Anonymity

Dan's parents came through Champaign yesterday on their way to Florida. I love that we're such a convenient stop for them on their way south. It's always nice to see them, and now we're an extra extra special stop for them with Auggie around and all. Well, last night Zack and Donna offered to watch the Little Man and let Dan and me get out of the house. Oh what a feeling it was!

Rather than do the date-night thing, we hit up the ARC for a little physical activity. Dan was the climbing wall junkie that he usually is, and I, get this, ran on the track. I ran. In case you weren't sure, you can't run with a baby. However, you can run when you're alone. And so I ran. (Note: And by ran, I mean that I jogged a nice 'n slow 10-minute mile. ;) It felt really, really good. What also felt good was how anonymous I was a the ARC without a baby.

When I'm carrying Auggie around I can't hide - a woman with a baby in a campus rec facility is a woman with a baby sticking out like a sore thumb. (Not to mention how often I've been getting harassed by staff in the past month.) There's no feeling 'normal' with Auggie there. Not in a bad way, I really do like being able to walk with him, but just in a very obvious way. So last night felt so incredibly different. In fact, I think I even left my wedding ring at home for safe keeping (no rings allowed on the climbing wall), so I blended in like just another college kid. Imagine that. I blended in.

...

The weather in Champaign has been *G*L*O*R*I*O*U*S* for the past few days, and maxed out around 63 degrees today. Yeah baby. Dan, Stella, and Mister Man walked to the office to pick me up and we all walked home together. I know this weather is just a teaser considering it's only February, but I don't care - I'll take it. We also got to use our super-cool-manly-bad-A-sport-utility BOB stroller. Let me tell you, Dan was all about off-sidewalking it. Seriously, this is a stroller that any guy could get excited about. I'll have to post a picture sometime.

Auggie seems simply amazed by the outdoors. Since he was born in October he really hasn't spent much time outside, so his eyes have been as wide as saucers during every walk we've gone on in the past few days. I can already tell that he's going to LOVE the summer.

Stella was trying to get in front of the camera this morning, so here she is: