Happy 2016! As usual Chris and I had a quiet new year's eve celebration by ordering in and watching movies. This update is a little late so unfortunately I can't remember what we ate or watched.
So the cruise turned out to be better than expected. Maybe because I went in thinking to myself to not stress over food or cleaning up. With the all day buffet, places for Harrison and Oliver to run around and play in the pool, twice a day room clean up, going out after the kids goes to bed…it was the first time I felt like I was really on vacation. Nothing bothered me at all. The little bit of rocking on the boat felt very soothing.
We went on one excursion in Florida where we took an airboat out to the wetlands. We saw a gator, held a baby gator and Harrison kissed it, and even held a big python. Harrison also tried to get me to kiss it by grabbing it’s head and shoving it in my face. That kid is fearless. On the ship we tried a rope course that was 30 feet in the air, then in the Bahamas we went to the beach. On the ship we played in the pool, waterslides, ping pong, arcade, miniature golf, watched comedy shows, ball room dancing, and a circus performance and kids talent show. After 2 days the ship didn't feel as big, but it was nice to know our way around.
Just before the trip I talked to my mom on the phone, she was having a fight with her boyfriend. When she sounds mad I always just assume she’s mad at me! hahaha! So he proposed to her, she said yes, but they had a fight and she called it off. Old people! I really don’t care if she gets married again or not. I think as long as she’s happy and someone to keep her company, it’s all good. The funny thing was that she’s just not a good girlfriend! Just like she used to do to me, when she gets mad she just threatens to leave or she wants to kick him out. In the end, my semi-professional opinion is that she has trust issues, and that she needs to trust that he never did any of the things she gets mad about to piss her off on purpose. After a 3 hour call, I gave her some advice and told her to buy some self help book since her “case” isn’t that unique. Every woman has the same complains about their boyfriend/husband, she just didn’t know it. Anyway, then I realized that I sounded just like her, and I should follow my own advice. Since then, a lot of the resentment I had went away. ALSO, just as I purged things that didn’t bring me joy, I realized I needed to let those feelings go as well.
After 13 years of marriage and now in counseling, I know it will take time to get our relationship to a place where we feel close again. Nothing bad happened, but we just got caught up with our own world. Chris with his work and me and the kids. So something to be mindful of now is that you have to put your marriage high on the priority list. It’s worth every penny to get a sitter and go out on date nights. It’s good for everyone.
In 2 weeks Harrison will be going to a class twice a week for 90 minutes without me. I haven’t had a chance to work on my teaching material yet for my new mommy workshop, but I think once I have that very focused time I’ll be able to. It will be very strange to be without him, but he’ll be just 2 blocks down the street. : ) Harrison is still not talking much or clearly. Tomorrow morning a speech therapist will come and evaluate him and see if he’s just a late talker or if there’s other stuff going on. He’s such a happy kid and very physical, so maybe it’ll just take time for the speech to catch up. Then there’s potty training and switching to a toddler bed…oh, they grow up so fast.
More to come...