The weekend before last, Charlie and I headed home to AL for the weekend. A friend of mine got married that Saturday so I needed to take the trip. However, this particular weekend was also the annual youth rally at our church. Daniel is head of the youth committee so this falls primarily in our laps, by choice. The committee helps tremendously but it is up to us to delegate and make sure everything gets done. So, needless to say, Daniel stayed the weekend in GA. This was the first time I had driven this distance without Daniel. I've gone to AL before without Daniel but someone else was driving. I learned along the way just how anxious, nervous and worried my mother and MIL was about this trip. I thought nothing of it. **shrug** I understand the worrying mother role now though so I didn't give them a hard time. :)
So here's the whirlwind...
Thursday morning I got up and met up with a couple of girlfriends. We went to a huge consignment sale in Marietta. My usual babysitter was on a cruise for spring break so Charlie was tagging along. We got there about 9:45 am or so. Charlie was tired from a long day on Wednesday but I thought he would do ok. Boy, was I wrong! He gave this pregnant mama a run for her money. He wouldn't just ride in the basket, eat his snack/juice, or play with his cars. These are things that usually keep him busy. No. He wanted to push the basket up and down the aisles (which he couldn't do because it was packed). Charlie just wanted to run. I think it was an effort to stay awake. I did manage to clear a couple of spots along the way in the racks for him to hang like a monkey. He went in and out of clothes. I did manage to get some shopping done and still do some damage to the checkbook but it was exhausting...chasing, catching, sitting him on his behind, etc. I'm tired just remembering the morning. We went to the shoes. Charlie enjoyed trying on all the older girls' shoes. It was the rack behind the rack where his size was. Atleast there was some comic relief along the way. :\ But, I did have to put them all back.
I waited a little while for my girlfriends to finish up. I've gotten this consignment sale thing down and I was exhausted so I just sat/stood and watched Charlie run back and forth through the area they had chained off for the checkout line. Luckily, it wasn't busy at this point.
I had lunch with Becky and Kasey and then Charlie and I hit the road. In less than 15 minutes, Charlie was asleep in his seat. He slept a while, which was nice. Even after he woke up, he was a perfect car companion. I just said that God knew I needed the break. :) Charlie was the complete opposite kid than he was that morning.
Friday...shopping day! woo hoo! My dad had taken off work to keep Charlie but woke up sick that morning so luckily, my FIL was able to keep him being that he's retired now. My mom, sister and I headed to Montgomery for a long awaited shopping trip. We'd been planning it for a while but just hadn't found the time to go. We had a great time being together and snagging some great shoes! I hit Motherhood Maternity pretty hard but it was needed. We made it home to eat dinner and go to bed. We were pooped!
Charlie had a great day with Papa. Gram took off a little early from work and was able to spend time with him as well. So Charlie had a good day of spoiling.
On to Saturday...nope, weekend's not over yet...not even close! Saturday morning, me, my mom, my MIL and my sister all met my SIL at her work for an ultrasound. Yes, I'm lucky that way. I love going in and letting her do an ultrasound because she takes her time and I get to see so much more than in the doc's office. In the doc's office it's in and out in 10 minutes. You find out the sex, they take their measurements and off you go.
We got back to Elba, grabbed a bite to eat, changed clothes and off we go to the wedding. It was at 2:00. My dad kept Charlie that morning. He felt he could do it for a couple of hours. I took Charlie over to Gram and Papa's for the afternoon while we went to the wedding.
The wedding was beautiful. So was the bride. The ceremony was short and sweet and had some humor. The food was good. The cake was better! I ate groom's cake and bride's cake. I saw alot of old friends and we got to catch up a little.
Saturday night was spent with Daniel's family...parents, sis, BIL, nephew and grandmother. More good food. I, unfortunately, didn't eat any of my MIL's carrot cake due to the amount of wedding cake I ate. That was the only bad part of the night. About 8:00, Charlie was ready to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's so off we went. However, the child would not go to sleep once we got home so I got no packing done. I ended up just going to bed with him so he would sleep. That was about 10 pm.
Sunday morning...worship, lunch, throw everything in the car. I was trying to get on the road by 12 or 12:30. Yeah, that didn't happen. I did manage to get going around 12:45. The trip back though, I did have someone other than Charlie riding. Ms. Merlene rode to ATL with me. Her daughter lives in Marietta so it made sense. I was happy to have the company.
Since Charlie hadn't gone to bed at a decent time and had a full weekend being spoiled, I thought he would sleep for a while in the car. Wrong again. This seems to be a pattern of mine...just when you think you know exactly what they'll do, they don't do it that way. Anyway, Charlie's nap lasted less than an hour. That means that by Montgomery, he was awake...3 more (long) hours to go. But, as I mentioned, he was a tired little boy who needed that 2 - 2 1/2 hour nap so he was not happy the rest of the trip. By the time we made it to Marietta, I was about to leave him on the side of the road. I managed to keep my cool though simply because I had Ms. Merlene in the car with me.
Then came the best part of my weekend...it, unfortunately, was at the end. I wish I could say this moment was seeing my husband after a long weekend but it was a "Hi. **hug** **kiss** I love you. Bye." and out the door I go...without Charlie in tow. I was headed to a concert with my two bestest. I was SO exhausted at this point but was SO excited at the same time. The long awaited moment had arrived...MICHAEL BUBLE'! Wooooo! So...next post...
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