Sleep, Oh Precious Sleep!

So... last night we took James over to my mom and dad's for a sleep over. I had to laugh at the amount of stuff I had to pack just for one evening, night and morning! We packed the playpen, baby monitor, food, bottles, blankets, diapers, clothes, extra clothes, toys, medications, bath stuff - it likely looked like we were going to leave him there for a month! However, I felt it was all necessary. We brought him over there around 5:30pm, and I gave my mom the "schedule" I had prepared - asking her to please stick to it as much as possible. She complied. So, we left. I missed him almost immediately, and wondered if he would sense abandonment. I knew he was having the time of his life though, and that he was in the best possible hands he could be in - besides my own. When we got home, I didn't really know what to do with myself at first. The house just felt so quiet! I wondered if it had really felt this way before we had James. I couldn't remember it being so quiet. In any case, we had supper and then went outside to work on the yard. I began to feel a little emotional about having left my son. I wanted to go back to say good night to him, kiss him one more time, tell him I love him, just make sure he was okay. I stopped myself though, and told myself to enjoy my time without him. It just felt weird to be responsible only for myself. I eventually went inside, and did cleaning that I usually can't do - like dusting James' room, and things like that. I also got the counter completely free of all dirty dishes! I couldn't believe I would wake up to a clear counter top! Ryan had rented a movie, but by the time we were ready to settle in for the night it was 11:00pm - and we realized we shouldn't spend our night without James by staying up all night! So, we had some relaxing time together and then went to sleep. I did wake up a few times in the night, but it felt nice to just be able to stay in bed. We slept in until about 8:30am, and I had a nice quiet breakfast. Finally, at around 9:30am I couldn't wait any longer and went to pick up James. Of course, he was all smiles when I got there. He had a totally "normal" night, and got up for my mom at the exact same times he would have at home. This was a relief to me - I would have been disturbed if he had slept through the night for her. He was a perfect angel for my mom. Wow! It was so great! Now we know we can rely on him being there for the night if we needed to. All in all, I am so glad we did it - I'm already looking forward to the next time, but I don't want it to be anytime soon. It's great to have the house noisy again! I definately thank God that life doesn't feel right without James there to be part of it. I wouldn't go back to that life for anything.