Just the 2 of Us

On Friday Ryan had to leave for a robotics conference in Florida which meant James and I were on our own for the weekend, and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to it.   This is one of those times that I really wish I had friends or family here in LA because it gets soooooo lonely!!!!  In addition Ryan was on call Monday so I figured I might as well be mentally prepared not to see him until Tuesday.  I gave myself a pep talk and decided I needed to make the best of the situation.  So I implemented 3 rules for the time Ryan was gone:

1.  I will not worry about our budget and will eat out without feeling guilty.  There is no reason to have a lot of dishes to do and James needs to expand his dining experiences. :) 

2.  I will be allowed to drink as many diet drinks as necessary.

3.  I will enjoy the little pleasures that come with having Ryan gone such as not making the bed, parking in the middle of the garage, and letting James play with whatever keeps him occupied.

Friday we spent some extra time in our pjs, and did our normal gym, Target routine.  Of course we also had dinner at Chick-fil-a.   

JT has a strange obsession with his socks right now. He insisted on wearing them on top of his footie pjs!

Saturday and Sunday I decided we needed to go as many places as we possibly could to make the day go by fast.  We started off by going to a church where they were selling local homemade items and also fair trade crafts.  I was able to do a little Christmas shopping and love the feeling that I am already ahead! :) After we left there we stopped by the park.

Then we went to a fundraiser for someone who had been hurt that one of Ryan's co-workers wife told us about.  They were selling food for lunch, doing a chili cook-off, and had some activities for kids.  

Adrian and JT

We were going to try out the bouncy house but the big kids in it were scary!

Saturday afternoon I was able to get a babysitter to come for about an hour so I headed to Starbucks.  Yummmmy! 

When I got home someone had "Booed" our house.  We got all sorts of candy and Bath & Body Works goodies.   This also meant that James and I needed to go back to Target so we could spread the "boo" onward.

Sunday began with cinnamon toast for breakfast (not something we normally have) and getting ready for church.  After church I decided James needed to try pizza for the first time.  He seemed to like it but honestly he liked the applesauce I brought him just as much.  I think the people at Pie Works were somewhat surprised it was just the two of us for lunch! Later that afternoon we went to some more random places just browsing around town. 

As a side note, you may or may not know that the American Academy of Pediatrics changed their car seat recommendations and now kids are supposed to stay rear facing until at least age 2 if not longer.  I was surprised to learn when reading about it that kids are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured in a wreck if they are rear facing.  http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car.seat.guidelines.parenting/index.html  Needless to say we are following the recommendations but let me tell you it is a huge pain getting my big ole 95 percentile little boy in that seat rear facing.  I felt like I had gotten a good workout after going so many places with him.  I think I counted that we went to 6 places or more on Sunday which is a lot of getting in and out of the car! 

Cinnamon toast breakfast

Pizza time!

Somehow he escaped the house!

As I was driving around on Sunday I was suddenly struck by how wrong my attitude had been about the weekend.  Yes it is lonely on your own and of course I would rather Ryan be with us.  However I was reminded that I may not have many opportunities to spend this much one-on-one time with James.  One day we will hopefully have more kids and truthfully it will be a rare occurrence to have any alone time with each individual child, let alone several days.  I was also reminded that he is changing so much and so fast; every day is precious to spend with him.  We actually ended up having a great weekend, just the two of us.