Settling In

The mountain of boxes is growing progressively smaller, but you still have to think skinny thoughts to navigate the living room. I like this places kitchen a lot already though. I'm putting stuff away and can't remember what's in this one cabinet. I pull it open and it's EMPTY! To have an empty cabinet this late in the game is huge. This may be the first time that all (or nearly all) of our kitchen stuff is actually in the kitchen. My goal is to get totally unpacked in time to throw myself a birthday party in two weeks.

It's almost back to school time. Curtis has been in meetings most of this week. Thomas and I got to go to the new faculty welcome picnic. It was in the backyard of one of the administrators and was catered (steak and shrimp). The crowd was younger than the last school and seemed pretty nice.

Das Internet!!!!!!

The cable guy just left and we, at last, have internet. Hmm, last post was 20 days ago and the last substantial one was when we got back from our road trip. So . . .

July 29-August 3 - Lots of packing. Thomas has his 4-month pediatrician visit: 16 lb 6 oz, 24 3/4 in, met all milestones except that he wasn't reaching for objects yet. The pediatrician was also very surprised that he could roll from his back to his front, since front-to-back is easier.

August 4-7 - Head to Fresno. We couldn't stand another minute in our apartment, so we drove up to Fresno and went to a Grizzlies (minor league baseball team, AAA) game. They were giving out free "backpacks" and I won an autographed ball. It was autographed by the Giants backup catcher Eliezer Alfonso.

When Curtis's mom heard that Thomas wasn't reaching for things yet, she decided that he needed something better to reach for. The result was like Christmas come early. She got him this awesome jumperoo. He loves dancing in it. She also got him a selection of rattles and toys to play with.

August 8 - San Francisco. Tuesday night, Lisafromlab calls to ask if I can come to Becca's bachelorette party tomorrow night. Hey, why not. Wednesday afternoon, Curtis and I and the baby drive 3 hrs to Lisa's. Curtis hangs out with Thomas at Lisa's and I go out to Asia SF, "where the women are strong, but the men are very pretty." After a few hours of fun, the three of us head back to Fresno. This is insane, but we've got big plans the next day.

August 9 - L. A. We get in around 3 am, but the baby wakes up about 7. We get ready and drive to L.A. to look for a place to live. Problem is, NO ONE answers their phone. I had called and left messages the previous day and we called and left messages that morning, but the only person who answered the phone either day was Jim. So we went to look at Jim's apartment and it was ok. No patio, but in our price range and 2 BD. Without any other options, we take it, and drive back to Fresno.

August 10 - Party! We spend the day straitening up Curtis's parents' house and buying groceries for a party his folks were throwing. Curtis's uncle made some mean mango-tinis and the steaks flowed freely.

August 11-13 - Carmel Valley and back. Drove to Becca's wedding. The location was beautiful and the bride's dress was gorgeous. I thought that she looked like a bride from the 1940's. After the wedding, we had planned to drive up to the Bay area to see Svan's parents' new house, but we had finally run out of steam. Curtis wasn't feeling well and was exhausted. We went back to Fresno, and slept in the next morning. On Sunday, I took two naps and the baby had a 6 hour nap in addition to sleeping through the night both Saturday and Sunday night. I guess we really were exhausted. On Monday, Curtis and I had our annual eye exams.

August 14-17 - Moving. Tuesday, the 14th, Curtis, me, Thomas, Curtis's dad, and the cat drive to Vegas. The car was just a wee bit crowded with all of us and all of the baby's new toys.

The next day was SPA DAY! Curtis had gotten me a $200 spa certificate at Teacher Appreciation Day that I wanted to use before we moved. I went to the Qua Spas at Caesars Palace. It was absolutely fantastic. I'd never been to a spa before. They had lockers, robes, fruit, juices, a small gym, and pools and saunas of different temperatures. And that was just the stuff that was free with any treatment. I used my certificate to get a one hour "Signature Experience" where they design a series of treatments for you. I had a Swedish massage, foot exfoliation, and a facial. Fantastic! Curtis and his dad watched the baby and took him to a buffet and out to a movie.

On the 16th, we picked up the 26-foot truck and also picked up Willowlaughter from the airport. She flew in to help us move and to wrangle that baby. We worked on loading the truck and doing the last minute packing. The 17th was officially Moving Day. We got a later start than we had planned. WL and I stayed behind to do the final cleaning and didn't leave Vegas until 8:30pm.

