Vegas, baby...Vegas.

I just printed my boarding pass for my first trip away from Sadie & Andrew. I am absolutely not ready to go, but I know I need to do it. I am doing it.
This little plan was hatched last September when we visited Meghan & Michael out in Colorado. I'll spare all of the details, but the stars seriously aligned for this to come together as it has. Here are just a few of the examples how:

• My mother-in-law is in town, so I'll have seamless and spectacular childcare for Sadie
• I'm only missing one night of rehearsal for the play that I unexpectedly got into last month
• Meghan's husband (an OB-GYN) has the entire weekend off to care for their boys
• By some magical 6th sense, Sadie has basically weaned herself perfectly for my departure*
  

The trip started out (in my mind) as a weekend getaway for some much needed "me time". Meghan informed me emphatically that two 2 nights was not enough for her and while I had my doubts that I could manage 3 full nights away from my family, I agreed to stay a 3rd night. After all, she has 2 kids and a couple of years' worth of mom experience on me. Plus, while I hemmed and hawed to anyone who would listen, the Future Me was loudly whispering in my head, "just do it, you pansy! Soon you'll be wishing you could be away for weeks at a time!" Well, 3 nights turned into 4 because for some reason it's over $100 cheaper to fly out on Monday morning versus Sunday night.
So here I am with a plane ticket, reservations at the Bellagio, and a long list of restaurants, bars, shows, shops and clubs to try to check out.

People have had very interesting reactions to the fact that my Mom Get Away Trip is to Las Vegas. "Las Vegas?" they say, with raised eyebrows/tilted heads/smirks/knowing smiles. As my hairdresser (who used to be a DJ and frequented the clubs there) said, "There are 3 types that go to Las Vegas: old people, families, and people who want to get f*****cked up."
Hmmmm. I don't fit into any of those categories, but I know he's right. I'll admit, there was a time when I might have been in Group 3, and I did have a gaggle of friends who went on Vegas weekend benders. But (in 20/20 hindsight) luckily that was many years ago when I lived in New York, so jetting off to Nevada for 48 hours was not an option for me. So - to all of you who looked at me sideways when I told you about my plans to visit Sin City, read on.

The things I want to do on this trip are:

• lay by the pool (it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70s)
  
• get dressed up (I used all of my Nordstrom gift cards for a fabulous top)
  
• go see a show (probably something by Cirque du Soleil)
  
• eat high quality food (too many places to choose from)
  
• have a spa treatment (body scrub? facial? or just hang out in there)
  
• window shop (gotta check out the Manolo Blahnik store)
• pull a few slot machine handles (I fail to see gambling as entertainment)
  
• people watch (my personal favorite)
  

I know it will be great for me to get away, relax, etc. but I also know that said relaxation won't come easily. I can see it now... I'll be lying by the pool atop a big soft hotel towel on a lovely, long lounge chair, hopefully with my iPod-if I can figure out how to work it by then-and I'll be wondering what Sadie had for breakfast and what she's doing that very minute. Missing me? Blissfully unaware that I'm not around? Giggling in that sweet, infectious way that she does? Having a delightful outdoor adventure with her Nana & Daddy? There's no doubt that she'll be expanding her vocabulary and will knock my socks off when I return. It will be so weird to have missed 3 and a half full days of her development, especially right now when she literally says something new every single day, usually multiple times a day. She's speaking 5 and 6 word sentences. It's crazy.

Anyway - blah, blah, blah. I'm going to Las Vegas. I hope I can enjoy myself. Correction: I will enjoy myself.


*originally, this was the biggest factor in whether I'd take this trip at all. The fact that I've breastfed Sadie this long is very special and important to me. There are a ton of reasons why, and let's just say that somehow, weaning her "so that Mama can go to Vegas" didn't exactly fit into my parenting schema. We got down to once a day in the morning and held that pattern for about a month. She got sick once, so she nursed through that. Then she started to only ask for it about every other day in the morning, and we held that pattern for about a month as well. That's where we are now. Seriously. Perfect.