Isabella does not travel well!

Sat. morning we got up and braved the not-so-wonderful (snowy) road conditions and made the trip into Chicago to visit Jeff's Grandpa. Grandma Linda, Grandpa Jack and Aunt Jillian also made the trip in from Ohio. Isabella was in a good mood Sat. morning and we drove for about an hour and 1/2 (Isabella slept for about 40 minutes) before we stopped for lunch at a Culvers. Isabella was happy and talking and waving at all the customers there. We drove the next part of the trip and made it to Pa's. I was hoping for a bit of a nap on the second part of the drive, but Isabella didn't. We hung out at Pa's and visited for a bit. Grandma had cleaned up lots of toys of Steven's for Isabella to play with.
Then it was time to check in at the hotel. Then we met everyone at Applebee's. Isabella had been sort of cranky on and off, but not too bad. It was a little hard to keep Isabella entertained at Applebee's, but she ate lots of food. She must have been starving. She ate a cheese stick and fruit cup we had brought with us, then she ate a whole mozzerella stick, a decent amount of my burger, some of Jeff's chicken sandwich and then a bunch of fries. Maybe that's one of the reasons she didn't sleep so well that night! It was a tough night. We took her back to the hotel and had her asleep in her pack and play at around 8pm. Then at 10:30 she woke up and then again about once an hour for the rest of the night. Screaming. I think she hates her pack and play. However, picking her up doesn't even calm her down and she doesn't know how to sleep in the bed with us. So she screamed. And then she'd sleep for about 45 minutes and scream again. Hopefully it didn't disrupt anyone, they would have thought we were horrible parents with a screaming baby like that.

(what's she doing with that pacifier in her mouth?.. more on that later)

The next morning we met everyone at Gabe's cafe and were SURPRISED by an impromptu visit from Aunt Loo and Uncle Bill from Madison. They'd never met Isabella, so it was really nice to see them. We all thoroughly stuffed ourselves at Gabe's (including Isabella again, yummy omelets) and then went back to Pa's.

(the whole crew at Gabe's)

Isabella just wasn't totally acting like herself all weekend at all. She seems to have developed a little anxiety around people she doesn't know very well. I don't think she let anyone but Jeff and I pick her up all weekend.

(trying to get Bella to hang out with Pa)

She just doesn't seem very easy to travel with, which is really unfortunate. We've already said we don't think we can stay the two nights in Dubuque for the annual alumni tournament in March, but that hasn't been totally decided yet. Much easier to stay home, but I don't want it to have to be like that.