Yay! Weekend!

Well, the weekend is here.  I'm glad about it.  This week at work was long, mostly productive, a little odd and did I mention long?

Now it's time for the weekend.  It looks like it should be a good one too.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful.  We've got fun things planned.  I don't have to work, but get to spend all day with my boy.

The downside, Gak's fighting off a cold.

I'm trying to convince him that it doesn't really matter... I may succeed.

You see, this afternoon after Gak gets off work, we're supposed to go down to my parents' house.  We'll be spending the night there and then tomorrow morning heading down to Baltimore to visit my cousin.  Daniel, his son, just turned one this week!  Most of my California family will be out here this weekend.  My aunt Beverly and Uncle Richard, as they are Ben's parents and my cousin Rae and her wife Kami, who I haven't seen since their wedding.  (Oh, yeah, and since they live in CA, they made it official, not just a domestic partnership, on their 1-year anniversary.)  The only people missing from this little family get-together will be my brother and Becca.  I wish they'd be able to come out, but Jon's game has been pushed back 3 weeks and he's swamped.  (I hope to see him before Christmas time, but I'm doubting it at this rate.  I can't wait for both of them to meet Boo...)

Gak says if he's still feeling sick, he won't go.  I told him if this is anything like the cold I fought off a few weeks ago, by tomorrow morning he'll be doing much better, just some chest congestion.  I hope he believes me and decides to come.  He hasn't meet Daniel yet, as he couldn't make the bris because of work.  Even my dad is going!  (He said he'd go as long as he didn't have to drive... no problem, there's room for all 5 of us in the Durango...)

Anyhow, I've got to wrap this up and get the laundry together, hop in the shower and get the boy ready for the day.

Peace to all and have a great weekend!

Whirlwind Week

Well, this week is almost over.  It's been an interesting, somewhat stressful and a bit of a long one.  Both at work and at home.

At home We had some interesting moments.  Wednesday Gak had an appointment at the hospital.  For a colonoscopy.  So, I'm guessing you can imagine what Tuesday evening was like...  I felt for the guy, I truly did.  Don't worry, everything's OK, but there had been some issues that the doctors wanted checked out, and so the test.  Hopefully he won't have to have one of those for a very, very, very long time.

We also had the living room painted today.  The landlady finally got someone to fix the messed up wall by the window and the ceiling in the hall closet.  They painted today.

Boo is really loving to play with his balls more and more.  This morning it broke my heart to leave for work.  He had almost fallen asleep on my shoulder after nursing this morning, but woke up when I put him in his bed and was all smiles.  (Having to put down a sleeping boy is hard enough...)  I put him into his bouncy because Gak was still in the shower so I could finish getting ready.  Well, he's all giggles and smiles and playing with the toys hanging on his bouncy.  The look on his face clearly said "play with me Momma!".  But I couldn't.  I had to go into work.  There were things to do and people waiting for me.  It sucked.  It's tough to leave him when he's sleeping, knowing that he'll wake up and I'll be gone.  I'm sure the confusion about that is a lot less these days, but still, that thought hurts.  As tough as that is, it's about 100 times tougher to leave when he's awake and wants to play.  And in all honesty, I hope it never gets any easier.  That means the job wins.  The job is a means to an end... it's where I go to earn money to pay for everything we need so I can take care of my son and husband and play with them as much as possible.  My family is first, the job a very, very distant second or third.  (But I do like my job.... mostly....)

The picture at the top of this post is Boo and the special edition of Warhammer Online that Gak pre-ordered.  I think it weighs almost as much as Boo!  It had two hard covered books and a bunch of other stuff in it.  Yes, I've lost my dear husband to Warhammer.  I'm a little sad, and a little glad that he's enjoying this game.  (He's been in pre-order beta for a while now...)  I'm a little sad because he won't be playing with me in EQII.  A little cranky because he has time and energy to play and I have barely loged in since March or April some time.  Yes, I know, I could be playing now instead of typing this.  But by the time I get a little bit of snuggle and play time with Boo and him to bed, it's already almost 8:30 and I've got maybe an hour or so until I want to crash.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for everything I want to do.  So, something has to give and unfortunately, it's my friends on EQII that I don't get to see much of any more.

