Oui Oui! Parie!

What an amazing week Matthew and I had in Paris! Let's start at the beginning shall we?

A couple of months ago he told me that he had to go to Paris for a conference and wouldn't it be fun if we could go together. I pretty quickly dismissed the idea but in talking to friends it seemed to creep right back in again. "What a perfect time to do it! Your kids are young, you don't have to worry about sports, friends, lessons! It will never be as easy as it is now!" And I got to thinking, how true that was! Maybe we could figure this out.

Matthew and I hadn't even been to dinner alone together since our anniversary three years ago. All those date nights added together equals a week right?

Just how exactly did we figure out how to go to an amazing European getaway with five kids six and under? It wasn't easy, let me tell you!

First, it turns out most everyone is intimidated by Dylan. You have the people who were going on about how we needed to hire a nurse to watch Dylan. You have the people who are afraid of the unknown. It's fine if others want to learn but they don't want to have anything to do with it. And you have the people who were like "well this is a new skill set I never thought I would have, but it shouldn't be too hard." And there are far too few of those last kinds of people! A nurse? Really? This is so absurd to us, she is our easiest child! I guess you have to actually be around Dylan enough to find this amusing!

I was brought that news and well, it pretty much broke my heart. They are scared of her? Matthew and I had a talk "It's okay," he said "our life is different." Really? Do we make her sound that cumbersome and hard? That she should be feared? This caught me completely off guard.

That said, I thought things were well toward arranged for the big boys to go one place and the three others another but then I hear rumblings. Comments here and there, some downright mean and quite judgey. Very judgey. Because I was hearing one thing directly and another from around, I put Matthew on the case, maybe he would get more of an honest answer. And honestly, my filter is broken, always has been, and given what I had heard it was the best way, really. He didn't quite believe the rumblings anyway, he is so nice, giving people the benefit of the doubt. That's why I love him! He put it off and put it off, but enough nagging...

Well, the rumblings were right on target. Not only did my children seem like they would be more of an annoyance, we were making poor choices leaving them. Apparently even his "Are you sure this is okay? Because we can find someone else..." Even came off wrong. I know Matthew was so disappointed. My heart now broke for him.

We have seen other family members go out of town and people step in for them without a problem, so yea, that hurt. But beyond that, I think the part that is the hardest to swallow is that Matthew and I would have done it for anyone of our family and friends so to find out that they wouldn't do the same thing? Well, I suppose it's good to know right? Even though, even today, we would still do anything for them. It did cause us to do a little more talking and some rearranging of our will that we wouldn't have done otherwise so it's all good. (And even better that nothing happened to us before the will was rearranged!)

Fortunately for us, and for our kids, we have amazing people in our lives who are willing and able to step up to the plate and take on the amazing task of loving children who aren't there own; chauffeuring, wiping bums and putting to bed all included. (Not to mention that new skill set I mentioned...) After being weighed down so heavily thinking about the rumblings a HUGE weight had been lifted once the arrangements were reworked.

Ultimately, I couldn't be happier with where the kids ended up. I feel the people who went above and beyond, way out of their way, to take care of them really love us. They saw how badly we needed this, and did whatever it took to make it happen. Was it easy for them? Yea, I am going to go with a big fat NO there. Not at all! It was a burden, it was inconvenient, it was downright HARD at times I am sure. But there was no rumbling behind our backs.

They were honest with me. "Yes, it will be hard. Am I looking forward to it? No, not particularly. Would I ever think about saying no? Never!" Because with their next breath they are saying things like "What a great opportunity this is!" And "You will be better parents because you got to spend this time away together!" Selfless, I tell you. True colors people.

So big huge FAT thanks to Megan and Michael for staying over here to man the littles. LouAnn for spending the night so Megan could have her kids sleep in their own beds. (And all of those guys for learning how to take care of Dylan and saying thing like "yea, it's easy!" Along with it. Even if just to make me feel better!) Tracy and Shannon for volunteering to take the big boys (and they did crazy fun things with them too! I wasn't sure they would want to come home!). And to my mom for taking the big boys the last two nights and hand delivering them home to me 10 minutes after I walked in the door. Oh, and after all that, the dog counts too right? Mom took the dog... He would have been the one to push Megan over the edge!

Every bit of laundry was done, the house was vacuumed, toys picked up, dishes clean. I had a couple loads of my own laundry but things were back to normal within two hours!

Mwah mwah mwah. We owe you! We couldn't have done it without you! We love you! You will be handsomely rewarded with European chocolate and French macaroons. Feel free to have us on the top of the list when you need a favor (though hopefully, you would know to do that anyway.) Merci, merci, merci.

This felt good. There is a lot to be said for a journal!

Lots more selfies and more of the story later... And since we will be judged for the selfies by people who hate fun. Just want to get it out there that yea, I am totes comfortable with that! We had a blast!