Woodbridge, Grading, and Cherry Blossoms

It's been a while!  This past weekend, we went to Woodbridge to visit Chris's parents.  His parents weren't able to come in last week due to the snow and it was his mom's birthday.  She still hadn't seen Eliot walk, so we knew we had to get up there.

Stoked for a road trip!

Chris's parents got him this football hat.  Then Eliot found some drumsticks.  He's so going to be in a band some day.

Eliot and Granddad Robinson watching some basketball.

Chris can still read music!

We came home ready to get to grading.  We obviously didn't grade too much over the weekend, but I did start grading early on in the week.  And I graded in the car.  Still, I graded from 7:00 am til 11:00 pm on Monday, only stopping for lunch (30 minutes) and dinner (an hour).  Chris watched Eliot so I could do my work.  They went to the park at one point!

I know that I mentioned that Eliot is climbing up everything now, but he is just everywhere in new ways now!  Up the chair, over to the coffee table (in the corner), throwing all the diapers on the floor, divebombing onto the couch...  I goes on and on, but he doesn't ever fall or get hurt.  So, whatever.  Go on, little dude.  Explore your heart out.

Tuesday (yesterday) was our "fun" day since I finished up my work.  We walked up to the park!  Spring is all over the place.  Good thing we went yesterday because it is raining today, which is nice in its own way.

It has hit me this month.  I always am amazed at how Eliot is turning from "baby" to "boy," but now that he is running and throwing things around and exploring, he doesn't seem like a baby at all--well, aside from his bald head and the fact that he doesn't talk in sentences.  I guess he's a toddler, so that makes sense.  And it is fun, but, man, he is simply not a baby anymore.

Last 13

The last 13..

Ate: A fruit roll up!  It was one of those more "natural" kinds, which I'm sure isn't that great.

Bought: Snacks, paper towels, and a 2T shirt that was on sale for next year from Target.  Something like this:

Cooked: We took Chris's sister out to dinner, so for lunch I made Eliot and I some whole grains (rice, barley, quinoa, and some others) and diced avocado.  This is my new favorite lunch.

 

Drank: Soy chai tea by Bolthouse.  Amazinggg!

Pinned: I'm not on pinterest, actually.  I went to join about six months ago, but it wanted to link with my Facebook and I didn't know anyone on, so I just deleted my invitation.

Thought: "If I clear my throat, he'll wake up...."

Wore: Jeggings, tank top, and a gray cardigan.

Show Watched: Basketball.

Movie Watched: Seriously, I don't even know.  Eliot doesn't really let us watch movies lately.  I think it might have been Cars.

Last Kiss: Either Eliot or Chris!

Last Phone Call: I called Chris's sister to let her know we were on campus.

Last Date with my husband: We haven't had a date "night" since Eliot was born.  We saw a matinee movie in August.  Eliot just comes on our dates with us.  I'd probably miss him too much anyway.

Thing I appreciated: Almost no emails in the inbox!

Cat News and Baby Climbing

I have some pretty good cat news.  Neko has been coughing for a while.  She gets this cough about once or twice a year when the weather grows colder.  It usually clears up within a week or so.  This time, though, it didn't go away.  Since she has feline leukemia, I worried that she had a tumor in her lungs or something.  We took her to the vet and tried antibiotics.  Nothing.  Today she had x-rays.  It looks like it is kitty asthma!  This is a rather good diagnosis if you ask me.  We can keep her under control with medication.  And her cough isn't that bad, just persistent.  She doesn't seem uncomfortable and still runs all around the house.

The vet is so impressed with her health (asthma aside), so I'm really thankful that she has reached three years doing so well with being a FeLV kitty cat.

While we worried about Kitty today, we took Eliot to the park to burn off some of his energy and new-found ability to climb.  Well, he has been climbing stairs for months, but now he wants to climb all of the furniture too.  Oh goodness!

At the park, he ran all over the place and climbed up the equipment.  We explored the splash ground (which has been taken down for the season) and Eliot found some water to splash in anyway.

Over the Edge and Happy Things

I feel like Chris and I are constantly on the verge of change.  We're always looking over the edge.  I've seen a lot of edges in the past few years.  I mean that both metaphorically and literally.  While we haven't hiked as much with Eliot-babe around (heavyyyy!), Christopher and I enjoyed many climbs to summits around the area over the past handful of years.  Here is one of my favorites.  McAfee Knob: the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail.

Sitting on the edge was scary.  Terrifying.  I crawled over to it, low to the ground, and shuffled to the edge.  Still, I've seen people dangle their legs over much, much more than that.

In life, though, we're facing more changes.  In six months, nothing will look the same.  Before you get there, no, I'm not pregnant.  Instead, I mean where we live, how we work, our place in school, and the dynamics of our day-to-day.  I like stability and for life to be predictable, but I'm fine with all of the changes that we're looking forward to. Maybe I'm looking forward to a new and different stability.  Not "better," because life is great now, just different.