WE'RE HERE! Since then, we've been working on unpacking and waiting for the gas man, new cooktop, and cable guy. But, at last, everything is ready (except the unpacking) and it's starting to feel like home. It's tough to believe that next week Curtis will have orientation and we'll celebrate our fifth anniversary. Now I'm going to test our upload speed by sending a whole bunch of pictures to our Flickr page.

Our new address is 20336 Cohasset St. #5, Winnetka, CA 91306.

Stupidest reason for insomnia ever

Currently I'm up at almost two in the morning and can't sleep. Why? Because for the first time in over a week my back doesn't hurt.

Nothing like the absence of pain to keep you awake.

Westward Ho!

NOTE: Pictures will come later

Day 20 - Baltimore, MD to Indianapolis, IN. 590 miles. Estimated time - 9 1/2 hrs. Actual time - 12 hrs.

Thomas had been pretty fussy the day before, but was very good on the drive. We spent the night with Curtis's high-school girlfriend, Colleen, and her family.

Day 21 - Indianapolis, IN to St Louis, MO. 244 miles. Estimated time - 4 hours. Actual time - 4 1/2 hours.

Colleen rearranged her schedule to have the morning off so we got to explore Indi a bit with her. We went to a creamery and had a wonderful lunch of milk, yogurt, and ice cream at the bar. Then we went to the art museum, which was much nicer than I expected. They had an exhibit of Bellini and devotional art that was nice. The museum was also free, which is my favorite price.

In St. Louis, we were going to meet up with my sister boxedcookies and her boyfriend Craig. But they weren't coming up until she got off work, so we went over to Ted Drewes. Their frozen custard concretes are a St. Louis institution and were even on Alton Brown's road food show. My sister's working for a hotel chain now and used her employee discount to get two rooms in downtown St. Louis. (They live about 2 hrs south of St. Louis.) I had never stayed in a suite before. Boy-o got to sleep in the living room and it was the first time he'd ever not been in our room. The hotel also had free hot breakfast and afternoon cocktails. My sister also presented us with our own copy of the new Harry Potter book.

Day 22 - St. Louis

We went to Mass at the new cathedral (built 1907). It has gorgeous mosaics. Then, we did the Anheuser-Busch tour. We'd been to two other Budweiser factories, but this one was special. It's actually really pretty. There are intricate wrought-iron railings, stained-glass windows, and chandeliers all over. Boxedcookies and Craig took us to a microbrewery that they liked called Schlafly. Oddly, it was the same kind of beer that willowlaughter had had in the fridge in Baltimore. The tour wasn't much since the girl didn't know much about beer, but we enjoyed the free samples. They also had a surprisingly good restaurant that served venison and buffalo. We were going to go to the art museum, but it was closed, so we just went back to the hotel for cocktails. I never thought I'd ever go out drinking with my sister. For dinner, we went down to the historic Laclede's Landing district and had fun pushing the stroller up steep hills and across cobblestones. Thomas thought the world was ending. We wanted something cheap, so I got to add another Old Spaghetti Factory to my list. (We'd also gone to one in Louisville, KY.)

Day 23 - St. Louis, MO to Cole Camp, MO

In the morning we stopped at an awesome Catholic supply store that happens to be across the street from Ted Drewes. We needed to pick up the cat from my parent's house so we decided to just spend the night instead of having someone bring the cat up to I-70. My mom didn't seem to mind that her only grandson was coming back. We set up the tent in the backyard with with air mattress, which is the best way to camp. The baby slept in his portacrib in Renee's room, which was very weird for me. She brought him out to us when she had to leave in the morning.

Day 24 - Cole Camp, MO to Kansas City, MO.

In the morning, we had breakfast with my grandma and my dad who had just gotten off the midnight shift. Then we picked up the cat, and headed off again. We were staying with Becca who's getting married next month. Her fiance was out of town, but she was watching his son, Ryan (age 6.) The four of us went to a Royals game with more of Becca's family. I hadn't been to Royals Stadium for at least 15 years. Thomas didn't care about the game at all, but Ryan had fun sampling all the concession offerings. The game itself was terrible. The first inning lasted an hour. The Yankees sent up 9 batters, the Royals, only 3. It was like watching Yankee batting practice. It was getting late and the kiddos were tired, so we left at the top of the 5th. Derek Jeter was already 3 for 4 for the night and the score was something like 9 to 1.

