Changes

Driving down the road the other day I was reminded of our trip back to Missouri two Christmas's ago. We drove my little bmw coupe 1200 miles to Missouri. . . with our two dogs in tow. I took out the back seat (leather), built a wooden platform, and somehow managed to unfold their gigantic metal kennel into the backseat. It was a very cramped drive. Our seats were about as far forward as they could go, and were also as upright as possible. But our dogs? Oh, they were very comfortable.

Though it was snowy I made sure to stop the car frequently to let them out and go to the bathroom, to let them run around. It was a fun trip. One of the things I remember the most was being worried about their sleeping schedules. Alexis stayed up with me through the night. I would look into my rear view window and there she sat, just gazing out in front of her. Oh, I was so worried about how tired she was going to be!

When we got to my parents house, Kyle and I talked about how we were thinking about getting a new car because their just was not enough room for the dogs. This was a real reason why we were thinking about getting a new car. My mom took it as code for, "Kyle and Caitlyn are going to have a baby."

Turns out she was right, and I had been thinking about how impossible it would be to get kids out of a two door car.

With Jonathan almost 15 months old now, I laughed in the car as I remembered this story. I cared about the sleeping schedule of dogs. With a baby it now seems so silly that I should have cared so much about my animals. Obviously they were important to us, and I think it is important to take good care of your pets. . . but, they were grown pets perfectly capable of taking a nap whenever and wherever they wanted (Alexis illustrates this perfectly in the last picture. . . that is my luggage she is curled up in), but I was just so sure that they were going to be so tired!

We now drive a station wagon. I purchased the station wagon because it had a big enough back area to put the kennel in. We no longer have the dogs, but that space is put to good use. . . a stroller, toys and portable crib. . . because, I am still worried about sleeping schedules, and there is nothing worse than a tired baby.