A Weekend Away

Ethan and I took our first trip away from Leo this past weekend. It was actually my first night away from him since he was born 14 months ago. Less on purpose than just circumstance, but either way, it felt like time to rip off the bandaid. Guess what? We survived. And we actually relaxed. And I worried waaaay less about my baby than I thought I would (thanks to our babysitter who stayed with him, and who loves him, and who took him to so many fun activities that he probably wishes he could move in with her).

It was far harder to actually make the plan to go than to take the trip itself — though I'll admit, the night before we left, I woke up at 4:30am and COULD NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP. For those who know me well, or even a little, that is such an anomaly that it's almost unbelievable. I can sleep anywhere. Any time. Any place. Of course, I had woken up in the middle of the night worrying (what else?) about the smoke detectors in our temporary apartment. It suddenly occurred to me that I had never personally changed the batteries in them, and that I had no idea when said batteries had last been changed. The morning we were supposed to leave, I was already meticulously plotting how I would go to Walgreens and pick up the weird-sized batteries, get out the ladder, install them... until Ethan wisely (and characteristically) reminded me that if the batteries really were low, the smoke detectors would start beeping or flashing. I accepted that and dropped the issue. Still, this might be a new project for me this week. Let's face it, I'm nothing if not safety-conscious.

Smoke detectors aside, we were able to have a relaxing time, eat breakfast-lunch-dinner without a formidable one-year-old grabbing for our coffee, and I even slept in until 9:30am for the first time in about twelve hundred days. I missed my baby, though. I missed getting a "beso" from him, something he just learned a few days ago. When we got back last night, he had (sort of) learned to run, which basically means that our lives as we know them are officially over.

Overall? The trip was absolutely worth it. It was a small thing, really, in the scheme of life — but for a few days, we got to feel like our old selves again.*

*Minus the fit abs, the tolerance for wasted time, and the ability to stay up past 11.