Time Off

My goodness, it was hard to come into work today.  I’m so thankful for time off, spent with family.  I was off for 11 days straight.  It was just what I needed to recharge and it definitely helped my heart heal.  I still have no idea what our future holds and maybe we’ll find another way to grow our family, but I do know that my boys are my everything and when life gets me down, a few days with them will definitely lift my spirits.  So what did we do for those 11 days?  Well, the first 4 were all about Christmas – preparing for it and then experiencing it. 

Tuesday morning, I headed out to visit a friend and her new baby.  It was a bit difficult given our situation, but there was no way I was going to miss out on meeting this sweet baby boy.  Emily and I have been friends since middle school and she was in my wedding.  It took a long time for this little guy to make an appearance – Em had wanted a baby for years.  And then it happened and I was overjoyed for her.  Happy I got to snuggle her little one who just so happens to share his name with my dear husband.  A and I planned to see a movie that afternoon.  We hadn’t been to the movie theater in a long time – like over a year.  So while I was visiting Emily, she asked if we had reserved tickets.  My response: huh??  So I got home and told A that people were reserving tickets these days.  We had no idea.  And sure enough, our movie was sold out.  We had the wonderful Jane coming over to watch the boys so we went out for lunch instead.  It was great to have time to ourselves.  I really enjoy talking to A and it was so nice to do that without being interrupted 1429 times. ;)

Wednesday, A and I took the boys to the local library.  They had fun playing with legos, going to story time, and working on magnetic puzzles.  We let W choose our lunch destination and he picked Chili’s.  The boys did great and after lunch, we headed home so that S could nap.  That evening, we met my mom for dinner at Bonnie Brook.  Definitely a fun day.

Thursday was spent at home.  It was Addie’s last day at doggy day care.  We’re still sad that this place closed after Addie’s been going for 7 years, but we did find a new place.  More on that coming up.  A and the boys dropped her off and then brought home Starbucks.  I had a haircut scheduled for the afternoon and I was really nervous about it.  I’ve been going to the same stylist for about 15 years and a few days prior, the salon called to say that my stylist would be out for a couple weeks because her mom was very ill.  They had rescheduled me with someone else.  I have bad hair and things hadn’t exactly been going my way lately so I was sure the appointment would be a disaster, but I told myself to give this girl a chance.  It was just hair and could be fixed if necessary.  Well, the new girl was amazing!  My hair looked great and she did some scalp massage thing while washing my hair that was awesome.  And she was cheaper!!  I was so impressed!  And relieved!! :)

Friday, I asked my mom if she would mind watching the boys for a couple hours.  A is such a movie person and I am not.  I knew he was really disappointed that we didn’t get to see a movie on Tuesday so we decided to try again and actually reserved tickets this time around.  We saw La La Land and we both really liked it.  Also what the heck happened to movie theaters??  The theater looked more like a stadium.  We had reclining seats and the chair arms moved up so that you could basically create a couch.  I’m not complaining, but geesh, you don’t go to a movie in a year and everything changes!!  Anyway, we enjoyed the movie and then picked up the boys and headed to one of our favorite pizza restaurants.  After that, W had a sleepover at Nani and Papa’s house.  I think he enjoyed some one on one time and so did S.  And S slept until 7:30 the next morning!!  It was glorious!!

Saturday, I went and got a pedicure.  I hadn’t had one in years.  A was planning to see the new Star Wars movie with a friend (not my thing) so I asked if he’d mind if I did something for myself.  I so enjoyed it and chose glittery purple since it’s W’s favorite color.  Then it was off to lunch to meet up with W, Nani, and Papa.  We finished off the day with W helping me make my “famous” mac and cheese.

Sunday, everyone was just a bit off.  S woke during the night.  Our alarm didn’t go off and we had to scramble to get ready for church.  Both boys were just in a bad mood.  W didn’t want to get dressed for church and we were already running really late.  At church, S started crying and we had to go to the lobby.  W loudly announced that he didn’t want S to be in our family and the people behind us started laughing.  Starbucks was ok, until it was time to leave.  W didn’t want to wear a coat despite it being 26 degrees outside and proceeded to have a full on meltdown.  At that exact moment, S also started having a tantrum because he wanted to hold a ceramic ornament and I wouldn’t let him.  I actually started laughing because they were both a mess.  Sorry, Starbucks patrons!!  One of the baristas came over and picked up S and he was so surprised that he stopped crying so that was cute.  Once we got home, A went to the Star Wars movie and both boys remained cranky until we started coloring 2017 calendars.  After that, things were better.

Monday, W’s friend was supposed to come over for a play date, but she wasn’t feeling well.  W requested pizza for lunch so we had that.  Afterwards, I had a headache and wasn’t feeling great so I laid on the couch and fell asleep!  I actually took a nap and the boys were quiet enough!!  Craziness.  When I woke up, on a whim, we decided to take the boys bowling.  It was so much fun!!  S was adorable and any time it was his turn, he would very enthusiastically run to the lane and push his ball.  W was great too.  Also, on this day, Addie tried out a new doggy day care.  We found one down the road, but were nervous about how Addie would do at a new place, with different dogs.  She’s a rescue dog and we absolutely love her, but she can be a little difficult and is leash aggressive.  This place also didn’t open until 7am, which was too late for A to drop her off.  I already bring W to school 3 days per week, so wasn’t thrilled to have another drop off added to my schedule, but would make it work if I had to.  Anyway, the owner was super nice and said he had no concerns.  If Addie was used to going to the other day care for several years, she’d be fine at the new one and he said that A could drop her off at 6:45am, which is a tremendous help.  He posted photos of Addie on their FB page and she looked to be having a great time.  As an added bonus, they have day care on Saturdays, which is awesome.  I’m so relieved.  Monday was such a great day and a great start to the new year. If vacation had to end, I’m happy it ended on a positive note. :)

Back to the grind!