Visiting Leo March 14-17 2018

On Wednesday, March 14th I fly to Minneapolis to visit Leo and his parents. The temps in Minny are in the 40s but I’m still freezing. Sarah wastes no time taking advantage of my presence. She goes to grocery store and leaves Leo and me to hang out. He’s been fussy lately; probably a growth spurt coming on. We talk until he’s sleepy, then he naps in the swing for awhile. When he wakes up we try a bottle. He’s not crazy about bottles yet but he’ll learn. He does take a little from me but then Sarah comes home and he wants mom.

Thursday morning I do a 5 mile easy run. It’s cold but I’m ok. I wear Sarah’s yak trax cause it’s icy in spots. I head west on the Luce Line but forget that its closed that direction so I end up running through an industrial park and along the Carlson Parkway before it’s time to turn around.

Sarah goes to an exercise class. Leo is sleepy but won’t give it up. He can really be loud, and distraught. It’s almost funny cause he’s so little. Finally I give up trying to put him to sleep and lay him down in his crib for a minute to find some booties and when I turn around he’s asleep. Ha, tricky little guy.

At noon Sarah has some moms over from her baby class. All the babies are around the same age as Leo and you can see how dramatically smaller he is than them. 6th percentile! Oh well, Daniel was 25th and he’s almost 6’ now so it really doesn’t mean much at this point. Little but mighty, that’s Leo.

For dinner I want to make something so that they will have leftovers. I text Lee and he suggests enchiladas. Sarah says double the recipe so we make a bunch. It’s very good too. I may not cook often but when I do the results aren’t bad!

Friday it’s 8 miles. I’m supposed to  gradually get faster as I run so every couple of miles I change my run/walk ratio from 30/30, to 45/30, to 60/30, and finally 90/30. I go the other way on the Luce Line toward the city. It’s still icy but not as bad so I skip the yak trax. Funny the cold seems to slow me down a little, I guess it’s what I’m used to. And there’s quite a headwind on the way out.

Sarah wants to get running shoes. We go to a running store on Frances St. and I hold Leo while she tries on shoes. When we get home Leo continues to snooze in the car seat for awhile. Sarah goes for a pedicure after he wakes up and and eats. I’m glad I can help my daughter out, if only for a little while. This time the only way Leo will take his next nap is in my arms. He keeps us on his toes all right!

In the evening I go to see the house we will be renting while we build our new house. It is in Waconia, nice little town but really far away. However its close to Shorewood which is what Lee was going for. The house is great. Its big; a 3 car garage, a great room, 4 bedrooms upstairs, a study downstairs, a partly finished basement. Lots of this room will be used for boxes we won’t unpack! I’m worried about all the carpet with the dogs and that the only access to the unfenced backyard is through the basement. I think there will be a lot of dog walks in the future and they will get the hang of the carpet, and the stairs. We also will need a decent vacuum while we’re there. We’ve been talking about getting a roomba. I would love to not need to vacuum as much and stay ahead of the endless dog hair created by three little white dogs!

I am supposed to pick up a pizza in Excelsior on the way back to Sarah and Erik’s. This would have worked fine only the pizza place makes me stand in a huge line to pay and pick up the pizza. Very annoying. The pizza is good but I don’t think I’d go there on a Friday again. It’s only a few miles from where our new house will be.

I'm glad I took the time for this short visit. Its hard being so far away from the little guy, but it won't be long before we can see him a lot more often. I can't wait!