afternoon at the zoo

I have been extremely busy lately. After starting my own law practice a year and a half ago, I've really felt like I hit my stride in the last six months, which is an awesome feeling. However, the flip side of that awesome feeling is that I have been working really, really hard.

Bear and I have settled into a fairly predictable schedule in the last few months, and as long as I don't have court appearances, meetings, or depositions, I usually stay home with him in the mornings and work during his nap, and then take him to school in the afternoons. I don't think there's such a thing as an ideal childcare situation, but ours is a pretty good balance. Most of the time, it works really well -- I have a good chunk of time with him every day, but I also have a decent stretch of uninterrupted work time.

But last week, I just started to feel like I wasn't getting quite enough time with him. He was taking long morning naps and I was working on a number of big projects, and I just started to really miss him. My job is really important to me and I wouldn't trade what I'm doing now for anything, but I had a day that I almost cried when I dropped him off at school for the afternoon. I know lots of moms feel this way -- they're proud of their careers, but no matter how much you love your job, it's hard to leave your baby with someone else every day. There's no way around that. It's just hard.

So this week, I finally made it past a few big deadlines, and when two of my mom friends suggested a trip to the zoo, I jumped at the chance to have a special afternoon with our baby boy. We live about a mile from the Houston Zoo, but Bear hasn't really been old enough to understand it until now, so this was our first visit.

And we had so much fun. He loved watching all the people, looking into the aquarium ("Hooray for Fish" is one of his favorite books!), and of course, getting to ride the carousel. And I loved getting an extra afternoon with our son, watching him experience something new.

As Bear gets older, I want to make this a tradition: every once in a while, we'll take a few hours off from school and work, and do something fun. Whether it's exploring museums or picnics in the park or just staying home and baking cookies, those memories are ones that I'll cherish forever. It feels like he's growing up so fast -- for the past few months, every day brings some new development or change.

So, that shot above? It's the first of many stolen afternoons, and the start of some amazing times together.