Mixed Feelings about Michigan

So, here I am VERY EARLY on a Saturday morning. I can't sleep. The baby is very active and I'm very hungry. So, a little recap of the week. Lance left early Monday morning for his conference. We ran a few errands, took a very long bath and tried to keep busy. Tuesday we spent the day in Grand Rapids--first at Susan's playing with Lily and Ally for a while and then at Connie's where we got to see Heather and meet Wyatt finally! We also got to see Steph, Andrea, Ben, Sam, Annie and Jemma. It was quite a time. Rowan was (surprisingly!) on her best behavior. We got home just in time for a few minutes of play before bedtime. Really, it was the perfect way to spend the day. The next day the weather was terrible. The windchill was -18 when I took the dogs out in the morning and everything in town was closed. So we were destined to a day inside. A very long day inside. I'm relatively certain I cannot play tea party for another minute...A doctor's appointment Thursday (no news, thankfully) and the aquatic center Friday (got there, got all ready, hauled our things out on deck just in time for child to poop in the pool. Lovely.) And today we'll head to Portage for Michelle's birthday.

I never knew just how much harder it would be to be a stay-at-home mom in Michigan. Though I wasn't exactly excited about our move, I figured that Lance is the one who goes to work every day and I supposed I could be a mom anywhere, so we'd just go ahead and do what he thinks is best for him. Well, that's not quite the case. In Charlotte, we went to the park almost daily and it wasn't rare for us to go twice in one day. It was easy to meet people since there were always people outside and Rowan was surrounded by kids. Had we stayed in Charlotte, I think I could have potentially had several relatively happy children while staying a relatively happy mom. I'm sure that will eventually happen here as well. I just need to begin an entirely new repetoire of things to do. Sadly, this means Rowan will need to as well. She begs daily to go outside. And prior to the move, I had this idyllic picture of us playing in the snow, sledding, making snowmen, etc. I forgot, however, that snow 2 feet deep doesn't really lend itself to a child not much taller than that to actually play in it. And I forgot about those negative degree days when even a short walk through a parking lot seems to leave my child's cheeks chapped and red.

On the other hand, I got to see some great friends this week and will get to drive just over an hour to see my mom and sister today. No more flying back to Michigan a good 5 times a year, hopefully getting to take real vacations occasionally instead of just coming here (though I have a feeling we'll now be flying to Charlotte to see our friends). And once summer comes, I'm sure we'll take full advantage of Michigan beaches, long walks, parks and, of course, Captain Sundae. Now let's just hope this new baby loves the Baby Bjorn...