Summer in the Light, Winter in the Shade

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens writes "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.".  He MUST have been writing about Virginia!  I'm sure of it!  (pictures of proof to follow)

I am 16 weeks pregnant today.  The time seems to by flying by and I can hardly believe that in just a few weeks, I will be half way there!  I had a dr. appointment early this morning and heard a beautiful and strong heartbeat.  I'm feeling MUCH better these days though I am VERY easily tired and I am NOT sleeping well.  Those people who always say "sleep now before the baby comes" just do NOT know what they're talking about.  Sleep?  What is sleep?!!! (yawn)  We find out the gender (hopefully) on April 19th...one day before we start the week and a half long invasion of the Harris family!  :)

15 weeks and counting

Yep!  You read correctly.  My sister has been looking for a time to visit and was finally able to find a weekend that would work.  Of course, aside from Holy Week, it just happens to be our busiest weekend in the spring but never mind.  :)  She is coming the weekend of our James River Singers concert and will actually get to attend one of the concerts...which absolutely thrills me!!!  And then she leaves Tuesday afternoon....only for my mom to arrive the following day...and then my dad will join her and us that Friday (God bless my family for being willing to take red eye flights).  If you can't tell, I am more than a little excited about 2 visits from my family!  We all are excited!

Jeffery dissolves into fits of glee and laughter if he even so much as hears my parents' voices these days.  And he is starting to point to their pictures and say "Oma" (German for Grandma) and "Papa" for Grandpa.  He even said "Oma" once while talking to my mom on the phone...and she heard it too!  :)  He somehow knows when I am talking to either them or Dave because he immediately becomes insistent that I put the phone on Speaker phone so he can hear them and "talk" to them.  I just wish we could all understand what he is saying.  ;) He is becoming such a little boy....it is insane.  As I've said before, he doesn't walk anywhere....he RUNS.  And even his run is full to the brim with joy and wonder.

Keeping an eye on daddy

Of course he found a stick

This past Saturday, we spent the morning at the Botanical Gardens....Dave and Jeffery's favorite place in the city.  Jeffery ran everywhere, climbed up steps, did accidental somersaults down the hill while chasing after Dave, helped sweep, played in the sandbox, and just had a grand time.

Up he goes...with no help

He's the king of the world!  :)

My beautiful blue-grey eyed boy

Right before he somersaulted down the hill

Brooms are just BIG sticks!  LOVE!

He heard a train whistle and stopped everything

Loves the sandbox

You can see in the pictures above that Saturday was relatively a beautiful day.  Warm in the sun, sunny...rather spring-like.  By Sunday afternoon, it was as if we were back in January.  The sleet came first....we were expecting sleet.  We were NOT expecting snow until today....and there wasn't supposed to be any accumulation.  SURPRISE!  The snow started around 4pm on Sunday afternoon and by 7pm, the Weather Channel had changed their forecast to say that we should expect 3-5 inches of accumulation with 1-2 more inches today.  So much for advanced notice!  :)  It was March 24th.  It IS spring!  What is going on?!!!!!

Snow.....

More snow.....

No, that isn't cotton covering our rose bush.  That is snow!  :(

 But....I do have to admit (since we kept our power)...that it was rather pretty.

A spring/winter wonderland

But I would give almost anything I have to be in the picture below right now.  That is the island of St. Lucia (on my bucket list to visit...I am kind of obsessed with going there at some point).  Look how beautiful and sunny and warm it looks!  A close second would be Arizona with spring training games and the smell of orange blossoms in the air.  But I am even having vivid dreams at night (thanks pregnancy) of St. Lucia!  For now....I am just going to have to visit in my dreams.  What with the pregnancy and Uncle Sam taking our hard earned money (and lots of it...GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!)...vacations anywhere will have to be the thing of dreams.  

So here is a little prayer that Spring finally arrives, that the wind blows warm, that the sun shines, that April showers bring about May flowers, and that winter and inches of snow are now far behind us.  Amen.