He brainstormed a bunch of ideas and emailed them to me at work and come Friday afternoon, we began tackling the list.
First up was a trip to the Como Zoo and nature conservatory. I had never been there before, but it was a lot of fun. They also had a really cute little carnival area for kids so we know we will be back someday soon with little one. It was also an awesome opportunity to practice using my camera and I got some really great pictures in the conservatory. Here are three of my favorites. (Full disclosure, I did a bit of post editing experimentation with Photoshop.)
Then after the zoo, we went out and volunteered with the Eagan Yellow Ribbon and bagged groceries at Cub. At first I wasn't sure that I could stand for that long, but it ended up being really fun. Matt and I enjoyed doing a volunteer project together and it really did help put things in perspective. One sure way of stopping feeling sorry for yourself is to do something to focus on others.
After we got home from Cub, we had a fantastic late dinner of turkey burgers, coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans. Overall, an awesome night!
Saturday we once again woke up with no signs of baby's arrival so we had a relaxing morning at home before heading out to the Mall of America to have lunch and do some shopping. We had a great lunch at this new restaurant at the mall, I can never remember the right name and keep calling it "Cowboy Jacks." Anyway, the pulled pork sandwich that I had was amazing and Matt really enjoyed his meat lovers flat bread. After lunch, we ventured out to look for new jeans for Matt but it turned into a bit of a disaster, truthfully. Let's just say that my husband is not a fan of shopping!
Jeanless, we headed home and ended up wrapping up the afternoon with a great visit to the local park to try out Matt's new bean bag game that my dad made him for Christmas. I found out that I really stink at that game but we had a lot of fun just hanging out together. We even spent a few minutes playing on the park equipment and thinking about what it will be like bringing our daughter there. We ended Saturday with a great gourmet spinach and strawberry salad dinner paired with the always sophisticated Mac & Cheese. We also stocked up on 4 new Redbox movies to keep us busy over the next 24 hours.
Sunday morning once again greeted us without a baby, so we headed off to church. The worship and sermon was really good and another welcome distraction from our own waiting. We then tried the jean mission part II at Kohl's and had much more success. Afterwards we ran over to Target to return some baby items and ended up getting some fun "splurge" items for lunch including soda and lunchables. Fun to give in to cravings at this stage of the game!
We spent some time around the house watching movies in the afternoon as well as hanging the baby monitor and some picture frames in little bugs room. Then we walked over to our favorite local Mexican restaurant, El Azteca, and enjoyed a great late dinner. We had a great conversation on the way to the restaurant and at dinner, reliving our first dating and early marriage moments. Also, about how different our life is now and how it's about to completely change. Very fun and one of those nights where you get to fall more and more in love with your spouse.
Today is "D" day and little one seems to be quite content where she is at, so once again we are preparing for another busy day. On the agenda today is baking come pumpkin bread, assembling the Pack n Play, giving the cat a haircut, then going for a walk around Lake Nokomis.
Looking back, I know that I will remember this uninterrupted time with just Matt and I very fondly and be grateful that we had it. In a way this was sort of a "staycation" for us and we connected with each other in ways that we typically only do when we are off on a trip together. It was such a sweet time to just hunker down just the two of us (we really ignored phones, Facebook, etc) and just hang out together.
I also feel really blessed to be married to my best friend and to have him here for love, support and to keep me busy during this challenging waiting time.
I've also learned a lot about taking things one task at a time, one moment at a time and one day at a time. I know that going back to work post D-day will be really hard for both Matt and I tomorrow, but I'm going to try and just focus on the here an now. And I know that if we once again wake up tomorrow morning without our little one, then God will give us the strength we need to keep going.
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