I ran out of titles

So I had a great weekend.  And a terrible weekend.  It was one of those things where everything went perfect and everything went wrong.

Friday morning I told Jayden that Daddy would be picking him up and that I was going on an airplane and would be gone for a couple days.  He thought about it for a minute and then said "I wan' DA-DDY to go on an ai-ya-plane!"  This was clearly him being tired on a Friday morning and a representation of how much he loves his mama, not of how little he loves his daddy.  He definitely appeared a little confused, but he was getting in the car with Daddy, so it wasn't too confusing.  And I reassured him that Daddy had a lot fewer rules than Mommy did, so he'd probably have more fun.  :)

My weekend started off great.  I left my office at 2:05 pm and was at my gate by 2:35 pm - just 30 minutes to drive to the airport, print my boarding pass, go through security and walk to my gate.  Amazing.  And then I checked my email.  My (great) Uncle Ted had a stroke the previous Saturday (May 10th), and had just passed away Friday morning.  He would have been 96 in a few weeks and had lived an amazing life.  Two of his granddaughters were by his side when he passed, and it was peaceful.  But it was still somewhat shocking to me.  So of course I started crying in the airport and was conflicted - how do I revel in my weekend of freedom when there's this cloud of sadness around me?

Luckily my friends are amazing and kept me busy from the get-go.  We went to a happy hour and met a few of their work friends.  We then went to dinner and had wonderful fish n chips and burgers.  As I was leaving I noticed my sister had called - it was Friday night, but even for Ellen it was a little late.  I called her back and she was so hysterical I couldn't understand her.  Finally I figured out, and she calmed down enough to tell me, that my Grandfather had collapsed and was in the hospital.  My dad was on the way to Florida and there wasn't much more we'd know until the morning.  In a matter of hours the cloud of sadness had darkened significantly.

I decided there wasn't anything I could do until I heard more from my dad, so we went ahead with our plans for the weekend.  Whether I was at home or with my friends, there was nothing I could do (and it turns out, there wasn't much I could have done if I had been in Florida either).  I woke up Saturday and got a little FaceTime with my boys in:

little boys in hats!  he looks so old!

We got in the car and headed to Sonoma for some lunch and general fun in the sun.  We had an amazing lunch, visited a couple of wineries, got a little sunburned (or that part was just me) and had a great dinner.  It was really a lovely day and the best part about it is that the only "plan" we had was reservations for lunch.  Everything else was based entirely on how we felt.  It was so nice to not have to think about diapers, naps, food schedules, etc.  When we were hungry, we ate.  When we were thirsty, we drank.  And I finished real, grown up conversations!

Outside the restaurant.  If you're ever in Sonoma, you should definitely go to the girl and the fig.  It is lovely.

The view at our first winery, Gundlach Bundschu (or something similar).

Bubbles!  At Gloria Ferrer.

Some greenery in Larkspur, home of one of the best pizza places, Picco Pizzeria.

Sunday morning my routine was similar - wake up at 6:40 am, check the time, roll over and sleep some more until 9:00 am.  Thank goodness for sleeping in.  Got some more FaceTime in with the home crew:

Silly faces.

Towards the ends of the conversation he usually decides it's time to do something else.  So he started driving.  Makes sense.

We had plans to meet one of my good friends from PLC (who also abandoned me to move to the bay area) for brunch at a Thai Temple in Berkeley.  I was too obsessed to take any pictures - so sad! - but the food was great.  You didn't "buy" the food, but you made a donation and in return got a bunch of tokens.  Then you went around to the various stations and exchanged your tokens for food.  We had pad thai, green curry, yellow curry, pork, tofu and egg, sweet and spicy fish, beef soup, mango sticky rice and three other desserts that were amazing.  We ate way too much but it was so great.  Seriously, so great.  And lovely company.

We went from there back to Vanessa's where we all just relaxed and talked about nothing and everything (and I do mean everything).  Stacy did a whiskey tasting, just for fun apparently.  We then headed back to Oakland to go to a beer garden to meet up with some more of my friends.  The beer garden was great, super relaxed and fun, with a great selection of beer and snacks.  And then my two college friends, Tamara and Tamara (the same but not the same at all - one is basically Tam-ra and one is Ta-MAR-a), showed up.  A great reunion.

Stacy and Kamal.

Vanessa, playing it cool inside.

P-P Sagehens!

Dancing?  Laughing?  Smiling?  Doesn't matter, it's all good and it's all fun.  LOVE these women and miss them always.

We went to yet another amazing pizza place that night, Zachary's, which makes amazing deep dish pizza.  I seriously could eat that pizza all day every day.  We dropped Tamara off at BART and headed home.  For one last gluttonous stop, we ate breakfast the next morning at Rudy's in Oakland.  It was great and seriously not what we really needed.  But at least we stayed away from the cocktails at 9:00 am, particularly since Vanessa and Stacy had 5 hours of meetings that day.
 

