All inclusive

B and I had a really nice time on our little trip to the Bahamas. We stayed at Sandals which is all inclusive. It was expensive upfront, but it was nice to not have to worry about money while we were there. I didn't really like being out of the country with Anna so far away. We couldn't use our cell phones, so we had to keep our conversations short each morning. If B and I need another getaway, I think we'll keep it closer to home or maybe someplace fun, like Vegas. We missed Anna - especially in the mornings and nights, but we did ok.

We watched our friends (Luke and Nickie) get married on the beach. It was a really intimate ceremony with special touches for the mothers. We hung out with friends that live in: Cincinnati, Portland, Cleveland soon to be Seattle, Columbus, and other various places in the country. We stayed up late. We ate, B and everyone else drank. We didn't chase a 21 month adorable little girl around.


My mom did well with Anna up until Sunday. She took her shopping and visited a friend of hers that lives in Lexington a few times. We came home to all kinds of goodies. But on Saturday night my mom had the brilliant idea to clean up our office, which was the only room we hadn't unpacked. Well, she stayed up until 4 in the morning - which made her crash hard and act crazy when I talked to her on the phone from the Atlanta airport. I knew, well hoped I knew, that she was taking care of Anna despite the weird tone of her voice and ditsy things she was saying. She was putting her diaper on and getting her into her jams at the right time - so that was good. I bought a book (side note: awesome Jodie Picoult book - Salem Falls) to keep my mind from going to the dark side. We finally made it home around midnight on Sunday to find the house and Anna intact. My mom was tired and worn out. I talked to her about everything a few days ago. I'm not mad at her, just disappointed - what the hell was she thinking??? I will let her watch Anna again, but we don't have plans for any big weekends without Anna coming up.

I'll have fun with friends, but I'm going to miss my baby

Bryan and I are going to the Bahamas on Thursday. Notice that I didn't say Anna is going too? Bryan's best friend, Luke, is getting married to his long time girl friend, Nickie, at the Sandals Royal Bahamian. Sandals = no kids.
I'm excited for a bunch of reasons:

• B and I will have a romantic weekend together - our first since before Anna (really before pregnancy)
• We get to see our friends that we rarely ever get to see. After college, we moved all over the country. Weddings are about the only time we see our high school and college friends.
• We get to have a few days in the warmth and sun. Yes, away from this horrendous cold and snow.
• We are going someplace new - I've never been to the Bahamas.
• A little break from work and life.

I'm sad, nervous, and anxious for a bunch of reasons:

• We've never left Anna overnight, much less 3 nights. She'll be with my mom, so I know she'll be taken care of, but I've never been away from her for that long.
• I will miss my baby. She makes me so happy. I'll miss her pretty smiling face and silly things she does.
• Anna's been having a lot of sleep issues lately. Her doctor said it was normal, but it's hard to know what to do. She wakes up every couple of nights screaming. Sometimes if we let her go, she will fall asleep on her own. There are other times, the only way to get her to sleep is by bringing her in our bed; she falls asleep instantly when she comes in our bed so that makes me wonder if she just needs to be comforted. The past few nights she will not fall asleep unless she's being held. If we leave her in her bed to cry it out, she tries climbing out of her crib but stops while straddling the top bar - I guess she doesn't want to hurt herself by dropping down. It's a hard choice - cry and maybe hurt herself or fall asleep with us and start bad habits. We've been leaning towards stay safe which leads to starting bad habits. She's at least sleeping in her crib every night for at least some or all night. My mom won't want her in any pain or sadness, so I'm sure she'll be in her bed every night.

  It will be tough to be away from Anna, but all in all, I'm looking forward to a fun weekend.

  Love you Anna. Love you so much.

A first!

Anna is almost 19 months old, and we just now had our first play date. One of my eating club friends, SS, invited us over to have lunch, hangout and play. Our eating club was invited, but only one other friend, T, and her daughter, S, were able to make it. A church friend of SS also came with her daughter. Anna was shy when we first got there, which always surprises me since she's so friendly. She just had to check everyone out and make sure they were okay. By the end of the afternoon, she had sat on the other moms' laps and made friends with all the little girls.

Anna was the oldest of the 4 babies. I wasn't sure how she would act towards the other girls, so I just watched her to be sure she was being gentle. Even though she can't say "mine", she has the behavior down - Anna has a toy, another baby tries to take the toy, Anna jerks it back and whines, I remind her that we share toys. It was fun to watch her play and interact with other kids; I realized today that even though she plays at daycare all day I don't get the chance to see her do that often because 1) we don't live close to family/cousins and 2) it was her first play date.

We had a good time with some good food. I hope we can do it again soon.

I brought pumpkin spice muffins. A teacher at school brought these muffins last year. They were so yummy, and without the chips, I think they are 2 Weight Watchers Points.

1 box of spice cake mix (do not add the oil or the eggs)
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 cup of water
1 cup of white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips

Mix all of the ingredients.
Spoon mix into muffin tins.
I followed the baking temp and time from the back of the cake box. I have the dark coated pans, so I baked at 325 for about 23 minutes. I usually bake cupcakes for 18 minutes, but these are supper moist, so the extra time was needed.
Definitely a repeat-worthy recipe.

I'm in an eating club

I was in a book club with random people - I think I wrote about this in another post - we are now an eating club. We are too busy with work and babies to actually read books (except I do have somewhat of an addiction to Nora Roberts' romance novels as of late). Several members of the book club had to drop out because work and family commitments...and then there were 6.

With only 6 people, it's easy to have only 1 or 2 people read, which means that having a book club is dumb. But we like to get together with someone other than our husbands or families (no matter how great they are), so we did the only logical thing...changed it to an eating club.

We try to go out once a month to a restaurant that one member chooses. Tracy chose A.P. Roots which is next to A.P. Suggins on Romany Rd. It was so fun. It was so yummy. I'd never been there before, so it's always fun to try something new. I had the mini cheeseburgers and a side of fries - both delicious. We also shared the hummus appetizer, which I loved. It was very garlicy, so I was super surprised when Bryan didn't crab at me bc I had garlic coming out of my pores (he has a very sensitive nose). Conversation was great. It was just a fun night.

I'm choosing next time -maybe Saul Good or Butt Rub. Mmmm.