I have successfully completed my required 3 days of employement for this week, and boy has it been a hard one.
This has been my first week back and I can say that it has gone by quickly but not without many tears being shed. Every evening as I got ready for work I could feel that knot form in my throat and my eyes welling up with warm tears. I would pick up my precious baby boy and just hold him tight against my body. Tears streamed down my face as I knew that I would be forced to leave him behind for 12 whole hours. I did not and still do not want to leave him behind. But I am lucky. I have a loving husband who watches over him at night, making sure he gets a bath and a full tummy before Deans off to the land of Nod. Then Rodneys up early to get him to his moms house, who watches him while I sleep. He's such a fabulous daddy!
I only work 3 days. I have 5 glorious days off with my little man and I plan to fill them endless cartoons, silly songs and cardboard books.

So today is September 11. An infamous day in American history. On Facebook today, I posted that 9 years ago today I was getting ready for my biomechanics class at Missouri Southern State College when I found out about the attacks. I posed this question to everyone: "Where what were you doing when the towers fell?" So many people of my generation know exactly where they were and what they were doing. Funny thing is, is that almost every generation has had some sort of national tragedy that they can recount where they were and exactly what they were doing when the event happened. I can remember my mother telling me what she was doing when Kennedy was assassinated.

It's sad that we have those memories, that an event of that magnitude will leave a concrete mark on us. It's inevitable that it will happen again. I hope I am wrong.

So I have to go back to work in 4 days. I AM NOT looking forward to it. Even though Deaner has been sleeping thru the night for several weeks and Rodney will be home with him, I can't help but have a feeling of abandonment. I've become very acustomed to being at home, watching cartoons, singing silly songs, reading books about talking cars and tractors. I know I will EVENTUALLY enjoy being back at work, just not ready to go back yet. Maybe I can hold out till he's 13. By then he will know EVERYTHING and I will know nothing. Until then, I will hold this little guy super tight.

So this past weekend, in honor of labor day, we didn't labor. We instead, packed up the Tahoe and loaded the dogs and started our way up highway 44 towards St. Louis. Dean did really well on his first road trip. He slept most of the way until we got onto hwy 270. Thats when he started getting fussy and crying. I suppose his rump was getting sore after sitting in his car seat for so long. I introduced him to Veggie Tales on YouTube via my iPhone and he was mezmerized by it. Granny and Pops were super excited to see Dean. I don't think they even noticed Rod or myself.

There wasn't too much planned for the weekend, go see a couple of close friends, maybe hit one of the malls. One such close friend we went to visit was Aunt Mary. She's not really my aunt, but at one time she could've been my great aunt. Long story short, Aunt Mary is:

1. My high school boyfriends great aunt
2. A lady that bowls in the same league as my parents
3. My moms housekeeper
4. A fantastic woman

Aunt Mary is a spitfire of a woman, and at the young age of 75, she still is as active as ever. We went to her and her husband Franks house so they could meet Dean.

We sat and visited with her and Frank. Mary just went goo goo over Dean, and well, who could blame her. He's so stinkin cute! I think she's in love! Dean now has an Aunt Mary. Everyone should have an Aunt Mary.
Sunday we took Dean to his very first St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Pops bought party box tickets for the very special occasion. Dean got dressed up in his Fredbird/Pujols outfit and Rodney got a new Matt Holliday jersey, courtesy of his favorite mom-n-law. Dean enjoyed the game very much and got excited when Holliday hit a 3 run homer to give us the lead.

This is the best spot for taking pictures, section 140. You can see the Arch in the background.

Earnests' at Busch Stadium

Dean watching Pops make funny faces at him

Dean with Granny and Pops

Daddy and Dean

Dean also got a certificate certifying him as an offical St. Louis Cardinals fan at his first game. I think we will do this again next year, and every year after that until Dean actually plays for the Cardinals. Then we will sit with all the other players families. I have high hopes for Dean already.