an extended weekend

We had three glorious days together.  The extra day off from work was exactly what I needed...especially after two 12 hour conference days with parents. 

I love when Everdeen and I can have some time alone together.  When I can finally feel like a mama...where my sole responsibility is taking care of her.  I realized this weekend that it was exactly a year ago that I cried my way back to school after my maternity leave.  I'll admit that it has gotten a little easier, but oh man.  Somedays it feels like my heart is literally breaking as I say goodbye to my little girl.  Somedays I feel resentful and angry that I'm spending eight hours a day with other people's children when my own baby needs me.  Somedays it just feels so unfair.  But then there are the days where I get up out of bed and it doesn't hurt as much and I can kiss her goodbye without my eyes filling with tears.  I'd say I'm making progress :)

We woke up Friday morning to our first real snowfall of the season. The bright leaves were still poking through the blanket of snow and by late afternoon the snow had begun to melt. 

We slept in a little later than normal and Everdeen peeked out the door to see what the snow bears had brought last night :)

We ventured off to the library and got a new card for our neighborhood library and toddled in and out of the stacks until we got hungry for lunch.  We spent the rest of the day napping, playing, and doing some much needed chores around the house. It felt so good to finally get caught up on some things.  

On Saturday, we enjoyed hanging out at the coffee shop with Nana and some good friends and then waited anxiously for Martin to get home from work so we could head off to a little pumpkin patch at the local nursery. They had a toddler corn maze, petting zoo, and we got to take Everdeen on her first hayride.  

 And that brings us to today...a cold and rainy autumn day. We snuggled inside most of the day, being silly, and laying on the warm laundry fresh from the dryer.  We headed outside for a little walk before dinner to finally get some fresh air.  Everdeen found some puddles and thought it was awfully fun to have leaves thrown at her.  My little family just makes my heart melt.