My Trip and the State of our Household

I went on a trip, a little vacay. I have never gone on a trip without some member of my little family. Whenever I have gone somewhere, wether it was out to IN to visit my brother and sister, or on a weekend trip out to MI with some friends a few summers ago, there has always been a child with me. I have been away from my kids for other trips, but then I am always with Steve. Which, don't get me wrong, vacations with Steve are one of the best things in the world. However, until this last weekend I had never been away from anyone in my family to do something fun, I think since I got married almost 8 years ago.

So I went to Nashville to visit my bff, Cait.



Since I am starting my third trimester in a couple of weeks and can't fly until June, and since I won't be able to go anywhere alone without it being a massive production (pumping, etc.) after the man-child is born, Steve and I decided now would be as good of a time as any.

It was so fun. And relaxing. We just hung out a lot, slept in lot, and went shopping a lot. Good trip :)

I also realized a few things. First is that I really like traveling with Steve, he's such a great guy. It's especially nice to have someone to lift my suitcase into the overhead compartment when I pack my carryon to the brim. :)

Second, people kept asking me how I thought Steve would do at home with the girls all by himself and that felt like a really weird question to me. I just kept saying, "Oh, he'll do fine," and I knew that he would. The state of my kids well-being upon my arrival at home was not something that I worried about one time. Last night one of our friend who hung out with Steve over the weekend told me that when he was here the state of our house was the same as when I am here - only I wasn't. I wasn't surprised, I didn't expect things to be different. Then I realized that is probably not the case in all households. It also made me start thinking this morning about comments I have heard from other mom's, things like how their husbands never put their kids to bed and might not even know how. Things like their husbands don't know what the kids like to eat for lunch, where the toothbrushes are, and what the kids like to play with. My realization? I have a really, really, really great husband who is a really, really, really great father.

My girls had a great time with their dad over 5 full days, not because he spoiled them, gave them lots of sugar, and let them watch tv all day long. They had a great time because they like to be with their dad, and it's normal and fun for them. They might not have even really missed me all that much - and I am totally okay with that.



The other thing is, Minnesota sucks and I didn't really want to come back here. Why? Well, in Tennessee there are trees that already look like this:



And there is no snow to be seen. One day when I was there it was 71 glorious degrees. Then I came home to freshly fallen snow, and then more snow last night. I don't want snow, I want trees with blossoms and 71 degrees of sunshine.