chalk walk

Sunday started out with our morning walk. Miles has started to to get excited when we put him in his Bjorn carrier for walks and he even starts to giggle and coo when we approach the "tree tunnel" on our walking path.
Daddy thinks this hat is kinda girly, but I disagree. (Not as girly as the sunhat he used to wear with flowers and ducks on it!) Anyway, later that day I overheard somebody pointing at Miles and saying, "that little girl's hat has slipped down over her eyes." Well, ok, so maybe it's a little girly, but he looks so cute in pastels that I'll probably dress him in them until he can choose otherwise. ; )

Every year, on the second day of the Three Rivers Festival, we attend the chalk walk and art fair on Main Street. The chalk drawings are usually amazing, but this year it rained after the first day, so the majority of the drawings were washed away. Some artists came out and redid them early Sunday morning. Here's a photo of this year's winner, a fried egg with the words, "so hot you could..." Thankfully it wasn't that hot out and there was a nice breeze.

It was such a nice day for the three of us. It took me a while to relax though. It was my first time taking Miles out in a crowd like that, through the dirty junk food alley and groups of smokers. It was amazingly difficult to juggle my attention to the crowd, the vendors and Miles. I kept wondering if Miles was too hot or if he was comfortable in his umbrella stroller. (You'll notice I chose a Jeep stroller. It was the one item that I just decided to be stupid and buy it for the brand name to match Daddy's Jeep. I'm such a consumer! It's amazing how nice and light umbrella strollers are. But I digress.) So I kept worrying about whether Miles was comfortable and John reminded me that babies don't give the silent treatment when they are upset. They don't hold grudges and get all passive aggressive. So if Miles was quiet, he was fine. Enjoy the day. Duh! Thank God for my sensible husband!






Miles ended up in the sling, which I was more comfortable with and he could drink a bottle while we walked. Once he fell asleep, which the sling is awesome for, I got a little shopping in at the art fair booths.
I ended up discovering a super cool tourquise necklace that I fell in love with. A couple years ago I found a necklace similar to it in New Mexico that John and I both regret not getting so John jumped at the chance to treat me to it. The ladies running the booth went nuts over Miles and thought he was the sweetest thing all snuggled up in his sling. They were so sweet and accommodating as they fixed the length for me right there on the spot. Here's the artist with Miles and me. Technically, the necklace wasn't even for sale, the owner was wearing it and had taken it off and laid it down for moment when I saw it. So in this photo, she is necklace-less because of me! I'm wearing the necklace, but I'll have to grab another photo sometime when I'm wearing a v-neck to really show it off.

It felt nice to buy something fashion-wise. The shirt I wore that day I wore during my pregnancy and up until about 2 weeks before Miles was born. So I haven't done a lot of shopping in the past five months! (Thank God for stretch black tops!)

Realizing that I was still wearing maternity clothes, despite the fact I weigh less than I did before I got pregnant, I went shopping tonight. I found some pants and a top that fit great. Yeah! Miles was a dream too during a THREE hour shopping trip from 5-8 PM. A clerk asked me, "Is he always a good baby like this?" I thought for a moment, remembering how he used to hate the car seat and stroller and shopping trips were a disaster. It reminded me of how far he and I had come from the frustrating first months when being a mom was so new. I remember someone told me that if I encounter a rough patch with Miles, just remember that it will pass. So true. We have gotten through the first hard months of breast feeding and now I could breast feed hanging upside down from monkey bars. (I suppose if I'm one of those mom's that nurse until their kids are 5, that might come in handy. ha ha) So is Miles a good baby all the time? At this age, I don't really think babies can be bad. So I told her, absolutely. He's such a joy. : )

Here are some blissfull carseat photos to show the end of the carseat aversion. (Dear God, let it continue!)