busy, busy, there's so much to do!

(The title of this blog post is from a song on Aaralee's Fisher Price toy.  It's constantly in my head. You know that you are a mom when.... )

Spring is in the air! The grass is finally green, the days are getting longer, the trees are full of leaves, and on a few occasions the weather has been warm and sunny.  I've waited so long for this. I feel as though last summer was a bit of a write-off what with being heavily pregnant the entire time.  

This year, I'm back to my normal self with a new little person to spend the days with. We are eagerly awaiting swimming pools, evening walks, and virgin pina coladas. 

It's been a busy week at home.  Ryan is away working in Oklahoma again, so it's just the baby, the dog, and myself.  I never realize just how much help my husband is until he's gone away.  I don't have the usual sense of relief that I get at the end of the day. 5 pm rolls around and nobody comes home. I don't have a second parent to help with dinner while I get the baby ready for bed, or to bring me a towel when I forget to grab one before plopping her into the tub, or worst of all, to come for emergency backup when dealing with a diaper disaster and a baby that just wants to crawl away.  

I've upped my caffeine intake.  I know that there are single parents that do this all day, every day, and I give them props. 

Lately Aaralee has been making strange around men.  If they so much as look in her direction she'll lose her mind.  It doesn't matter if it's her uncle or a friendly old man... she wants nothing to do with them. Here's hoping that it stays that way until she's at least 30.  Because Ryan is gone away so long, he's a bit worried that she'll react the same way around him when he returns.  On previous shorter trips, she's taken a bit of time to warm up to him when he came home. Due to this and the fact that he loves and misses us oh so much, he went ahead and booked us flights to Tulsa. He bribed me with the fact that Walmart is walking distance from the hotel, although I would have came regardless. I am pretty excited about Walmart though... it's amazing in the States and I'll have endless hours of free time.

The thought of travelling alone with my baby and connections in unfamiliar airports is a bit (a lot) daunting, but if anyone can do it, it should be me. 

I don't know what we'll do in Oklahoma while Ryan works, but our hotel is nice and so is the southern weather.  I'm looking forward to seeing Ryan, wearing shorts, and persuading him to take me to Miranda Lambert's store.  

Until then, we'll be busy at home trying to pack and plan for a baby shower that we are hosting this weekend!  Fingers crossed for sunny weather, because it's going to get a bit squishy in this house! 

Rain, rain, go away... come back when we're away in Oklahoma.