Weekend's End

The Cheeks, January 23rd, 2011

The weekend has come to an end, and

so has my mom's stay in Hoboken.  I met my

parents in Delaware Water Gap on Thursday; no, 

that's not grammatically incorrect - DWG is not just

a geographical formation, it's a town, too, that has a 

diner, appropriately named the Delaware Water Gap Diner.

That's where we met up for a bit of breakfast so my dad 

could spend some time with his granddaughter before making

a 180 and heading back to Watsontown, sans my mom.

My mom, The Cheeks, and I drove in the opposite direction 

back to Jersey where my mom spent three days encamped at 

Headquarters.  I was nervous, I'll admit, about having three

adults and a baby sharing 700 square feet but it turned 

out to be the best three days I've had in a long time.  While 

Matt was at work, my mom and I indulged in hours of reality 

and HG tv, while she held a double blanketed baby (because

 our place is quite drafty) and I puttered around making sure

that everything was in its place. At night, the four of us 

hung out together. Luckily, my mom and my husband get

 along famously: they share a common love of hanging 

out on the couch and watching 48 Hours Mystery. 

Grammy Kline and the blanketed Cheeks

My mom insisted on getting up with The Cheeks for her 

middle of the night and early morning feedings (she has a 

bottle around 10:30 pm and then usually sleeps until 

2:30/3 am.  After that bottle, she falls back asleep and is 

out like a light until 6/6:30 am).  Our girl is highly scheduled, 

a modified Babywise baby; it works for us and affords 

me a bit of sanity during what has been a fairly crazy time.

So for the past three nights, Matty and I have slept through

the night, for the most part.  My innate alarm went off each

night at her feeding times and so I checked the monitor

screen and watched as two robed arms reached in and

stole my baby from her crib.  I felt guilty allowing my

mom to do my job but I would have had to fight 

her for the position.  As she said, she's waited "65 years 

for this". Whereas that is an exaggeration, she truly

feels that way so who am I to deny her dream?

Yesterday, The Cheeks had a lot of visitors. The gorgeous

Balasa sisters came to visit in the early afternoon, arriving

with the most beautiful outfits; I can't wait to dress my

little girl in her adorable lavender sweat suit!

Alina, The Cheeks,  Stefania, and me

Then in the afternoon, Matt's mom came to hang 

out with my mom.  The two grandmothers enjoyed 

a long afternoon of grandparenting while Matty and 

I endured an even longer afternoon at Ikea, a trip

that culminated with us ditching our cart mid-check 

out line because the Elizabeth store was full of a 

bunch of animals.  We just couldn't deal.

To top off the weekend, last night we went on 

a hot date to Anthony Davids while mom spent some

one-on-one time with our girl.  We stopped at my 

favorite Hoboken hot spot, The Blue Ribbon, to

pick up a bottle of Frei Pinot Noir and then made

our way across town to the restaurant.  We put our 

name on the list and then walked to Helmers for

a few Palms.  It was really nice to be out, just

the two of us, on a date night but I did miss

The Cheeks - thank goodness my mom has become

text savvy, because we were able to go back and

forth a few times to keep each other updated.

This morning, we found ourselves back at the DWG 

Diner where we enjoyed another breakfast/lunch

with my dad.  Both he and Matty discovered they 

weren't alone in what each assumed was his own

novel idea to hook a formula IV up to babies to 

make feeding times more efficient and effective.

Pappy Kline and The Cheeks in a pose forced 

upon both by my mother...

My mother and I were not amused (or rather

I pretended that it was a bad idea in order to 

keep up appearances as a good mother). As

we drove back to Hoboken, we talked about

how great the weekend had been and Matt remarked

several times that we need to do this on a regular 

basis, and not just because it afforded him a 

get-out-of-weekend-early-morning-feedings-free card.

I agreed that we need to do this often; I want my mom 

to spend as much time with her granddaughter as possible.

I feel an enormous sense of guilt and sadness that we don't 

live closer to my parents and that they don't have the 

opportunity to see The Cheeks on a regular basis, so 

this is a good way to ensure that they can.

However, I think that mid week visits are in order; 

those weekend early morning feedings are essential 

to seal the bond between Matt and his daughter...