Taking It Easy//Busy Days//Taking It Easy

I go so back and forth between wanting to hang around the house to then needing to get out.  We seem to go in two-day rotations.

On Monday and Tuesday, we mostly stayed at home with one kind of small outing each day (to the mall on Monday and then my doctor's appointment on Tuesday).

By Wednesday, we had enough resting and wanted to go on adventures.  We spent the morning in the backyard playing with Eliot--we helped him water the palm trees, Chris drank coffee and read the newspaper, I took pictures and did some work, and Chris and Eliot went swimming.  I love our backyard.  We put so much into it this summer and it really feels like a resort to me.

After dinner, we drove down to the oceanfront for icecream and to play at the beach.  My favorite smoothie in the world comes from Kohr Brothers (so it is actually more of a dessert than a healthy smoothie), but all of their locations have closed aside from the ones at the ocean front.  Good luck finding parking...  We found a lot about four blocks away, so I was able to get my favorite smoothie for the first time in about three years.  Fortunately, I make a [healthier] version at home that tastes really close.

Eliot played in the sand and we got a little wet.  Chris took some photos, but I feel like I look a little silly.  It was windy.  I hadn't done my hair or make-up.  Looking at these photos, I realize how ridiculous it must look for me to carry Eliot.  He's so... BIG.  He's not a little baby anymore by any means.

By the time we got home, I was sore and exhausted.  We ended up walking ten blocks, which I suppose isn't a lot, but to me right now, yeah, it is.

I'm really spoiled with Chris working at home.  Usually, we do nearly every outing together.  On Wednesday, though, Chris had some extra grading to do, so I took Eliot to the zoo by myself.  Sometimes Eliot doesn't listen the best since he's an excited little boy learning boundaries and asserting his independence.  It's understandable and it doesn't make me mad, but that doesn't mean that it is OK all the time or that it isn't hard sometimes.  I was kind of worried that he'd run away by himself because he loves to run to and is always counting down for a race.  Our trip to the zoo was the total opposite of my worries.  He was perfect--helpful, even.

I brought our new double stroller to the zoo to "break it in" because it gives toddlers the option to sit or ride standing up.  I knew I couldn't carry him the whole way and it'd be too much walking for him the entire time.  Eliot spent about 45 minutes riding up front and pointing out where he wanted me to go.  Works for me.

Around lunch time, we both were super hungry.  We've had trouble with Eliot in restaurants, and the zoo is like a cafeteria-style restaurant.  I knew I couldn't carry him to keep him near and also carry a tray.  But I just carried the tray and told him where to walk...  And he listened.  He did exactly what I asked.  Whoa.  He even sat in a booth with me and ate his food happily until the very end when he wanted to eat under the table--and I eat really slowly, so I'm sure he got bored.

Then it was more animal time!  We saw all the cool animals up-close, which doesn't always happen.  The new tigers have arrived.  We saw an elephant drinking water.  And best of all, we saw a momma and baby giraffe that had just been born that morning.  And you know how Eliot loves babies.

On the way out, I bought Eliot a mom and baby giraffe stuffed animal.  Of course, when we got home, he asked that I cut them apart.  He doesn't usually like stuffed animals, but he loves babies so much that he has been carrying the pair with him everywhere and asking to play "mommy-baby".

After two hours of walking all over the zoo, I was so tired.  Too much for two days in a row.  I rested some and put together Jack's new swing while Chris went to the gym and grocery store.  Then I made dinner while Chris and Eliot played basketball out front.  At 9:30 pm, Eliot was still going strong yet acting so clumsy, but I told him that I was off the clock and made him go to bed.  What happened to his 8:45 pm bedtime, you ask?  I'd like to know too.  When he got sick, his schedule was thrown off again, but he is still sleeping in his own bed, just with a little less ease.  We'll get there again.  It might just take a week.

By the way, doesn't Eliot have near perfect form?  The kid has loved basketball since he was a newborn--no joke.

And now the rain comes, making it so I have to take it easy.  It's a good thing, too, because sometimes I can't get myself to stop when I should.  There are a few things I want to do before Jack comes, like take maternity photos at the Botanical Gardens.  I hope we can get a day without rain next week--overcast is fine and even preferred, just no rain.  About three weeks left...