To the Gym!

Today was "Sunday" for us and as I look back on our weekend, all I can do is smile. It was absolutely wonderful and I am sad it's over. The weekend kicked off with a trip to the Y, for our first couples workout session. This was also the first time that we have dropped Jack off anywhere to be cared for. On our way to the gym, knowing how attached he is to me, I was really nervous. Matt admitted he was as well. When we got there, Matt dropped me off at the door, so I could go scope out the daycare area and forewarn the staff that it was our first time doing something like this and that Jack would probably have a really hard time with it, because he is used to being with just me, everyday, all day. The director reassured me that as long as we keep bringing him consistently, he will eventually get used to it. She also suggested that we start out slow and build-up the amount of time he is there for, which would be for a maximum of two hours.She informed me that their  policy is if a child cries for longer than 15 minutes, they would come get us, which gave me peace of mind and made me feel better about leaving him. When Matt brought Jack into the room, to our surprise he ran right in and started checking out all the toys. They told us that sometimes it's best to not even say goodbye and just leave, so that's what we did. We were relieved of how painless it was, but in the back of mind, I knew it was too good to be true. When about 25 minutes passed, I decided to go check in with with the director to see how he was doing, without letting Jack see me. She said he was doing great and had just got finished serving "tea" to her. I was so happy that he was having fun and connecting with the staff members. Then about fifteen minutes after checking in on him, the director came to get me and informed he was starting to get pretty worked up and we immediately stopped what we were doing and rushed in to get him. When we got there, he was hysterical and it broke my heart to see the pool of tears falling from his precious face. As soon as he saw me, he cried out "m-a-m-a" and I calmly walked over to him, scooped him up, and gave him a huge hug and said "mommy's here, Jack."  He instantly stopped crying and was relieved to be back in my care. I thanked the staff, told them we would see them again, and we were on our way. Driving home, we let Jack know that he would be going back to "school" again and also talked about all the fun things there was to do there.  Overall, Matt and I were really proud of how well Jack did, considering it was his first time and excited about finally being able to back to the gym again. It was really fun to do something together and I think Matt enjoyed teaching me different exercises and the purposes of all the different equipment.

On "Saturday" morning, Matt woke up with Jack and around 8:30, he came down and told me that him and Jack were leaving to go do a little secret shopping for my upcoming birthday, which I was pleasantly surprised by, because let's face it, everyone likes getting gifts every now and then. I took full advantage of the fact that I had the house to myself. For the first time, rather than using my alone time to get stuff done, I sat on the couch, sipped my coffee, watched Kelly and Michael and did absolutely nothing. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Then I made a last minute decision to take my relaxing morning to the next level, and treat myself to a haircut. Wanting to change things up a little, I decided to go ahead and get some bangs put in and also do somewhat of an inverted bob. After an hour and a half, my hair was finally done (I have REALLY thick hair) and I loved it! When I got home, Matt told me he really liked it too, which was relieving to hear him say.

This morning we took a family trip to Wal-mart to look at curtains for Jack's playroom, as well as stuff to make tonight's dinner. Matt also made sure to check out the latest Hot Wheels selection, which he has to do anytime he goes to a store that sells them. I will never admit this to Matt, but I actually don't  mind the fact that he does this, because not only is something fun for him and Jack to do together, but it's also a super cheap hobby, seeing as they are only 97 cents a piece. Later this afternoon, we decided to give the gym another go. Unlike the last time, Jack cried immediately upon arrival. I felt so bad, but knew that if we wanted to make this work, we had to just walk away and let the teacher's handle it. Because of how upset he was, I was expecting them to come get us after the first 15 minutes. But to my surprise, they didn't  and we were actually able to get a full work out in. When we walked back into the room to pick Jack up, he was sitting on one of the staff members laps, bawling. I felt horrible. They told me they didn't come get us because he had stopped crying for a while, and only started back up again because he saw the other parents coming and going with their kids. Again, we thanked them and told them we'd be back on Saturday. The staff member who was comforting Jack, said she worked that day also.

Besides the whole gym fiasco, Jack was in a really joyful mood the entire weekend. Matt and I shared countless laughs over Jack's silly and cheerful behavior. One mentionable moment came from dinner tonight, when Jack learned how to use a napkin. Every time I went to wipe my face, he would copy me. He thought he was pretty cool, meanwhile, Matt and I thought it was absolutely adorable.

Shockingly, I didn't have my camera out very much over the weekend. I suppose that's because I was savoring every minute with my amazing boys. :)

Jack "chopping" up an onion for dinner.

Organizing the k-cups for us. What would be do without him?