreams, Jenn*). Nonetheless I wasn’t too concerned about myself and rather just wanted my precious daughter to get a good night’s sleep so that she’d be more pleasant for the rest of the drive in the morning.
But…

I'm so refreshed after my night of (no) sleep and the pack-n-plays that weren't slept in

On Friday before we left on the trip I thought that Adaline felt a tad warm. In the van I thought she felt even warmer but figured it might just be from all of the screaming and crying she was doing. In the morning she felt just as warm if not warmer and after making all of the other adults touch her forehead we agreed that she had a fever. Naturally I had no thermometer to confirm this and no infant medicine to administer to her anyway. The poor darling girl screamed and cried and fussed most of the day. She didn’t want her bottle, although she drank it from time to time. She was miserable and she wanted me to hold her. Of course I could not because she needed to stay strapped in. Finally we were able to get some infant medicine at one of the convenient stores. Now I could give her medicine to break her fever and she’ll feel better much better for the rest of the trip.
But…

This irritating toy kept Adaline quiet for a short time while Cool Daddy was trying to get some rest.

On New Year’s Eve I got the flu. And the flu decided to hang on to me for a week wherein I drowned myself with some sort of disgusting liquid medicine (with an ice cream chaser to kill the taste) and slept as often as I had someone around to watch my daughter. By Friday January 7 I was feeling 95% better.
But…

On Friday we (myself, my 17 month old daughter, my husband, my mother, my sister and brother-in-law, and my 7 month old nephew) intended to drive from PA to FL in order to surprise my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. The plan was to leave in the evening around 6ish, which is normally my daughter’s bedtime, in hopes that she would drift off to sleep in the van and snooze her normal 13 hours while we drove over half of the trip.
But…

Adaline about 2 hours before we left.

My brother-in-law got tied up at work and one thing led to another and they didn’t end up getting to my house until 7pm or later. I’m not really sure as I think I blocked a lot of it out. Between the excitement of so many family members descending on the house at once and the fact that it was over an hour past her bedtime sweet Adaline was overly tired. Surely she’ll drift right off to sleep in the van.
But…

We strapped this poor over tired baby into a car seat (which she normally doesn’t mind) and she was very upset. I tried going through her night time routine in the van giving her the same doll and pacifier, reading the same books, singing the same songs. It was all for naught as she continued to cry and request “up” out of car seat (She would also randomly request “Elmo”, “Bottle”, and “Baby” but each time I attempted to fulfill her request she shoved the item away and said “No!”). She would repeatedly say “itchy” and then I would attempt to scratch her neck or back while she was still strapped into the car seat. She would fall asleep from time to time but while awake she was just miserable. We weren’t far into our trip, maybe about three hours when it was time for my husband to take over driving the midnight shift. He’s used to working shift work for his job, so driving this time of night should be no trouble for him.
But…