Springtime

We have landed in the season of the year when Jack was born.  What a beautiful time that was – April in North Carolina.  During that 2008 maternity leave I would have lunch at a patio table in our backyard, holding him in my lap; take him on long walks through the neighborhood; nurse him on the porch while listening to birds twitter and fishing blossoms out of my long brown hair.  The air was full of flowers.

Liam was born into the wilting heat of summer on the Gulf Coast, so I kept him inside in the AC lest his tiny body overheat.  That leave was not fun – I felt isolated, and suffered a short-lived but intense bout of PPD.  But his subsequent birthday celebrations have been perfect – June lends itself to pool parties, baseball games, lots of early summer outdoor fun.  I look forward to both of their birthdays every year.  I love birthdays and parties and I am way too old to ask people to come celebrate me,* so I live vicariously through my kids.  I’m having a hard time steering Jack into picking a party – we’re going to do something offsite so I don’t have to clean and cook.  It’s time now to send out invites, but he waffles between a party at the movie theater, skating rink, bowling alley, or park.  Ahhh, the dilemmas facing the soon-to-be-six-year-old.  Liam will probably have a park birthday – a cake and some chicken fingers served under the shelter, zillions of four year olds zipping around the playground, and ice-chest full of cokes and juice boxes.  Isn’t this a perfect time of year?  Before the sweaty, heavy misery of July and August sets in?  When summer is still ahead of us, in all its glory?

Craig was born in the icy January freeze, but of course it didn’t last long down here, and its only been slightly chilly most days.  We’ve been out and about taking walks in the neighborhood for the last several weeks, with him wrapped up in a sling close to my body for warmth.  As springtime descends on Lower Alabama, in the herky jerky fashion that is the hallmark of this year’s weird weather, I’ve taken Craig farther afield to explore some great (gentle) hikes and bike paths around the area.  Today it’s warm enough that I may just put him in a diaper so he doesn’t overheat.  We may take our little black dog, though he is a Welsh breed and isn’t so fond of sunny spring days.  Cold and rainy suits his temperament a bit better, and when he gets overheated he just sits himself down and refuses to move.

Two weeks and two days left of my time off, and I’m on a mission to enjoy the glorious outdoors.  I won’t really be able to take any time off from now through Christmas, so I’m rejuvenating and shoring up as if my life depended on it.  I attended a hearing for one of my cases yesterday – drove two hours away to a tiny courthouse in Florida.  I didn’t mind doing it, and it helped a bit that I enjoyed putting on the suit and wheeling out the briefcase and putting on my lawyer hat.  I do love my job, and even though its frenetic pace scares me a bit, I am so much happier leaving my baby to go do this work that I like.  When I left Jack behind all those years ago for a job I deeply dreaded, it was much harder.

The sun and fresh air won’t keep, so I’m off to enjoy it.  Blessings to all of you on this lovely spring day, and I hope it’s lovely where you are as well!  (For any Northern readers, spring will be there before you know it!  Just hang in there!)

*Last year the husband did throw me a little pool party in Clemson, which I very much appreciated!  Just what I wanted – friends, snacks, a little half birthday beer for my preggo self, and an afternoon free of my darling children so I could have grown up conversation.  Plus he bought me some fabulous boots which I wear all the time, so all in all gold stars for the Professor for my 35th.