Out Like a Lion

Old Man Winter decided to give Minnesota one last punch. Yesterday we recorded our highest temperature of 2008 -- a whopping 52 degrees. And today, no doubt, we will record our largest snowfall of 2008. A bit of irony in this crazy weather region we live in.

But oddly enough my spirits are still high. Maybe it's because of the plethora of items I have to cross of my to-do list. Too much to be done indoors to even think about enjoying any sunshine. Or more likely it's because Mama Nash's forecast says I'll be experiencing a high of 72 degrees with a 0% chance of having to change a poopy diaper as early as Wednesday.

That's right, folks. I'm heading out to the lovely Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. It will be my third time in Sin City. My mom and sister will be accompanying me and I'm almost more excited for them than I am for myself as it will be their first trip to this famous American city.

William will also be on vacation. His destination of choice? Eau Claire, Wisconsin with Nana and Papa Nash. I will be away from William for 4 nights and 4 days; the longest ever. And I think I'm experiencing the same emotions any mother of any-aged children will have. I'm very excited to get away from the monotony of everyday life. But I'm also apprehensive about being away from my baby and that same routine that I'm trying to take a vacation from.

To me, the hardest times to be away from William are in the morning and at bedtime. The morning brings the happiest baby in the world. He always greets me standing in his crib, eyes bright and a smile that's a mile long. Bedtime brings snuggles and kisses. Priceless.

But I'm a firm believer that even a short time away from your husband, your children or both makes you a better wife and mother upon your return. So I will say goodbye to William and my hubby and the snow and say hello to sunshine, palm trees and...hmmm...well...c'mon, it's Vegas, baby! The sky's the limit!

Thursday Night Recap: March 27

Eats: We broke a cardinal Thursday night rule and ordered out. We had a pizza from Papa Murphy's.

Dessert: A few Mini Cadbury Eggs

Drink: We tasted some of those home-brews Brian received this week from his Confirmation candidate.

Entertainment: No Country For Old Men -- maybe it's just me but I thought this movie was really lame. I have no idea why it won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Naughty Little Monkey

Just when I thought I had nothing to post this morning, this is the scene I walked into. Thoughts that went through my head:

1. What?! How did you do you that?!

2. Thank God I made it in time before there were any major spills.

3. Also thank God that I had just finished uploading pictures onto our computer and therefore had our digital camera in my hand to capture this.

4. When did he start being able to climb things other than the stairs?

5. Wasn't he just a little baby in a bouncy seat, like, um, yesterday?

6. Crap. Now I can't really let him play by himself while I do the breakfast dishes, or really anything in the kitchen.

As soon as I pulled him down (which, by the way, was like an amusement park ride in itself) and told him that what he did was extremely naughty and a huge no-no it took a nanosecond for me to capture this series of pictures. Sigh.

Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel

There's not much to report on the homefront. We're just truckin' along waiting for the first 60-degree weather day so we can really get outside for longer than an hour. Here's all the bits I could round up:

• William has his fourth ear infection. We caught it early and were able to treat it with antibiotics right away. I'm starting to roll my eyes at all the people who are flaunting the fact that they breastfed their child and are happy to say that their kid has never had an ear infection. I'm one of the biggest advocates I know for breastfeeding. It's benefits are endless. William never received an ounce of formula and I breastfed him up to 12 1/2 months of age. Still, he is plagued with this horrible recurrence of an infection. But then again, maybe it could have been a lot worse had I not been so adamant about breastfeeding?
  
  
• Brian and I are celebrating the end of Lent and the resurgence of our Caribou Latte/Mocha obsession. That's what we gave up. I'm pretty sure I saw a dip in their stock prices during those six weeks when we were not the loyal patrons we usually are.
  
  
• This morning I asked Brian for suggestions for this blog explaining that I had nothing to write about. He really wanted me to share with all of you that he received eight bottles of home-brewed beer last night at his RCIA meeting. It was a gift from the guy for whom Brian was his confirmation sponsor this past weekend. Brian thought it was the coolest "sponsor thank you" gift in the history of confirmation.
  
  
• We're all about American Idol. In case you haven't heard I've got my own little fantasy contest going on. Click here to see the standings. Things are really heating up!
  
  
• My brother Joey will be stopping in this afternoon. He goes to college about four hours northwest of us so we don't get to see him that often. In fact, the last time he saw William was over Christmas. He will be visiting a much different William now that he is walking/running/talking all over the place. We've been practicing saying "Jooooo-ey" all morning. So far we've got it down to "Go-wee." Good enough for me!

Easter

And they all fall down...

Spring Picture

Well I've finally replaced my profile picture that you see off to the right. The snow was making me depressed. But unfortunately even though the calendar says spring we woke up to six inches of snow this morning. So this is the best I could come up with for a spring picture. Brian shot this of the two of us. We're sitting on the leather chair in front of our living room window. We're looking outside. Longing and hoping for blue skies, green grass and dandelions. Because I didn't have my makeup on for the day, I decided to convert it to sepia, minus our eyes and my wedding ring. So for now, that's all the color you're going to get until everything starts bloomin'!

What I Learned at the Mass of our Lord's Supper...

...is that my son refuses to sleep anywhere except his crib or his carseat.

As much as I knew it was going to be a painful experience, we attended mass as a family last night for Holy Thursday. Mass started at 7:00 which is usually William's bedtime. And this was a longer mass than most Sundays or weekdays because of the Washing of the Feet and some extended hymns. It lasted one hour and 45 minutes to be exact. But not that I'm counting or anything.

You might be reading this and thinking that I'm crazy for even attempting to go with my son in tow but I did so with the knowledge that this was the only mass he needed to attend with us during the Triduum.

At first he was fine. Reading his books, smiling at the people behind us. But when that 8 o'clock hour hit he had had it. I tried to lay his head on my shoulder but as soon as I removed my hand, his head popped back up. I tried to cradle him as if he were a newborn but he got so angry at me his face turned red. I settled on just letting him suck on his pacifier and hold his blankie. And he was fine with that. But every so often his exhaustion would return and he would grunt and arch his back with frustration that he wasn't in bed.

This afternoon I'm so excited to be able to go to Good Friday mass by myself. My sister-in-law has so graciously offered to watch William this afternoon and then again tomorrow evening for the Vigil.

We can all thank God for that!