Traveling alone with a 9-month old

Gone are the days when I was scared to go to the grocery store with my baby, now I'm a pro at going out with my boy! So when I found out I had to take a trip back to my home town for work, during the week, I figured, no problem!! No need to find a babysitter, I'll just bring my little one with me, and my mom is going to watch him once she gets home from work. The three-hour drive wasn't going to be a problem either, since he's so good in the car.

Sooo, Monday morning, baby boy wakes up, I feed him and strap him in his carseat, thinking he's going to take his morning nap in the car, since driving seems to have the effect of a sleeping pill on him. For some reason no nap, which was ok, since he's just sitting there, looking around, not fussing or anything.

Once we get passed the halfway point of our trip, all the water I have been drinking is starting to weight heavily on my bladder...like ifIdon'tpeenowimgoingtodie kinda deal. And then it struck me, how am I going to do this??? I had nowhere to put him since I had left the stroller at home, so I would have room for the pack n play in my car trunk, I didn't want to bring him in with me and make him sit on the bathroom floor, and I wasn't going to leave him in the car by himself for sure.. so for about 30 minutes I drove, and drove and drove, no rest stop in sight. I kept eyeing the plastic container I had used to bring some strawberries, now empty, I swear I seriously considered just using the container! Really the only thing that kept me from doing it was that I was scared to miss and pee allover my seat. So when finally I saw a little take-out I pulled over, I figured I could go in with the baby, and I could maybe try to hold him while sitting on the toilet. I thought that was kinda weird but hey, I had to go REAL bad. So that's what I did, I somehow lowered my pants (thankfully I was wearing yoga pants!) and sat, with him sitting on my lap. It wasn't even that hard! Later, I talked to my friend about it, also a new mom, and she told me that she does it all the time! So I guess it wasn't that weird after all!

So to all the new moms out there, it is ok, and acceptable to use the bathroom with your little one sitting on your lap, I'm telling you because I wish someone would have told me!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, for part 2 of my first trip alone with my little man