Every time I've started to write a post lately, it's been all over the place. I have lots of things to talk about: my looming birthday, a life-changing wardrobe organizing trick I just learned, the most epic of Pinterest fails, the internal debate that's still raging on about running a half marathon in less than a month, FEELINGS GALORE.

I try really hard not to let this turn into a mama blog, but the only thing I seem to be able to talk about right now is my wee boy. So, even though it's not a birthday milestone for him, here's a little glimpse into the life of Eli Alexander as of late.

[+] Pete and I had our first night away from Eli on the weekend. I didn't post about it beforehand because hi, come rob our house! But we were gone for a couple days, and spent a night at a hotel while Eli stayed with my parents. 24 hours away from the wee guy was rough. Most of the time, I was thinking about what Eli was doing/praying he was sleeping and not going ballistic/texting for Eli updates. It was also awesome: we had massages, went out for dinner, enjoyed breakfast in our room, went to the gym, went swimming, had drinks, and slept in. By "slept in" I mean "woke up at 6:30 and tried to go back to sleep until 9:00 and then just got up because we were too excited to see Eli." One day I will sleep in again. Just not anytime soon.

[+] Eli and I went to play soccer after work yesterday. I had big visions of us merrily kicking a soccer ball back and forth. What I didn't realize was how fast he is - it's easy to underestimate those little legs. He kept running towards the jungle gym, which was full of "big kids" doing God knows what - I presume smoking weed or eating bath salts or whatever kids are doing these days - so we didn't stay long.

[+] I'm discovering some tricks to get Mr. Fussy to eat. One, he loves ketchup. Kid will eat anything dipped in ketchup. Two, applesauce. If he's not eating his veggies I stir them into some applesauce: boom, down the hatch.

[+] Eli has finally started giving kisses. I swoon every single time.

[+] He's sprouting eight teeth at the same time: four eye teeth and four molars.

[+] Today he was looking at his Star Wars ABC book, turned to the Darth Vader page, pointed at the big D, and said, "D!" I freaked out, and went all "MY BOY'S WICKED SMAAAHT". Then he proceeded to call all the letters D. Relax, crazy mother.

There you have it: a peek at the life of a 17-month-old. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming of feelings, Pinterest mashups, and lists of gifts I would like to receive soon enough.

Just putting this out there: I will probably never post anything other than a list of sorts on a Friday. By the end of the week, my brain is toast. Point form is the best I can do.

"I made granola" is a very Earth-mother, hippy-dippy, peace-and-love thing to say, and I relate to none of those things. I suck at separating my compost, I get road rage, and I don't want to share the land.

But I do love a little granola sprinkled on my yogurt, and I don't necessarily like it to be laden with fat, sugars and crazy chemicals.

Mixing it up.

Granola is so easy to make yourself, and so simple to modify to however you like it, there's not really any need to buy pre-packaged stuff from the cereal aisle. I was able to whip up some applesauce granola on Saturday using ingredients I already had on hand at home, with a few little adjustments to a recipe I found online, and it turned out great.

Here's a link to the recipe I used, and here it is with the modifications I made, just because I didn't have some of the stuff in the cupboard but I really, REALLY had a hankering for granola:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds) (I used almonds because that's what I had on hand) 
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (I used pumpkin seeds instead. Work with what you got, kids!) 
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds (I skipped this because I didn't have any) 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup raisins (I didn't have raisins so I used craisins instead - any dried fruit/berries would work well)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 300F.
• Mix together your dry ingredients, minus the raisins, in a large bowl. 
• In a small saucepan, warm the applesauce, honey, and oil over low heat. 
• Mix the applesauce mixture into the oat mixture and stir to coat everything. Spread the mixture onto a 9x13 baking pan. 
• Bake for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until granola is a deep brown. Remove from oven and stir in raisins. Let cool before eating! (I didn't)

Crunchy yums!

{take a vacation day} Maybe on my birthday, or maybe on a random Friday, I haven't booked it yet - but this girl is due for a day off for some R&R. I'm thinking a long gym session followed by an extra-huge latte and an hour or two to curl up with a good book. Might even sneak off to watch an afternoon matinee and eat popcorn for lunch before picking Eli up at the sitter at the end of the day. Perfection.

{get my hair done} Topknots every day for weeks and frequent games of "gray or blonde?" are getting old. My hair is out of control and it's time to rein it in.

{long runs on weekends} I'm not signed up for the Bluenose half yet, but am quietly trying to get ready for it and just see how training goes. I've been doing long-ish runs on weekends now that it's getting nicer. Last weekend I did about 8.25 miles which is my longest since last May. I'm trying to work my way up to 13+ without dying.

{start spring cleaning} I found this list on Pinterest (NATURALLY) and am going to break it down into more palatable chunks because this girl can't clean for eight straight hours. And let's be real, this list is from Oprah, and I'm pretty sure girlfriend doesn't do her own spring cleaning, so she's not exactly an authority on this topic. I did buy this Method cleaner and it smells delicious and makes me actually want to do chores. And just thinking about packing away my winter woolies makes me want to do cartwheels.

{do some fun stuff with Eli} There's a vague statement, but really, it's all weather dependent. But I hope to do lots of fun things with the kiddo: swimming, visiting the library, going to the playground, buying him some art supplies and letting him unleash his inner arteest.

{make some delicious goodies} I'm looking at you, you, and you.

Welcome, April. Let's get it on.

The Easter Bunny visited Eli on Friday night, since we were going to be away on Sunday morning. So on Saturday morning, Eli found his little early Easter surprises. A stuffed bunny, a couple rubber balls, a jar of bubble solution, three books, and a hollow chocolate rabbit that will probably last until he's 16. We The Bunny had hidden plastic eggs around the living room, so we handed him a basket and let him go to town hunting for eggs, dumping them out, putting them back in the basket, rinse and repeat, ALLMORNINGLONG.

This Easter was very much about spending time with family and friends. We went to a birthday party on Saturday with lots of kiddos for him to play with, and then on to visit both sets of grandparents, enjoying a big Easter dinner at both houses on Saturday night and Sunday. Eli got to play with his cousins, ride on a tractor, explore outside, and see some animals.

Last year, Eli's first Easter, we went a little overboard on the presents. I guess we thought Easter was the perfect opportunity to stock Eli up on everything he'd need for the entire spring and summer because our couch was covered, and I mean covered, with his "Easter basket". And we have a sectional couch. Too much.

Lesson learned: this year we went back to the basics and Eli still had a blast. He was so excited to find his little gifts and hunt for eggs, but mostly to get hugs from big people he doesn't get to see too often and play with small ones. There were no Easter DVD packs or Easter bicycles or Easter video games or Easter wardrobes, yet our poor, deprived little baby grinned from ear to ear all weekend.

It was the kind of holiday I hope to enjoy with Eli as he grows up. Less about the presents and more about spending time with the people he loves most. He's not going to remember the ball or the hat or the sidewalk chalk he got for any particular Easter, but I hope we can help him make holiday memories he won't forget. I hope he looks forward to holidays for good food, good company, and lots of laughs, not for some shiny new present.

Turkey coma on the drive home.