Daddy-Only Weekend

Mommy's leavin' on a jet plane...

On May 13th I hopped a flight to San Francisco to meet up with my law school girlfriends to celebrate the wedding of our little Nicole.  And so marked my furthest trip from Kellan EVER.  Previously I have not been more than a 3 hour drive from him at all times - and that was only twice - an overnight trip to Aspen for work and an overnight trip to Ohio for Jen-nay's wedding [while K and Joe were in Indy, so still not far].  I was worried...not about Kellan and Joe.  I have every faith in Joe - he's a wonderful Dad.  I was worried about whether or not I could do it.  Could I be away from my baby for that long.  Sure, I work long hours and occasionally will just get a couple of minutes in the evening with him, but I still get to see him on the monitor and I know I'm close if he needs me (and I HATE those nights anyway and come home sad and mopey).

As I put Kellan down to bed Thursday night after rocking him an unusually long time, knowing I wouldn't see him until Sunday night as I was leaving early (read:  VERY early) the next morning, I got a little teary eyed.  I whispered my normal sentiment to him - "good night my sweet Prince, I love you very much" - but instead of telling him I would see him the next morning or evening after work, I tearfully explained that I would see him on Sunday night and that he would have the best Daddy-Son weekend ever!  He looked at me like I was crazy - as he normally does if I'm crying, pulled his arms out of the swaddle, grabbed his lovey of choice that night and went to sleep.

I have to admit that I was sad when I gave the monitor to my Mom the next morning, after taking one last look at him sleeping, gave an over dramatic sigh, and headed off to catch my flight.  Throughout the flight I looked through the pics on my new iPad (thanks honey and the rest of my wonderful fam) and wondered how his day was going.  Upon landing and collecting my luggage, which all arrived much to my delight (I'm always worried about that part - so much so that I pack my make-up in my carry on just to be safe - hey, you know me!), I immediately texted my Mom to tell her I made it safe and check in my my little man.  It was of course nap time and he was sleeping but was having a great day.  Good.

Now, I have to be real honest here.  I fully figured I would be thinking about Mr. K all trip and texting Joe all weekend to see how he was doing.  I left specific requests (read: instructions) for Joe to send a ton of pictures so I could see how he was doing all weekend - after all, weekends are my time with him since I work so much during the week, so I hated to be missing out on my main K-man time.  But then it happened....

...Lauren LANDED (early - totally surprised and amazed at the promptness of Southwest airlines on that day) - SHE LANDED and all of the years of missing my "Angels" came rushing back.  ("Angles" is long story involving a bowling team, our original Charlie who was a crier, some pink pleather pants and Farrah Fawcett wings, and now a new Charlie, aka Nate the Date.)  As we fast walked / slow jogged through the baggage area of San Francisco airport like some lame '80's movie, exchanged big hugs which did involve some light tears and sniffles, and generally cooed over how excited we were to see each other after - how many...5, yeah that's right - 5 long years (during which I got married and she couldn't get the transport plane home; we both had beautiful baby boys; she moved to Germany, then CHI, then MI, and soon to Indiana; and I moved to CO) it totally happened.  I stopped worrying and wondering about my baby and started enjoying the "me" time.  Sheree arrived not long after, and the three of us were together, in SF, after so long.

  

We hopped in the Red Poodle (our affectionately named red HHR rental car) and were off.  It was like we never were apart.  We immediately started catching up and of course figuring out who kept in touch with which classmate and what everyone was doing (read: gossiping - duh!).  Lauren expertly drove us to Golden Gate Park where we ditched the Red Poodle and were off for our adventure, eventually meeting up with Laure and Nate the Date and heading to our wedding of the year (who needs the Royals)!  But I'll save most of those details and pics for another post...

(Sorry Sheree - I love this pic, hope you do too! :>)

Meanwhile back in Colorado, Joe was finishing up his week and heading home to our little man.  The plan was to do baby gym Saturday morning, then head to the zoo Saturday afternoon with one of his wonderful coworkers, Deborah, and go from there.  He had discussed taking in a Rockies' game with Uncle Doug, but he was at Miss Diana's graduation, so no go there.  Plus the weather was bad (who am I kidding - the weather was bad all over!  We froze in SF too).