And a few happy things...

1.  Creativity!  Eliot and I did some coloring today after Eliot poured Daddy's protein shake breakfast all over himself. Sorry, Chris!

2.  Breakfast out!  Don't ask me why, but I love having breakfast out every couple of months.  Sure, I could make this stuff at home, but it feels special this way.  I might like breakfast out more than any other meal....

3.  Warmth!  I think spring might be just around the corner here in Virginia.  Every year, I let out a little sigh as the days grow warmer.  I feel like I just barely make it through winter.  I don't like the cold and get bummed out too easily when I can't go outside.  I'm going to take these warmer days for all they're worth.

What We Love on Monday and a Lynchburg Snow Tour

Dexter loves the snow.

Eliot loves snow if you make him a snowball and say, "Ball."

Christopher loves working with Eliot--and Eliot loves to help.

Everyone loves the house better in blue--it used to be yellow and brown.

And I love these two boys.

After the roads were clear and Eliot had an excellent nap, we drove around Lynchburg (Bedford, actually) to snap some snowy mountain photos on instragram.  I pretended that we were in Denver for a moment.  Not that I have ever been to Denver, but you know.

A Solid Door

What a productive weekend!  My parents came in town with hopes of tackling a reasonable yet long to-do list.  In fact, we had planned for this list to take up two weekends, and while it will in the end, we got so much done that next time will just be little clean ups.

We renovated the downstairs bathroom last year.  It needed it.  However, we never actually hung a door (oops).  This sounds bad, but it is attached to the downstairs bedroom (office/playroom) and the toilet and shower are really around a corner, so people would have plenty of privacy.  Still, it needed a door.

Hanging a door can be surprisingly complex! Like everything else in this old house that doesn't believe in right angles, the frame was set for a non-traditional door size.  So, Chris and my dad picked up an inexpensive door.  You know, the ones that are technically hollow?  Well, we just needed to trim off an inch, but that was too much.  We had a hole exposing all of the door guts--foam and cardboard.  Back to Lowes for a solid, more expensive door!  It is all set up now and just needs some paint and the door knob.  That is for next time.

The weatherman was promising snow today, but I didn't fully believe them.  Just goes to show what I know because it has been snowing since around 11:00 am.  It's about time we got our first snow of the season.  It has been so warm this winter (and I truly appreciate that) that I didn't think Eliot would see his first snow this year at all.  Here it is, though, and I think it might be my favorite kind.  Pretty, but doesn't stick around too long.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rather warm, so we're getting our playtime in early before it all melts.

Eliot thought the snow was interesting at first.  That is, until he touched it with his hands.  He didn't cry or scream, but he definitely wanted to be picked up.  Ha!  Maybe we'll have more fun in the morning.

I'm so glad that we got a few photos of the house in the snow this year.  Since we painted it last summer, the colors are perfect for wintry whites.  I think it looks great.

Tonight, we went outside to get a few night photos of the house.  It was surprisingly comfortable outside; we enjoyed walking up and down the neighborhood street.

 

And for those of you who are keeping up, my laptop is almost officially toast.  It was so bad that my dad took it home with him to possibly (and probably) have to wipe.  Chris has been kind enough to share with me, so I'm trying not to have a nervous breakdown over all of this craziness, but I have been surprisingly cool, especially considering how distraught and stressed out I was last week.  Sometimes you just have to get it out to then calm down and take care of things.

Another Try

Today has had its good and bad parts. I woke up feeling worse, but Eliot did nap for two and a half hours--longer than all of last week combined. My laptop is totally on the fritz (not good for my profession), but we're making it work.

Instead of feeling down today, I sighed while looking at old baby Eliot iPhone pictures. Remember these days? It sure is hard to sometimes as he runs around dunking everything in his basketball goal!

On Valentine's Day and Feeling Overwhelmed

I'll start on a positive note before explaining why I haven't written anything lately or been active on Facebook or responded to hardly any emails that aren't related to school.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day!  Chris got me gummi bears and pretty flowers.  I love that he knows to not even consider buying me chocolates.  He knows me well.  Christopher watched Eliot while I went to a dissertation meeting and came home to work on emails.  Then we went for a bike ride!  For dinner, we got hibachi (with Eliot, of course).  Last year, we went to Osaka's because we thought it'd be funny and ironic.  This year, we went next door to Teriyaki House because it'd be a little less crowded.

Before dinner, I tried to get Eliot to nap.  He refused.  More on that later...

I don't even know where to start with the past week.  I thought I had gotten over this bug, but, well, I guess I was wrong.  That combined with grading, working on my dissertation (ha), and this Eliot who doesn't nap (but goes around cranky because he needs to nap), well, I've only broken down in tears once.  I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed.  It'll all get better soon, I'm sure, but for now I don't even care that the house is growing cluttered.

But!  Chris and Eliot played some basketball today.  And it was cute.