The longest week of my life

When I was pregnant with Cole, it would have been nearly impossible to convince me that time could pass any slower than it was passing then. It seemed like that 40 weeks lasted 2 years. This week has been longer than any week in my life, including the week before Christmas when I was 5 and any week that I was pregnant with Cole or Rhys.

Chris is working on-site for a client in DC and is taking the train every morning into the city. This makes for a 12 hour day for him...and, subsequently, for me too. I did that very commute every day for 3 years and wonder now how I ever survived it. This week has been so terribly long.

Monday, we had snow. It was a good amount too and Chris ended up coming home early from work. I took the boys to a friend's house so Cole could play in the snow with her daughter. They had a really fun time and it was so nice to be out of the house. I spent the rest of the week huddled in the warmth of the house since the thermometer outside rarely registered 40 degrees. By the time Friday rolled around, I was ready for a night out. I had arranged for my friend to come over on Saturday night to watch the boys but I so craved some alone time with Chris that I could hardly stand it. The weather had finally turned nice and I decided to take the boys to the park on Friday afternoon. Cole had to potty and during the process, managed to get pee on his pants. Rhys spat up on me and also peed on his clothes and mine. Honestly, I can't catch a break these days.

Chris offered to stop by the store for some adult beverages and I recommended a bottle of Tequila and some Corona - maybe we could pretend it is spring break! That is pretty much how the evening went. We had so much fun, just watching some classic British Comedies and drinking beer and shots...like we were in college! We followed the sage advice of a good friend and around 11:30, we started drinking lots of water and had a bowl of cereal. After a couple of Tylenol, we were right as rain on Saturday morning.

We took the boys to a diner for breakfast and afterwards, I weeded the garden, moved my strawberry plants together, and put down straw as a ground cover. After lunch, we went to Lowe's and picked out several vegetable seeds and seed sowing kits. Cole is so excited about the garden that at one point while I was weeding, he came up to me and hugged me tight around the neck and said, "Mommy, thank you for doing the plants." It doesn't look like much now, but to me it is beautiful.

My friend came over to watch the boys and this is the first time in his 3 years that Cole was perfectly okay with us leaving him with a babysitter. This is truly a milestone for him. He didn't even get weepy. I am proud of his maturity and hope that the separation anxiety is easing. Chris and I had a lovely dinner in Ellicott City and returned home to listen to music and share a bottle of champagne. It seems like we have been celebrating something momentous but really, we are just reconnecting after a long 3 years of babydom. Rhys will be 1 in just under 3 weeks and we are slowly bidding farewell to his status of baby to welcome him to the world of being a toddler with his brother. I guess if that isn't reason enough to raise a glass, I don't know what is.

This morning, Cole helped me plant some of our seeds. We hope to have baby seedlings of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, peas, and carrots by next weekend. I plan to put them in the ground in a month or so and hope that the garden can hold the bounty of baby plants that I am cultivating. I am sure I can share the wealth among my friends if I have too many...there will always be a home for a baby plant somewhere in Pasadena, I am sure of it.

After we sowed our seeds, we took the boys and the dog to Fort McHenry for a picnic. The weather was beautiful and we all had a really nice time. So, while technically the week ended yesterday, Sunday always seems like the end and this week has been full and very, very long.