Leaving

I have never spent a night away from my boy. I spend all day most days away from him, and that is enough. Rob has had a few conferences and a few trips with his friends since Henry was born and has been away about 5 times. I have not.
This weekend will be the first night. I know Henry will be well cared for with his awesome Grandma Susan and Great Grandma Dixie, but I'll miss him. I am worried that he'll be scared at night and wonder where we are. The reality is that he'll probably sleep right through the night which he never does in our house in his own bed- or in ours.
Rob and I met 5 years ago tomorrow and we're going to celebrate at the first place we ever traveled to together, a bed and breakfast in Ste. Genevieve, MO. This part is straight out of a harlequin romance novel: the room we stayed in then and that we'll occupy this weekend is the "Rendezvous Room". What I remember most about our "redezvous" was that we used the jacuzzi tub AND turned on the gas fireplace and minutes later were so overheated that we literally stumbled out of our room onto the outdoor deck to cool off, it was November and we didn't even have jackets on. I was dizzy and dehydrated, our room had baked my brain. Sorry, Rob, but that's what I remember. The blissful 30 degree evening brought me back to life.

So we'll go rendezvous-ing again, but this time I think we'll leave the fireplace off. And I imagine we'll sleep through the night. I could count on one hand, maybe two, the number of times that has happened since 9/2/9. I will also miss my boy like crazy. That little bugger has gotten under my skin.

A Birthday with a Boy

Today was my 36th birthday. I did nothing exceptional. I did take the day off which was nice. There is no way I'd pass any of my personal time in that place, and that is all I have to say about work.

So my boy and I spent the day together. I made him some eggs and French toast and we ate together, then I made a list and we went to the bank and then Target. On the way, he fell asleep so I spent 20 minute in the Target parking lot on the phone letting him catch a catnap. He was in the Ergo in Target as I shopped, I handed him a toy and he chewed on it until it dropped from the carrier onto the floor and he said "uh-oh" about 10 times before I realized he'd dropped his little light up pumpkin toy.

After wandering around in the Ergo, I figured he needed some toddling time so we walked across a few parking lots to the library. Henry and I read some books in the kid's section, he socialized with a couple of kids while some very loud mom read a book to her brood and her daycare kids and I was simultaneously jealous that she sees her kid more than an hour a day and annoyed that she couldn't lower her voice in the library while reading or narrating her life story to toddlers.

On to Aldi's where again the boy was in the Ergo, and I handed his curious hands a plum after wiping it off on my shirt then with a wipe. He ate the entire thing, all with just one tooth. Skin and all, I managed to get the pit and toss that out.

From there, we went home to lunch which was hummus and pita, grapes, and Greek yogurt.

I attempted to nap with him, but he resisted my efforts.

Rob came home, we got out of bed, went outside for a bit then went to yet another box store to find the vacuum bags that Target no longer carries and the boy fell asleep. They stayed in the parking lot and I got my bags, then we all moved to the Royale for dinner.

Henry wandered around making friends, and met Chloe who is the owner's niece. Rob and I shared beer and grilled cheese with apples as Henry had samples of our food plus more hummus, water, and O s (Cheerios, though I prefer to leave them unbranded in his little head) and grew more and more tired.

We came home, put our little person to bed, and watched The Visitor which made me sad.

Then I read birthday messages on Facebook happily, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

This is my life now, simple and small. I wish it could be like this every day.