Winter's gone for real.

Winter is gone for real. For real! No more snow. I feel it in my bones. Cold days yes, snow days no. Hopefully I'm not wrong about that.

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo at Theo's request. We hadn't been in so long! Like maybe since Lars was a baby, or maybe even before that.

The first thing we saw when we walked in was a lion who was roaring his head off. He seriously roared for like 15 minutes straight. It was awesome. Or maybe it was sad. I don't know what he was roaring for.

A few friends joined us. Always makes it more fun.

I love pandas. They are so funny.

Now it's spring break and once again we are having lovely weather. I'm in a total spring break mentality and have done zero cleaning up around my house. It is a disaster. On Monday, while painters painted my house, instead of doing anything productive I spent the day reading a book and let the kids do whatever they wanted (basically playing, eating, and watching a movie). I felt productive though, because the painters were working. And actually I did go on a walk with the kids and we picked up trash in the neighborhood. That makes exactly 1 Cub Scout achievement I've helped Theo with since he turned 8. Baby steps...

We won't make it to the zoo again this week, but we have spent a lot of time outside. Tuesday the kids had piano lessons and played outside. Wednesday we met friends at the park before I have to go to work (only a few more weeks of work for me!). 

Today we went on a hike, also with friends. It was a little bleak looking because the trees are all still bare... but the temperature was perfect! It was a little chilly at first but it warmed up and was probably almost into the 60s by the time we left.

Then this weekend is general conference and Easter. Two weeks later is my birthday. Three weeks after that is my due date. That's so weird. And awesome. Spring came after all!

Oh and Ida lost her first tooth on Sunday. She was super nervous about pulling it out but wanted to do it herself. Matt and I decided recently that since Theo pretty much just swallows all his loose teeth--to our everlasting annoyance (or maybe just mine)--the tooth fairy would no longer leave money without evidence of an actual tooth. So I told Ida that, and then she spent 20 minutes in front of the mirror, triumphantly emerging at the end with a tiny tooth in her hand and a mouth full of blood. I love that girl and her determination.

Despite the amount of lying on the couch I've been doing, I've also been somewhat busy checking things off my nesting list, enlisting Matt's strength and/or patience for several of the things. My nesting has definitely been much slower and more drawn out this time than in the past. Just as many ideas as usual, but way less energy to make them happen. I have been trying to work out more and have fit in a few swim and walk workouts the last few weeks. The house got painted, and Matt did a project for me over the weekend that involved cutting long planks of wood using a Skilsaw in our basement... no easy feat. Then he got to use a nail gun, so hopefully that was fun for him. I've also been doing some painting, which I can't do very much of at a time. I've done my share of pregnancy painting in the past, and I don't remember it being quite this taxing. Just like everything else, I guess it's just all harder the fourth time around.

Theo started baseball, and he's wrapping up winter swim, and getting ready to start summer swim, and Ida's about to start swim lessons to prepare her for swim team tryouts in May. I have a bunch of stuff scheduled for the kids throughout May, which Matt and I were just discussing last night might sound a little crazy, but what am I supposed to do, make my kids sit around and wait with me for the baby to come? The weekend of my due date is the father-daughter campout, and the following weekend is the father-son campout. So unless the baby comes early, I'm thinking the kids won't get to actually camp out. I haven't informed them of that yet. But I'm imagining me calling Matt in the middle of the night and him packing up a tent and sleepy kids and driving home so he can be with me in labor... not sounding like a great idea. They'll go for the campfire, but if I'm still pregnant they won't get to stay the night. Oh well--there's always the infinitesimal chance that the baby will come early!

Also in two weeks-ish is my dad's 10th Boston marathon, which I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to attend. All signs point to no. I've been to 5 of them (all the ones he's done while we've lived in VA) and would be super bummed to miss this one. Cheering my dad on at marathons is my favorite. I'll just have to see whether I magically feel incredible at 37 weeks pregnant. Not holding my breath.

It's so fun for me to look at the calendar and anticipate the many events of May. Fun and weird. Especially now that I'm starting to see food expiration dates in my fridge that are later than my due date. I always notice those. Weird, I know. Weird and fun.