Chicago Trip - Anxieties

Matt & I were both born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. I grew up in the southwest yuppie burbs and Matt has claim to the far north Wisconsin border burbs. This coming weekend we are trekking back with Grace for a week long family adventure.

The week will begin with Matt and his sister Jeanine doing the international distance Chicago Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run.)

We will then go up to Matt’s Dad’s weekend house in Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay, for 3 days.

After that we go back down to my parent’s house for 3 days.

Seems simple, right?

Yeah well…. Here are my anxieties about the coming week:

1. In order to bring his bike back for the Triathlon, Matt is driving back. Grace and I are flying. It will be my 1st experience of single parent air travel.

2. Grace has been sick / teething, as you all know from the previous posts. I am terrified of the thought of a screaming child in an upscale hotel. I am in knots over the thought that she will keep entire households awake. I am so tired that I feel sick, and can’t imagine dealing with this away from home.

3. Long drives. It will take approximately 5 hours to get up to our Wisconsin destination. I think the longest we have ever driven with Gracie is an hour. Should I sit in the back seat with her? Should we stop to feed and change diapers or try to do it while moving?

4. Keeping Grace on her schedule. Between flights, drives, time zone changes and events, how the hell am I going to make sure she gets her normal naps??

5. Pets. My parent’s house is like Noah’s Arc. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but still- 1 large dog (Husky- very hairy) and 2 cats (one is gigantic/very hairy & the other pees all over.)
* Grace pokes and grabs at Ricky like he is a piñata. Nikki, the Husky, isn’t going to like that and I don't trust her not to nip.
* She seems to find every stray hair on the floor and puts them directly into her mouth like it is another source of finger food. There is 100X more hair at my parent’s house than mine.
* Matt’s family has all sorts of pet dander allergies. Cats are specifically troublesome. She was fine in December, but I am nervous.

Tomorrow, when I’ve had more sleep (Please! Please! Please!) I will be more positive and outline the things I am excited about.