A car ride and a 4 month Doctor's appointment

Olive and I were lucky enough to spend last week at Fripp Island with my mom.  It was our second week at Fripp this summer, and we had a wonderful time.  Olive's first three car rides to and from Fripp were relatively uneventful.  In fact her first ride to Fripp this summer in the car with Mark and I went really well.  She slept for four hours, then we all stopped for lunch for an hour, and when we got back in the car she went right back to sleep.  She ended up waking up about 45 minutes from Fripp and was a little fussy for the rest of the trip, but all in all not too bad.  The next two trips were pretty similar; mostly sleeping with some fussing the last hour or so of the trip.  Then on Sunday when I was driving with her alone back to Atlanta, she became a car terror.

She fell asleep as we were leaving Fripp, and I figured the trip was going to be similar to the other trips.  I was settling in to drive for 3-4 hours without stopping, when she woke up after 45 minutes.  I was hoping she would just fall back asleep, but that did not happen.  Instead she started to fuss, and then cry, and then she got hysterical.  I pulled over into a gas station.  I figured I would take my time, feed her and give her some awake time so she would be ready to go back to sleep when we started up again.  I fed her in the car, changed her diaper, we walked around the gas station, I filled my gas tank, put some air in one of my tires.  After more than an hour at the gas station I thought she seemed pretty sleepy.  We got back in the car, and she proceeded to start crying again almost immediately.  Once again she was hysterical, I pulled off the highway, luckily at that exit there was a Walmart.  I hatched a new plan; I would keep her in her carseat and put her in the stroller, and we would walk around Walmart until she fell asleep, then I would put her carseat back in the car, that way she would already be asleep.  We walked around Walmart for 20 minutes until I was sure she was really sleeping.  We made it back out to the car, and even into the car.  Then the stupid stoplight leading out of Walmart's parking lot took forever, and she was once again awake before we even got on the highway.  We made it another 20-30 minutes when her cries made me pull over once again.  We were at a gas station, and I proceeded to change her, feed her, let her play for a bit.  After an hour we got back on the road, she fussed for the first 20 minutes and then miraculously she fell asleep.  We made it a good two hours, and then she woke up again right as we were approaching Macon.  I decided to stop in Macon for dinner, and was hoping if I took my time she would be ready to get back in the car and go the last hour and half to Atlanta.  Well we had a great time at dinner, and she was so happy that I just couldn't bring myself to make her get back in the car.  I called Mark and he agreed that the best decision was for Olive and I to spend the night in a hotel.  As soon as we made the decision I felt a huge weight lifted off me.  The day had been emotionally exhausting, and knowing that all I had to do was find a hotel room made me feel a million times better.  So Olive and I spent her first night in a hotel room in Macon, only an hour and half from home.  The next morning when we got back on the road she fussed a bit for the first 10 minutes and then passed out the rest of the way home.  Let's just say I am happy our next two trips involve flying and not driving.

Yesterday Olive had her 4 month well visit.  The nurse was surprised to see her two teeth, and was impressed at how much head/neck control she has.  Olive is now 26 and 1/8 in long (98%) she weighs 15lb 1.5oz (75%) and her head is 16 and 3/4 in (90%).  The doctor is happy with her progress, and said the hair loss Olive has been experiencing is normal.  I'm just hoping she doesn't lose anymore, currently we can do a pretty good job hiding the missing hair, but if she loses much more it's going to be pretty obvious.

With her Gammie.

Daddy watching her at Panera while Mommy uses the free internet to update the blog.  We still don't have internet at our new place.  And yes I recognize how ironic it is that she is sleeping in both these pictures.