Looking Up

After a scary first afternoon, Harper seemed to improve quickly. Tylenol did its job and we made sure she drank lots of clear liquids and tried to keep her comfortable. Her temp never went back up over 100. Harper is now left with a very stuff nose, a picky appetite, and is slightly cranky, otherwise she seems fine. I, on the other hand, am recovering from the cold of death, which struck in full force Friday night. I spent most of the day yesterday in bed. A huge thank you to Matt for allowing that to happen. I sincerely doubt I spent more than five hours with my feet on the floor yesterday. I'm feeling a little better today, with the help of some cold medicine. It clears my congestion but makes me feel all floaty, which I could do without. Matt now seems like he might be coming down with this thing and we're hoping he gets over it fast because. . .

We're going on a trip!

Next week!

To Florida!

So I guess I am going to have to leave home again after all.

We've know about the trip for a little while actually. We will head to Columbus on Wednesday night, to stay with Dotto, who graciously agreed to open her home to us. Our flight leaves out of Columbus at o-dark-thirty Thursday morning, so we're getting a little head start by staying there. We'll fly into Ft. Meyers and spend the weekend in Naples, where we'll stay until Sunday. Matt won the trip through work, so it's Happy Valentine's Day to us!

The hard part, of course, is being away from Harper. Since I'd finished nursing I have been looking forward to maybe a night away with Matt. Four nights away seems a lot for the first separation. Fortunately my mom is coming to stay here. This means Harper will be on her turf, where she tends to be a more reasonable human being. It also means not having to take the dog to Camp Canine, which he loves, but it's not free. And Matt's parents are also right here, to lend a hand or provide adult company to Grandma. I'm sure she'll love staying with Harper, the two of them will have fun together. There are a couple of weekends coming up, when it may make sense for me to travel without Harper, this will be a trial run. If it's too hard to be away I might have to rethink things.

In talking to a friend last week, I realized I've never really been away from Harper for more than a few hours. I guess the longest was when we went to Green Bay to see a Packer game in October, and she stayed with my mom. We were probably gone for about seven hours, maybe not that long. As a full time mom, I really appreciate little breaks, Saturday mornings when I can run errands on my own, a night off to go to book club, sneaking off for a movie, even subbing for a day. I think these little times away help keep me sane, and I know I am a better mom because of them. But a long weekend, now that it's so close, is feeling like a really long time.

On the other hand. . . It will be a chance for Matt and I to be together, eat good food that I don't have to cook or clean up, and we won't be anywhere near a computer or work or laundry or basketball or dirty dishes or dirty diapers or dirty floors (hmmm, maybe I need to clean my house before we go?). It will be like a little retreat for us, and who doesn't need that?