It’s the last day of April right now as I type this…it’s 10:45pm and still about 75 degrees outside.  All the windows are open and you can smell the remnants of a hot city day (92!) on the breeze floating in the house.   We even went out for ice cream after dinner because it was SO HOT.  Most people around here complain about this freakish weather but I LOVE it.  I love everything about it, though it does makes me terribly homesick.  One day like this and I’m instantly transported back to Bradley Street in Trumansburg…wandering around barefoot in the front yard before bedtime just looking at the stars and feeling the warm concrete sidewalks on my soles…still hot from the day.  Lets hope we get a few more of these days/nights so my kids can catch a glimpse of what that feels like.

Lots to report this month! I’ll start with Des…he got a haircut finally! And boy does he look handsome.  His brotherly love for Julian waned a bit this month but c’est la vie.  He’s also been having some issues with his best buddy Izzy at school…lots of physical outbursts between the two of them which has been hard to deal with.  One thing we notice consistently is if Des doesn’t cry enough, it comes out in other not-so-nice ways.  So the more I can get him to just let go and have a good cry, the better alllll our lives are.  Have we mentioned that he’s also majorly obsessed with Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ movement from the Four Seasons? We finally got him a little speaker and ipod for his room so he can fall asleep listening to it.  There certainly could be worse songs to be stuck with (Frozen???) so I’m not complaining…in fact it’s really wonderful to hear that song playing through the monitor at night.  Practically puts me to sleep too!

Julian made huge progress this month.  We’ve got a crawler folks…and a clapper…and a finger food eater….wow.  It’s crazy how fast this is all going! Stop! I want it to just halt for a bit so I can savor some of this sweet progress.  AND he’s got 6 teeth!!! So eating solids and finger foods has gotten to be kind of fun.  He’s still waking up in the middle of the night sometimes, but not to eat, usually just for a cuddle and then goes right back down to sleep.  Good boy baby Jules – keep it up!

Obviously the highlight of the month was our visits from Nonna and from Grandma Laurie and Grampa Charlie.  What a treat for Des to see them one right after the other! Nonna was here for Easter and that was a blast – we colored eggs, made a ton of food, went Easter Egg hunting with the Svajian’s in Novato, and did a lot of reading and cuddling.  Then my mom and Charlie came and there was lots of guitar playing, chocolate consumption, hiking in Marin, family dinners, and more reading and cuddling.  Justin was in New Orleans while my folks were here so I was extremely thankful for the extra hands and extra time to get work done! Of course now everyone is gone and we’re all feeling a bit sad, a bit off, and a bit homesick again.  Good thing our summer trip is only 12 weeks away!