jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

I’m proud to say that I just managed my first overnight away from Alden. Damon’s sister graduated and the two of them went to Kentucky yesterday to celebrate with her. They’re on their way back now. I didn’t go, because I maintain that 8.5 months pregnant women should not be forced into long car trips under any but the most dire of circumstances.

I was anxious and even a little bit tearful in the lead up to their departure. It’s not that I think Damon can’t handle Alden without me. Far from it. But having so much distance between us made me uncomfortable. What if there’s an accident? You know. But I felt a little better as soon as they were on the road, and much better once they were safely at his sister’s house.

It was amazing to have such a long stretch of time to myself. Most days I get something between nothing and half an hour. I made very good use of my time by: took all the baby stuff down from the top of our closet, cleaned out half my clothes, separated out a bunch of maternity clothes that are ready for donation or consignment, hooked up a new iPod dock, moved Alden’s bed, cleaned off my bookshelf, put the old iPod dock on Free Stuff, got all the clutter off the dining room table, arranged all the kid shoes, hats, blankets, diapers, and socks, went to see Julie and Julia, trimmed an out-of-control bush in the front yard, almost finished my book, watched In Bruges, knocked a few items off the Tivo queue and the podcast list, bought an adorable baby mobile, and ordered from my favorite Chinese restaurant.

The guys did great, of course. Alden and his three-year-old cousin Audrey played relentlessly until they dropped just after 10. It was a little harder through the night. Damon said Alden woke up about every hour and asked for me, but he also went back down pretty willingly with some patting and shushing.

I was most interested to hear how Alden did with his baby cousin (6 months old) Tristan. He has almost no experience with babies. He always seems to be the youngest kid in the room. Damon said his response was mixed, trending toward “I think not.” Mostly he ignored Tristan. But a few times he saw Damon holding Tristan and ran over to either say, “Daddy, no!” or “Carry! Carry!” which is his cue to be picked up. Also, he’s gotten (mostly) good at sharing and will now hand over a toy after a few minutes by saying “Mommy’s turn” or “Harper’s turn.” He was outraged that Tristan didn’t understand. Sharing, by the way, does not extend to bouncy balls and those have to be put away when other kids are around.

I can’t wait for them to get home, where I don’t intend to share either of them for the rest of the weekend.