Man of the house (again)

Chad has just left on a weeklong trip to Calgary, and Liam and I are now playing house on our own. For Liam this is all fun and games, because there is one less pair of eyes watching him and he can get away with that much more. For me, it's just a lot of work. I never appreciate Chad more than I do when I am home alone on garbage night.

In a few days' time, though, I'm headed out to Calgary myself to hook up with Chad for our anniversary weekend in Banff. Our carefree travel days are over: this is the first vacation which has been preceded by me downloading, printing and filling out in detail a legal temporary guardianship document; and also the first vacation to be preceded by the drafting of a will. It's rudimentary at best, but hopefully will get the job done (did I just say hopefully in the same breath as will? Yikes.) We are flying out separately, so we just need to survive the single flight home together in order to not leave Liam orphaned. As luck would have it, different departure dates mean we will also be driving to and from the airport independently; and we all know we're much less likely to survive the drive home on the 401 than we are the airborne leg of the trip, so the chances of at least one of us making it out alive are hopefully pretty good.

Also, speaking of leaving our carefree days behind - Calgary is currently 10-15 degrees warmer than it is here, but there's a cold front coming through on the weekend that's expected to dump a ton of snow. So to say that packing will be challenging is an understatement. I'm not so sure that our hiking plans will survive; we may need to consider snowshoeing instead.

Most of my evening hours this week will be spent getting Liam packed up and ready to spend next weekend with Gramma and Grampa Cook. This is an undertaking in and of itself; in addition to the wardrobe and neverending supply of diapers (in two sizes, no less, one for daytime and one for overnight), there is also the question of which toys and how many to take to help him feel most at home, the issue of double-checking that secondary car seat to make sure it is fit for use, and the detailed instructions regarding routines and food preferences and every conceivable occurrence. By the time I get away from here, I will have earned that vacation. My first day will be spent lounging around the hotel in Calgary until Chad finishes his business and we can pack up for Banff. You can bet that I will be sleeping in and loving every minute of it.