Snow

We got a lot of snow on Friday - a blizzard, I believe it was called. I had an appointment in the city I was determined to keep. So we set out early, before anyone had shoveled their walks, me in knee high wellies, Ro in the ergo, and Jay trailing behind with the diaper bag, looking skeptical. (Jay was commuting to work and agreed to accompanying us on the train).

It was really fun for a block, treading through virgin snow. The next block was less fun - the snow was higher than my boots and melting down my legs, and I should mention that it was still snowing and the novelty of snow in the face had worn off for Ro. We walked the rest of the way in the street, which had been somewhat plowed.

I did a lot of walking that day, maybe five or six miles all told. Which is not a lot for a New Yorker, but factor in the snow and a 26-pound-baby and it felt aerobic. I am actually sore. And not just my shoulders, from the ergo, but my thighs, from all the tromping. It feels good in a way. Accomplished. I can't remember the last time I was sore from any kind of exercise.

This was our second big snow storm of the year. The first was two weeks ago, and here's a photo of Ro going down the slide at our local playground.

And here's a more recent photo from yesterday, walking to brunch. I know, he's wearing the exact same outfit.

Weekend Update #2

This weekend the Grandparents came to town. They walked in the door and Roan immediately started showing off - running, dancing, and pulling his Grandma all around the room. He knows an entourage when he sees one.

Here's Grandpa Lyons giving him his last bottle before bed

A pit stop for some love from Grandma

Taking Grandpa for a walk

Reading Go Dog, Go! with Grandma while simultaneously playing with his foot

Sitting at his very own table and making demands.

Weekend Update

Last weekend I flew to San Francisco. I had been looking forward to the trip, especially the long flight. 6 hours of free time, without a baby to entertain? I haven't flown anywhere without Roan since he was born, and on every flight I'm always jealous of all the childless passengers. All they have to do is just sit there. They can read, watch a movie, stand up, use the restroom, scour every page of the SkyMall..., my god the options are limitless! I couldn't wait.

But just taking the train out to JFK, my departure didn't feel as glorious as it should have. In line for security there were babies everywhere. Seriously - the baby to adult ratio must have been something like 1 to 3. This was Thursday, the day after our big snowstorm, and no flights went out the day before, so the airport was packed. With babies. I stood in line and felt absolutely bereft. I had nothing to do. Everywhere people were juggling babies, feeding babies, trying to make babies happy, or at least stop screaming. I missed Roan so badly that I got that tingly feeling in my nose that comes right before I cry. And then I cried. At that point, I had been away from Roan for approximately 2 hours. This wasn't going so well.

I called Jay and made him send me photo after photo of Roan to my phone. On the plane, there were two babies right in front of me, and one baby directly across the aisle. When you fly with a baby, you're too busy to notice how incredibly lonely and depressed everyone else is. At least that's what I told myself as I oscillated between teary heartache and manic bouts of peek-a-boo. When a baby burns out on peek-a-boo before you do, you know you've gone too far.

Eventually I settled in and enjoyed the free time. It was amazing to have so much time to read. It felt good, but also a little bit wrong. I'm worried that I'll never be able to truly enjoy being by myself again.

San Francisco itself was better. I was there on business, but had enough to free time to walk around the city and hang out with friends. The nights were hard without my family, but every day it got easier to not have Roan around. There's this strange sense of idleness that I can't really describe, except to say that it feels somehow unnatural to have nothing to do moment to moment. It was as if he was taking a nap the entire weekend!

I flew home Monday and made up for my absence with a reading spree - we read One Fish Two Fish about eleven times in a row. I never thought I'd say it, but I missed that book. And never once this last week, even in the face of skipped naps and monstrously dirty diapers and oatmeal to the eye did I wish I was back on that plane.

Balloon