Mommin' It Up!

July 13, 2009July 12, 2009

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Well I’m back from the beach, home from my mom-cation, my getaway, my time alone. And it was great! By Saturday night, I was really missing my family BAD, though. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder. But anyhow, now that I am back in the bosom of my loving family, allow me to give you a full report on what I did on my summer vacation.

1) Got several new tan lines and hundreds of new freckles

2) Ate breakfast overlooking the ocean on my balcony

3) Ate a lot of meals alone in the hotel restaurant while tweeting on my lovely Vivienne Tam HP Mini

4) Watched not one, not two, but three couples get married Saturday night on the beach, a few hundred feet apart from one another

5) Took a GIANT three-hour nap

6) Forgot to put the cup under the one-cup coffee maker, resulting in my coffee making itself all over the side table in my hotel room. Oops.

7) Watched a fair amount of cable. DO you know they have a show on TLC called “I didn’t know I was pregnant”? Have you ever SEEN that show?? GAH!! Unbelievable!!

8 ) Took some great walks on the beach

9) Read three and a half books

10) Missed my babies

IT was a wonderful trip…thanks to my sweet hubby for sending me away, and welcoming me back home!

July 9, 2009July 8, 2009

Bittersweet Beach

Tonight I took a walk on the beach by myself. A long walk, so long that when I turned back I could no longer see my hotel, and I was nervous that I might not be able to distinguish which one of the peachy-pink beachfront hotels was mine. Luckily for me, when it came back into view, I could see that the word “Ramada” was printed on it’s side in GIANT letters. I imagine they did that for the advertising benefit and the benefit to directionally challenged vacationers like myself is just a bonus.

But anyways –

I walked so long that at the end of my walk my hips hurt, and my lower back, reminding me of what an out-of-shape old lady I am. And I think, if Sophie was with me here on the beach, she’d have RUN me that distance, her little orange-and-yellow-swimsuit-clad bottom streaking across the sand before I could blink. And then, I’d really be sore.

But she’s not with me. On this beach vacation, I am alone.

Alone! How can it be? I don’t go on vacation alone. How am I here? What am I doing here? It’s crazy, so crazy I didn’t even really believe I was going until I was on a plane here.

I’m here, at the beach, by myself, because my sweet hubby thought I needed a break. This is what happens when you lose your mind, ladies. You get sent off not to the looney bin but to the beach! I’m not complaining.

I’m thankful for the break, thankful to see the ocean, smell it, feel it between my toes. I can’t wait to sleep in and nap and not change poopy diapers for a couple of days.

But, oh, I miss them already! It was so hard to leave them at the airport. I held Sophie for the longest time. Joshua was all, “have a great time!” – he’s just thrilled that Daddy’s going to be home from work for a few days. But Sophie, she doesn’t get it yet. And I felt so bad leaving her. Ah, no “break” would be complete without the mother’s guilt.

So. Tonight I took a long walk on the beach. Alone. And it was awesome just to take it all in, to really SEE it.

I think I’ll do it again tomorrow.

July 1, 2009

The Interloper

Joshua frequently climbs into bed with us at night, but most nights he times it well, and I am still too out of it (thanks to my new BFF Ambien) to do anything about it. Bobby is a hard sleeper and many times doesn’t even wake up for the blessed event at all. In the morning, he has consequences – no Hot Wheels, no computer, no racing games with Daddy – whichever seems most important to him at the time.

And while I’ll admit that I would prefer Joshua stay in his own bed all night (I mean really, we have a full-size bed, and what happens is that Bobby and I either both get about 4 inches of it each to sleep on and/or we wake up with a foot in our face), I will be sad when he doesn’t want to do it anymore. When he is too big to want the comfort of falling asleep with his head on his mama’s back, I will feel a loss.

Which is why last night, when Joshua came in our room at 10:37, and I was still wide awake, and Bobby had just gone downstairs to do a few chores before bed, I just patted the space next to me and bid him come. And as he wallowed all over me until he finally got comfortable with his arm flung possessively over my shoulders and his head buried in my back, I thought, Oh, how I want him to love me like this forever!

I listened to his breathing as he relaxed and fell asleep, his warm little body practically fused with mine, and I savored every second until I too slept.

And when I woke up at four a.m. perilously perched on four inches of the bed with a foot in my face, I felt remarkably more cheerful about it than I usually do when I shoved him over to reclaim some space.

And I thought, I sure am a lucky mama.