we made it!

My dad is my absolute savior. There is no way I would have been able to drive from Texas to New Jersey with Elliott all by myself. Even following Ryan would have been a challenge. I sat in the backseat with her while my Dad, always a driver and never a passenger, took over the steering wheel. Four days and three Hampton Inns later, we landed at my parents house where I completely crashed after breathing a huge sigh of relief!

Elliott did pretty well, considering she was cooped up in her car seat for so long and grew a brand new tooth on the way. She cried a good deal of the time, but also slept quite a bit, probably because she'd stay up until 11:00 every night before plopping herself down to sleep. Of course, whenever we took a break (and there were many), she cheered right up!

We stopped at a lot of Cracker Barrels.
Those chairs were great for bottle breaks! (5/20)

Thank goodness for the frequent napping! (5/21)

One of the many rest stops we visited.
She loved being able to move around! (5/21)

Good morning, world! No cars today, ok, Mom? (5/22)

Well, if I must, I might as well sleep! (5/22)

Here is a rather hilarious video of her in our hotel room on Saturday night, when she rediscovered the joys of kissing herself in the mirror. It was obvious she knew she was cracking us up:

Elliott kisses Elliott (5/22)

Anyway, we're both really glad to be settled in at my parents for the week. The official move to our new place in DC will occur next week, after Ryan and his brother haul the trailer up and do all the manual labor it takes to move into the ninth floor of an apartment building. Poor boys!