I’m going to Georgia this weekend for my niece’s Christening – alone! Hugo and I took a trip down last year to meet my niece when we only required one seat on a plane, but now that he’s two, an additional ticket just wasn’t in the budget. I know there’s nothing unusual about leaving a toddler with his dad (or grandparent, or other loved one) but I am sure going to miss him. Hugo is pretty high maintenance at night, and he only wants Mommy.
There goes Mommy!
Photo by Sean MacEntee
After going to sleep (by himself!) in his bed, Hugo typically wakes up around 2:30 a.m. calling for me. I bring him into our bed and nurse him back to sleep. He may wake once or twice more before getting up around 7:15 on school days. Hugo always breastfeeds when he wakes up.
My husband has a hard time waking up and being alert once he’s fallen asleep, so I don’t think he’s ever done much parenting in the middle of the night. I think this is going to be quite an experience for Daddy and Hugo. Also, I have to get up and leave at 3:15 a.m. Friday, which could get really sticky if Hugo is not deeply asleep at that time.
Then maybe when I come home, I’ll start my campaign to get Hugo to stay in his bed overnight. Ha! I’ll have a lot more to say about that when the time comes.
I have some anxiety about leaving him. I’m worried, but confident that my husband and Go will work it out together. I just busted out my manual breast pump for the first time in a year and a half. I found Human Milk for Human Babies in Georgia on Facebook and plan on trying to donate whatever I pump, if I can accumulate enough to bother. And I can’t wait to celebrate my niece and see the rest of my family! Hopefully I’ll be able to relax.
How old was your little one the first time you went away overnight?
Long Live Go 
The first time I went away was when my son was almost two, but before then he went away plenty, mostly on overnight trips to his grandparents’ house. He was weaned by nine months, though.
I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for your trip and believe that when you come back he will be sleeping through the night in his bed 😉
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That would be amazing! I will try to be optimistic 🙂
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Haha, that airplane pic (and captioning) crack me up! 😉 I can’t believe you’re going to be here in GA!! I hope our weather is nice for you while you’re here.
I would feel the same way you are about leaving because Samuel is equally needy at night and my husband has never “night parented”. They’ll pull through, though! Is Hugo going to know you’re leaving ahead of time, or is to find out that morning. We still don’t tell Sam if I leave to go somewhere because he does better that way. He is used to saying goodbye to Daddy when he goes to work but not to mama!
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It looks like rain, but I’m not complaining. I have my Breeze card all ready to go! It took months for Hugo to be OK with saying goodbye when I go to work, but he finally does. We already mentioned this trip, and I guess I’ll try to explain more tomorrow. I see you know just what I mean about Daddy at night! Sorry it’s such a whirlwind trip or I would have tried to have tea with you. I’m usually there a couple of times a year.
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Have a great trip! I’m sure it will be a little tough for everyone but an equally great experience for all as well!
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I hope so. Thank you!
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I just asked my husband when he thought a good age for sleepovers with grandparents would be? He said it depended on which grandparent. 😉 We both agreed that at almost two, Malachi is still waaay too young even though grandparents are already asking! We love him too much and we know we’ll miss him! But mostly there’s the nursing bit and we just like our kids. A lot. 🙂
Hopefully your trip will go smoothly and your son and husband will have some great bonding time!
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Oh I missed him a lot but we did get to see each other via FaceTime. I still need to blog about it. He kind of acted out after I got home.. I don’t blame you for not wanting to leave your little guys.
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FaceTime is the best! Andrew calls to FaceTime on his lunch break so now whenever my phone rings, even if Andrew is home, Malachi starts yelling, ‘Dada! Dada!’ So weird knowing our kids will never know what it’s like to only ever text and call!
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I’m curious to hear how the night went and look forward to reading a post about it.
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Thanks for the encouragement! The first days home were tough but I’m ready to write about it now.
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