Breakin' Out

Winter this year in Columbus was especially snowy, cold, gloomy and long. Fortunately, God has blessed us for our enduring to the end. The last couple of weeks have been sunny and warm; and Shane and I have been trying our best to get out and take advantage of it!

Here are some pictures of our latest excursion to the park for playgroup.

Shane LOVES the park these days. Especially the slides. He doesn't quite get it when I tell him to "sit on your bum" so he dives head first down the slides. He will even dive in past other kids if they are doddling. Fortunately, we have only had one close encounter with face planting into the ground (it was very close, but I saved the day :D ).

He generally has no interest in looking or smiling at me while on the playground. So, the above picture is considered priceless to us.


Other things we have been doing: yard work and lots of it! Remember the pictures of our backyard in this post with the jungle of overgrown weeds? Well, Shane and I (and this week Adam joined us) have been working very hard to clean every thing up. Shane loves to use my garden tools to "help" weed. He just kind of throws the dirt around, but seems to really enjoy it.

Sadly, Shane has already gotten his first sunburn. It was mild so he wasn't in much discomfort, but it made me realize what spots I missed. Future reminder: don't forget to put sunscreen on ears and neck. It also encouraged me to buy some "necessary" sun-protection items for Shane including some sweet Go Diego Go sunglasses and an OSU ball cap. We also bought him his first pair of flip flops (they are a huge hit).

We broke out the sprinkler this week for Shane to play in. He was a bit upset when he got wet for the first time, but Adam and I kept cheering him on. Eventually, he didn't mind it and got drenched. He loved filling his bucket up with water and then running around the yard dumping it out. I am hoping to get him used to the sprinkler to gear up for the Bunny Fountains later this summer.

With all the time we've been spending in the backyard, Shane has made a new friend. Her name is Zoey and she's a dog. Every time (and I mean EVERY time) Zoey is let outside, Shane perks right up and runs to the fence to watch her. If our neighbor is out doing yard work too, Shane often comes to me whining because he wants to go over and play with the dog, which is strange because he is deathly afraid of actually touching animals.

Adam has been on spring break this week. Shane and I have LOVED the extra time and attention we get from him. I have also really loved his sudden spurt of enthusiasm for getting our yard in shape :) I can't work as hard or as fast as he can, so with his help all the work gets done in half the time. We are really going to miss having him around when he goes back to school on Monday!!

Pregnancy Update: Everything is still rather uneventful (gratefully). The only thing different from the first go around is that I have Sciatica this time. It sure does make it tough to want to get off the couch after a long day of chasing after Shane :) I am in my third trimester with a couple of months or so left to go. The time has gone by so much faster this time since I have Shane to help distract me. I am so grateful for that because I do NOT enjoy pregnancy, not one bit. As my due date comes closer I am getting both more excited and more terrified. Terrified, because when I had Shane I discovered that kids are a lot more work than I ever thought and I don't know how I am going to cope with taking care of two every day for the next 18 years. Shane is a handful already, but I am trying to focus on the excitement.