For being a short month, February felt very long.

The first day of the month was a huge day. We were supposed to have temps above 30° (which counts as warm these days) and sun! Of course, “warm” weather is accompanied by strong wind, and therefore big wind chill. But we needed to get out of the house. We drove out to the coast, where the wind would be even stronger. We are not smart.

OR ARE WE? The waves were blasting the channel marker and lighthouse in Frankfort and it was absolutely mesmerizing. The sun kept the car nice and warm so we sat there for a while, just enjoying it.

We had a small hike planned, and on our way out to the trailhead we did a little exploring and found a nice overlook of the harbor entrance, and therefore even more pictures of waves!

Then on to our hike! In the summer, this is a paved, wheelchair/stroller accessible trail. In the winter…not so much. But it was the perfect hike for us today.

When we got to the Lake Michigan overlook, there was another group of people around, and they were excited to see us out and about with a baby this small. They kindly took a family photo for us!

Unbeknownst to me, Kyle had prepped us fancy coffees in our travel mugs for the drive home. We perfectly timed naps for the drive out and the drive home, so as a practice travel day, things went really well. I was on cloud nine, it felt so good to get out of the house and bask in the sunshine. An absolutely perfect day.

But it wasn’t over yet! We weren’t the only ones energized by a day out. We were enjoying a happy hour at home after our excursion and Atlas was getting frustrated playing on the floor, until he finally managed to roll over! He was SO proud of himself.

Speaking of the kiddo, he tried his first solid foods this month. Sweet potatoes mainly went into his mouth and right back out, but he’s actually been eating bananas. It’s fun and messy!

He also discovered his toes this month. That’s not really a big deal, but the picture is adorable so here you go.

In less fun Atlas news, he had a couple nights of absolutely zero sleep. As a household, the sleep deprivation was becoming a health and safety issue. I had no idea what we were going to do. We figured out that he was just too warm in his new sleep sack, but not before hitting rock bottom mental health-wise. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Sleep has not been awesome since then either. We’re getting lots of wakeups all night, and we’ve had to do some sleeping in shifts again in order to make sure everyone is getting enough rest (okay, mostly me. Kyle does okay with less sleep, but when I’m not well-rested, the whole household suffers). We sort of entered the 4-month sleep regression and just never left it. It’s probably time to start taking sleep hygiene more seriously, I’m getting tired of being tired.

A friend of mine hyped up a beer that was on tap at a local merchant, and we had just discovered that we still own a growler, so we took advantage! We’ve tried a couple fancier beers this winter, in lieu of actually going to breweries.

We had a weekend with nicer weather again and we hoped to get outside and enjoy it. Unfortunately, this one did not go as well. We drove out to the coast again but the wind was gusting to 40mph. Kyle opened the back hatch on our car and we could feel the whole car start to lift when the wind gusted. And the harbor really blocked all the waves, so there wasn’t a spectacular splashy show to watch here either. It was nice to get out of the house, but not a particularly successful trip. Oh well, they can’t all be winners!

This is pretty much all we do though. We spent the early part of the month on full lockdown due to the omicron spike, trying to get outside whenever the weather wasn’t too terrible, and as cases eased, we started being more social again too. But for the most part we spend all day every day at home, and get outside when we can. Winter is the worst.

This baby is starting to mobilize. I put him in the middle of the blanket and he now wiggles away. No crawling yet, but we have to keep a closer eye on him these days!

So, that’s February. In a lot of ways it was a rough month. However, COVID cases are now the lowest they’ve been in Atlas’ entire life and we’re really hopeful about traveling to a warmer place where we can take this baby outside every day. He seems to be getting pretty bored with his current routine, and I swear that’s not just me projecting my own feelings on him. We could all use a break from these four walls!