On Friday, my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary!
We have always wanted to go back to the place that we got married and spend the night in the exact same room, so it was a fab surprise when my husband told me that his parents were going to have the kids and we were going back to The Moat House.
On the day of our anniversary, Reuben was going to his out of school club on the morning. He has been going here for a couple of years now during school holidays as he cannot cope with the change in routine that school holidays bring. Reuben has always referred to this club as "Hazels" and he loves it there. He gets to run around and play with other children and generally be busy. It also gives me a chance to get jobs done, spend time with my daughters or just have a couple of hours to myself.
Sometimes Reuben will go all day and other times he will just go for the morning or the afternoon. Friday however, he was just going for the morning.
I thought it was strange on Friday morning when Reuben didn't want to go. He was telling me "I stay at home" or "No Hazels today". We did eventually get there and he went running in to play with the tool kit!
While Reuben was at Hazels, I went and had my hair done at the hairdressers for my anniversary dinner and night away. I also managed to get the food shop done all before picking Reuben up at 1pm (Reube hates food shopping) When I did pick him up though, I was informed by his carer that Reuben had not eaten much for his dinner (this was unusual) and that he had been telling them he was poorly and had a poorly tongue.
It then occurred to me that Reuben was thinking it was somebodies birthday as there were cards on the sideboard at home and a couple of presents. These of course being anniversary cards and gifts!
To Reuben though he felt that he was missing out on something. By going to Hazels, he was missing all the action. Reuben doesn't get the whole "anniversary thing" which turn causes him unease and confusion, all things that make him act strangely.
On return, he quickly got back to his usual self and went and played with his toys and got his bag ready for his sleep over at Nanny Kath's and Grampa Johns.
We dropped the kids off around 4pm and travelled to our hotel. It was great just lying around in the hotel room wearing the posh robes, reading and generally having a relax!
We had a table booked in the posh restaurant for 8pm so getting ready with out Reuben running around screaming or grabbing at me or dribbling over me or messing my hair up was brilliant.
Our meal was lovely (albeit a bit too fancy for us) but it was a change which was good. It was so nice to be able to eat a meal without having to stop every five minutes o calm Reuben down or wipe his hands or dodge he food he hurls your way!
To be able to just sit and people watch once we had finished instead of rushing around after Reuben was great.
The rest of the evening was just so relaxing. My husband and I were able to properly talk and not be interrupted by Reuben having a melt down or the girls screaming at each other. Then there was the lie in that I had not had for as long as I can remember!!!
Just being able to lie in bed in the morning, day dreaming then getting in the shower without having cars being given to me or having the run down of the car needing to be fixed (something I have to listen to every morning of every day for hours at a time) was truly wonderful.
So all in all a fabulous night and morning......
But i was back to reality with a bang as once back at home, Reuben was very loud, silly and generally wanting all my attention every minute. Even unpacking the bags was a challenge as he would just go out of his way to get my attention.
It was not helped by the fact that Reuben was tired as he had not gone to sleep til around midnight and then was up at 6am!!! It urned out to be a very long Saturday indeed and I couldn't help but wish it was bedtime!
I did get thinking though...is it really worth it?
Don't get me wrong, I had the best time reminiscing and relaxing with my husband, it is just all the stress that I have to endure the day after.
Reuben just doesn't understand that Mommy and Daddy need some time for themselves and I think he feels like he has to do his little protest on our return to let us know he is not happy that we changed his usual routine and left him somewhere else!
And so although having time to ourselves is great and once in a while very much needed it is bittersweet.
