Spring in January

Since we're having another boy, I find myself looking at photos of Eliot as a babe.  Yesterday, I came upon one from April 2011 and could smell the spring air as I remembered that evening standing in our front yard looking up at our cherry tree.  I didn't realize how much yesterday would feel just like that day in April almost two years ago.  (Eliot was almost three months old here)

This reminds me that I need a haircut...

Remember that thing about snow last week?  Yeah, it's all gone.  Not that I expected it to linger for days, but yesterday it felt like late spring. And I loved it.

Usually on Wednesdays, we hunker down in the house.  Chris has a meeting in the morning, we do some work, have lunch, hopefully get Eliot down for a nap, and then I have a meeting in the afternoon.  Yesterday was too beautiful of a day to ignore, so as soon as Chris's meeting was over, we packed up and headed out to hike.  And had just enough time to hike a mile, drive home the long way by the beach, and argue with Eliot about a nap (I lost) before my meeting.

It's a little bit of a drive out to the state park by the bay (40 minutes), but so worth it.  I love the trees; Chris loves the water; we both love sunshine.  Perfect balance.

During my meeting, Chris and Eliot walked to a park in our neighborhood.

After Eliot's eventual "afternoon" nap (at, like, 4:30 pm?!), Chris took him outside to play baseball and I sat on the deck off of our bedroom.  Everyone was so happy to be outside that even the cat crawled through the bottom of the screen door in our bedroom.  Once she was chased back inside (she was born with feline leukemia and has asthma, so she can't be outside), she proceeded to push our smaller dachshund, Dexter, through the screen door in the kitchen!  Nothing was broken, so it was all kind of hilarious.

I'd like to say that all the sunshine wore Eliot out and he went to bed early and easy for us, but I had to battle him to sleep at 10:30 pm when he usually goes down at 9:00 pm.  I guess it was the late nap--and he did sleep in, too.

These days in the sunshine give me the boost I need to make it through the winter.  And now it is back to 40 degrees, wet, and super windy.  I'm NOT leaving the house if I can help it.