While life with an infant isn’t easy, per se, maternity leave feels slow and quiet and like a much-needed respite from the work-life hustle. We stay close to home and I spend long, lazy mornings in the rocking chair with Isaac, often the only thing on my calendar being pickup at Juliette’s school at 2:25. Sometimes that walk to and from school is the only time the baby and I leave the house, and that’s OK. I love the afternoons that Juliette and I spend on the couch, watching Project Runway and sipping hot cider while Isaac naps or nurses or makes imaginary snow angels on the floor nearby. THESE ARE THE DAYS.
But sometimes we get a little stir-crazy and so I head out with the kids for an after-school adventure (and I use the term “adventure†very generously). An hour at a park followed by a visit to a coffee shop is really all I need to tide me over for a few more days of hunkering down.
Camp Long was extra-lovely in early November, the ground a carpet of orange and yellow. Juliette scrambled on the climbing wall and Isaac dozed in his stroller and I snapped a hundred photos.
Isaac is not in his most photogenic phase, but no matter, Buddy. Jules and I think you’re adorable.
And…Lincoln Park for the win. This place shines year-round, but the upper loop in on a late fall afternoon is my favorite.
(He’s awake!)
We’ve been doing the West Seattle coffee shop circuit post-park and have decided Cupcake Royale has the best balance of being cozy while still having space to spread out and maneuver a stroller with a napping baby in it. Isaac usually wakes up before Jules and I are ready to go, so he’ll join us for a word search or a little reading.
Somebody give this sweet boy a cupcake! (Ok, don’t, but it’s tempting!)
We try to get out together as a family on the weekends, but Saturday mornings are often spent like this (after Shane slips out for some early pickle ball)…
And Sunday afternoons are often spent like this (televised pickle ball makes me want to snooze too, Isaac)…
Sunday evenings are for dinner with friends…
And I’m already missing soccer Saturdays! The season ended last month and Juliette learned a ton from the experience, not just about getting the ball in the net, but about teamwork and perseverance and shaking off the occasional bump or bruise.
Things have felt a bit busier with the onset of the holiday season (again, I use the term “busy†quite generously!), but we’re still finding time for plenty of this:
And this. By the end of the day I can be a bit “touched-out” after so many hours of baby-holding, but when your three-month old falls asleep on your chest and your eight-year old has had a tough evening and really needs a bedtime snuggle, you lean in.
These slow, uneventful, long-but-too-short days. These are most definitely the days.