overnight

Luke stayed overnight with Grammy and Grandpa this weekend for the first time ever! Greg and I like to catch at least one White Sox game each year and they were playing the Royals in Kansas City this weekend so we made the quick drive up and stayed overnight while Luke spent a little extra time with his grandparents here. The last two years Luke has been with us, first in utero and last year in the flesh. Last year was fun but very hot and with Luke more mobile we figured he really wouldn't enjoy it much if we took him with us. It was also nice to have a good chunk of time just to ourselves. Sometimes it feels like I have to remember so many things to tell Greg, just little necessary things to keep our everyday lives going relatively smoothly, that I don't get a chance to just talk with him and enjoy our relationship as much as I would like to. When we do go out just the two of us there always seems to be so much of an agenda that it's hard to relax, I sometimes feel like we have to hurry up and get our quality time in so we can be back to pick up the baby on time. So, even though my heart was in my throat as I said good-bye to my baby and gave him to my parents, it was a really good weekend. Yes, I know they love him, and he adores them, but he is my baby and I always feel not quite whole when I have to leave him with someone else.



So, even though I missed Luke, I really enjoyed the whole trip. The drive up was nice, we talked for a while and then I got a quick nap. When we got to KC we caught a movie which we both enjoyed, and then headed for the ball park. Greg hadn't gotten tickets ahead of time thinking that it is the Royals after all and they shouldn't be sold out, but they basically were... There were a few $75 tickets left and then there was standing room only! We paid $7 each for standing room only and then were able to find seats after the game got started. It was a really fun game, for us anyway! We won 5-3. It was pretty exciting with the winning runs coming late in the game, and everyone was on their feet for the final at bat! We were both on the tired side so we headed back to the hotel, which was beautiful. We got a king sized bed with feather comforter, and the hotel had an indoor/outdoor pool, Jacuzzi, and a fitness room. I had forgotten how much I love to swim! There weren't many people in the pool that night which was great for me, I like to swim, not splash so much. Greg was more tired than I so he worked out a little in the fitness room and then spent most of the time in the Jacuzzi. I enjoyed the pool so much I decided I needed to find a way to go swimming more often so we now have a book of swimming passes for the city pool!

We tried to watch a movie that night but we were both falling asleep and decided to save it for the morning. It was so relaxing, just enjoying the plush room and pool and not having any responsibilities, it was like steeling time or something. It was nice having the time to reconnect with each other without the pressure of deadlines or any of the normal daily interruptions. We slept late, ate a little breakfast while finishing up the movie and took one last swim before checking out. I had the whole pool to myself! I told Greg that if we ever win the lottery or something I wanted to get a pool!

We did some shopping before heading home, another thing that is a million times easier when you aren't trying to keep track of a one year old at the same time! We listened to the White Sox/Royals game on the way home and they won again! Go Sox! We got to my parent's house about supper time and Luke was so sweet! Even though he really doesn't talk it was obvious that he had missed us and was really glad we were home! We had checked in several times while we were gone but we stuck around a bit to hear about the overnight stay in a little more detail. I think everything went really good, he ended up sleeping in their bed most of the night, but my parents had us in their bed when we were little and both said that it felt surprisingly natural to have a baby in their bed again. My mom had enjoyed seeing how he is at night, how he tries to put himself back to sleep and stuff when he wakes up.

One funny thing from our end, Greg told me in the morning that all night long I kept startling and saying things like, "Where's Luke!?!" I don't remember doing that at all so I must have been doing it in my sleep! He also said I kept patting him and stuff like I do with Luke when he wakes up in the night.

So we are back safe and sound and I think we all had a good weekend. Luke is supper sweet, giving me kisses all the time, but also showing his emotions more strongly. The other day he was trying to help me unload the dishwasher and he grabbed a wine glass so I had to take it away from him before he threw it or something and he got really mad and bit the dishwasher! I couldn't help laughing a little bit, I've never seen him do something like that before, but I hope he doesn't turn into a bitter! I asked Mom how he compares to my siblings and I as kids as far as our temperament goes and she thinks he is a lot like me, at least from hearing what I have said about how he is at home. She says he is obviously more comfortable showing his frustration, etc. when he is at home with me, although he is starting to show it more at their house too, but she thinks he is a lot like I was and feels his emotions deeply. She said he is going to be an interesting one to raise! I'm sure having fun raising him!

