Waiting for Snow

So it seems there is a big winter storm headed in my direction. Every year, we get a couple of these dire winter storm warnings for southeast Virginia and they usually amount to a dusting of snow that melts as soon as the sun peaks out from behind the clouds. But it seems like this time it might be the real deal with a possibility of up to twelve inches of snow. I'll believe it when I see it, but I love the sense of anticipation of a winter storm. A week ago, I was going a bit stir crazy from being cooped up in the house with a baby and a bug (the sickness bug, not the mutant cockroaches I wrote about last weekend). Now, I'm kind of looking forward to nesting for a few days.

It's a been a good week, give or take a couple of late nights of baby fussiness. I've gotten out of the house every day this week-- which didn't seem possible a month ago. Funny how things change. But Patrick has gotten a little older and is a little more predictable, which makes scheduled outings a little easier. I've gotten my coffee fix several times this week, which is lovely. Oh, how I've missed my coffee! Between pregnancy, gestational diabetes and a newborn, I haven't indulged my Starbucks cravings nearly enough in the past six months. (Though I do wonder if Patrick absorbs the caffeine by osmosis while we're there because his fussy nights seem to coincide with a trip to Starbucks.) Getting my coffee, doing a bit of writing and plotting, seeing some friends, feeling like I'm finding a new routine-- it all goes a long way to improving my overall mood.

Patrick is eight weeks old today and weighing in at a whopping 13 pounds. He goes to the pediatrician next Friday for his two month checkup, so I imagine he'll be weighing a little more by then. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (those fussy nights are truly exhausting and my back is in a permanent knot), but it's gotten more manageable. Enough so that when I saw my doctor earlier this week for my postpartum appointment, I mentioned that we might actually consider trying for another baby in the next year. Crazy, huh? Crazier still that my doctor was positively delighted. We'll see how I feel in a few more months. Two babies under two? I think the sleep deprivation is getting to me.

So here I sit on a Friday night, baby sleeping beside me and snow on the radar. I'm soaking beans to make a hearty bean soup for tomorrow and I'm feeling the urge to bake a pan of my kickass brownies. I got a writing check in the mail today and I got to see Jae and Shannon's baby girl tonight. There are things I wish were different, a certain melancholy I just can't shake, but life is good and peaceful and (for the moment) quiet.

Bring on the snow.