charlotte | for a week.

for reasons i won't unpack here, i spent an entire week in charlotte in march. although, i will say, it was nice to have extra time, since i missed a visit in february.

it felt good to arrive and settle in and not have to pack up and drive back after a few days. it felt good to go about our days, setting alarms and working and switching loads of laundry, and end them each together, around the dinner table. it felt good to tell luca, when he asked when i was leaving not long after i arrived, that i would be there for all the days he went to school and even for the one after that.

photo by luca, age 4.5, who so kindly left a spot for us to photoshop J into the picture.

my first day was H's last day. we only had a few hours of time together, but i'm thankful for even the tiny bit of overlap we had.

mornings with luca/santa.

while jack napped and T was being an adult (and paying her bills), luca and i built a fort. when jack woke up, he joined in the fun.

this week wasn't a vacation visit, but an everyday life visit. (partly why my phone/camera was MIA for most of it.) everyone carried on as usual, and i jumped in to help my mom at work and T with her new project.

on the one day i worked at the office, i got a super delicious cookie from panera that was as big as my face. and yes, i ate the whole thing by myself. which definitely gave me an instant post-whole30 sugar headache, but i have no regrets.

the rest of the days, i worked from a makeshift desk in T's office, with the best view. i would say i don't know how she gets any work done, but her monitor conveniently blocks her view of the door, which i don't think was an accident. because when he's standing there, how can you not??

date night with luca.

after jack went to bed, we printed out about twelve pj masks coloring pages and got to work. update: he is still my favorite artist/colorer.

date day with luca. we sure did take full advantage of our time together.

this day, we went to the library and he picked out a few books, all of which were non-fiction. 100 facts about cheetahs, and that type of thing. i somehow tricked him into wandering the aisles with the storybooks and he humored me (aka followed me around, not browsing himself) for about five minutes before asking if we could go back to the other section. i was so surprised at his utter lack of interest in anything but non-fiction, except now i have no idea why because even i rarely wander into the fiction section.

the thing about luca right now is that he's very into african cats, animal facts, and the planet earth documentaries. his free play involves reenacting scenes from the documentaries (almost always on all fours, walking around or climbing on furniture and jumping off), including the narration. and it's not just that he's obsessed with it, but actually pays attention and dishes out facts in later conversations that never fail to catch me off guard.

at four and a half, he's already smarter than me. (and a much better colorer.)

lee was making jack laugh and i have about 75 of these photos because i can't get enough of that face. (or how great of a dad lee is. he can make those boys laugh like no one else can.)

another work day. another visit from jack.

he always wanted to come in, even if T wasn't in there. and i always let him. how could i not, with that peanut butter face??

we are best friends. who have the same taste in fashion.

playing tag. and realizing luca is old enough to play this game for real. he is fast!

before bed, luca will ask if i will wake him up in the morning. i don't actually know what his wakeup routine looks like anymore, since he's always awake before i am, but he used to ask that when someone always went to get him in the morning or from a nap. (now he's old enough to get himself up.) i think he just wants to know if i'll be there. i always tell him he'll wake up before i do, but he can wake me up.

and that he does. (jack's still in a crib, but these two are the only two people in the world i'd say that to. you're allowed to wake me up at any time of the morning.)

on this day, both boys came in and took turns giving me kisses. the best way to wake up, if you ask me.

i worked for a little bit on this day, but T didn't. so i had two visitors waiting for me outside the door.

luca finding his belly button was such an event (and one of my favorite memories), so we were waiting for that day with jack. T said he'd already found it, and knew where it was if you asked, but on this day he gave us what we were looking for. he was suddenly obsessed and excited and you have one too? and luca and mommy too?

group outing to see i can only imagine. (my mom really does love popcorn at the movies, but we all shared that bucket. in case you were wondering.)

and that's it. (i think T included more photos and stories in her post about it.)