Tuesday I got called off from work so we decided to make good on our plans to go swimming/work out more often. Greg isn't big on swimming but he wanted to find a good fitness center to use that's not too expensive. We decided to check out the Newton Rec. Center. Greg used their fitness room while Luke and I played in the pool for an hour. I was expecting Luke to be really cautious and clingy and fearful of the water, but I was surprised to find that he really, really enjoyed it! I know he likes his bath, but he hates it when I have to lay him back to wash his hair, and he doesn't like it when I poor water on his head either (so either way it's a struggle to get his head clean) and that's why I was expecting him to be afraid. He was a little cautious, especially at first. The pool has a pretty good sized area that is only two feet deep so we started off there because Luke is tall enough to stand up there by himself, but he was afraid to put his feet down. After trying to set him down and having him pick up his feet twice I just held him and took one foot and put it on the bottom of the pool so he could feel that it was ok to stand up. After that he was fine. He even did a face plant in the watter three separate times and came up without coughing or sputtering and needed only minimal comforting before he was off again! There were a few other families there but it wasn't crowded and they had brought some balls with them to play with and shared them with Luke. He spent the first ten minutes beaming and splashing with his hands, then he started to watch the other little kids really closely, then he started pointing at them and trying to play with them. After a while I decided to take him into the deeper water, where I could stand up instead of crouching down all the time, to see what he would do. Again I was really surprised. He was cautious at first and I kind of swirled him around in the water while holding him close on my hip, but soon he was floating on his tummy with his head held up out of the water and just his hands holding onto my arms while I swirled him around. He even figured out how to kick while I did that! I also showed him how to stand on the edge of the pool and then kind of lean into my arms (he wouldn't jump) and then I would swish him around in the water.

Towards the end there were some bigger boys, grade school to middle school age, playing basket ball in the water and he really wanted to play with the balls. They were really nice and shared with us and the hoop was low enough that I could lift Luke up just high enough for him to put the ball in the hoop and he LOVED that! I think we did that for at least 20 minutes so my arms and shoulders got a really good work out and are sore! It was worth it though, he had such a blast, enjoyed it way more than I thought he would. I think we played in the pool for an entire hour and I think he would have gone longer if it hadn't been getting late. The little turkey refused to take a nap today and by the time 8:30 rolled around I noticed that his patience was wearing thin so I figured we had better get showered and dressed and head home before we had a melt down. (I think he was afraid to fall asleep and wake up to find me gone again. I almost never leave when he is sleeping, we have a good-bye routine that works way better than me trying to sneak out, but he just kept jerking himself back awake every time he got close to sleep and that is my best bet for why.) When we got home he fell asleep almost immediately, I actually changed his diaper and put pajama pants on him without him waking up really!

I have so much fun being his mom! His kisses melt my heart (the other morning he was being silly and he hit me right on the face and then quickly leaned in and gave me a big fat kiss on the chin! Smart little bugger knew I couldn't stay mad after that!) and it is such a blast to watch him learn and grow and experience knew things. I am always learning more about who he is and what he needs from me. Being a mom is such a personal, intimate thing. I know that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes the authorities need to step in when situations are really wrong, but on the flip side, the side of normal loving families, I think we women are often so hard on each other. I don't think we even realize it sometimes. We all want to be the best mothers for our children, and we do that I think by loving them and being in tune with them, who they are and what their needs are. Each child is different, each mother is different, and so each pair may have a slightly different style of parenting and that is actually good. I remember complaining that this or that wasn't fair as a kid, and Mom would say, that's right, it isn't fair, but it is just. It is just what you need, what this child needs, in this situation. If I have more kids, which I hope I do, they won't be exactly the same as Luke, and I will be a different mom for them based on who they are, who I am, and how I can best meet their individual needs.

Well, enough, it's late and I need to go snuggle up with my boys!