But, I'm also happy because he's got friends he's know for years that are also playing and it's something he enjoys.  I just wish I didn't feel so guilty about being grumpy that he's got time to play.  (I try not to take it out on him, but I doubt I succeed all that well... you'd have to ask him...)

Work has been a torturous time this week.  To some extent this picture sums up how I feel.  Somedays like the poor Dino Puppy who didn't make it out in time, or the Momma discovering the mess.  (No, that's not dino piddle... but boy drool.  I couldn't resist posing the dino that way...)   Monday I didn't get in until 1 because of Boo's doctor's appointment and the fact that I played hookie for about an hour or two after it to be with my son.  (Hey, I'd told work I'd be in by 1 and I was... besides, this way I was able to give Gak a ride in to work himself...)  I did manage to get some stuff accomplished.  Wednesday was definitely a chase myself in circles day, as I didn't get in until almost 2 due to Gak's appointment.  Today was a long day spent mucking about in code and not really understanding what I was doing.  Thankfully the original project engineer and I are friends and he was willing to lend me a hand (even though he's in software now...).  I also spent time chasing myself around in circles a bit while waiting on things.  I'm getting dizzy from it all!

I hope tomorrow goes well.  I've got at least one call I really, really should make.  I didn't get a chance to return this customer's call yesterday or today and they're getting antsy.  (Of course, it took them almost a week to get back to me in the first place.... and the issue itself has been open since first quarter I think and they haven't called about it since June... why it wasn't looked into then I won't go into... stupid staffing issues...)

Next week should be fun.  I've got one day totally dedicated to training as I've got more customers coming for another seminar on the software part of the regulatory changes that are all but here.  (This has been in the works for almost 5 or 6 years I think and some people still have no clue that this will affect them by April at the latest!)  Next Thursday is Gak's birthday and next Friday is our company picnic.  At least Boo is going with me.  I'm not 100% sure if Gak is or not, I have no idea if he's talked to his boss about it or not.  I hope he is, but if not, I'm at least taking the boy.

Well, I'm going to wrap this up, get a glass of milk, take my vitamin and curl up with my book for a few and get out of the paint fumes before bed.

Peace to all and may your weeks not feel like a whirlwind.

Happy Baby Checkup

"Look Momma!  A ball!"  This picture was from play time before going to his doctor's appointment.  See, he woke up happy!  (This, of course, makes Momma happy.)

Well, boo had his "3-month" checkup yesterday.  I say it that way, because he's really 3.5 months, or 15 weeks for those still counting in weeks.  )We ended up slipping off by about 2 weeks because of the HepB immunization.)

We finally met the other doctor in the practice.  He's been a pediatrician in the area for a very long time.  (The other mother in the waiting room went to him as an infant herself!)  He's going to be retiring in a few years, but we love the other doctor in the practice, so that's OK.  He's really nice and was very thorough with Boo.  His assessment, as is mine, is that Sunday was just a bad day and that maybe there was something different in my diet, but who knows.  He doesn't have any teeth coming in that we can tell.  No swollen bumps or hard spots on his gums.  And trust me, I've felt all of his gums... a lot.....

We had taken his oball with us to the doctor's office.  As always he quite enjoyed playing with it.  Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy about giving it up to get undressed to get weighed and measured.  I had to pry it out of his little hands.  (He did get it back almost right away, but he didn't want it then...)  He's up to 15 lb even (or that's our best guess as he was kicking hard and it was hard to get a good reading on the scale) and 24.5 inches.  He's still in the 50-75% range and looking great!

The doctor's appointment went well and everyone is happy with how he looks and how he's growing.  He did receive a shot (Polio) and an oral vaccine (can't remember off the top of my head...).  He was a bit fussy, but no where near as bad as last time when he got 3 (!) shots.

