We woke up early on Sunday to drive to wine country for brunch at the super fantastic Allison Inn & Spa where I thought that Dungeness Crab Benedict might not be enough food, so I went ahead and ordered appetizers. (Speaking of eggs benedict, this is hilarious.)

Proscuitto Arancini with Fondue and the Deviled Egg Trio. OMG.

Henry sat in a high chair next to me and looked charming. Sitting in a high chair is a new skill of his and he loves it.

I’m going to need a bite of that, Mama. Blurry because he NEVER stops moving.

After brunch we stopped at a couple wineries to grab wine club shipments and finally had a GREAT family photo taken. (I spend way too much time fretting over the lack of pictures of the three of us together.)

On the patio at Sokol Blosser.

And, on the patio at Domaine Drouhin. I have a lot of hair, okay?

We left wine country a couple cases of wine richer and Henry snoozed the entire way home. Pretty impressive for Baby No Nap.

Motherhood isn’t always easy, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m so lucky to be Henry’s mama. I’m not sure what I did in my life to deserve such a terrific little guy, but I’m thankful that he’s mine every single day.

Hope your day was as fantastic as mine was.

• It appears that I am wearing a blue bra in the photo on the left. Huh. It also appears that my son is eyeing my crab bread. Next year, baby boy. Next year.
• Have you seen Suri’s Burn Book? I love it so much. I love it so much that I forget that it’s not real sometimes. Earlier this week at the grocery store I read on a tabloid cover (you know you read them, too) that Suri was begging for a baby sister. I thought to myself, “That is highly unlikely!” and then remembered that Suri Cruise DOES NOT REALLY keep a blog.
• I sent my Star Wars Nerd-husband an email this morning with the subject line, “May the fourth be with you” and he has not responded. RUDE.
• Hope you have a nice weekend, friends!

My two rules for new clothing are that it must be comfortable and it must be easy to wash. Babies are messy and dry clean only stuff is just not practical for me anymore. I find myself wearing a ton of black and grey, which isn’t very fun, especially for spring. Here are some ways I’m adding color to my wardrobe:

Gap Colored Khakis - I have these in green and pink. I really, really wanted some pink jeans, but decided that at 33 that probably wasn’t the best option for me (I’ll just have to hold onto my memories of the pink Guess jeans I had in the 8th grade). These are a fun and comfy alternative and perfect for crawling around on the floor with my little guy.

J.Crew Jersey Maxi Skirts – I bought one in navy/blue stripe for our trip to Miami and I seriously want to live in this skirt. I was thrilled to find a solid purple one on sale in-store on Saturday. I feel REALLY cute in this skirt. Which, is super important.

Bright tops from Splendid - Stripes are the official pattern of my postpartum wardrobe and Splendid is the official clothing brand. This stuff is super soft, easy to wash AND comes in tons of bright colors.

Visit BlogHer.com to share how you incorporate color into your look and also enter to win an iPod Touch and iTunes gift card!

I’m not ridiculously proud of the fact that I’ve not done any sort of formal exercise since then. Through the magic of breastfeeding, I’m *so* close to my pre-pregnancy weight. But, through the magic of carrying an 8 pound, 8 ounce (perfect) baby, I can’t fit into most of my pants.

Before Henry was born, I thought that I’d get the go ahead at my 6-week appointment to start working out again and that I’d go out that very day for a run. While I was nowhere near ready to go for a run after that appointment, I’m certainly physically able to do that now, at 23-weeks postpartum. But, for some reason I just can’t make that happen. Our climate is currently such that I can’t put the baby in the stroller for a walk, Bar Method classes aren’t a great option anymore because of the (somewhat ridiculous) 4 hour cancellation policy. And, honestly I’d rather use my precious alone time for a bubble bath or a book OR A NAP.

So, here we are. I’m not happy with my body. I’m not happy with being cooped up. I have the tools I need (a BOB, a free month to Baby Bootcamp, a handful of Stroller Strides classes purchased on a daily deal site, ALL the workout dvds and a nursing-friendly sports bra in a ridiculous size) but for some reason I just can’t make it happen. We’ll be ready to go and  there will be a big spit-up, or a dirty diaper or just SOMETHING pops up (there truly was an officer-involved shooting near the park one day JUST as we were about ready to walk out the door for Baby Bootcamp. We obviously stayed home that day.).

How do you motivate yourself to work out? If you’re a mom to an infant, how do you make exercising a priority?

He met the Easter Bunny (thanks to Nanette and Em for inviting us)!

He visited the Portland Farmers Market. (Bonus Crunchy Mama Points to me for wearing him there)

He tried rice cereal for the first time. As you can see, he was unimpressed.

And, he celebrated his first Easter.

I The Easter Bunny did pretty well on his Easter Basket.

P.S. He also slept four whole hours in his crib on Saturday night. Wheee!

