Feelin' the Love

Tuesday, between one thing and another, Curtis didn't get home until 8pm, by which time Thomas had been asleep for an hour. Curtis kept circling the crib, being just a little bit noisy, and wanting to wake that baby up. After his shower, he decided that it really was too late to wake Thomas up just to play for a little while and then try to get him to go back to bed. It surprised me how much he seemed to miss the baby.

Next evening, Curtis comes home from work at the normal time and Thomas immediately crawls across the room to him and stands up with his hands on Curtis's knees. He gazed up at Curtis with a huge baby grin and started playing the head shake game. All three of us were laughing as Thomas and Curtis alternated shaking their heads at each other.

Good Visit with my Folks

My parents were here for a week and had a great time spoiling their grandbaby. Thomas enjoyed the constant attention. Though, after they left for the airport, he had to take three long naps (even one in the middle of breakfast) because he was so tuckered out.

Curtis was gone for most of their visit between work, football conditioning, and tutoring. Saturday was his (28th) birthday and his parents sent him (and his dad) to Fontana, CA for the weekend to watch the Nascar races. Unfortunately, it rained much of the time, but they had enough fun that they're already planning to do it again in August.

My folks and I mostly stayed close to home, but we did go to Mission San Fernando and the L.A. Zoo as well as some church events (mmm, church food).

Yesterday was strangely quiet after they left. I did four loads of laundry, spruced up the apartment, and turned the guest room back into a den. It's sort of nice to get back to the regular routine, but it was also kind of lonely after having people around all day.

My Parents Come Tomorrow!!!!

Yay! So excited. Must run errands, do laundry, and clean kitchen.

Ruthann Marie Sucks Her Thumb

22 Weeks

Belly's getting rounder.

Valentine's Day

My attempts to reset Thomas's biological clock are finally seeing some results. Last night, he went to bed with little fuss shortly before 7pm. That meant Curtis and I could continue watching I, Claudius a BBC mini-series about the Roman Empire starting in the time of Caesar Augustus. We had some Trader Joe's yummies and my nose continued to imitate a faucet. That was our exciting Valentine's Day. Thomas on the other hand, was sent a small box of chocolates and got a balloon. I enjoyed the chocolates on his behalf.

Baby Mojo

Thomas must have had his cute on today. During 20 min at grocery store, three different people had to come up and tell me how cute/precious/etc he is. Now if only he could be persuaded to let me take a nap. The winds have kicked up and kicked off a bout of hayfever. Happy Valentine's Day, pass the Kleenex.

Possibly the World's Dumbest Cat

I got a baby gate for the kitchen. Thomas doesn't mind it, but Beckham is completely confused. Even after showing it that it could (easily) jump over the gate, the cat yowled for me to come and rescue it.

Shiny kitty eyes

Thomas says "I see you!"

"Let me in!", "Let meow-t!"

Experiments on Baby

This week, we've initiated a series of experiments to see if we can shift Thomas's schedule to something more convenient for us. While the rule around here was "Let sleeping babies lie," I've started waking Thomas at different times in the morning to see what that does to his bedtime. The goal is to get him to go to sleep at least an hour before we do, so we can watch at least part of a movie in the evening. As it stands, he goes to bed just before we do, and I sleep until he gets up.

What Me Nap?

I'd rather jump on the bed.

Having Kids Makes You Boring

Remember in high school when you thought your parents were the most boring people in the world? And how they got more interesting as you got older after leaving home? Turns out that it's not that you were gaining a mature outlook, it's that it was you who was making them boring.

A job candidate at Curtis's school asked what people did for fun. He had no clue.

Neither of us expected that having kids would change things so much. There's quite a lot of things that we can do and take Thomas along. But we have to work around his feeding/sleeping schedule, otherwise he's just unpleasant to be around. So we eat at restaurants with the "Early Bird" senior citizens and try to go out either mid-morning or early afternoon (not much crazy fun to be had at 10am).

So, sorry Mom and Dad for being such a drag for 18 years, and for all your childless folks, "Enjoy your evenings while you can."

Teeth

Somehow, without me noticing, Thomas cut two more teeth. In my defense, they are on the top, which is hard for me to see, since I'm somewhat taller than he is and usually looking down at him.

Mardi Gras

* Today is Mardi Gras, party like you'll be fasting tomorrow. I'm making a special Trader Joe's treat run (thanks Mom for the gift card!)
* Today is also Super Tuesday. Get yerself edjamacated and vote.
* Tomorrow's Ash Wednesday. Not actually a holy day of obligation, but people like it 'cause they're giving away free stuff (even if it's just dirt).
* Thomas got his first two pairs of shoes over the weekend. Stylin'
* My Lenten penance is to eat more, whether I feel like it or not, and whether Thomas objects or not. Also, no TV.
* The juice of 1/4 of a lemon, a spoonful of honey, and some hot water makes a delicious cough tonic. Stupid cough.