an awesome family Sunday

warning to those allergic to sentimentality: look away!

The weather in Chattaboogie was nice this weekend, a welcome reprieve from the cold and snow, which has fallen in atypically high amounts this year (possibly our fault, considering our move from Chicago this fall...perhaps the weather "followed" us?).

Inspired by the relative warmth and glimpses of sunshine, we packed up our month-old (!) baby boy, grabbed the Bjorn, and headed downtown.

A quick aside about the Bjorn (we also have an Infantino model, to use when he get's marginally bigger): during the pregnancy, I made several strident sounding declarations about strollers, and how I thought I would much prefer to either carry my infant in my arms, or in some sort of sling, wrap, papoose, etc.  Here's the thing: after having the baby, and seeing the stroller in action, and having also tried out the Bjorn, I can say without reservation: "I was right - all you doubters can suck it!"

So we are downtown, wondering around Coolidge park (a wonderland this particular Sunday with families of all sorts, kids of all ages; there were toddlers just trying out their stumpy little legs, there were kids on big wheels and others on inline scooters, and there was a healthy representation of babies in carriers); we grabbed Mom a sandwich (Dad having already eaten his meal at home, in keeping with the anti-social nature of his diet), and the bliss of the moment just rolled over me in successive and concussive waves.  These are the Dad-moments that make up for the fitful nights of rest-less sleep; these moments of feeling so alive and familial go some way to ameliorating the trennungsangst I have been feeling for my lovely wife's breasts...

Can we have another quick aside, in special regards to the aforementioned breasts?  I'm thinking since it's my blog, I can "aside" as often as I like...Is it some carefully considered sadism from the universe that the swelling of one's lover's breasts to porn-star proportions coincides precisely with the introduction of a living, breathing, crying, and pooping obstacle to access to those same?  Argh, Universe, argh.

We walked around the park, up and onto the pedestrian bridge from the North Shore to the true downtown, and back along Frazier avenue, in and out of some shops, including one make-it-yourself froyo vendor (Wife says, with all sincerity and no apparent malice in her face as she fills a couple-sized cup: "We can share this!"; it takes her until we are back out on the sidewalk to remember that small part of my diet that precludes the consumption of sugary carbs...)

Lastly, we took a swing through the Greenlife grocery, and then home...throughout this adventure, Baby Boy was perfect.  He must love the car, and the snuggly rocking action of being strapped to Dad's chest.  The whole experience was so fantastic, I can't wait to do it again.  It was also a bit bittersweet, as we were reminded of what we lost when we were unable to buy the home on the North Shore...where we ended up is great, too, and has much to recommend it over the other options we considered, but still, it was impossible not to think about how our days would look had be bought downtown.

It was a good day.