Welcome to the great outdoors!!

Yeah, you see the white blob in the picture? That's Alan. He's wearing a duck outfit designed to protect him from the wind and weather. It was so beautiful this week, I took him outside in the front carrier and we went walking along the dirt roads out here in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. Howard Lake). It's quite farm-y out here, and I love the views with all of the rolling hills and farm houses and fields. We even saw horses and cows!

Alan and I made our first appearance at a MOPS group this week. For those who aren't sure, MOPS stands for Mothers Of Pre Schoolers. Since Alan is not in school yet, I qualify to attend this. It was interesting and fun, although I admit I am still in a bit of shock that I am old enough to be a mom, and that I AM one. So joining a group of moms is a little unnerving . . . inside my gut reaction says - no, I belong at camp with a bunch of college kids, sleeping in corn bins on the weekends and running away when Doug busts us on the tire swings at 1 am . . . and well, doing some other stuff that some of the readers of this blog may not want to read about. But no, really, I am a mom. So, while half of me felt deeply enriched by attending, the other half wanted to run out the door and crank up some loud hard rock music in my truck, and do something crazy and mildly irresponsible like try to walk through the drive through at McDonalds. (Did you know they won't let you??)

Another highlight this week was Alan's very first Maple Lake St. Patrick's Day Parade. He seemed to like the bands and all the attention, but when the loud sirens went by, his little pouty lip came out, and once he even started crying. A good number of the spectators had a green beer in one hand (or maybe both hands) and yelled out whatever they happened to be thinking at the moment during most of the parade, but Alan decided to lay off the beer and he even showed good manners. His cousins, Mikayla and Serena, caught pretty much enough candy to last till next St. Patrick's day, and you should have seen the smile on 5-year-old Mikayla's face when a woman she didn't even know dropped a HU-UGE handful of candy into her open hands!!!

As far as Alan's passage toward manhood goes, we made sure to bring him to a couple of manly places this week. Friday night was Menards and Saturday was Home Depot. By the end of the weekend, he got quite an education and we bought all the tile for our house.

Other good times include a visit from Sarah K (yes, I know it's not REALLY Sarah K anymore, but Sarah W just doesn't sound the same) and a trip over to Aunt Susann's house to watch me and Susann do Tae Bo and to try out Susann's new (adult size) papasan chair. Comfy!

Mommy lesson #4: People don't really want to hear about some of the new experiences I am having. It is hard to realize this while I am living through it, but when I take a step back and remember BEFORE I was a parent . . . maybe I wouldn't have cared to hear detailed stories about breastfeeding in the Menards parking lot or moaning and groaning about the various effects childbirth STILL has on my body . . . no, I probably would have preferred not to know. But now here I am in this little mommy world, experiencing this stuff day to day. I am learning how to put on a filter and make wise choices about who I try to make laugh with a breastfeeding story, and who I just talk about the weather with. Is this how old people feel? When their physical ailments are all-encompassing and taking over their daily life, but yet no one REALLY wants to know the details? When they start talking about all the ways that their body isn't functioning properly and the person they are talking to starts shuffling their feet and getting shifty eyes and looking like they want to be anywhere but there? I have now experienced these things. Somehow I thought since it was ME, all the details would be much more interesting. But no. They're not.