Fun in the Sun

With only days of spring left, the weather here has finally turned warmer. Dreadfully rainy and overcast, but warmer at the very least. I live for the heat. Heat means barbecues, vacations and sun tans. Heat means freedom and adventure.

The school year is quickly coming to an end and that means two months of R&R for me. With a baby on board, our doings will be more restricted than in the past: no visits to far-off continents, no late nights out on the town. But that doesn't mean we have to sit around like bumps on a log. Dan and I will stay busy celebrating our anniversary next week, hosting our annual bicycle ride in June and taking our wee little lamb to meet his great-great-grandfather down in NE Texas in July.

Aside from the big events, I hope to explore more of Lincoln - from farmer's markets to berry farms, free concerts in the park to wine tastings at the local vineyards, fireworks shows to picnics...anyplace we can take a potentially noisy child and all things we can do on a budget. Now that we're parents, we have to quit moving at warp speed. And actually, surprisingly, this is fine with me. Now we'll have time to stop and smell the roses.

Things I Love Thursdays

I really feel like writing today but lack the time and brainpower to string together a narrative. How fortuitous that today is today, so I can get by with a Things I Love Thursdays post. In no particular order, I love:

Lemon cake, which my lovely coworker Susan made for my birthday yesterday and which I also ate for breakfast this morning. Divine.

Pink tulips - and I like them better closed than open

Movies about dancing, no matter how lame the plot and/or script (Step Up, Center Stage, You Got Served...oh yes, I went there). And I truly do want to see the Disney Channel's "Another Cinderella Story".

Pearls - love them all and will be asking for Tahitian blacks on our fifth wedding anniversary

Shelter dogs, like this one. I wish Nyla played nicely with others. I would scoop up this sweetie in a heartbeat.











And of course, I love my son. The little peanut is 8 weeks old today. Can't believe how time is flying...pretty soon he'll be asking for gas money and bringing home girls that I can't stand.

Back to the Grind

Six weeks have come and gone, and yesterday I rejoined the workforce. On days that Cass was happy, alert and full of gentle coos, I dreaded this day. On days when he was extra fussy, I begged for it to come faster. Now I find myself wanting some impossible hybrid of both, a perpetual bring-your-child-to-work day...or a work-from-home situation that isn't an envelope-stuffing scam. Either way.

It was nice to feel good at something again, to know with absolute certainty that I'm doing things the 'right' way and to have black-and-white answers for all my questions. Raising a baby seems to be a constant guessing game where all the rule books say, "Most babies do this by such-and-such age, but every baby is different". Which, of course, means you're on your own to figure this thing out. Most of all, I welcomed the return to adult conversation. After all, you can only sing The Ants Go Marching so many times and I already have Where the Wild Things Are memorized.

On the flip side, I miss him. I miss his weight in my arms, his sweet sweat-and-milk smell (not sure how this combination comes off as sweet, but it does) and his gummy smile. I really enjoyed wearing house shoes all day and pumping definitely sucks. And I hate the feeling that I'm missing even the most imperceptible changes - maybe he's holding his head up a little longer today or making a new squeak, and I won't be there to see/hear it. Sad.

But, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder and while I don't think it's possible to love him any more, I do feel that being apart makes me better appreciate being together - every day, every precious moment.