June 30, 2007

Traveling with a baby

Two naked babies

  • Number of hours for full roundtrip, estimated by google, 20; actual: 30
  • Number of hours Ella was fussy during full roundtrip: 1.5
  • Time spent driving new car before trip, in minutes: 60
  • Time spent by Ella in new car seat before trip, in minutes: 20
  • Level of anxiety about new car and seat before trip: Orange
  • Level of anxiety about Ella's first long car trip: Red
  • Number of hours we were late departing: 3
  • Number of relatives at the reunion offering to take Ella home: 2
  • Time on spying our car pulling up before Ella's grandmother rolled up her sleeves to better get her hands on baby, in seconds: 8
  • Time spent listening to family updates before Ella fell asleep, in minutes: 4
  • Number of shopkeepers in Madison offering to take Ella home and "give her back when she's a teenager": 1
  • New toys purchased for Ella: 1
  • Percent of strangers who saw Ella and beamed at her (estimate): 98
  • Number of restaurant high chairs Ella has now sat in: 6 (previously: 0)
  • Percent of additional rest stops we stopped at: 100
  • Change in time spent at rest areas per rest stop, in minutes: 20
  • Percent of interstates traveled with construction: 100
  • Time with white-knuckles in Chicago traffic on Sunday night, in hours: 2
  • Time spent sitting still in interstate traffic for no discernable reason, in minutes: 15
  • On arriving home, percent certainty we have one of the BEST BABIES EVER: 100

Next: Reunion, and visiting Kira (and Julie and Paul)
Previous: Saga of the new car (ending: hooray for Valley Honda)