And there went the surprise! LOL
Here are a few pics:
Cousins having fun!
Fun times in his cousin's Bouncy thing
Me & my husband at the party.
We had a good time and can I just say that I REEEEALLLY wanted to move there more than ever this time I went???? There are several reasons for this statement. One, it was like 70-75 degrees in Mid-March and we won;t see that ish until AT LEAST the beginning of June with any regularity (probably like the MIDDLE of June to be exact....). Number 2, if you all have been reading this stuff for awhile, you all know that though I have family here (albeit a small family, I have an older brother, sister and one niece and one nephew...nope...no aunts and no uncles) here. But it is almost IMPOSSIBLE for us to "coordinate" with them to take our son off our hands and watch him if we want to do anything! It is the most frustrating thing about having a small family and not being near my husband's family, bar none. The one person who WOULD do it is my niece, but she is sooooooo tied up into her husband's family and their goings-on, that either she is too busy, she's also in grad school, or spending time with her husband. I damn sure can't blame her, and this is MY child, but what happened to "it takes a village...." cause my village is non-existent. For real. And I feel that stress and my marriage oftimes feels that stress of NEVER really being able to go out or do things with each other because we don't have someone to watch out son. So......the fact still remains that I can't rely on my family for help..... hardly ever..... and it's hard to get that outlet.
And before you all ask..... I had (notice i say "had") a babysitter 3 doors down, but her family MOVED and pretty much everyone else on our street is a teenage male (not feeling THAT demographic for a babysitter....sorry if that's sexist, but **shrug** oh freakin well...) or they are too young. I do not know other "teens" in the neighborhood that babysit either. And as you know, my mother lives in Florida and my husband's mother lives in Georgia. But the saving grace has been Melvin's and my girl( Diva's families. The problem there is that we cannot "ask all the time" or as my mother used to say "wear out your welcome" like you might try to do with your OWN family :-) Also, the people that will sometimes keep OUR son, may need to keep my girl and HER huaband's son (my Godson) who is about to turn 2! So, that also limits us, after all, they are "like family" ...but they are NOT our family and whatever way you slice it....there IS a damn difference! Feel me??
Can I just say that it was soooo effortless for my husband's cousin to take my son and keep him at her house, and trust, this was not JUST because we were only there for a few days.... this is just how it would be! My husband has a whoooooole lotta people that we could have keep our son! I mean, I can't even lie.... that alone makes me want to move down there! He gets to play with his cousins (who are his age, of which there are NONE up here in my family) and Mommy and Daddy get some "parent-time" and probably some of our own individual "me-time" back without one or the other solely having the little one.
Don't get me wrong, it was OUR choice to have a baby and it is OUR son. So, I am not trying to say I want to shirk my parental duties in ANY way. But everyone needs time...... and needs it more than once a year. Do you know that our son has NEVER spent the night away from us EXCEPT for when my mother came up here and we went to Chicago 3 years ago???? Uh...yeah. We haven't been on a vacation since. Because there is always "that issue" of "well.... who could he stay with for 3-7 days if we go somewhere????????" It's just a logistical nightmare and financially expensive undertaking JUST for us to "go on a trip"...... feel me????
So with that said..... I yearn for that kinda of support and those of you who have it... have NO.IDEA. how lucky you are. Trust me... you are very lucky because not having extra support does take it's toll.....
***DIVA THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU BECUASE YOU REMIND ME ALL THE TIME THAT YOU ARE VERY THANKFUL TO HAVE YO PEOPLE!!! LOL ***
Carving out time for yourself is tough and though I'd miss my friends dearly, if my husband would be up for moving (which, because he likes the stability of his position where he works and the fact that we would have a hard as HELL time selling this house in this f'ed up market), I'd be all over it.....becuase it is no JOKE not having people around to help... for real.....Truth be told, in a perfect world, I would just be able to have the help I need HERE and not move, but that isn't reality and the help would be worth it to move. My husband agrees that the help would be worth it, but we'd have to find jobs,etc. and not just any job, the RIGHT.ONES that would allow us to pay bills and maitain a lifestyle, feel me??
So, who knows, maybe one day we will.....
