We had a lot to accomplish over the long weekend-- mainly house and yard work, but we had a bit of time for some fun too. On Sunday, I had been wanting to go for a longish run (sans jogging stroller). The day got off to kind of a bad start, as I began it in a grumpy mood on account of Will's frequent waking during the night. He has been working on some teeth for at least 2 weeks now. By the end of the weekend, his top left incisor finally poked on through! I was hoping both of the top incisors would come in at once, but the other one is still working on him. "Teething" doesn't really change Will's daytime demeanor, but he does have a bit of trouble sleeping at night during the thick of it.
The day started to look better when I finally got to set out for a 6 mile run in the heat. I wish I would have had time to run 16, but since Will doesn't take a bottle or eat his food if I am not there, 6 was all I could reasonably manage. And it was great. I was slow and I had to walk some, but I loved it. There is something just so purifying about running long distances in the heat. No, I am not going to do the Badwater Ultra, but I do love running in hot weather. It was one of the number one things I missed last year when I was pregnant. That and not puking and/or feeling like I would puke all the time.
After I got home and fed Will again, Rob took him for a walk in the stroller. While they were gone, I went over to Prairie Gardens and got some ground cover-- Vinca minor. We had this ground cover at our house in Dunlap when I was growing up. My co-valedictorian speech (there were 11 of us) at high school graduation was kind of a rambling, incoherent poem about vinca flowers that also somehow incorporated at least one quotation from A Tale of Two Cities. ("It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done...") Yikes. At any rate, I am still working at planting the vinca, and I hope that it manages to grow and spread into a nice ground cover for our flower bed.
When Rob and Will got home from their walk/nap, Will had a quick nip of milk, and then we set off for a picnic lunch and Will's first trip to a swimming pool. We hooked up the Burley to our tandem bike and rode over to the pool. It was our first ride all together on the tandem (well, at least the first ride outside of our neighborhood), and I was kind of nervous. I am actually not very good at riding a bike in general, and I was especially bad at it when I was pregnant. For me, being pregnant felt a lot like being seasick, and I never felt too steady on the bike. Luckily by now all of that is much improved, and after the first couple of miles I was able to relax and remember how great riding a bike can be. Unfortunately by the time we actually got to the pool, it was well past the time he usually eats his lunch, and he was due for another nap. A fair amount of crying ensued.
After I had managed to coax him to consume a reasonable amount of lunch (when he gets in a mood like that, he doesn't want to eat), we went into the pool area and I put some sunscreen on him. Of course, all the doctors and baby books and the internet and random people at the farmer's market and other mothers tell you that you have to put sunscreen on a baby, but I had my reservations about doing this. The last time I put sunscreen on him (yes, it was "baby sunscreen" and the bottle even boasted "pediatrician recommended"), he promptly got his hands in it and rubbed his eyes and then his eyes got so red and swollen I freaked out and almost took him to the ER. A lot of flushing out with water and comfort nursing finally made it better.
Well, the same thing happened with the sunscreen again at the pool. Much more crying ensued. We tried to cheer Will up by taking him into the baby pool and letting him splash around (something he loves to do in the bathtub). It was very bright out, and he refused to keep on his floppy hat or sunglasses, so the sun was in his eyes and he kept rubbing them. Now add chlorine to the sunscreen chemicals he had gotten in his eyes. He was a mess.
This whole thing wasn't working, so we took him out of the pool and I nursed him, which was probably what he wanted all along. I was suddenly very glad I had sucked it up and worn a 2-piece bathing suit. I'd had huge reservations about pouring my post-partum body into such a tiny suit, but practically speaking, I had known it would be the most convenient for nursing. It worked out pretty well. I was kind of surprised though, that the whole time we were at the baby pool I only saw one other mother nursing her baby. I guess I just kind of thought that when you go to a place with lots of babies, a lot of moms will be nursing.
Will took a bit of a nap in my arms and then was refreshed enough for a little bit more fun. (He even wrote about it on his blog)
It was a good weekend. I suppose it would have been nice if we had gotten even more yard work and house work done, but at least we got to take junior swimming and go on a family bike ride. I'm already looking forward to our next adventures.
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