Day 25 - Kansas City, MO to Golden, CO.

A long, long drive, but the baby was pretty good. He only wanted to eat every 3 hours and seemed to start fussing shortly before rest areas. Curtis thought that he was doing better in the car because he was older. It sounds strange because we haven't been on the road that long, but the trip does represent a quarter of Thomas's life.

Day 26 - Golden, CO

Sam had to leave at O'dark hundred for a business trip and Matt had to work, so Curtis and I got to amuse ourselves for the day. After we got back from their wedding, we'd been horrified to learn that New Belgium Brewing was practically walking distance from the airport that we'd flown in and out of. It was better going now, though, since I couldn't have sampled anything then. They're famous for their Fat Tire Ale, but all their beers are good. We sampled one the best beers we'd ever had there. It was called La Folie and was a brown ale that had been barrel aged for 1-2 years. The oak from the barrel had given the ale an amazing taste. It was certainly a let down to go from there to the Coors plant in Golden. It was a pretty good tour, though and it was the first time we'd ever seen a malthouse. Coors is alone among big breweries in malting its own barley.
We had been warned that parking at Coors Field for Rockies games was really expensive. Sam told us about a cheaper lot nearby. When we got close, we saw the sign for the cheaper lot, but couldn't get over in time. We ended up turning into the expensive, official lot. We got a pass to let us out and as we were driving back to the cheaper lot, we scored a major coup. FREE PARKING!! There was an open spot in front of an apartment building. Curtis parallel-parked the Explorer with about 18 in of extra space. The Rockies were playing the Dodgers, but it was just an ok game. When it started raining halfway through the game and I saw lightening (we were in the upper seats), we decided it was time to go. The rain lightened as we walked to the car and then came down harder. When we got back to the apartment, Sam was back from Kansas and pjdf was on his way over. He's still galavanting around the country climbing rocks and seems to be completely recovered from his last blog post.

Day 27 - Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig
We went to Sam's Club to get gas and took a look at their bourbon selection. Now we can tell what company makes what based on the town listed. Anyway, their prices were better than at the distillery. Of course, you can't get everything. Then we hit the road and didn't get home until midnight Pacific time. Thomas had a wailing/screaming fit around 9pm Mountain time, but once he finally went to sleep, he stayed asleep the rest of the trip.

It's weird being back. We'd forgotten what the place looked like (a mess) and there were a disturbing number of cockroaches (uuuugh). We're really looking forward to moving. The plan is to do a blitzkrieg pack and then hightail it to Fresno (because we've barely touched Curtis's side of the family.) Still don't know where we're moving too, but hopefully something good will show up on Craigslist this week.

Eastward Ho!

Day 1 - Las Vegas, NV to Golden, CO. 743 miles. Estimated time - 10 1/2 hrs. Actual time - ~16 hrs

I think the actual time versus the time Google Maps thought the drive should take says it all. Thomas decided to have a "bad day." There were many stops to feed baby or comfort baby and with exits few and far between, there was much wailing whenever he wanted out of his carseat, while we tried to find a place to stop. We got to Sam & Matt's after 11pm, exhausted and hungry.

Driving through Utah

Day 2 - Golden, CO to Cole Camp, MO. 728 miles. Estimated time - 10 1/2 hrs. Actual time - Didn't make it.

The plan had been to get a nice early start, but with another long driving day ahead of us, we needed some sleep. The child who had hardly napped the previous day didn't sleep any better at night, so I was up every couple of hours with him. I was in no condition to drive, so thankfully, Curtis was able to sleep in and was reasonably well rested. We dropped Sam off at the airport and realized that given how much time yesterday's drive had taken, we were looking at a 3 or 4 am arrival in Cole Camp. That seemed suicidal, so we called up Lisa and asked about crashing with her parents in Kansas City. It was quickly set up in exchange for plenty of baby-holding. Thomas slept for several hours in the beginning of the drive, but it was still around 10pm before we got to KC.
Lisa's mom, Nancy

Day 3 - Kansas City, MO to Cole Camp, MO. 118 miles. Estimated time - 2 hrs. Actual time - 4 hrs.

