Leaving the Babies for the First Time

This past weekend was our first overnight (make that TWO nights) away from Miles and Vivienne.  We have left them with babysitters (at church) or our parents during the day for up to 4 hours, but never any longer than that.  And we certainly have never been in another state from them.

This weekend, we flew up to New York to attend the wedding of our dear friends, Beth and Kyle.  It was so exciting to be one of Beth's bridesmaids, but I was nervous about leaving the babies for the first time.

My parents flew up on Wednesday to get here a couple days early and observe our routines with the kids.  On Friday afternoon, we all got in the van and headed for RDU.  I kissed each baby goodbye at the curb (with them still buckled into their car seats).  I didn't cry at that point, but before we made it through the second set of automatic doors to the airport, I was crying and saying,"This just doesn't feel right."  After the first flight, I was ok.  I still felt a little anxiety as we waited during our layover in Detroit.  We arrived at our hotel in Watertown, NY late that night (around 9:30) with a bag of Arby's takeout and some cookies from the hotel lobby.  Our first "vacation" had begun!

Saturday morning was the first time that we were able to sleep in in over 13 months.  We only slept until about 8:45, but we thoroughly enjoyed rolling out of bed in our own time and moseying down to the lobby for some breakfast.  I spent the afternoon with Beth and the other bridesmaids at Beth's parents' home.  She looked breathtaking in her wedding gown.  The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a fun time to celebrate the union of our friends.  We had to leave a few minutes early to get up to our room, pack, sleep for a couple hours (literally, we only slept for 3 hours that night) and prepare (if you can?) to wake up at 3 am. 

We took the first flight back to Raleigh in the morning (stopping through JFK for a short layover).  My parents picked us up on the curb with the babies in tow.  Vivienne squealed when I picked her up.  We enjoyed our time away, but it was so relieving and exciting to tickle those pudgy little toes and kiss those chubby little cheeks.  I felt like I could just squeeze them to death.

While we were gone, they enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Granddad.  They went for walks, took naps, went out for lunch (at La Farm) and played in the grass in the yard.  They did very well without us, and I was thankful that they were so well cared for and that they are comfortable without us around.  They also got to try a few treats that we don't usually include in their food repertoire, like Oreos.

Somebody REALLY likes Oreos.

Vivienne is thinking,"Mom is going to kill you when she sees this."

"What Oreo?  I didn't eat an Oreo."

I'm glad that we have one trip under our belts.  This trip made us confident that we can do similar trips in the future without having to worry about the babies.

Sadly, I guess I won't be able to call them "babies" much longer.  I think I'm going to hold onto it until they walk at least.  They can't toddle just yet.  =)