a Weekend Away

Earlier this year, Jeremy and I started talking about our need to leave Jones with the Pressleys for a weekend before Freddie's born. We really just wanted to get Jones used to staying over there, so that, when the baby comes, he won't flip out ... not that I think that he will, but since I'm not so sure how I'LL react to be away from HIM, time away was an important part of my prepping-for-Freddie process.

We decided a trip to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama / LSU football game was the perfect time for our trial run. This was our weekend. Because I didn't think I could do TWO nites away from my Love Bug, we dropped him off first thing Saturday morning, met my parents in Greenville, and headed to Alabama for what we'd thought would be the biggest game of the year. Little did we know that Auburn would come out of nowhere to challenge the Tide late in the season.

Anyway, I don't know what I was worried about. I hadn't fed Jones breakfast when we dropped him off, so Nan's first order of business was to fill his belly. Maybe it was just the fact that she was feeding him, but Jeremy and I left to Jones sitting in his high chair, waving and saying a very loud, "BYE!"

Don't act so sad, Son.

To be honest, I did better than I thought I would, too. We called several times to check in, but he did great, and I - not gonna lie here - thoroughly enjoyed sleeping from 9 Saturday nite until 9:30 Sunday morning. There were just a few little anecdotes Mrs. Pressley told us when we got home, though, that I wanted to always remember:

1) She taught him "patty-cake," while we were gone. How have I not done this before?! Some mama I am! It is the cutest thing ever. He'll clap his hands and say, "ca-cake" and then "roll-it-up," just like he's supposed to.

2) She said that, several times over the course of his stay, he pulled out a little photo book I made when Jeremy and I found out we were expecting Jones. It's got a picture of the two of us on the cover. Apparently, Jones would drop it on the floor and rest his face on his fists, while he stared at it. Whether he recognized Mama and Daddy, I don't know, but it sure did make my heart smile to hear this story and pretend that he did!

When we got home, he was still down for his afternoon nap. As soon as he woke up, Pop brought him into the den, and he smiled a thousand smiles to see us - again, he's a pretty smile-y kid, so there's probably no correlation between seeing us and the cheshire-cat grins, but in my mind, he was smiling with happiness that, for all the fun he had with Nan and Pop, he was happy to see his mama and daddy.

I know his mama and daddy sure were happy to see HIM!