First Sleepover

The weekend of April 14, I had the honor of serving as a bridesmaid in my dear friend Violeta's wedding. She was truly the most stunning bride I've ever seen.

The handsome bridal party

Ready for a glass of wine at the reception!

It happened to be an adults-only reception which meant my two little guys had to stay behind. The reception was held in the late afternoon in Palo Alto so Randy and I decided to stay the night and the kids had their sleepover away from us! Technically Cruz has slept away from us twice but he was only 2 and 4 months old so that hardly counts. I had to be in Palo Alto by Friday for the dress rehearsal, so Randy was solo the first night. The following day he dropped the kids off at his mom's house in Vallejo, with all the essentials plus Cruz's favorite snacks, DVDs, toy cars and trucks, books for bedtime, his Lightning McQueen pillow, white noise machine and a water canteen...phew! I haven't even mentioned Lucas yet! Packing for two small kids is no small task but I think I've gotten pretty adept at it and I can usually pack from a mental list in my head. Needless to say I was pretty anxious about the sleepover. I wasn't really concerned about Lucas because he's too young to know what's going on, so I was worried about Cruz and whether he would be upset at bedtime, looking for us. Long story short, the sleepover went off without a hitch and he had a great time with Ate Josie and Lola.

One highlight of the stay was picking oranges and calamansi fruit from Lola's backyard. Once we returned to the hotel after the reception I called Josie to video chat with Cruz and to say good night. Here's a screenshot from our conversation.

He had just finished reading bedtime stories with Ate Josie and they were ready to hit the lights.

We missed hugging and kissing him at bedtime but it was comforting to know he was happy and being cared for. We're fortunate that Cruz is a well-adjusted kid and is pretty flexible with changes and very independent. As a mother I am wistful that this maturity also means he is growing up before my very eyes. Yet another reminder to cherish every moment with our kids because the present quickly becomes the past. That being said, Randy and I also enjoyed some uninterrupted adult time which is few and far between these days! We had a great time dancing at the reception and having a few glasses of wine.

I slept 8 hours straight two nights in a row - I can't remember the last time that happened - and we enjoyed a breakfast together on Sunday morning before picking up the boys. Now that we know the kids are totally fine without us, we just may venture and do another night (or two!) away from them for special occasions like our anniversary...or because we can :)