Vacation and the Importance of Kid-Free Time

Trying to get back into the swing of things, here.  Sorry I left you hanging on my Guilt-Free Fridays.  I'll do a Guilt-Free post soon, because I need to share that caramel recipe with you AND my new grain-free lasagna recipe.  But first I wanted to tell you how our trip was and some thoughts I had about it.  We had a great time!  My stomach didn't think so, and I'm pretty sure a handful of others felt the same way, so my natural first aid kit came in handy while we were there, especially the peppermint oil!  Lots of upset stomachs were eased after applying it!  Luckily I didn't need to use many of the other things, but it's better to be safe than sorry!



We went zip-lining at Xplor, which was a park we had visited on our honeymoon so it was great to come back again, especially in under three years!

Our friends got married on the beach on Wednesday the 26th and it was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great time celebrating!  Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Jones!

We did some kayaking out on the ocean, which is always a neat experience!  Nothing very exciting happened like last year when we went kayaking in Florida and had a manatee encounter, though, but it was still fun!

 We did a lot of snorkeling too (only without the snorkel, I find that thing to be a nuisance sometimes...).  It really is a different world under the water, almost kinda creepy in a way... but amazing at the same time!

Best of all, though, we got to be just us.  Jami and Justin.  Not mom and dad, not Jami, LMT (well, except when a friend slept wrong and couldn't turn his head the next day...), just Jami and Justin.  Of course we missed little man, but not terribly.  He was in good hands with my mom, Justin's mom, my grandma, and Justin's sister, and we had a week to just "recharge the batteries" as some friends of ours put it.  I feel like it's SO important for parents to take the time to do this.  I never realized how consuming kids can be.  To the point where you lose sight of what made you a couple.  You get sucked into the responsibilities of child-rearing and keeping up with a household to the point where you lose that original flame that bonded the two of you in the first place.  Sometimes the flame even goes out completely.  Fortunately that's never happened to us - we've made regular dates a priority for the two of us, getting a babysitter for the afternoon or evening and leaving to get sushi or pedicures (yep, my big manly husband is HOOKED on them, and I love it!), or we've left him overnight for wedding receptions or late-night parties.  But a whole WEEK was something new.  We didn't have to think about feeding anyone but ourselves, clothing anyone but ourselves, diaper changes, naps, bathtime, scheduling babysitters, pickup from the babysitters, etc. etc., for a whole WEEK.  It was refreshing, to say the least.  I love my husband.  Marrying him was definitely the best decision I ever made.  Harlee just sets us in stone, and while he's little and needs us more than he ever will his whole entire life, we need to remember that someday he won't need us.  Someday he'll spread his wings and leave the nest, and all that will be left is me and Justin.  So we better stay connected so we know how to interact with each other when that day comes!

I think it's so healthy for the kids when mom and dad have some time off, too.  Sure kiddos are wonderful and fun and make life so much more full and vibrant than ever before, but my god can they be stressful.  Diaper blow-outs, communication struggles, tantrums (especially in public places), interrupting when you're trying to have a conversation with other adults, and having to make sure they're covered before you make plans for any part of your day (if both parents work).  Exhausting.  Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I signed up for this.  How are you supposed to maintain a relationship with your spouse as a SPOUSE when you're so consumed with being mom and dad?  And if the two of you made the child together, wouldn't it be good for the child to know that you still love each other?  That's how I felt, anyway, when I was a kid.  My parents never really took time to themselves, and very rarely left us to have time just for themselves.  I'll never forget one weekend the went out for their anniversary and we stayed with my grandparents, and we had a blast, and when they came back they seemed so... different.  They were smiling bigger, their eyes were lit back up, and they just seemed happy.  And I thought, wow, they should do that more often.  I keep that in mind now that I'm in their shoes.  I want Harlee to always know how much I love his dad, and that we love each other, because in the end, that just makes our love for him as our child that much stronger.

Anyway, those were just some thoughts I had.  Quite a few people were shocked that we would be leaving Harlee for a whole week, so I wanted to share my point of view on that.  I don't feel bad at all that we left him for a week.  I'm so very glad we did!  I think we did us all a favor by taking that vacation.  It took a little more stress out of our lives, which means Harlee gets the benefit of recharged, happy parents.  And Justin and I got to take some time to reflect on what makes us, us.