Full Moments

Last week while I was at work Maggie and Sydney went up and spent the night at my parent’s house. I got to go up the next day after working a half day and tag along with their adventures.  My mom planted some bulbs and it took about half a second before Maggie was right next to her assisting.

My mom is such a garden whiz, I’m envious. She makes planting 75 bulbs seem like a walk in the park, where if I were to be faced with the task, I’d feel overwhelmed. Someday I’ll be a better gardener, right? I love that Maggie doesn’t hesitate to get her hands dirty and try and figure out what she can do for help. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think my child’s thumb is greener than my own.

 

Green thumbs aside, I listened to my parents and Maggie head out the door the next morning to go get the morning paper. I shuffled about the house before finding my shoes to catch up with them, because walking the length of my parent’s driveway is soothing to me. It is the perfect length of a walk to carry a warm cup of tea and still get to the mailbox with a sip left. It is also the perfect length to remind me of where I came from. It is the perfect length to have conversations that sometimes get interrupted, ignored or forgotten.

It makes me happy to think about Maggie already helping to work in the garden with my mom and pick blackberries along the driveway with my dad. Isn’t that just what life is about? Those moments that flash by and can be gone if you don’t take notice. We’re working hard to slow down and notice those moments, those life-filled moments.

G-Rents, A-Town and B-Ham

While we were enjoying a couple nights sans kid and dog, my parents were in charge of Maggie and Sydney and my mom took plenty of pictures to document their adventures. Some people are of the school that when you have time away from your kids (or dogs) you shouldn’t spend your time talking about them. Well, we aren’t those people. Especially when we were getting hilarious updates via e-mail from Camp Janet. We spent some of our time recounting to one another funny things that have happened recently, but most of all we remarked how quiet life would be without both Mags and Syd along of the ride.

I’m thankful that my parents were willing to take both of them for two nights. We were only expecting to be away for one night, but as our plans evolved it turned out that my parents took The Morsels to A-Town a day early and Barry and I were left to run wild around town. We went to the Husky game with Deb, out to dinner and even watched a movie. It was wild, I tell you! We’d been halfway expecting my parents to share with us some frustration with trying to get Maggie to sleep, but if they had any trouble we didn’t hear of it. We did, however, hear about my dad rocking Sydney as my mom rocked Maggie. Barry and I have never tried that approach when it comes to night-night time, but maybe that’s the winning ticket that we’re unaware of.

After our exciting day of football, dinner out and a movie, we headed to Bellingham for what we had originally thought would be our first day/night away from Maggie. We spent the morning at home before we headed North, and the house was super quiet. It felt odd not to have somebody at my feet trailing behind ‘helping.’ After stopping in at Lake Padden and wandering around Fairhaven we finally went to our hotel and planned to check in. As I went to grab some of our luggage out of the back of our car, Barry informed me that I immediately needed to go to the spa so I wasn’t late for my 90 minute massage. What??? I had wondered why he had been clock-watching while we walked the streets of Fairhaven, but I just thought he wanted to check in at the exact moment we would be able to.

Oh, no. My darling husband had scheduled for me a 90 minute massage at the spa and I had to literally pick my jaw up off the ground I was in such shock. The spa was truly wonderful in every, single sense of the word. If you know me well, you know that I love the Olympus Spa and this comes in a close second. I was given a robe, slippers and a locker of my very own. There was also a tea bar to enjoy tea of any kind. You better bet your bottom dollar that I sat and had a cup of tea while wrapped in my robe and watched the waterfall out the spa window. It was the first time, probably since Maggie was born, that I have spent that much time utterly alone and away from anyone that I know…..and it was exactly what I needed. I just didn’t know I needed that, so thanks to Barry for having the foresight to schedule that for me. I love that man.

By the time I was done with my 90 minute massage, I was feeling pretty happy; however, life got waaayyyyy better when I realized that the spa offered about a zillion different hair products to use while getting gussied up. Again, you can bet your bottom dollar that I used every single product on my hair. By the time I returned to our room [which happened to be almost as big as our house, but I didn’t take a single picture of it] my hair was as big as it has ever been and I smelled like a hair salon, but I looked gooooood.

 

To recap for you:

1. My parents took great care of Maggie and Sydney. They’re night-night rockstars. (Or they have mastered the stroller-to-bed move/rocking outside/guitar/just being grandparents)

2. Our house is quiet with just HB home. We love our babe and pup.

3. Bellingham is awesome and my husband is more awesome.

4. I like hair product and spas.

5. Tomorrow is Fridaaaaayyy.