The troops are coming!

We survived our mother's day outing. It was our first time going out to a restaurant just the 2 of us with all 3 kids. We arranged for an outdoor table and parked the double stroller with Bennett and Kate next to the table and Hudson sat in a high chair with us at the table. Dinner went great, the food was just as delicious as I remembered it to be. The kids behaved the first half of dinner. Then Hudson needed to eat - no big deal, brought him a bottle of breast milk so I could eat without having him attached. Then Bennett and Kate started crying in stereo but luckily by then it was the end of the meal and we quickly made our exit.

I did have to go to the bathroom when we got there - you know the place in which I delivered bean (that's what we called her - bean). I remember the bathroom as being this very dark little room in which I remember carefully examining the little perfect baby that had just come out of me (9 1/2 weeks gestation). This time the sun was shining right through the window and it was this very bright room. I'm not sure if the dark memory of the room was more reflective of my mood but I was happy that the bathroom seemed totally different to me.

The other cool thing that happened was that the waitress commented on my "bean" necklace. R and I exchanged bean necklaces (from Tiffany's) to commemorate our little one in our private memorial service that we had. The waitress mentioned how much she loved my necklace and that she too had one at home. In my darker days, I would have made some comment about how it commemorated my dead baby. I might have even thrown in the trivia about the "birth story" in the restaurant bathroom. Even as those darker days improved I still would have considered saying something about the significance of the the necklace or at the very least I knew that R would be ready to kick me under the table as she cringed in fear of what would come out of my mouth. Ah, but not this time! This time around, I just said thank you and looked around at my 3 kids! Times have changed, although I will never forget my little bean.

In happier news, my in-laws get here tomorrow!!! I have never been so happy to have house guests. This means that on Sunday morning, we can hand over 3 kids at 7am and go back to sleep! I get to sleep in!!! R and I don't have any family in town - they all live across the country. While we have awesome friends who are totally supportive, we are doing this all on our own. So having some help for 2 weeks will be sooooooo great. It does mean that I'm going back to work on Monday but just for the 2 weeks that the in-laws are here. I'll then take off another 3 weeks once they leave. Again, did I mention that I'm sleeping in on Sunday?!?!!!!!!! Speaking of sleep - I'm off to bed.