(Answer: Is there any other kind?)
On Friday, Baby B’s daycare had a Mother’s Day ice cream party, so I slept in that morning, mowed the grass in 80+-degree heat (and exclaimed on IM to The Husband that I wanted to replace our push reel mower with a real lawn mower for Mother’s Day), then got ready and went to Baby B’s party. There’s nothing quite like being greeted with, “MOMMY!” every afternoon, but it seemed more enthusiastic this time. The party had a pretty decent turnout of moms (certainly more than the two that showed up last year), and we had a nice time enjoying some snacks and ice cream with the kids. Then they presented us with our presents, which were wooden painted frames with their pictures inside. One of the teachers, who does photography on the side, took the pictures, and Baby B’s is just precious.
After leaving daycare, I took Baby B with me to run a couple of errands, including getting a present for The Husband as we were celebrating our tenth dating anniversary on Saturday. Back when we first started dating, I got him a single Hershey bar to represent our first year together. The second anniversary, I got him two chocolate bars, but pretty soon we were celebrating high enough numbers that getting the appropriate number of Hershey bars was too much, so we sort of tabled the tradition. But for tenย years I wanted to do it again, so I figured I’d get ten fun-size (instead of full-size) Hershey bars.
It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon, so after our errands, Baby B and I went to the park for an hour or so, where we got to swing together for most of the time, but then enjoyed some sweet moments together on the grass. There were some big, puffy, white clouds floating through, the kind that are great for seeing animals and other objects. So I started pointing out a few that I saw, then Baby B quickly picked up on the game and came up with a ton of her own creations (some of which I could see, some of which I could not). She’s noticed before that clouds look like other things, but this is really the first time we’ve specifically sat down to look at them (as opposed to just her noticing while in the car). Baby B is not what I would consider a snuggle bug, at least not with me, but she came over on her own and sat down on my lap while we looked at the clouds, and I couldn’t help but think just how awesome I have it with her. She’s an amazing young lady, and I’m so fortunate to be her mom.
She and I got home and I found my Mother’s Day present in the garage: a new electric lawn mower that The Husband had run out and bought on his lunch break and put together while he knew I was out. Now before you think we’re crazy, just hear me out. With me off on Fridays, I had started doing the bulk of the lawn mowing recently since it frees us up to do other fun (ie, not chore) things on Saturdays. So this new lawn mower will help me get the job done easier, or if The Husband does it on the weekends, it will take him less time, which means less time away from me and Baby B, so we all still benefit. I would like to note that of course he never would have bought such a present for Mother’s Day if I hadn’t suggested it first. It’s non-traditional, but it’s going to make my life easier in several ways, so I’m all for it. Just kind of weird to say you got a lawn mower for Mother’s Day. ๐
On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to the state capital for the Activate America 5-mile and 2-mile runs. I convinced The Husband to run the five-miler (his longest run ever), and I decided that Baby B and I would do the two-mile race together since she’s been asking to run in races “like Mommy and Daddy.” We were greeted with a picture-perfect day, with blue skies and race-time temps just above 50. (Sounds cool for us for May, but you don’t want it too warm when running.) We saw off The Husband at the start of his race, then we began our two-mile journey. Baby B started out very strong, running at a pretty good pace. Everyone we passed, both in the race and those cheering us along from the streets, was so encouraging to us. “Look at her go!” “She’s so fast!” “She’s going to beat us all!” Just shy of our one-mile mark, the five-mile runners were backtracking on our route, and the timing was perfect so we were able to see The Husband coming by before we veered off onto a new road. Soon after that, Baby B sat down on the curb and started playing with a stick. Someone walked by us and said, “I guess sticks are way more interesting!” I laughed and said, “Well, I’m a little surprised we made it this far before a distraction like this.” ๐ We started up again and hit the one-mile mark at :19.43.
The second mile was much the same, though there were a couple small stretches where Baby B asked me to carry her, but for the most part she ran her heart out. The race route is cruel and has a big hill at the end, so it was a little tough for her to get up that, but she did it, and we crossed the finish line in :39. Not too bad for a three-year-old (she was the youngest person in the race). Baby B was pretty wiped out after the race, and I had several people comment on that fact, and I said, “Hey, I finally found a way to wear her out! Make her run two miles.” We had enough time to get some water and let her use the bathroom, then we cheered on The Husband, who finished his five miles in just under :52, not too bad considering he really didn’t put much training into it. We enjoyed the post-race Panera bagels (yum!) and some water before walking around the grounds of the Capitol building so Baby B could look around.
We headed home after the race and took showers before heading out shortly after. We decided to go to a neighboring town to what we call The Orchard (they have a huge play area there), making a stop first at a local pizza place that we decided to try for lunch. Baby B ate a great lunch, and we went to The Orchard, which she was so excited about. (We’d kept it a secret until we got there.) It had gotten cooler during the day and the wind was blowing, so I guess that kept most of the other kids away (plus The Orchard just opened for the season), so we basically had the place to ourselves. We played with balls and hula hoops. We did the swings. We did the tricycles. We did the climbing hill. We did the rolling tube. We did the big slide. We did it all! We enjoyed some snacks after a little while there, then headed home, where we all proceeded to get our nap on (even Baby B). In fact, we did so well at napping that I was the first to wake up — at 6:30 p.m. Oops…we usually eat dinner at 6:30! I started making dinner and we ate shortly after 7:30, not too bad, I suppose, though clearly Baby B wasn’t going to bed on time that night. (Not a big deal since she did nap.)
After she was in bed, The Husband and I exchanged our dating anniversary gifts, and it turns out he also got me ten mini Hershey bars to symbolize our ten years together. I love that we’re on the same wavelength so much of the time, and that’s just another example in a long list of ways we often do that. We watched The Time Traveler’s Wife on DVD, which I actually liked more than the book. (I’d found the book quite confusing and didn’t really get the hype of everyone loving it so much.) The Husband even enjoyed it too, though it’s hard to find a movie that he absolutely does not like.
Even though we celebrated Mother’s Day earlier in the weekend, I still got to wake up to a wonderful bacon, onion, and cheese omelet made by The Husband before I had to get ready for work on Sunday. His omelets are the BEST, and I’d been hoping he would make one for me. After breakfast, I got ready, then opened the cards from The Husband, Baby B, and The Dog, then headed to work for the day, though we had a light day so I got to come home for a couple hours in the afternoon before returning to finish up. The Husband and I got Baby B to bed, then we settled in to watch the finale of The Amazing Race before time to hit the sack myself.
It was a fun, packed weekend, but that’s just how we do things ’round here.
I love The Husband and Baby B so much, and I can’t imagine it any other way.