Unnecessary mommy guilt..

So, if you know me you probably know I experience Mommy guilt like no other. I just recently have been able to disconnect myself long enough for a few hours out with my work girlfriends for Happy Hour (what a blessing!) but before I had to have a BIG event for me to leave my boy. I mean I am a mom now, I need to be with him every.hour.that.I.am.not.working..right?? My mom has always been a good voice of reason to tell me to "L.I.V.E, the boy will be ok". She also tells me that she really enjoys the time with just him (sans parents) I actually take this as a compliment. I was/am extremely close to my grandparents and love that Chaz is close (to both sides) as well. Anyways, you can only imagine the guilt that came when I got this text from My Friend Sarah "Do you and Ryan want to go to NYC with us??" Yes, an invite to NYC.. a place neither me or Ryan have been AND it came with FREE plane tickets, a one night hotel stay and PRIMO tickets to the NY Yankees game.. How could I say no?!?!? Well, there comes that mommy guilt. I honestly pondered this for weeks, possibly a month, until Sarah finally told me to "put on my big girl panties and make a decision" Why you may ask did I even need more than 2.5 seconds to think about this?!? Well you see the trip fell over Labor Day weekend (not to say I wouldn't have suffered guilt if it were on a random weekend.) The last real weekend of the summer, the last swim in the pool with my fam and probably the last visit from my brother and his girlfriend before Thanksgiving.. LOTS of guilt...But I said yes.. and I am so glad I did.. but before we go into that..
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I called up mom and said "So, is Chaz's babysitting service open Labor Day weekend??" She originally told me she was going out of town that weekend but it was rescheduled (WHEW!) and she said she would take my sweet little boy.. Thanks Mom and Dad!
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Now, do believe that the mommy guilt did not completely go away but I was able to soften the blow by taking the Thursday before we left for NY off of work. We packed up Wednesday night and headed up to Mom and Dad's in order to be able to spend the full next day with my boy, like I was never going to see him again.. Did I mention these 4 days away were going to be my longest stint away from him since he was born?? Anyways, we spent the next day just hanging out. It was a great day.. Dad had purchased Tinker Toys at Sam's club, which quickly became Chaz's favorite thing...They started out like this.

insert a Papa and quickly these little wooden sticks and circles become something cool...Of course, reading the instructions all the way.. "structions" as Chaz calls them



Chaz listened with each step and did just what his Papa was telling him.. Impressive for a (not even) three year-old.



They built a tower, that kept growing and growing..and then the smug little thing had to stand next to his masterpiece... The next morning we were off early to NYC --which will come in some upcoming blogs.. Mom decided she would pump Chaz up that he was going to Meme's house to get a haircut (true statement and he LOVES to gethis haircut by his Meme) and we would all leave at the same time. This would lessen the amount of tears, right??.. Nope. It didn't work--Chaz had a complete meltdown and was wailing and I was sniffling in the backseat. About 10 minutes out I get a call from mom's cell phone "Mommy, I love you. You de best" Ahhhhhhhhh, breath! He was fine, happy and excited to be going to Meme's. A little bit of the mommy guilt had been released!!
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My mom was sweet enough to "play me" and take pictures of Chaz's last summer weekend while we were in NYC. He kicked it with Kyle in the morning. Appropriately rolling his eyes, as he would have done to me when I stuck a camera in his face early in the morning..
Wrestled with Papa. Note: if you can tell he stole Papa's socks, which caused the need for a wrestling match.
But don't worry, Chaz won the match with the ultimate comeback. "DOG PILOT ON PAPA!!" The pic is rather blurry but makes me smile..

He hung outside with Kyle and Karlee.
Swam in the pool with his Uncle Shane and Aunt Lisa...and from what I hear had a BLAST!
He even got a special visit from cousin Sidney! (don't worry mom, they are stationary)

I knew all along he would have a good time and that he was in more than capable hands. To be clear that was never my fear... but I still had guilt. More so that I wasn't able to see his weekend fun and happiness. But after all was said and done he survived and had a great time (as did we, more to come on that) Thanks Mom and Dad for opening Chaz's babysitting service over the holiday weekend, much appreciated!!!