Rejuvenation

Last Insta-Friday I mentioned that we went up to Tahoe for a nice little weekend getaway. I figured I'd embellish a little because it was such a garsh darn blessing in disguise and proved an important lesson: screwing up the baby's nap schedule wrecks havoc on your lives for at least a week.

No, but really. Our in-laws have this smashingly gorgeous cabin up in South Lake Tahoe, about an hour and a half from our house. On occasion it becomes available and the bat signal is lit up to alert family members to get their tooshies up there for some cabin enjoyment. Which is what we all did. Five  kids plus their wives, girlfriends, babies and friends all managed to make their way up to the cabin last minute. We subjected the babies to the snow and sledding (which neither of them enjoyed) and enjoyed some relaxing quality Catch Phrase time among other things.

Now here comes the part where things got crazy amazing. The in-laws offered to watch the baby while we escaped for a brief date Sunday morning. This isn't anything new as the grandparents are happy to spend alone time with Gwen. But this past year has been stressful and as any new parents would agree things can get a little hectic around our house. We had no idea how badly we were in need of the precious alone time our in-laws allotted for us that one Sunday morning.  While the baby slept in the arms of her grandmother we sat in a Starbucks down the street, sipping our coffees and talking without abandon. We ignored the world around us (the rowdy hippies with socks and sandals) and were able to see only each other, a habit that is too easily lost in parenting.

We left that cabin with a renewed sense of marriage, family, love and parenting. The baby may have been a bit cranky and overtired due to not doing very well with new situations, but  I think she enjoyed herself too. Thank you Lake Tahoe. You were just what we needed.