He did very well for GrammaSue.  He fought the nap monster long and valiantly in the morning, making me fear he was going to be cranky all day for GrammaSue.  Nope, he was mostly happy baby.  Boo did have some cranky times and two very, very short naps.  I was just glad when I came home that he hadn't run GrammaSue ragged with fussing all day.  He did eat a bit more than normal, so maybe he's heading into a growth spurt.

Last night when I picked Gak up at work, his former co-worker from GameStop gave us a big trash bag filled with baby clothes!  (His son just turned one.)  We got pants, and shirts and some cute things too.  Some things he may never wear, as they're 9-12 month sized shorts.  But most things are really pretty cute and he'll get good use out of.  He now has another 2 or 3 pair of jeans and a couple of other pairs of pants.  He got a lot more short-sleeved onsies and a couple of long sleeved.  We may need to buy more shirts at some point, but I'm not buying anything else right now unless it's way too cute to pass up.

We also did our Dragon Draft in the Magic league.  I ended up with the Two-headed dragon and the Dragon Whelp.  Both are pretty playable and relatively easy to get out.  I hate the fact that they're foil cards.  (I really don't like foils... they're hard to see, hard to read and curl.)  We'll see if I ever get them in my hand and ever manage to get them into play and if they help.  I'm down about 10 or 12 cards from the start.  Not too bad overall.  I don't think I'm the loosing-est player in the league, but I'm no where near the winning-est either.  Oh well.  That's fine.  So long as I have enough land in the right colors, I'm happy to play.

Well, it's just about time for me to wake up Boo so I can feed him and head to work.

Peace to all and may there be giggles in your life.

Moo

Subtitle: Boo has a cranky day.

Boo had a cranky day today.  But why does this make the title of this post "Moo"?  Well, the only thing that kept him happy was to eat.  Which he did just about every 1.5-2 hours.  From 7:30 this morning until 8:00 tonight.  I lost count of how many times he nursed or how many wet diapers he had.  (But no dirty diapers.... this could be part of the cranky problem.)

I guess it really started yesterday evening when I was putting him to bed.  He almost fell asleep nursing, so I snuggled him a minute or two and then put him to bed like always.  No change to the routine.  No change to anything that I know of.  

Well, he immediately woke up and was so not happy about the situation.  I let him fuss for a few minutes, then went in and rubbed his belly a minute until he settled down and the eyes began to close again.  I said good night to him again and went back out to the computer.  Only to have him start fussing again.  I give it another 3-5 minutes.  Nope, getting louder, not softer.  After about 3 repeats of this, I get out the swaddler blanket and wrap him up in it.  He fights me tooth and nail.  Well, gums and nail.... but you get the picture.  Anyhow, he settles and is able to go to sleep.

He woke up this morning at about 7:30 or so and was smiling and happy and well rested.  My fears of him waking up every 2 hours all last night were unfounded.  Much to my relief.

After his breakfast, Gak and I got ready for the day and we went out to breakfast at the dinner.  (We don't mind going there now because everything is smoke free... it was pretty nasty in there some days...)  After breakfast we did a quick grocery run.  Right when we were getting to the car, Boo starts melting down.  No problem, we're on our way home anyhow.

We get home, he's settled down and isn't fussing at the moment, but I feed him anyhow.  He falls asleep during "second breakfast" and I snuggle him for a bit.  I miss this during the week, so I get as much as I can in on weekends.  After about 15 minutes I need to get up, and right as I do, he wakes up.  So much for a nap.

It doesn't matter too much, he's my happy little guy again.  Well, about an hour or so latter he gets fussy again.  I change his diaper, again.  (This may also be part of the problem, I decided to try a pack of Loves because he's almost out of size 1 and didn't want to spend a lot on a pack he may not use up.  If I have to change him every 2 hours or less, it won't save me any money to switch...)  Still fussy.  I feed him again and he falls asleep.  This time I'm able to get him into his bed for a few (about 20 minutes max).  I also take a nap, or try to.  (Mind you, I think this is the right time line, it's all a little fuzzy with all the fussing.)