I realize that I haven't mentioned the cat yet. That's because Beckham is the best traveler of any of us. It would either lie on my lap, the back seat, or on a baby blanket thrown over some luggage in the way back. After the first couple stops, it decided that the car was much better than outside and didn't even want to get out. We had its litter box on the floor behind the driver's seat and its food and water on the other side. If only Thomas traveled half as well as Beckham. In any case, we arrived at my parent's house to much rejoicing. We spent the next two days lounging with my folks and visiting all my grandparents.
Thomas enjoys meeting his great-grandpa

Day 6

We took my dad and visited 5 Missouri wineries. Missouri grows some lesser-known grape varieties like Foch, Vidal, Chambourcin, and Seyval. It is possible to get some interesting flavors from these grapes if the wine is made well, but we found very little wine that was made well. Missourians apparently like their wine sweet. Very sweet. Sugar does not always cover up flaws in the wine, however. Another common addition was fruit flavoring and lots of it. All that said, it was interesting and we found a wine made from apples instead of grapes that I really liked.

Day 7

The entire Ives clan gathered for my cousin's wedding. It's the first wedding that Curtis and I have gone to that didn't generate a good story. It was a nice, traditional ceremony and a simple reception in the church's basement. We saw more of my relatives and enjoyed sandwiches and cake. No one did anything crazy and nothing fell apart. It wasn't boring, it was just . . . nice. Strange.

Day 8 - Cole Camp, MO to Shepherdsville, KY. 493 miles. Estimated time - 8 hrs. Actual time - 11 1/2 hrs.

Now we had gotten the hang of operating on Baby Standard Time (BST) and counting on adding 50% extra time to the map estimates. We were going to camp in Kentucky and I had already made a reservation and paid for the site. The camp office closed at 10pm, but we should have enough time to go to church with my family and have lunch out before we left. The drive went pretty well. We were able to take most of our baby stops at rest areas before he was too upset. Curtis was happy to see the Gateway Arch as we drove through St. Louis.

We arrived at the campground at 10 minutes to 10. Curtis had to set our tent up in the dark. Perhaps we should have at least taken it out of the box before we left. We were camping in comfort. Our new tent was large enough to hold Thomas's portacrib as well as our queen size aerobed, which we inflated using an inverter from the car cigarette lighter. It was extremely humid and fairly hot when we went to sleep, but I woke up at 3am freezing. We hadn't brought blankets, so I threw Curtis's shirt over Thomas (who stayed asleep the whole time) and huddled against Curtis (who only woke up from me shaking the bed). Hmm, so maybe I was the only one who was cold.

Day 9 - Kentucky Bourbon

We toured the Jim Beam and Maker's Mark distilleries. At Maker's Mark, we got to stick our hands in the vats of fermenting grain and taste it. It was fabulous. Jim Beam had the oldest still in the U.S. and also the smallest one. We visited the Four Roses distillery, but they were on summer shutdown, so we just saw a video, but we got to taste their bourbon. It's only recently been reintroduced in the U.S. after being sold exclusively overseas, mostly in Japan. Now you can only get it in KY and in NYC. We went to Wild Turkey, but missed the last tour, so we watched their video and hung out in the gift shop. It was a fabulous day. We decided that we wanted to visit another two distilleries before going to Baltimore. We camped next to the more western of the two at a state park, which was only $12 instead of the $36.75 we paid at the K.O.A. That price difference becomes important for the next part of the story.
I can't believe they let us do this

Day 10 - Bardstown, KY to Baltimore, MD. 600 miles. Estimated time - 9 1/2 hours. Actual time - I don't even want to think about it.

The alarm is set for 7 am. At 6:20, a parade of riding lawnmowers drives down the sidewalk that runs through the center of the tent area. Thanks a lot guys. At 6:30, the engine starts on one of the heavy equipment parked next to our tent. I had never figured on construction crews getting such an early start. We get up and the backhoe begins moving mulch. One of the guys comes up and warns us that he's going to be making quite a bit of dust and noise. He felt bad about waking us, so he brought us breakfast. McMuffins, OJ, and coffee. We had a nice chat and then our new friend Joe fired up his giant, remote-controlled chipper/shreader and got to work on some trees. We couldn't be too annoyed at the whole thing since they only charged $12 and we got breakfast out of it.
I love the smell of mulch in the morning

Since we were up, we got to the first distillery, Heaven Hill, before they opened. Only we had thought they opened at 9, but no, not till 10. Since we had over an hour to wait, we went into town and visited the proto-cathedral. A very nice old lady gave us a tour and told us all kinds of stories. We went back to Heaven Hill and watched their film (these films were great opportunities to nurse the baby), looked at their museum, walked through the warehouse, and had a tasting. Turns out that they make Evan Walker, Ancient Age, and almost every other bourbon we had heard of. It was at Heaven Hill where there was the big fire a few years ago that burned down 7 of their warehouses and their distillery. Rather than rebuild, they bought a distillery in another town.

