My first night away from my baby!

At 17 months and 1 week old, I had my first night, and weekend, away from Trey. I know most of you are reading this and thinking, "really? what the heck took her so long?". I don't disagree with you, but there honestly has not been any reason or occasion for me to be away from him. Doug and I have had many date nights, and parties, Doug has gone out of town on business, or there has been one reason or another for one of us to be gone, but I have always been there the next day, until now. My soon to be sister-in-law had her bachelorette party weekend down here in Charlotte, NC, so Doug and Trey headed to Wilmington, NC for the weekend and I got to experience what it was like to truly stay up late and sleep in the next day without any responsibilities! It was wonderfully liberating and sadly lonely all at the same time! It was a fantastic weekend, but when Trey and Doug got home, I was thrilled to see them.

Trey's little world has stayed pretty much the same all summer long- tons and tons of company, trips, and lots of spoiling! After spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa in Wilmington, NC, he came back and spent a few days with Grandma DeEsch here in Charlotte. While Grandma babysat, I had a parent-teacher conference with Trey's new teacher, Miss Judy. I assumed this would be a quick meeting where we would go over the rules of the classroom, I would drop off diapers and a change of clothes, and then I would head in to work. I was wrong! An hour later, I was fully informed on the classroom curriculum for the year, which included Trey learning his shapes, colors, numbers, ABCs, (as a new topic each week) and possibly potty training starting in the Spring (I'm all about this, because I'm pretty sure the more help I can get, the better!). I know potty training seems so far away, but Trey has started showing some real interest in the process. Whenever we change his diaper, he wants to do it himself, by taking his wipes and wiping himself, and he'll even bring me a diaper to tell me he needs his diaper changed. I know this is not full blown signs, but it is definitely a step in the right direction! Trey's class will consist of 8 little children, 6 boys and 2 girls, and 2 teachers. 6 of the kiddos we already know, which also makes me so happy. His first day of school is this Tuesday, and I am dying to get back into a regular routine. Our lives have been too crazy for far too long!

Trey's new word these past few weeks is "baby" and then he will go and pat your belly. Very sweet when you are pregnant, but probably less sweet if you are not :). I can tell you that Doug does not find it quite as precious when Trey's taps his belly and says "baby". If Trey had full control of his world, he would spend all of his time outside, where he loves to play in all the dirt, throw it around, dig, and fill his buckets. He is the filthiest child on the face of the planet, and there are some nights I can't even get all the dirt off of him, but he loves it and I don't have the heart to tell him no.

Lastly, I've been unbelievably sick the past 4 days, and today is the first day I've felt remotely human, so for Labor Day, we packed a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon at Ramsey Creek Park. It was wonderful- the weather was gorgeous, Doug did some fishing, and Trey climbed trees, copied everything his Dada did, and flung himself into the water. It was a blast, and I couldn't help but spend the entire day smiling at how much I love my boys and my family.