Gathering my last little bit of Oakland sunshine!

Kamal dropped me at the airport and I made it back to Orange County just fine.  To avoid real life just a little longer, I went for a quick run and scheduled a massage.  It had been a year since my last one and the lady spent 45 minutes just trying to get knots out of my shoulders and neck.  It feels amazingly better, just maybe a little sore.  For $50 it was totally worth it.

I picked Jayden up from Juju's and suddenly it was back to real life.  He was excited to see me for about 4.5 seconds and then began the fight to get him away from the television and into the car.  We eventually made it, without a temper tantrum, thank goodness.  It was my turn to put him to bed and it was nice to get cuddle time with my little boy.  In an odd reversal or roles, there's something about cuddling with my son that makes me feel safe.  And then came the next storm cloud.  About two hours after getting downstairs, I see a missed call from my dad, who I know is still in Florida.  I know what he's calling to tell me before I even touch my phone.  But in case you haven't  figured it out, my grandfather passed away Monday night at 10:30 pm Eastern.  My dad was there with him and I know he's in a better place and in much less pain and much more peace than before, so that's good.  But it doesn't mean I won't miss him.  As I told Vanessa, I imagine him finding my grandmother and dancing completely incorrectly to the YMCA at the Jewish Country Club in Palm Beach slash wherever he is now.  Such happiness and joy.  And as I said to my sister, one thing you can surely say for my grandparents is that they enjoyed their lives.  They had many friends and they spent quality time with them and loved the time they spent with each other.  And if we are able to be half as loyal and half as dedicated to our significant other, then we will all be lucky.  My heart hurts, especially for my poppa, but I also am grateful for having known my grandparents as long as we did and for them getting to love long lives full of so many experiences.

And then it was Tuesday and it was really back to real life.  Of course Jayden woke up in the middle of the night Monday night, so I slept on the floor outside his room for a couple hours, crawling back into bed around 4:30 am.  Back to work, with a training at a law firm at lunchtime and meetings off and on the rest of the time.  I left what I thought was early so I could get Jayden and then stop at the grocery store since we were about out of yogurt and didn't really have sufficient dinner food.  Turns out I still didn't leave early enough.  And since I wasn't home over the weekend I had nothing planned for dinner so I've been scrambling each night to create something out of what I have in the fridge.  Apparently when I need to create I turn to Mexican food, so we've had chicken tacos and pork tostadas so far this week (with Jayden breaking off and demanding pasta with white sauce tonight - he ate the entire container of pasta).  Speaking of Jayden and eating, he ate TWO bowls of macaroni and cheese on Monday night.  And then the entire container of pasta tonight which is supposed to provide two servings to a grown up.  The macaroni and cheese was supposed to be a meal for a 12 year old and under.  And he's 2 and almost ate TWO entire bowls.  Insane.  Rather than save for college I think I need to start by saving for our grocery bills.  And to follow up, anyone who is a parent to a boy should read this:

http://www.scarymommy.com/10-things-moms-of-boys-must-do/

I am not a fan of farting and do not love the word, but I have learned that it must become part of my vocabulary.  And I can only imagine what it will be like when he's older, especially with Carmen as a husband who basically refuses to use what I consider to be slightly less offensive words.

Another story about Jayden before I sign off.   I have no idea what is normal.  But Jayden memorizes everything.  He reads his bedtime books with us every night.  He loves his books and he honestly knows pretty much every word.  So for the last few weeks we have been reading the "Little Blue Truck" and the "Belly Button Book."  Both cute and hilarious books.  And he knows most of the words.  I know he's not reading the words, but if he knows the words it seems like reading will come so much easier when he's older.  After we read our two books and we turn off the lights he usually asks me to tell him the "monkey story," which is the story about the five monkeys jumping on the bed, one falls off and bumps his head, mama calls the doctor, the doctor said, "NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!"  Now it's obviously not a hard story for me to memorize since there are really only four or five lines.  But I tell this story in the dark as he's falling asleep.  And Jayden knows the words and tells the story with me.

Tonight when we finished, Jayden said "Thanks for helping me mommy."  I said, "thanks for helping me Jayden!"  He was pretty tired tonight, telling me as we were driving home from Juju's that "I pwetty ti-yewd today mama."  So he cuddled up as we were telling the story, and once we were done, rolled around a bit until he found his spot in my arms.  I looked at him and said "love you Jayden."  He said "wuv you too mama.  you are the best."  And yes, I nearly melted.  I said "no, you are the best!"  And he said "NO!  I not the best!  Mama is the best.  Daddy is the best.  Jasmine is the best.  But I not the best!!"  I don't really know what he thinks "the best" means, but I guess he's working his way up there.  He's just so sweet and adorable, so long as he's not crying, whining, kicking, hitting or generally throwing a temper tantrum.  Oh to grow up with a two year old.