Anyhow, after fussing off and on and feeding lots and lots, he finally takes another nap.  Just in time for the very late lunch or very, very early dinner I made to be ready.  When Boo wakes up, after a few moments we decide he's happy enough that we were going to take Chris up on his offer to go over and play Magic.  Right as we get there, Boo gets fussy.  Yep, he's hungry again.  Luckily I brought two bottles with me.  (Luckily I had two in the fridge.)  He scarfs it down and is happy.  Or at least happier.  While Gak is feeding Boo, I play a game against Scott and Chris.  I manage to almost pull the game off, but I just couldn't get ahead of Scott's life gain.  Oh well.

Gak then plays against Chris while I play with Boo and talk with Dianne.  That was a very good, and long, game.  Chris manages to win that one from behind because of a few lucky draws.

I hand Boo off to Gak and Boo declares he is hungry... again....  (Mind you, I have no idea how much time has passed, I don't quite remember what time it was when we got there...)  So, Gak feeds Boo and I loose to Chris.  After eating, Boo is still quite fussy.  Gak manages to get him to fall asleep lying across his lap.  I wish I'd had my camera.  It was just too cute.  His head tilted to one side and his one arm dangling between Gak's legs.  Priceless.  Anyhow, I pull off a win in a second game against Chris.  We then decide that for the best, we'd better head home.  (Scott had gone home after Gak's game with Chris.)

Boo wakes up when we get him in his seat and is calm on the ride home.  That doesn't last long though.  So, I take him and feed him yet again.  He's a bit better.  Of course, now when he's getting cranky, he's getting quite a bit louder.  I know a good part of it has to do with the fact that he hasn't slept.  It isn't like we haven't tried, he just won't give in to a nap or stay asleep more than 30 minutes at most today.  Well, by now it's 7:00.  I swaddle him up and walk and bounce him for a bit.  Gak relieves me for a bit, unwraps him to check his bottom at one point and tries to get him to calm.  He is successful for a few moments.  By now it's 7:40 so I declare it bed time.  I get his wrap all ready (it really is too small, I wasn't planning on it, but it looks like I'll have to invest in one or two of the bigger size, in fleece or something warm for winter...), get him into his PJ's as he screams and feed him yet again.  (See, I told you today was a "Moo" day.)  He almost falls asleep eating.  I manage to get him into bed and wrapped up.  (Well, almost wrapped, I left one arm out because he was sucking his thumb/fist.  This is a new trick today...)  He's quiet and so I'm assuming he's asleep.  I'll check on him after I'm done with this.

So, today was a good enough day, but I'm exhausted.  He's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll see if they have any ideas of what the problem might have been.  No, he doesn't have a fever, a rash, vomiting or anything else that might indicate an illness.  When he's not screaming, he's my happy fun little boy.  We got to play a bit and he just loves that Oball Linda got him.  I just don't know what's going on in that little head of his, and I'm not sure he does either.  Oh well.  I hope he's better tomorrow for GrammaSue!

Peace to all and may there be peace and happiness in your lives.

Raspberries and Other Sundries

It's the little things in life that make it so wonderful.  My son has achieved a major milestone in his life.  He can now blow raspberries.  He started it sometime yesterday.  I was holding him on my lap while we were at Gak's work and all of a sudden I hear this cute little "ppbbttht!".  I blink and quickly ask Gak if he'd heard him do that before.  The answer was no.

He then started doing it and giggling for almost a half hour straight!  I couldn't help but giggle with him.  It was so cute.

He's also playing with toys now.  Before the last week or so he'd occasionally grab a toy that interested him, but he'd never really "played" with his toys.  He now grabs his "dino puppy" and grabs for his elephants on the bouncy chair and as you can see from the picture, play with his ball.  This is a wonderful toy that our friend Linda from TN sent us.  She sent us that little ball (her grandson who's about 12 weeks older than Boo loves his) and a dragon that is the same colors.  I think Boo is going to love the ball about as much as little Drew does.

