Melissa's 1st road trip!

On 5/31/08 we packed up the SUV and headed to Boerne Texas or the hill country. Paul's brother Dan and family live in the hill country outside of Boerne. Melissa did good for her 1st road trip. It took us about 7 hours to get there because of the three stops we made. Melissa only slept 1 hour out of the whole 7 hours. She did good as long as I was in the back with her. Once we got to the in-laws Melissa was ready to be on the move. She had know idea that she was going to be over run by her cousins, Aunt's and Uncle's. She loved the attention.

That night we had more of Paul's family come out and have dinner with us. Melissa got to meet her Uncle Michael for the 1st time. It was good to see him. By the time bed time came Melissa was ready for bed. I didn't know how she would do sleeping in the pack n play. She did good she slept all night.


Uncle Michael





Cousin Lisa

Uncle Dan

Cousin Sydney reading to Melissa before bed

The next day Sunday, 6/1/08 was just a day of rest for us. I wasn't about to put Melissa in her car seat unless we just had to. Well we did. We went to my brother in-laws church picnic. Melissa had a great time on the water slide with her cousins Conner. Conner is 13 and just loved Melissa. Paul had to leave that day and fly to Houston for work. We stayed busy, missing him.









Monday, 6/2/08 rolls around and Melissa was having fun playing with her three cousins. Conner, Sydney and Jordan. Jordan was the baby of the family until Melissa came. Jordan wasn't to happy with Melissa when we first arrived, but she came around. Jordan is 3 and calls Melissa (Belissa) I just thought that was so cute! Poor Sydney wasn't feeling well so I had to keep Melissa away from her. Sydney just wanted to love all over her and I just didn't want to take a chance of Melissa getting sick.


Jordan reading to Belissa!

That night, my sister in-law Jackie, Sydney, Belissa and I went into town for an snow cone. Melissa loved eating a snow cone! Then the evening goes down hill. We headed over to an area that has lots of grass and Melissa is loving that. She can just walk and walk all she wants. I then take her over to an area that has a water fall and we put our feet in. She had enough of that and wanted to walk around. So she finds herself attracted to a bright light. I didn't think twice about the light. This light was lighting up the flag poll. Well Melissa touch the light and I hear the worst scream come out of her. She had burned her little hand. I didn't think about the cover of this light being hot! I didn't know what to do. Jackie went and got her some ice and we put her hand in it. She is still screaming. I just was sick to my stomach. We are getting ready to take her back to the house to get her to come down. I know what it feels like to burn your hand so it just made me feel so bad. Melissa can't stop crying and makes herself throw up. The drive take about 20 minutes to get back to the house. Once we got her home I gave her some Motrin for the pain, gave her a bath to help calm her down. Her little hand was so red! I was able to get Melissa to stop crying and calm down. I put her to bed and said a prayer that the burn wasn't bad. Believe it or not she slept all night with out waking up. I just thought the worst that she would be up all night.



So the next morning (Tuesday, 6/3/08) Melissa wakes up and her right hand had blisters on all her fingers and 2 more under her pointer finger. I was surprised that she wasn't bothered by it. She played all day it never seemed to hurt. Melissa's older cousins Lisa and Jacob come out to see us. Lisa also brought her nephew Emmit who is almost 2 years old. He loved Melissa, but was rough with her. She didn't know what to do with a boy who was rough. Well later that day Melissa fell over a toy and hit her head on a glass coffee table. Here we go again with the crying. This kid is just getting all banged up on this trip. Luckily she wasn't hurt to bad. Just a little bump that went away that night.


Can you see the blisters on Melissa's hand?


Cousin Jacob


The Liberto Cousin's (missing cousin Courtney)


We headed back to Boerne for another snow cone that night and to listen to a German Band at the park. It was a nice evening and Melissa loved the music. She was walking around clapping her hands and making new friends.






Our visit was coming to an end on (Wednesday, 6/4/08). It was time for Melissa and I to pack up the SUV and start heading home. We planned on stopping in Georgetown to stay with my Girl friend Linda and her family. This would help me break up the trip for Melissa. That morning Melissa woke up in a bad mood. I thought great this is going to be a long 2 hour trip to Georgetown. After her morning nap she was still cranky and not happy. She didn't want to eat her lunch, that was not like her. It was time to go, we said our goodbye's and off we went. We hadn't been gone 10 minutes when I hear Melissa throwing up. I was on the phone with Paul telling him we just left his brother's house when she throw up. I told Paul that I was turning around heading back to the in-laws. I could not believe this. When we got back to their house, Melissa was a mess. I just wanted to cry. I was so worn out from this trip and now this. We take her in give her a bath and she was ready for a nap. When she woke up she was burning up. I knew she was sick. Jackie and I take her into town to the Urgent Care center. Melissa has an ear infection. This was Melissa's 1st ear infection. We ended up staying the night at Dan and Jackie's one more night.

Thursday morning (6/5/08) Melissa woke up and was feeling so much better. She had Motrin, Tylenol and antibiotics in her. Since she was feeling a little better, we had to get home. Wait, I have to drive all day with Melissa. Yes we couldn't stay at my friend Linda's because she wasn't going to be home that night. So Melissa and I got on the road at 9:00am and pulled into our apartment complex at 4:20pm. We did stop at Linda's for lunch and let Melissa play and eat. Melissa slept about a total of 4 hours, that's because she wasn't feeling well.

I can say I was so happy to be home. It wasn't that we had a bad visit, it was that my nerves where shot. Nothing worse then traveling and all those things happening to your baby. I hope that one day I can look back on this and laugh. I'm just happy I had Dan and Jackie to help me out.

Oh remember how I say I didn't want Melissa to get sick! Paul and I both came down with something. Thanks Sydney for the germs! We still love you.