A Day Away

Saturday marked the first official day away from Kaylani. We didn't pull one of those Daddy leaves like he always does for work. This time it was a legit Mommy and Daddy are BOTH leaving for a few hours so you're on your own Kaylani.

Daddy left for Tommy and Gretchen's wedding at right around 11:50am. Before I left, I drove Kaylani through town for her first nap of the day just to make sure she was on the right track for the day. Due to some morning timing issues (due to a very relaxed breakfast buffet), Daddy and Kaylani drove around until 11:15am, even though Daddy wasn't showered or ready to meet Tommy and the gang at 12:00pm.

Shortly after Daddy left, Yin Yin and Yea Yea arrived and took Kaylani to lunch so Mommy could get ready for the day. That's when the separation anxiety kicked in...for Mommy. It can be summed up by a short phone call to Daddy where Mommy fought through some tears and got out one simple question:

"How do you leave every day for work?"

Daddy often hears about how I don't understand what its like to be home with her all day (which I don't), and how its easier for me to be at work (which it is). But the one thing Mommy never understood was the pain I felt inside when I had to leave Kaylani each morning until now. Just like Daddy did, after a little bit, Mommy adjusted okay. When Kaylani got back from lunch, Mommy nursed her one last time and then was off to meet Daddy at the wedding.

The wedding itself was gorgeous and it turned out to be a nice, sunny day after raining for the previous three. Ceremony was beautiful, music was great, drinks were flowing, and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed Tommy and Gretchen's wedding thoroughly for the first 5 hours. After that, Mommy started to get a little anxious to go home and see our little girl, so we made our exit right near the end.

When we got back to the hotel, Kaylani was about to take her 2nd bottle (2oz) of milk. She ate her lunch and dinner with Yin Yin and Yea Yea, took 2 naps (totalling 3 hours), and had a great time with them. And to make sure that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't think twice about leaving her again, she nursed for 15 minutes and then went right to sleep without a peep.

All in all, our first day away went as smoothly as we could have hoped. We got to enjoy Tommy and Gretchen's wedding, and Kaylani got to enjoy spending time with Yin Yin and Yea Yea. Who could ask for anything more? Or the better question is, when can we do it again?

It's only a day away

Luckily for me, Kaylani wakes up at 7am every morning so I can hold her for a few minutes before I head off to work. Even luckier for Mommy and me is that Kaylani wakes up at 7am after going to sleep at 8pm. This is especially good for us on days when I don't make it home until after 7pm, or after Kaylani's bedtime process starts, like today.

By 7:30am, I was out the door and on my way up to the new Yankee stadium for opening day. I'm not going to lie and say I was sorry to be leaving for the day because after all, I was going to see the Yankees first game ever at the new stadium! Maybe it was the slow pace of the game, or the fact that the Yankees got blown out in the late innings, but I found myself missing my little girl and hoping I could get home in time to see her before she went to bed. Unfortunately the baseball diehard in me didn't allow me to leave early to make things easier.

So because I'm such a baseball diehard, I had to "endure" 6 hours at the stadium before I could leave. It was tough being at the stadium 3 hours before the game started and waiting on line for my new authentic Teixiera jersey, or for the beer and hot dogs and sausages we waited for, but I survived. And believe it or not, the whole time I was thinking about Kaylani and Mommy. Well, some of the time at least.

I actually made it home by 7:30pm, which was minutes after Mommy put Kaylani to sleep. Since she was crying, I took the opportunity to head into her room and say goodnight to her which made my day. Seeing Kaylani and kissing her goodnight made a Yankees loss on opening day suddenly bearable. It was tough to be away from 7:30 to 7:30, but at least I got to say good morning and goodnight to my little girl. So win or lose for the Yankees, I'll always have Kaylani. And trust me, that's always a win.