We then went to the Buffalo Trace distillery. While they make bourbon under many labels that we had seen before, their flagship brand is only sold in KY and a few other eastern states. After that, it was already in the afternoon. I said we could find another campground, but Curtis wanted to push on and see how far we could get. Baby went to sleep, I fell asleep, but the Energizer Curtis just kept going. We arrived in Baltimore at 4:30 am.

Days 11-18 - Chillin' with the Godparents
We've had a great time with Willowlaughter and jonathan. We've done a lot of sleeping and just hanging out, playing video games and talking. Curtis read the first 6 Harry Potter books for the first time. We also went to D.C. and saw the National Zoo and the basilica there. In Baltimore, we went to the aquarium, an Orioles game, and a Mass in Latin at the basilica here. We also spent an afternoon in Philadelphia and had dinner with Curtis's sister in Princeton. Princeton, NJ was our point furthest east. Tomorrow (Day 20) we go west with stops planned in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Golden.
Thomas loved Philly. Here he is asleep in front of Independence Hall and asleep in front of the Liberty Bell.

And We're Off!!!

Four weeks, three-month old baby, two fools, and one orange cat in an SUV.

Sounds like an adventure.

Will try to post updates as often as I can. Some planned highlights: lots of friends, lots of family, a wedding, Bourbon County, New Belgium Brewing, the Royals, barbeque

Our Favorite Games

His two favorite games rolled into one. "Baby stand up" and "The baby in the mirror"

Some Happenings

Sorry for not posting, the camera batteries had died.

1) The big news around here is that it seems as though Thomas has learned how to sleep through the night. He goes to sleep after his 9 or 10pm feeding and wakes up between 5:30 and 7am. It's pretty amazing, though it means that Curtis and I have to relearn how to go to bed at a decent hour ourselves.


2) I have a new favorite buffet. Todai's is a chain that has all-you-can-eat sushi and seafood. It's kind of expensive, but worth it if you love sushi. Curtis had to try one of every roll and nigiri they had. I wanted to, but my stomach gave out long before the rolls did. Oh, yeah, Curtis eats rice now. He can now say that he is a true omnivore and eats everything. It is a little strange now that he makes the rice and I make the beans (I used to hate beans.)

3) Charles, Preston, and Katie stopped by to see us while they were in town. It's hard cooking a nice meal for others when it's too hot to have the oven on and you don't have a grill. The added challenge was that we were very low on food since we've been trying to use everything up in anticipation of our vacation and the move. We had pot roast (crock pot), baked potatoes (microwave), and glazed carrots (stovetop). We also went out with them a couple of times.

Big Baby

It's amazing how fast he is growing. Here he is in his bathtub at 10 weeks compared to his first bath at three weeks.

George and Norma

Went out to dinner at Spago (Wolfgang Puck's restaurant) with Charles's parents while they were in town. Thomas was in his public persona. We were sitting next to the server station and Thomas sat in his stroller and flirted with the wait staff all through dinner. We walked around Ceasers Palace with Norma for a while until he got hungry and fussy. We went up to their room for me to feed him. Boy are the rooms there nice. It had a flat screen tv, a minibar, and an enormous, gorgeous bathroom.

The Heat is On

There's just something about hearing a weather forecast that ends with the line ". . . and cooling to 104 on Sunday."

Smiling at Swan

School's Out for the Summer

Right now, it is blissfully quiet here. Curtis took Thomas to go and submit the grades. After this, we are free, free, free until sometime near the end of August. We've already got plans to be out of Vegas (and its heat) for most of the summer and visit friends and family. This month, we need to go to L.A. and find a place to live. July will be a 4 week trip to Missouri and Baltimore. And in August, we're going to northern CA and Washington. It'll be lots of fun, though I keep hoping that gas prices will drop soon.

