Springtime....finally!

Tomorrow is officially the first day of Spring, and today was a good indication of just that. It was a gorgeous sunny day with no wind. GORGEOUS. I almost forgot how much I missed the sunshine. I can't even begin to describe how the recent bout of sunshine has lifted my spirits. It has been a horrible wet winter - and being trapped inside a cold house with a little baby is no fun. No, I'm not exagerating here...even the old time locals will back me up on this one. It was a bad winter.

The weather, my new ipod (I can now listen to music while I walk.....ahhh...heaven...), and a fantastic day at the park with Luca just really made my day. The Esplanade was packed with families. Kids everywhere. I guess I wasn't the only one that was feeling good about the sunshine, b/c just about every kid under the age of 8 was also at the park today. Luca was captivated with the feeling of grass under his hands. Sticks, duck feathers, and magnolia flowers kept him entertained. I'm LOVING the warm weather, and LOVING the ipod. You couldn't wipe the grin off my face if you tried.
Speaking of Loving...ditto goes for my florist class I'm taking through the local adult education center. Every week I come home with a new creation - this was last weeks...it was just for practice (which is why the candle and flowers don't exactly match) but still fun non the less. I'm enjoying working with flowers so much that I'm seriously considering taking more classes on the subject.
At last week's coffee group I came up with the great idea of taking a pic with all the babies sitting next to each other. Yeah, right...try to get 9 8-month old babies to all sit still at the same time. Many of the babies are crawling now so it made it even harder. The best I got was 5 babies. I find this photo really funny b/c Tom looks like he is pushing Zeke off the couch (yeah Fran...I know...Zeke...same name as your old dog!?) Luca's in the green plaid shirt. Not so hard to get his photo though b/c he's mastered the art of sitting. No crawling for us. Not yet anyways.

Muscles

We've been waiting for 5 weeks for James to get and also for Luca to be feeling better before we did our first outing to the indoor swimming pool. This past weekend it was time to get out the new swim togs (swimsuit) and hit the water. Within 5 mins of having the new swimsuit on - Luca tested them out and peeed in them. For the record, it's not rolls...it's muscles!
Before our entry into the kiddie pool. This pool felt a suspiciously warmer than the big pool.
That's more like it - in the big pool with Daddy! We even dunked Luca under water and he didn't seem to mind. He seemed to enjoy his big giagantic bath.
Exhausted after a big 25 mins in the pool! A post shower bottle was exactly what was needed. Roll on summer - we're ready for the outdoor pools :-)

Homecoming

We picked up James at the airport last night - at long last. SOOOOOO Good to have him home. I think Luca enjoyed staying up late and greeted James with big smiles and flapping of the arms. Such a good reunion :-)

We got up early today and ran a 10k race - James was orginally planning to do the half marathon but b/c he was feeling a bit ill did the shorter one with me instead. I was secretly happy b/c this meant that not only did James push Luca in the buggy, but he also helped motivate me to keep going! Luca slept the whole way in the snuggled up in about 100 layers - it was really cold and rainy out today. I think it's a bit of a shock to the system for James who has just come from the swealtering heat of Northern Austraila.

We having a lazy Sunday - just watched Michael Phelps win his 8th Gold medal. Yep, it's ALL over the news over here as well. Go USA (and NZ!)

Baby Crack

I've discovered it...baby crack. There's a phenemenom of 'educational' DVD's called Baby Eienstein. I recieved two from my cousin and aunt as a baby shower gift, and I can honestly say there's something very strange in those DVD's that captures Luca's attention like nothing else on the TV can. I would like to say that I had every intention of sheltering Luca from excessive TV watching and playing Xbox all day (and I still do intend to keep to my word on this...we'd much rather have him outside kicking a ball, or playing in the dirt, or reading books) but the lure of the DVD's were just too tempting. My cousin warned me about the powers of these DVDs and it's soooo true.

If you're not familiar with Baby Eienstein, they are DVD's made for babies. Think slow moving graphics, pictures of children, words in English, Spanish or French (take your pick) all set to classical music. It would have cost next to nothing to produce this video and they sell it for a mint. Luca doesn't normally even bat an eye at the TV when it's on, but when this DVD gets put in, he instantly tunes in. The first time I put it in, he was giggling and screetching in delight. He's even learned to recognize the theme song and when that colorful bumbling caterpiller starts creeping across the screen, he instantly puts down his toy, then looks at me for approval.

I mentioned the phenomenon to my coffee group, and sure enough a women in the group had been given the whole box set - 16 DVDs (which would cost a small fortune) but said the DVD's were too scratched to work on her player. I tried them on mine, and to my delighted surprise - they work. ALL 16 of them! Even though he goes crazy over these DVDs I think I'll limit his intake of crack to only a few viewings a week. Wouldn't want there to be an overdose.










In other news - we're all feeling a bit healthier now, and James comes home this weekend. I admit, it was really tough that first week having him away, but now I feel like a pro at this single parenting thing. Luca's become my companion over the past 5 weeks, and to be honest it's been really good for us (excluding the major illnesses, sleepless nights, visits to the ER...) I've been able to bond more with him - he has my full and undivided attention 24/7 and I have figured out his different cries and moods. He's been my best little buddy over these past few weeks, and although we can't wait to see Daddy - there will be a bit of a reajustment period to having two parents back in the house again. It will be sooo nice having James back though. We talk about Daddy a lot, and look at his picture every day. I can't wait to show him all the cool things Luca has learned while he has been away.