A Playdate With A Loverly Little Lady.

On Saturday Joe and I got an eensy weensy taste of what it might be like to be a family of four...for all of about 5 hours. My friend, Jackie (yes, of bleu soleil design) had her brother's wedding, so Joe and I watched her adorable daughter, Leighton, so she and her hubs could get their groove thang on @ the reception.

It was so. much. fun. Lei Lei is about 6 months older than Alex, so they were close enough in age to interact and play together. I swear, babies have their own language - they "talked" and laughed in a sea of Fisher Price, Leap Frog and Mega Blocks until they both literally passed out from too much fun.

They look like they could be related - those big, sweet eyes!
(We were watching Monsters, Inc.)

Lei Lei fed Alex some chicky nuggs and fries. I about melted.

"Here, baby." She would say.

It's a little dark in the background, but Alex
was still playing after Lei Lei cashed out.
He would crawl up to her, touch her face, and crawl away.
So sweet.

The jury's still out on whether or not we'll ever actually be a family of 4, but it sure was fun to pretend for a night.

Kidless.

Alex is at Gramii and Papii camp until Thursday. Yes, I actually conned my parents into keeping the little guy. Well, let's be honest...I barely got "Hey do you want to keep Al--" out of my mouth before they were both like the seagulls in Nemo saying, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

What sort of things do you do without a kid?

Oh, I remember...and it also resembles my to-do list:
- mani/pedi
- grocery shop (like, the hardcore kind when you cringe as the checkout person tells you the total)
- clean la casa
- return a few miscellaneous things...probably will also buy things I don't need during said return session...which is fiiiiiiiine
- romantic dinner with hubby
- massage
- blog on a regular basis
- sleep. in.

Muy delicioso! I don't miss him yet, but we'll see how Wednesday's post goes...

Awesome Is An Understatement.

Alex has his first non-family babysitter yesterday...and Mommy got a 'lil break! My friend and coworker, Kim, had the week off and offered to come chill with him for awhile to allow me to sleep, shop...whatever. Actually, she didn't offer. She told me. And it was the best thing, ever. People are always offering to come help, hold him, etc. and my response is always, "Oh, yes...that would be wonderful!" But I've never had the guts to actually take someone up on it. Mommy guilt, maybe? Anyway, Kim sent me an email and was like, "Pick a day. I'll be there." Best. Ever. An offer I couldn't refuse!!

Kim arrived about 9:30 a.m. and I gave her the grand tour. Obvi, she's better at this whole babysitting thing than I am at the Mom thing because she asked where the nearest Urgent Care was and where I had the Pediatrician number written. Ohhhh yes, let me just scramble into the kitchen and scurry to scribble down this here important numbers list that I swear I've had all along... :)

I waltzed out the door without a care in the world and list 100 things long to get done.
- Purchase another SwaddleMe at BRU with a coupon. Resist everything else in that store because it's priced 15% higher than it should be. Check.
- Return a myriad of items to Macy's, Payless, Old Navy, Claire's & JCPenney. Check. (Hey...when you're scrambling to find an outfit to wear to a friend's wedding with a 1 month old in tow, you just buy everything in sight, take it home to try on and then return the crap that makes you look fat. Which was pretty much everything. Don't judge. You know you do it, too.)
- Purchase new pants,tank top, cute sweater, shoes and sunglasses while "taking things back." Check.
- Stick tongue out at Motherhood store as I passed it because I NEVER HAVE TO SHOP THERE AGAIN. Check.
- Texted Joe - "I forgot what silence sounded like. This is bliss." Check.
- Scour party store for items for Keliann's upcoming baby shower. Check.
- Run into Target to grab more formula only to scan the clearance clothes racks and uncover a GOLDMINE. Check.
- At same Target, discover that since Pampers is phasing out their old boxes and thusly have all of the giant, value boxes on clearance and purchase 5 boxes. Check. (A little over $100 for over 600 diapers and 700 wipes. Yeah. I'm awesome. People were also staring at my cart like I was a crazy mother of twelve, but whatever.)
- Lunch at Jimmy John's. (Turkey Tom, no mayo. Most delicious thing on earth.) Check. Also, it was FREE because my punch card was finally full!
- ONE HOUR MASSAGE OF GLORIOUS GOODNESS. Check. Checkity. Check. Check. Check.

I came home to find Kim, aka the baby whisperer, and my sister sharing home ownership stories in the dining room. Alex was out like a light in Kim's arms.

Kim offered to stay a little longer so I could complete the last thing on my list: grocery shopping. Kelli came with me and I taught her the awesomeness of shopping with coupons (David, you're welcome). This trip? $35.74 saved. Word to yo' momma.

We came home, had a lovely taco dinner and called it a night. I actually went to bed because it was 10 p.m. and that is the time that one should go to bed, not because I was so exhausted I could hardly remember my name.

Thank you, Kim. You're an angel.