11/24/06 Our closest "park"

Dave had to work today (wah!), so I took the boys and a no-sleep Katrina to the closest thing we have to a park to walk to. There's a tiny crummy little playground right behind the sound wall for I-280, no doubt that the developers of a nearby housing development had to put in. It's tiny and noisy from the highway, but always empty -- and really, our only choice for a park to walk to.

There's a large grassy area that we walked around first, then I sent the boys across the grass to get to the playground.


In the playground, they bored quickly of the ladder and slides, but ran around chasing each other tirelessly.

I took a bunch of photos of the boys playing, and a few self-times. I'm really starting to wish I had some basic instruction in photography, both the technical aspect of it and the artistic one. Most of these are just play snapshots, but I'm still making an effort to do a little better than just documenting.







They like pretending that vertical fence bars are "jail", thanks to the classic book "The Little Cowboy"!




















Julian being goofy with the pole:




Katrina calmed completely for this walk, and slept for part of it. Today she's had a lot of time awake and unhappy, clearly needing to sleep, but having a hard time holding on to it. I attribute this to tummy troubles, as there was a lot of spitting up too. But we also had a lot of Happy Baby Fun Time, especially with Gabriel. He positively beams when I tell him that she loves him.

I had a few moments today when all three kids were down for the count! Gabriel fell asleep under a small coffee table, incredibly, and didn't wake up when I pulled him out and put him on the living-room couch.

I still had remnants of a headache today, but not nearly as bad. But, another old nemesis has been bothering me for days too: a persistent cough. I remember the days I used to say that I was indestructible! But now, if anyone in the household gets sick, I will too, and I'll hold onto the respiratory problems for weeks. The worst is when I need to cough while nursing -- not only does it disturb and surprise the baby, making her wrest her head around (owch!), but it pushes my surgery stitches against the pillow across my tummy for nursing, and they're still very tender and sting-y. More owch.

But, I can still say: this is a heck of a far sight better than being pregnant! Especially when my beautiful baby beams a bright smile at me, and when I see my little boys playing exuberantly.

11/24/06