A Boy and His Stuffies

I weaned Judah before we went to Las Vegas. He will be 2 in November. Judah LOVED nursing, day and night. He would choose milk over food any hour. I loved nursing him! I was getting very tired though, as he would want to eat all night long and he was tired and cranky because he was distracted by the fast food drive in sleeping in the same room as him. Weaning is sad. The little ones feel very sad but I think mommy feels more sad! There is something so wonderful about being able to take that quiet moment and snuggle.

However, life goes on, and we find other ways to cuddle and rest. In the meantime, Judah is sleeping like a log all night long (he usually wakes briefly once or twice and just wants to hold my hand for a minute), and I am starting to sleep better also! I think after over 4 years of being up many times in the night, it is hard to just sleep all night again...

The most darling thing about this change is Judah and his stuffed animals. After we read books and say prayers, I give him a kiss and say goodnight. We hear him blabbing away to his beloved stuffies for a few minutes. When it gets quiet, I tiptoe in and he is always sound asleep and snuggling with a few of them. They are very deliberately lined up, with his "Nunny" closest to him. Oh the minutes we lose just staring at our beautiful tender hearted boy with his little arm wrapped around his friends.

Please little boy, stay little! 

I say that with a sigh because I know you have to grow!

May you always have a pure and tender heart, 

and use your hands and arms to make and hold peace and beauty. 

How we love you, Judah!

With Love,

On Being Sick, Las Vegas, and My Best Friend

I can't believe it is the second half of September! The days are flying by but as I look out of our windows and see the yellow leaves beautifully radiant against the blue sky I am grateful for the change in season.

I have not yet written about Joe and I's little trip to Las Vegas, and afraid that the days will continue to fly and the memories fade, I wanted to jot them down here. We had not been away together, except for one quick night, since our children have joined us! The dreamer that I am, I'd literally been scouting out places for us to visit for over a year. We were going to celebrate both our 30th birthdays and our anniversary with the trip! However, with no holiday time for Joe and very busy grandparent babysitters, we settled for a quick but wonderful trip to Las Vegas. Personally, I'd been feeling so tired that I just wanted to eat breakfast in bed and sit by a nice pool sipping something tropical. 

As you see, I DID get breakfast in bed!

We also spent some wonderful time in the pool!

That week both of our children and Joe had a stomach virus. As always seems to happen, I didn't get it. I think that I am so stubborn that I refuse to get sick when my dear ones need me. The rule is though, as soon as you can get sick because no one is depending on you, you do! So, as soon as our flight took off I found myself wrapped around the plane toilet wishing that there was a cold floor to lay my feverish head on. I had to laugh and cry, knowing that we had budgeted so hard and planned so much for this trip and now here I was feeling so terribly!

I've read so many articles that say "my spouse is not my best friend," the point being that your spousal relationship is different from a friend relationship, and that you need both. This has always irked me a little, because in our case Joe is absolutely my best friend. I have many dear DEAR friends, but if I have a free night I want to be with Joe, if I have a suffering I want to share it with him, if there is adventure to be had, I cannot imagine it without him. I think that over the years this has actually protected our marriage, because neither of us has someone else who we would go to and talk about our problems. We go on dates, and conflict resolve over beer and chicken wings....and when the conflict is resolved we chink our glasses and have some fun. I digress, although in my mind it all makes sense.... (and not to tell anyone who has a spouse that isn't their best friend that my way is better, either, just different!)

It would have felt like a terrible tragedy to me if Las Vegas was meant to be a romantic getaway alone. When one has a stomach bug there is not much romance happening. However, as I sat there on the plane with my eyes closed praying that I would not have to use the bag Joe was holding open for me I actually laughed. "This is marriage", I thought, "rolling with the punches, making good times out of the tough, looking back with fondness over a moment that felt so hard you thought it might break you." While our room was beautifully luxurious with a bath big enough for two, the pool sprawling, the food tantalizing, the entertainment worth the dream, what sticks out to me is that somehow the reality always ends up trumping the fantasy. This is not what I would expect, considering that the fantasy is always, on paper, so wonderful. We adventured, and saw Vegas, and made the best of feeling only OK, but really the best time of the trip was sitting on our king sized bed in cuddly robes (well me, not him!), just being together. He is my dearest love and also my dearest friend, and it makes everything feel so easy as long as he is there. If I'm being entirely honest of course I would have chosen to not have the flu on our trip, but all things considered it was entirely wonderful. 

Anyhow, a few pictures from our time...

A cheesy throwback to our honeymoon, where we took pictures by the real Eiffel Tower!

Espresso at 10 pm? When you kiddos won't have you up at the crack of dawn, why not? Staying awake before seeing Cirque du Soleil

Joe was so amazed that he could smoke indoors that he asked me to take a picture of this moment

The view from our dinner table, it actually was very beautiful!

Thank you for reading, I close quickly to deal with my dearest ones who covered their little bodies with greasy nivea cream earlier today and desperately need bathtub time. Ah, reality!

With love,