First time away from our little boy!

We're currently in the middle of a two week vacation. Most of the time is being spent at my parents. We did however, get away for a two night trip to Chicago, just the two of us. The trip was enjoyable and relaxing. The two weeks leading up to the trip however, were quite anxious for us.

Two weekends ago, mom and dad came down for GCT's Bye, Bye Birdie. Mom and dad came to the High School to take Dawson from Erin in the middle of Friday night's show and planned on putting him to bed. We didn't think anything of it because he always went down for us very easily. Well, as we just read in Baby's First Year: Week by Week, 5-7 month old babies often have a fear of strangers. Over-tired to begin with, Dawson completely freaked out when mom tried to feed him and put him to bed, he wouldn't stop crying for anything. Eventually, Dad came to the High School to get Dawson. The next day, mom kept trying to put Dawson down for his naps but he wanted none of it. He kept up what I call his "who are you and what have you done to my mommy?" cry. Mom kept at it though and by Sunday afternoon, she was able to rock him to sleep. So we had a little hope...

But our hope started to dim the next Sunday night. Dawson's birth-grandma watched him while we went to see Anything Goes at Starlight Theatre. We weren't even out of the house before Dawson started throwing a fit. From the time we handed Dawson to Kim till the time he collapses exhausted in his crib, he threw a fit. I think he stopped a few times to catch his breath and regain some strength but it was two hours of who are you and what have you done to my mommy?!

The next day, we drove to mom and dad's, planning on leaving for Chicago the next morning. Mom held him most of that day, put him down for a nap and even put him to sleep that night. We wanted her to wait until we were gone so we wouldn't have to hear him cry but mom wanted to start weaning him from us even before we left. Mom held one of Erin's shirts on her shoulder while she fed and rocked him to sleep, which helped a little. He went down that night without too much fuss. We felt so much guilt, feeling like we were abandoning our baby to the fear from being around people he doesn't know but mom believed it wasn't fear that caused Dawson to cry but simply a child's insistence of having his own way, "I want my mommy." That made us feel a little better.

Not wanting him to wake up in a strange place and to a strange face, I woke up with Dawson early Tuesday morning. We did our normal routine with him until mom put him down for a nap about 2 hours later. Pushing through the guilt, we stole away for our mini-vacation while he was napping. The guilt piled up the closer we got to Chicago and followed us around the windy city.

We avoided calling mom until late Tuesday night. Relief flowed in to replace our anxiety as mom told us Dawson had done just fine, he'd enjoyed being around her, Aunt Rachel, Grandpa and cousin Danni. We were then able to relax and enjoy ourselves on Wednesday. Wednesday, July 23rd, was the first full 24 hour period we were away from our little boy. Each time we saw parents with a baby, we missed him a little bit more. We couldn't believe how much we missed him and we kept stealing glances at the picture of Dawson in the excer-saucer still on our camera.

By Wednesday night, we were aching to get back home to see him. From the time we hopped on the subway to driving the last stretch of Hwy 16, that ache grew stronger the closer we got to mom and dad's. As we ran through the front door into the living room, we heard his first sounds of waking up from a nap. We bounded up the stairs, into his room and were greeted with an extra special "good morning smile." Dawson's usual excitement at being greeted after a nap was intensified by seeing us again after two days. The cooing and laughing were the sweetest they've been in awhile.

Maybe I should've entitled this post, "first time experiencing the joy of being reunited with our boy"?