Leaving the babe behind

I remember when Tyler (my nephew) was a baby I would make fun of Liat because she would never leave him with the daycare at Equinox or go away without him. I would say “when I have a baby they’re gonna be independent and I’m gonna leave them all the time”. Let me tell you, I could not be more wrong!

About 3 months ago we got in invitation to one of my best friends wedding…in Mexico. I had known for a while it would be there but when the invite came it became all too real. We were leaving J behind for 2 whole nights. In some ways I was very excited to have some alone time with Shai, and sit on the beach without making sure I have SPF 50, an umbrella, a bottle, a change of clothes, snacks, diapers, toys and anything else I can shove into my diaper bag. However in more ways, I was so anxious, scared and sad. I have been with Jagger for 24 hours for 250 days straight. The week leading up to the wedding I had multiple bouts of hysteria where Shai would only add fuel to the fire. We should travel separate, I’m not coming, you and Liat go instead and so on. I know this all sounds crazy but just wait till you have a baby and you will understand what I mean. He is my entire being, point blank.

So its now Thursday night and the bags are packed after a very teary bedtime with Jagger. Our flight was at 11am so the plan was as follows. We would play with him from 6-8 the following morning then as soon as we put him down for his first nap we would leave and Liat and Kevin would take him the Hamptons. Jagger and Tyler’s babysitters were coming for the weekend too so there would be a 4:3 ratio of adults to kids. I even boot camped Liat on Jaggers feeding routine, bedtime, playtime and so on. We had this down to a science so Shai and I can go relax and have fun. But as you all know, NOTHING ever goes to plan when you have kids.

As Shai and I lay in be making jokes about not going I said to him, tell me if you don’t want to come i'll go alone but make the decision now. After much thought he said he will come...good choice. So Jagger wakes up Friday morning and all is great and normal. We put him down for a nap at 8 and gather our stuff to head out. At 8:10 he wakes up hysterical, in his 8 months of life he has NEVER done that- F*ckin perfect! We panic. We decide we will put him in stroller for a nap and I'll walk him in the hallway till he falls asleep then go to the airport. I make my fist lap and as I walk past the apartment I see Shai frantically pulling his clothes out of the suitcase. Umm excuse me?!?! I freaked and said WTF are you doing. He starts saying it’s a sign and he’s not comfortable leaving him and I’m going alone. I got so mad and started yelling saying why didn’t you tell me last night! Are you kidding!?!? Liat and Kevin hear me (did I mention they live right next door??) and come join me in screaming at Shai that he needs to go! Before I knew it Shai's stuff was back in the suitcase and Liat was walking away with Jagger. I ran back, gave him a huge kiss then stormed down the hallway to the elevator with Shai a few steps behind. A great start to the vacation huh.

We don’t say one word as we walk to our garage. I’m mad at him for trying not to come and he’s mad at me for making him come. We get in the car and as were about to pull out of the garage the light comes on…we have a flat! You have to be kidding me!! Could this morning get any worse?!? We get out the car and Shai's mumbling about how this is a sign and we shouldn’t go but I pretend not to hear him as I call a cab. We get in and I look at Shai. He looks like a mess and keeps saying he doesn’t feel right about going. I tell him make your decision now. He’s reaching for the handle about to get out as we make a right turn onto the FDR..too bad so sad, looks like your coming babe.

We go through the airport in silence and once I got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore I called my friend to share this traumatic morning with her. She was amazing and gave me a whole speech to say to Shai, which I repeated perfectly and we made up. What would we do without girlfriends? We are finally both calm and go about our usual boarding ritual. I get on first with the carry on luggage so they can go in the overhead and Shai gets on last due to his debilitating claustrophobia. My 100lb ass has to put our luggage up all by myself while the queen waits to board...Yes this really is my life. I get on first and watch passenger and after passenger board and the people start slowing down, where the hell is Shai. Finally as they announce to take our seats on rolls my darling husband. He sits down and gets a text from Liat with this picture…

And he loses it. My big strong husband bursts into tears!!! I’m talking shaking, sobbing tears streaming down his face. He panics and runs to get off the plane and the stewardess shuts the door right in front of his face.

O-M-G. Well if he wasn’t having a panic attack yet, he officially was now. A few Xanax later and a lot of tickling my bear was finally passed out on my little shoulder. Crisis averted.

Four long hours later we land in Mexico and are ready to have some fun. We made the trek and were not about to cry through the vacation. Let me tell you, it was the best wedding I have ever been to. Tequila Tali came out and I danced like it was spring break 2003. It felt good to have adult conversations and chill out. I’m not gonna lie though, we did check in multiple times a day only to hear that Jagger did not cry 1x and was the perfect little doll. We got back Sunday night and was so excited to see him and this was the welcome we got…

A little blurry but he could care less that we were back :( So the moral of the story is that I highly reccomend taking a little getaway without the babes once in a while.  We probably won't do it again for a verrrrry long time, but it was a great weekend and we all got through it alive.