Well hello there.

The past couple weeks have been the homestretch of my semester, and things have been a little bananas over here. Juggling grading and course prep, trying to advance in writing my dissertation, and managing the everyday details of our lives in general meant that blogging just couldn’t happen. But in the meantime, here are some things that did happen:

We (finally! After 6 years of living here!) made it to the National Arboretum and I am already trying to find a time to go back. These pictures are from a sunny morning we spent with some other moms and babes. Flowers! Open spaces to run and frolic! Picnics! Friends with babies! All a few of my favorite things.

Henry is all over and into everything. No walking yet, but he spends most of every day gathering precious treasures from all over the house and then rolling around in them on his cherished rug. No walking yet, but that kid is on the move and eager to destroy. I swore I wouldn’t be one of those parents who clutters up the house with baby gates, and that instead I would just be firm and teach my kid boundaries. And I do. Every time he climbs in the fireplace or wreaks havoc on my office nook, he is reprimanded, receives a little hand flick, and is pulled away. But y’all- that kid is DETERMINED to explore and conquer all spaces, and I definitely used a coffee table to wall off some danger zones yesterday.

He also eats like a linebacker. Chili, quiche, scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, broccoli, pasta, Lara bars, blueberries, limes- this kid wants it all. And he subsequently wants much less of me. He is going on three days of only being interested in nursing right when he wakes up, and even though I know that is good and normal and that a year is a perfect age to wean, I feel just a bit of loss. It was such a long road for me to get to the point of enjoying nursing, and now I am sad to see it end.  (I am not, however, the least bit sad to say goodbye to pumping. I had the all the pump stuff cleaned, sanitized, and packed away within hours of having pumped for the last time. HALLELUJAH.)

I have always had sleep issues, and I recently had a pretty tough run of insomnia and sleepless nights. These were coupled with three weeks of Henry waking up an hour or more early, and ultimately led to the feeling that I was about to shatter into a million sleep deprived pieces. BUT, I’m sleeping better now, and thanks to some blackout curtains (ok, actually it is a blanket nailed to the window, but it will be curtains when I get around to buying them), Henry is not only back to his 7am wake-up time, but pushing 7:30. This is everything.

Happy weekend friends. I have some guest posts that I am sharing next week that I am pretty excited about, so see you then!