Too quiet

Yes, you heard me correctly - this house is MUCH too quiet right now. Has been all evening. I had to work today and again early tomorrow morning, and Nana and Papa were dying to get their RP-fix in, so RP is hosting her own slumber party at Nana and Papa's house. She LOVES spending time with Nana and Papa and I won't lie, a little break is a good thing for Mommy too.

RP hasn't spent the night away from me since I had the flu in late January/beginning of February, and it's weird for it to be so quiet in here. I worked all day, then ran to Carter's after work to try to find a couple of plain white t-shirts for RP, which were proving to be pretty elusive to find until today (don't ask me why but every kids-wear designer seems to believe that little girl's shirts need to be full of pictures, catchy catch-phrases, and/or lots and lots of glitter. If any of them are listening, I'd like to offer this piece of advice: Please stop. My child is a child - not a hoochie, and not a walking billboard. The occasional screened or embroidered shirt is fine, love 'em in fact, but there is also something to be said for articles of clothing that are plain and simple. Finding a plain white t-shirt for a three-year old should not be as long and arduous as the hunt for Bin Laden for crying out loud), then came home to water my outside flowers and have dinner. I chatted briefly with RP on the phone to see how her day went and tell her I loved her before she went to bed, but she paused from playing her "Goofy Game" with Papa for only a minute to tell me about the ice cream with chocolate sauce she had for dessert tonight before she was off and running again. Clearly she was having a good time, which was confirmed by both Nana AND Papa.

It seems as if I have a laundry list of things I need to get done, and I keep telling myself, "If only I had a day by myself to do this, I could get so much done." Granted, I didn't have an entire day, but the prospect of an evening alone conjured up many visions of what I COULD get done this evening, things I could finally check off on the old to-do list. Do you know how many of them I actually GOT done tonight? Yep, you guessed it - none. Not a damned thing. Not that I didn't want to, it just seemed that I couldn't peel myself off the couch to do them. My excuse - I absolutely needed to watch the season finale of "The Office," and by the time that ended it was just too late to start any projects. Lame? You betcha. Necessary? Absolutely.

This house is just too quiet with RP gone. While she goes to bed at or around 7:30 these days, I have gotten used to hearing her read to herself after prayers are said and not one but TWO books are read to her. I've gotten used to yelling up the stairs at least five times a night, "RP, you need to get back in bed and go.to.sleep.," and hearing her little voice pipe up, "Otay Mommy." I'm glad she is having so much fun at Nana and Papa's house, and I'm glad that they are having fun hosting her slumber party tonight. Yet, I'll be even more glad when she is nestled back in her own bed tomorrow night, and yes, come Saturday morning when she is sneaking up the puppy stairs to snuggle in bed with Mommy before Mommy wakes up and our day together begins.