TateSpace: Mommy's Tripping

Tatum, last weekend mommy did a very brave thing. She left her oh-so-precious son for the FIRST TIME in the 9 months since you were born and took a trip with her girlfriends from college. It was really *really* hard to leave. I stressed about it for weeks. I pumped for two months trying to get enough milk frozen to keep your hungry tummy happy while I was away. I coped with anxiety over whether you would be okay, whether I would be okay, whether I was selfish for going, whether I had an iota of coolness left in my body for hanging out with my fabulous girlfriends in South Beach.

Turns out, EVERYTHING WAS OKAY. Everything was better than okay. Everything was perfect! You bonded with your daddy, who manned the ship in mommy’s absence with his typical calm skill and aplomb. He fed you bottles, changed diapers, got up with you each morning to play and put you down for naps and bed. He bathed you and played with your toes and nibbled on your sweet belly and did all the things that mommy typically does—and he did them so well!

I cried once or twice. Daddy sent a picture of you to my phone as I was sitting on the plane getting ready to leave last Thursday, and I teared right up. He sent another picture of you grinning in your jammies the next morning (oh, the wonders of technology!), and I may have gotten a little choked up again. But it was an amazing and much-needed trip for mommy to reconnect with her friends, to just relax and have fun sitting in the sun and staying up too late and socializing and chatting and just being with those girls who know me so well and who I love to pieces. Plus, someday I need to be able to point to pictures like this to prove to you that once upon a time, mommy wasn’t too shabby! ;)

I remember ogling a similar photo of my grandma—your great grandma Wynn—that hung in the condo she shared with Zeidi and thinking, “Wow, she has some killer legs! What I wouldn't give for gams like grandma's!" Come to think of it, both of your maternal great-grandmas were pretty darned stunning women. I'll show you lots of photos of MeMe and Wynn and all of your grandparents and great-grandparents as you grow up so that you can appreciate what amazing women and men make up your family tree.

I’ll write more about you as you enter your ninth month of being after your pediatrician’s appointment on Monday. Suffice it to say, you’re changing every.single.day.

You stand ALL THE TIME now. Not exactly unassisted yet, but it’s very very close. You let go of whatever you’re using to hold yourself up (the wall, a chair, the dog’s food-and-water dish stand…) and will balance for a few seconds before landing on your well-padded little tush.