Smiles

One of the great things about living in Houston is that we have beautiful weather all year round. However, our summers are intensely hot. I grew up in western Pennsylvania, where winter was long, snowy, and cold. On those first beautiful days of spring, everyone wanted to be outside, enjoying the great weather. In Houston, this happens in the fall after a long, hot summer. After 4-5 months of high heat and humidity, a cold front will come through, usually in October, and bring with it beautiful, crisp, clear days that bring everyone outdoors to enjoy. This cold front came through on Sunday morning with rain showers. By early afternoon, it had cleared up to about 80 degrees, dry and sunny.

The perfect weather made me excited to get outside to try out our new jogging stroller for the first time. Dave strapped Audrey and Andrew into their seats and off we went through the neighborhood. I planned to walk for about 15 minutes to see how they did, but it went so well that we ended up staying out for over an hour and walking about 2.5 miles. They both seemed to really enjoy it, as did I, and we will do it again very soon now that we should have perfect weather for the next several months. Also, I would like to try running with the stroller, as it is very smooth and easy to push.

The highlight of my week last week was that both Andrew and Audrey started smiling at us. Andrew has a slow, shy smile and it takes some coaxing to get him to show it to you. Audrey has a big wide happy grin and shows it pretty freely. It is so much fun to watch both of them developing side by side but doing it at their own individual paces and in their own ways. Both of them are fairly easygoing and happy babies who are relaxed about most things we throw at them.

This week I am looking forward to going back to work. I have been so thankful for the opportunity to have paid time off to care for Audrey and Andrew and get them through the early infant stage with loving parents and grandparents around them. However, now that they have smoothly transitioned to attending day care, I am mentally ready to get back to my job. I look forward to putting my brain back to work on technical and commercial topics, and, when the time is right, to begin traveling again. It will be a challenge to learn how to successfully balance a family and a career and it is a challenge that I look forward to undertaking, as both are important to me.

Here are some pictures from this week: