Big-boy toys

We have had a big weekend at the Bass household. Saturday, Franklin and I went to the opening weekend at Oaklawn. It was a lot of fun and got us excited for race season. At the end of the day, the excitement had dwindled because, we lost on every race. Neither of us are very lucky or know what we are doing, so thank goodness, we don't bet much!! That night, we went to dinner at Wesley and Tyler's and it was so nice to just snuggle by the fire and talk.

Sunday, we went to church. Then we met Meme and Grampe and the Vaughts for lunch at the Country Club. David Franklin got lots of new big-boy toys from his cousins. He isn't quite ready for most of them, but he likes his new excer-saucer. We have to pack him in there with blankets, but he likes sitting up and looking at all of the different things and colors. He doesn't want to lie down as much anymore and tries to pull himself up. We also made the switch in the stroller, so he could sit up and check out what's around him. The straps on it are also loose, so we have to add blankets for support, but he was happy. He likes his toys, but his favorite is still playing in our laps. It is our favorite, too, but it's hard to get much done holding him and OOOOHHing all day. We thought we could be more productive if he could entertain himself, so we kind of jumped the gun on these new toys. He looks a lot older because of his size--I think he's 19 pounds (which is a gain of over 4 pounds in a month) 4 pounds shows up in one month on anybody but it really does on him!!

The biggest event this weekend happened last night....he spent his first night away! Franklin has left town and spent some nights away but I haven't and it was HARD! We have a weekend trip planned in February so we thought we (really just me) would need a dry run. Since today is MLK day, my mom and Franklin are off work, so, it was a good time to try it. We went to her house and rocked him and put him down and left. We were back to get him first thing this morning. He slept until 6:30 so we didn't miss much. He didn't even know we were gone! It was so hard for me to leave, but I knew he was very well taken care of and I think it's healthy to have some time away. Not to mention, a good night's sleep sounded wonderful! It was just the separation anxiety/guilt of it all that made me sad. That "mother's guilt" you hear people talk about is no myth! It is silly and you know it's silly to feel guilty, but you just do. Man oh man, I did anyway. I called before we even got home to check on him and texted 3 times in the first hour. It was SO nice of my mother and a real gift to us. Franklin and I took Ny-Quil and got some great sleep--best in months! We haven't let ourselves take any medicine at night, so we can hear him if we need to. I'm glad we had our practice run now, or I would have been a mess to go cross country in 3 weeks. I DID IT!! I bet now it's going to get easier and easier and I will be calling going...oh mom????

Happy MLK Day!