It's going to be 8 degrees tommorrow night - A Summer Wrap Up!

As I shopped for fall and winter clothes for Rory this afternoon, it really hit me that summer has come to an end. Where did the summer months go?  I feel like they are a blur of - mommy back to work, daddy back to work and daycare drama.  Aside from that, it's been a great summer for our family and we're looking forward to the fall and winter in our cozy home.  Lots of new adventures ahead!

Here are a few pictures from Rory's babycation in Almonte at the beginning of September as a summer wrap up! Six days away was hard for us all... but we all made the most if it and Rory had a fantastic time.

Exploring Gramma's backyard and awesome gardens

Fun with cousin Nate

Hanging around with cousin Jenna

Story-time with Grumpa

River walk with Gramma

Birthday celebrations for Stephanie with Nate & Jenna

 And a Shaughnessy family brunch on the way through Peterborough

Four generations of Shaughnessy's present...

The babycation

We are childless in Toronto for the first time in 14 months and 13 days. AND IT FEELS SO WEIRD.

Yesterday in the late afternoon, Peter and I traveled back to Toronto from Almonte sans enfant. Our son Rory is staying in Almonte with his grandparents for his very first babycation.  A week in the Ottawa valley to run around in the fresh air, visit with family and friends, and continue to be spoiled rotten by his grandparents.  

My mom called me this morning to tell me that the little monkey didn’t get up until 7:45am and she opened the door to his room to be greeted by laughter and jumping in his crib. He’s clearly having a terrible time.

Leaving him for a full week wasn’t an easy decision.  Peter and I hummed and hawed about it for a couple of weeks before we actually committed to the idea.  Could we do it? Would Rory be able to do it? The decision was largely driven by it being a short week post labour day, and that we have a wedding next weekend that also requires a road trip east that will have us leaving the city on Friday morning.  Why trek him back and forth twice?  And the wedding starts at 6pm, so we wouldn’t be bringing him anyway. Oh and my mom has been asking forever to keep him for a week. So why not?

And of course sealing the deal was a very unlucky coincidence that Rory’s daycare (run by the ECE at George Brown) is on strike. God help us if this goes on longer than this week.

The pin drop silence in our home last night gave Peter and I very restless sleep. Getting up and only having to get ourselves showered and dressed was also super odd. The house feels different. Less of a home, given we have only really lived there for 10 days in total without Rory.  Life just doesn't feel normal.  Funny eh?  In  many ways I think being at HOME without your child is very different than going on VACATION and leaving your child with someone.  This is his space. And he's not here. That's weird and lonely to be honest.

But... enough of that!!  Time to buck up baby! We decided on our morning commute that as much as we miss the little guy, we're going to make the most out of our "couple" days again and we're heading out for a long over due date night tonight! Heck, maybe we will even use the movie gift certificates that have been in my wallet for over a year! If you have restaurant suggestions, let us know!


Until then... our child is enjoying all kinds of things that don't happen here at home. Like...

Eating potato chips at uncle Adam's

Sitting on dirt bikes

Hanging out on Gramma and Grumpa's tire swing with his cousins