I did take time out of my new exciting life to put in a call to the fam after our bus tour (interesting trip, which, per our normal bus tours was FREEZING, but you'll have to see my next post if I ever get it written).  Joe was doing well, I believe Kman was napping again, so I still didn't get to "talk" to him, but Joe would send pics...right!  The girls and I stopped for dinner with my Dad, where itty bitty baby pics of K made me remember how much I was missing him and how long it would be before I was home.  I also realized I probably missed my window of opportunity to "talk" to him.

Joe and I talked again very late that night - to my delight (but not surprise) they had survived.  Daddy 1, Kellan...well 1. :)  Unfortunately Kellan had managed to drop Joe's iPhone in the tub again (to which I said "again, I didn't realize it happened once - didn't you learn anything from that"), so I just hoped it would dry out so I could get those much desired pictures.  Hence the Kellan 1.

So Saturday comes and I play it cool again.  We all agree that we're going to stay in bed (our respective beds - sickoes) until 9:00AM because we were kid free.  I forgot that although I was only 1 hour behind my normal time zone, everyone else was 2-3 hours behind, so when I finally hauled my behind out of bed around 9:00, I was working against the clock and some very hungry friends. :)  I managed a quick text to Joe while we were on the way to brunch (so yummy - I highly recommend Big 3 in Sonoma if you have the time - although it's not a fast meal).  My real reason for texting was to see if they managed to get to baby gym.  You see, baby gym (My Gym) is at 8:30 in the morning on Saturdays, which is always a struggle for Mommy and Daddy, and some weekends even for Kellan.  No word on baby gym - I wonder if they made it.  Hmmm...Joe does text later that K-man is enjoying some grilled cheese and broccoli soup - one of his favs.  I miss him - but only for a little...because we're off again!

Our next adventure is to do some wine tastings and I let go again.  I am thrilled when I get a text simply stating "at the zoo" with this picture of my poor baby all bundled up.  Yeah - they're out and about and doing something super fun!!  Sure, K looks a little tired and it definitely looks yucky out, but he's getting out of the house!  It turned out that Joe's co-worker could not make it, so I was even more proud of my super-dad hubby for doing the zoo on his own (not sure I'm up to that level yet myself!)!

They survive the zoo in true Colorado Palmer fashion, and head home.  I'm again thrilled to get another wonderful picture of my little man looking so innocent post-zoo.  What a sweet boy!  For a minute I experience homesickness for him, then the sommelier pours me another taste and I move past that. :)

Later in the evening - I think it was on the shuttle to the wedding - I get an email with yet one more picture.  This one is of my very proud boy after he finds 2 of his Nuks all by himself between his mattress and the crib frame.  Those little buggers get lost everywhere, but no place is worse than that crib.  He is proud and I'm sure Daddy was relieved that he located not one, but two of those wonderful, sometimes life saving pacies!

Joe and I exchange a few more texts as the evening goes on (well, I send a few more texts - "oh, our song is on", "they're using the flutes we got them on the cake table & they look amazing", things like that), but I never do manage to get a hold of my little family while my baby is awake so we can "talk".  Oh well, I get to see him tomorrow!!  I can't wait!

We get up and basically head straight to the airport the next morning to drop off Red Poodle, grab a quick bite and promise that it won't be this long before we see each other in person again (and I intend to hold us to our promise!).  You can tell Lauren (who has never been away from Mr. James for more than 8 hours) and I are ecstatic to leave - not because we want to get away from each other, but because neither of us can wait to get home to our boys!  I am lucky enough to get to see the K-man tonight, but poor Lauren will have to wait until Monday morning.

After I get in, I basically run to the train, and then to baggage claim to give that little man a hug.  He walks (walks - unassisted, WALKS!) over to give me a quick hug and a beautiful, heart melting smile, and then goes back to the more important task of pushing one of those rental luggage carts into everyone passing by.  As a man standing near by laughs and laughs at my little man's antics, I realize that while I had one of the best trips ever, I am SO HAPPY TO BE HOME!!  :)