"Mommy's vacation"

This past weekend I got a much needed break from being a mommy; I got to go with some friends from church on our semi-annual girls' getaway weeekend. We left Friday morning and didn't get back until Saturday evening, just in time for kids' bedtime. Our trip included a stop at an outlet mall, Chicago-style pizza for dinner, a Christian concert on Friday evening, my first night without kids in more than a year, and Navy Pier on Saturday. Needless to say, the whole experience was wonderful and refreshing. In addition to all of the great fellowship and activities, one thing I truly enjoyed was not having to deal with anyone else's digestive system, either the input or the output, for 36 hours :)


I think the experience gave all of us in the family a renewed appreciation for one another. Matt got a taste of stay-at-home-ness while I realized again how great a dad Matt really is. Matt even took the girls to Culver's for lunch, to a cookout Friday evening that another dad had organized, and to the zoo on Saturday morning. Whew!

The vacation continued on Sunday when Matt and I spent the afternoon driving to and from Iowa to look at, and then purchase, a new (to us) truck. I've come to think of it as a "truck upgrade" since the current one has more holes in the body than we can count and we're not quite sure of the safety of it's bed. Anyway, my mom was driving through and watched the girls from church until about 4, then Melissa came over to play and take care of dinner.

By Sunday night, I missed my babies! The whole experience reminded me again of how thankful I am that I can be home with Anna and Kate; only seeing them for about an hour in the evening on Saturday and Sunday was certainly different from normal.

The girls did great without me/us (*sigh*), but as Melissa reminded me, that's a good thing :) That's the goal of parenting ... to work yourself out of a job ... right, Mom?

Anyway, one noteworthy item about Kate is that she is trying really hard to talk and walk. She uses a handful of signs, points fairly effectively, and tries to imitate some words. She can also take a few steps at a time, but she usually doesn't initiate it. I give her a week, maybe two, before she makes the big transition to trying to walk on her own.



What to say about Anna? She's great. Loves "Super Why" on PBS, is really full of energy, sings all the time, tells jokes, helps me unload the dishwasher and vacuum up the floor with the dustbuster after meals, and can't get enough of her books. Let's hope this honeymoon period from me being gone over the weekend lasts all week :)