Weekend in AZ

Last weekend, Jack and I traveled to Arizona. The last time I took Jack on a plane, he was 4 months old. It didn't occur to me until the morning of my flight that things would be different this time. jack moves all the time now unless he is asleep. so i bought baby benadryl just in case I ended up in some desperate situation.. plus I thought he had the sniffles so perhaps I could justify drugging my child. Not surprisingly, no one sat next to me. A woman my mom's age sat down in the aisle seat of my row and told me later she sat there because she knew there would be no one between us. She really helped me out because Jack was a wiggle-worm the entire time.

When I arrived my mom and stepfather and brother met us. They dropped me off at the house of one of my high school friends and took Jack back to their house. Then 3 of my high school pals and I went to Prescott for the weekend. It was a lovely weekend of just sitting around, drinking mojitos and enjoying the sun. I slept in until 9am. It was pure craziness. My mom had a good time too.. although she was not that into waking up at 5:30.

Here are some photos of the events:
Sitting:


Hiking:



Sorry these pics aren't great but you get the idea. I snapped a couple of my brother, dad and stepmother but then got lazy about photo taking (sorry mom!):




Once I got home I went through a little mini-depression then I had a realization. I profoundly miss my old life -- the life before Jack where I did mostly whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. At the same time, I am so happy Jack is in my life. He is a small package of joy. I realized these two things don't really contradict each other -- its not either 'I miss my old life and regret my decision to have a child' or 'I love my child and have no desire to return to my old life'. It's that I miss my old life and I love Jack's presence in my new life. Both at the same time... sort of a strange paradox.