To Utah, To Utah Part 1

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jonathan's grandma died, and we drove to Utah so that he could go to the funeral. I wasn't too excited to take a week-old baby to a funeral with lots of people and commotion, besides the fact that I was still exhausted beyond belief, so Jon dropped Atticus and me off in Syracuse for some R&R while he and Netty continued on to Spanish Fork. My parents had a houseful as well, but most people were gone during the day, and I was able to relax and sleep while other people held and took care of the baby. It was still exhausting, but then so is virtually everything after having a baby.

Before we left Idaho we had to pack, take Atticus in for one more bilirubin test and his PKU screening, and drop off the bili blanket at a friend's house so that she could return it for us. All the while we fought desperately to keep Netty awake so she would sleep in the car. And it worked. She slept most of the way.

We tried to only make one stop--the rest stop in the Malad Pass--but after feeding Atticus, letting Netty run around for a while, and getting back on the road for a mile, Atticus started screaming uncontrollably. We stopped at a gas station in Malad to calm him down, and he ate some more. He was fine again until Brigham City. Rather than stopping again I climbed in the back. Of course, we hadn't packed very well, so the back seat was full. So I sat on the floor between the kids. Very uncomfortable. But I took pictures of everyone so all could see that we were having fun on our adventure. As it turns out, Atticus was just cold, so I put Jon's jacket over him.

Netty did very well. When she wasn't sleeping she was looking at an Enfamil coupon book that came in my gift bag from the hospital. She loves this book.

Or she was drinking my water.....

Uncomfortable, but still smiling!

 Jon trying not to go crazy driving on the freeway with screaming babies in the back

As per tradition, Papa rocked Atticus in the famous rocking chair that has all of our names and the dates we were first rocked burned into the bottom. I think Atticus is the youngest since my niece Sierra to be rocked.

 Atticus wasn't impressed.

Despite little sleep and the somber occasion, Netty had a great time at her Great-Grandma Claudia's funeral. They were sitting in the second row pew at the church, and she kept climbing under the seat and patting the casket and trying to get the flowers.

Grandma (Jon's mom) said Great-Grandma Claudia would have been happy to play with Netty at the funeral.

From the left: Mitchell (Jon's Dad), Grandpa Dean, Paul, Craig, and Lionel

We tried to make the trip back to Idaho in one shot, but, of course, the kids had other plans. They both started screaming just before Blackfoot. We pulled off into the Blackfoot Walmart parking lot so I could feed Atticus.

Netty and Jon walked around the parking lot, checking on Atticus and me periodically to see if we were ready to get back on the road.

More pictures of the trip to come....