In other news, Thomas is happily settled in his crib. It's the same crib that I slept in as a baby. He took to it right away (mercifully). However, with all the years of education between the two of us, it still took us way too long to put the crib together. I think we made every possible mistake. We tried to put the springs in upsidedown, then figured out that the side was also upsidedown. We were also trying to do this in a narrow space in our hot bedroom. But after some choice words and a lot of sweat, it came together. He looks so tiny in the crib after nearly filling his bassinet.

Two Month Checkup

Thomas turned two months old on Friday and to celebrate, he got his next round of vaccinations. One liquid by mouth and three shots in the legs. He was an unhappy fellow Friday evening when he seemed sore and fussy. The drugs also made his diapers powerfully stinky for a couple of days afterwards.

The pediatrician said that he is thriving. Now Curtis and I don't know much about babies, but as we look around at others, Thomas seems, well, big. The doctor showed me the growth curves. Thomas is 90th percentile in weight, below average in length, with a slightly above average head circumference. At this stage, this is good and healthy, but after he's six months old and starts getting taller, then they'll evaluate whether he might be overweight.

He is now 22 1/2 inches long and weighs 13 lbs 10 oz. He has outgrown his newborn/justborn sized clothes and is wearing the 3M (M=month) size. He's getting pretty big for his bassinet and we will be putting the crib together this week. I hope it's not too difficult a transition into the crib.

Does he know how cute he is?

Curtis and I often wonder at what point Thomas will be smarter than Beckham (who is one of the world's dumber cats). Beckham seems to be self-aware. It knows what is part of its body and what isn't (though it does sometimes miss its tail and wash the footstool instead). Thomas does not seem to realize that his arms and legs belong to him. Or perhaps he does and just can't control them. How do you tell the difference? Does he know who the Baby in the Mirror is? Is he trying to look cute?

Movie Rental Review

We've had Netflix for several years. When Blockbuster came out with a competing service a few years ago, we did the free trial and were very disappointed. So we weren't expecting much when Blockbuster started its big media push for its Blockbuster Total Access. It's the same price as Netflix, and at least in Vegas, has the same turnaround time for movies. They've improved the user interface and now have a comparable selection to Netflix. The big plus is that you can return your movies to any Blockbuster store and get a store rental as well as another movies sent from you queue. This essentially doubles your movies, though the store rentals are subject to the same rental periods and late fees as usual. After the free month, we've suspended our Netflix account and gone with Blockbuster.

It's really brought home for me how much Netflix has revolutionized video rental. Going to a Blockbuster store is a huge disappointment after online rentals. Renting online gives you your choice of 10,000+ movies. You also get recommendations based on what you've like in the past. The movies are cross-referenced into several categories and you can search by actor, director, producer, etc. The store has only a couple hundred movies, mostly new releases. The movies are display alphabetically by title in only action, drama, horror, comedy, and family categories. There are tiny displays of anime, television, and foreign. It's terrible for browsing. We end up just renting "something" when we return our movies. It's really hard to find something you like unless you've selected it beforehand and it came out fairly recently. I now remember why we never rented movies before we got Netflix.

Life After Six Weeks

The baby books are right, six weeks is the magic number. Life has been much better this past week since Thomas reached that magic number. No, he's not sleeping through the night. But he has become somewhat predictable. He gets up at 5:30 every morning and will usually go to sleep after a feeding between 9 and 10pm. During the day, a good working a assumption is that he will want to eat every two hours (at the odd hours). I've been able to go to church and to the gym every day that I want to by feeding him before I leave and being gone less than two hours, in order to feed him when I get back.

He's also smiling more and cooing, which makes him much more pleasant to interact with. Now there seems to be some intelligence in his eyes, instead of a blank gaze. He's supposed to start being able to laugh soon, making him even more fun to play with.

Ok, so maybe I need to do some clutter control. . .

Baby's First Gym Membership

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was fabulous. I scored free pancake breakfast after church then came home and took a nap while Curtis amused Thomas. In the afternoon, Curtis and Thomas stayed home and I went out and ran some errands. I had to stop myself from going to deal with the carseat and then it hit me; it was only the 2nd time in the last six weeks that I've been alone. Just having some time by myself was a great gift, but Curtis also got me a certificate for a spa treatment at Qua Baths and Spa at Caesars Palace. I can't wait to go.

Our gift for our Mom's is this picture of their grandson's smile. I'm also posting a bunch of photos from last weekend on the Flickr page.