2 Dogs, a Baby Make Five: I'm in New York Don't You Need Me

It finally happened, after 2 plus years I left little Nathaniel home alone. Oh wait, Kevin was there. I hadn't even spent a night away from him, let alone 4 nights. Everyone kept asking if I was going to be ok, I just kept saying 'Yes, I think so'. I kept thinking 'should I be worried?' hhhmm maybe?!? Nah, I was leaving Nate in good hands. The boys were going to live it up while I was gone. Cookies for breakfast, chocolate for lunch, ice cream for dinner!!! Oh no, I should be worried.

So why was I leaving my boys? For my birthday me and my sister decided to go and vacation in New York. New York is so beautiful and lively during the holidays. It was going to be my sister's first time to visit there, I was so excited to be a tour guide (at least a rookie tour guide). The Manhattan map was my best friend. We did so much while we were there. The highlights were seeing 2 live shows (The Jimmy Fallon Show and Live with Kelly and Michael), walking way too fast by priceless artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seeing The Rockettes, walking through the city streets in the snow and strolling through central park and eating at the Boathouse…. plus like a million other things.

My feet needed a massage every night, but my sister wouldn't give me one - man I remember a time when I was able to make her do that stuff for me haha. We drank some good wine, chatted a lot, froze here and there and laughed with and at each other :) We definitely used our Metro passes to zip around the city. One day was funny when a thing called *Santacon* was going on. It was a huge bar crawl where everyone wears Santa suits. It raises money for charity and they were EVERYWHERE. The temperature hovered in the low 30s pretty much the whole time we were there so we would always say, 'Time to suit up' as we headed out of the hotel…. 3 or more layers (a vest that heats up), gloves, hat, scarf… whatever you could put on.

Wait, I forgot to mention … I was getting very few texts and calls from home. They were suppose to fall apart without me there. What's happening? I was so busy in NY I didn't even fully realize there weren't any meltdowns or calls of panic. Apparently, they were doing just fine (or hiding it very well) yah yah that's it, they were hiding it. I got to FaceTime with Nate when we'd take a rest at the hotel and I must say things did seem in order. The best is when Nate would just say, 'bye bye' right in the middle of our talk - little booger. Kevin even remembered that Santa was visiting our neighborhood and took him outside to see him. There was only one major meltdown - something really bothered him about how Kevin cut his oranges. Funny thing to get upset about - I think he was just missing me :)

I have to say I enjoyed my *mommy* away time. I had forgotten how easy it is to just worry about getting yourself ready and only feeding yourself. It was a nice change for a few days. I did find myself noticing more little kids than I normally would. After being sad to see my sister get out of the airport tram and head off to her terminal I could feel myself getting excited to see my little guy. When Kevin pulled up to pick me up I went to the back to hug and kiss Nathaniel. He let me for a second and then said,'Go sit down' and pointed to the front seat… once again, little booger! Luckily, he made it up to me by giving me extra attention when we got home. He was all hyper and wanting me to play with him. I missed that little dude. The house was clean, everyone looked fine…. man, I guess they don't need me. I guess that means I get to go on vacation more!