• While all of you are welcoming spring with flip flops and capri pants, I am over here in Oregon freezing my rear off. While I don’t expect to be able to haul out my spring wardrobe just yet (which probably doesn’t fit anyway), I was hoping that by March 22nd, I’d be able to at least swap my heavy winter coat for a light spring coat. NO SUCH LUCK.
• An update to Henry’s 4 Month Post: He weighs 16 pounds, 6 ounces and is 26 inches long putting him at 95th percentile for both height and weight. Such a good grower!
• Our house did not have a working doorbell when we bought it. For some reason, we thought it would be a great idea to remedy that last month. Do you know what doorbells do? THEY WAKE SLEEPING BABIES. I’m seriously regretting our decision to have a new doorbell installed.
• Also, shame on the UPS guy for both knocking AND ringing the doorbell when he delivers a package. One or the other, Mister.
• I really need to start exercising. Maybe typing it will make me DO IT.
• I also really need a haircut. See above.
• Over the summer, I had my annual eye exam. (Have I told you this story before? I cannot remember.) I was super excited to learn that my eyes had actually improved since my last exam. I ordered new contacts and glasses and went on my merry way. One morning on the way to work, I noticed suddenly (really) that I was having terrible problems seeing with my new contacts. Luckily, I had my old glasses in the car with me, so I pulled over and put them on. I went back to the eye doctor and had my eyes re-examined and got new contacts YET AGAIN. For some reason, my glasses prescription was fine. Things were all hunky dory with that prescription until about a month and a half ago. I was again, out and about when I noticed that I couldn’t see very well. Super scary this time as I had Henry in the car with me. I stopped wearing those contacts immediately and went back to the eye doctor for yet another exam. This time, I left with a prescription for a toric contact lens. Guess what? I kind of hate those. I’m not sure what to do next. I know that pregnancy and breastfeeding have an affect on the eyes and I’m wondering if I should just try and live with glasses until I’m done nursing. Or, maybe I should get a second opinion. Have you experienced this? What would you do? (Note: I do really like my eye doctor, but this situation has kind of made me question her. She just seems very quick to throw a new prescription at me and send me on my way. I have a couple hundred dollars worth of contacts that I can’t use and I’d really like to avoid ordering MORE contacts until I know that my prescription is stable.)
• That was perhaps the longest bullet ever.
• With that, I’m off to enjoy the weekend with my boys!
• UPDATED: one of Henry’s Internet Aunties has complained pointed out that there was not a baby photo in this post. Ask and ye shall receive, Nic. Please note the impressive rate at which my child is growing hair.

You had your first airplane trip this past month and were such a great traveler! You slept most of the time and only fussed a couple times (once during a diaper change in the airplane bathroom) while you were awake. A few of the other passengers told us that they didn’t even know there was a baby sitting near them.

You weren’t really sure what you thought of swimming, but you looked pretty darn cute in your swimsuit, sun hat and sunglasses.

Your little personality is starting to come out and it’s so much fun to see. You are a very easy going and smiley little guy, but you do not like loud noises and often look to Mama for reassurance when you hear something out of the norm. You think getting undressed is the funniest thing ever and laugh hysterically when we change your clothes or get you ready for your bath.

You still wear 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. We’re not sure how much you weigh, but we’ll find out at your 4-month checkup tomorrow. Mama is guessing it’s around 16 pounds.

Henry, you are officially the best thing ever and we are so happy you’re ours.

Love,

Mama

Pretend I'm wearing makeup.

• BY THE WAY: We have two rooms in our basement. The office, which flooded last month, and Bill’s man cave. WHICH FLOODED WHILE WE WERE AWAY. Obviously we need to look into putting our house onto stilts. (I don’t know if flooded is the right word for what happened in either instance. Basically, water got in and ruined drywall and flooring. Yuck) So, I guess we’ll have to deal with crappy naps for a while as there’s more work that needs to be done downstairs.
• And, with that. I am off to snooze with him.

But, then, three years ago I found “the one.” I was hired to help inspire travel to the state I love using the medium I love. I wrote blog posts and tweets and Facebook status updates about what makes Oregon so great. I helped to produce a weekly tv segment. Some days, I got to talk about food and wine all day long. I traveled to corners of the state I’d never been to before. And, I made so many great friends.

2011 was a very successful year for me. I helped to launch a very innovative campaign and then spoke on that campaign at an industry conference. I stood on a stage with my team as we were given a huge award at another industry conference. The work was stressful at times, but I loved it and I always planned to go back. In fact, I never thought for one minute that I’d ever want to be a stay at home mom.

But, on November 11th at 8:42 p.m., everything changed. My whole world changed. Each Friday, when Henry turned another week older, a little voice in the back of my head said, “One week closer to going back to work. One week closer to leaving your baby.” As the weeks went on, my anxiety about going back grew. Every time Bill and I would chat about childcare, I’d burst into tears. All along, he said it was my decision which was nice, but also frustrating. It would have been easier if he’d just made the choice for me.

When Henry was 12 weeks old, I met with my boss and told him that I couldn’t come back full-time, but would be interested in a part-time arrangement. Unfortunately, this just didn’t pan out. (Legally, my job status can’t be changed while I’m on maternity leave. While that stinks for my situation, I totally understand and am glad that there are laws like this in place.) And, after hours upon hours of conversations with Bill, lots of tears and some number crunching we decided that it just didn’t make sense for me to go back to work.

I feel truly blessed that staying home is even an option for me and I’m excited to be able to spend my days with my little guy. But, I’m sad to say goodbye to this job that I love so much and the creative and inspiring people that make it so great. I may look at picking up some contract or freelance work in the future, but for now staying at home with my baby is what feels right for me.