The rest of the week at work wrapped up well.  I've noticed that I've stopped posting quite so much since I've been back.  I think part of it is because I'm not home all day with Boo, so I don't directly have as much to say about how he's doing.  (This is very, very sad to me, but a fact of modern life it seems...)  I think part of it is, I'm actually more tired now than I was when I was home with a newborn.  I also think that I just don't want to talk about work, and that's where I am the most these days.

Anyhow, I'll try and keep you updated.

This weekend is looking pretty low key.  We went up to the shopping area near the good movie theater this evening.  We didn't buy a thing, other than having dinner at Red Robbin.  I should have picked up another pair of jeans, but I was really looking for navy pants.  My one pair decided to fall apart this week.  Oh well.  I still have my khakis and black pants.  They'll have to do for now.  It's a good thing I get to wear jeans most days.

Well, this weekend would be low key, except my dad tried to give my mom a heart attack by falling down the stairs.  He's OK.  He only needed four stitches in a cut on his elbow.  He's going to be majorly black and blue and stiff tomorrow, but he's mostly just a little shaken up but OK overall.  Mom, on the other hand, is much more shaken up.  She's been worrying a lot about dad recently, so finding him at the bottom of the stairs was quite a shock to the system.  She'll be OK, she just needed to talk to someone a bit about it.

Well, I think I've updated on everything that is going on.  If not, I'm sure I'll say something about it next time.

Peace to all and "ppbbbbttththt"

Life's Little Miricales

There are some times, like this morning, when I look at my son and I just can't believe it.  I can't believe that this entire human being has been made by my body.  Well, almost, I did get some help from his daddy after all...

I mean, from a single cell all the way to the almost 15 lb squirming happy baby that he is, it has all come from me.  He spent 9 months in my womb growing and becoming a baby.  That in and of itself is amazing right there.  That one tiny little cell with information from two people could grow into a brand new human being.  But what's even more amazing in my eyes, is that even since then, every single cell has come from me.  He's been 100% momma-fed since day one.

Amazing.

It truly is amazing what you can do in a year.  Yes, it was just about a year ago, give or take a week, that the Boo's journey began.  (Although, he'd been in our hearts and dreams for quite a bit longer...)

(Yes, this is a picture from last week, I only have a few from the weekend and haven't downloaded them yet...)

I think Boo may be right handed.  (Since I'm a lefty and Gak's a righty... it was a toss up as to which way he'd go, or if he'd be a lucky ambi.)  He's using his right hand more and more for more things, while his left is mostly ignored.  Sure, he uses it, but usually to get things closer to the right, or to assist the right.  No, he's not passing things from hand to hand yet.  I don't expect that until after he can sit up by himself, which is a good ways off.  Anyhow, that was just a random small thought thrown in for good measure.

Work continues to go.  I think it's going well this week, but I'm not sure.  There are lots of things I just can't get to because I'm too busy running around in circles doing other things.  I taught for the first time since May yesterday and it went very well.  It was a brand new seminar, and other than a few technical difficulties in the beginning, everything went smoothly.  I get to do it again tomorrow and then on the 23rd and 30th as well.  I'm fairly happy with it, seeing as though it didn't exist at all four weeks ago.  (Well, there were a few things and a bunch of ideas, but there was a ton to put together in the last few weeks.)

We will see.

I still would much, much rather be home with Boo than here at work.  Well, maybe a couple of hours a day would be nice.  But overall, this working thing is way over rated.  

I do have hope for the company.  The reorganization that's been forced by everyone leaving seems to be a good thing overall.  Sure, we lost a ton of knowledge and some good people.  Some, I'd want back in a heart beat, some, I wouldn't take back on a dare.  But, I think we've got a great leader in place in the business and he's working his butt off to get us back to where we need to be.  I honestly think everyone, both coworkers and customers, are happy with this guy and interested in seeing where things go from here.

But, speaking of work, I guess I'd better get back to it.

Peace to all and may the small, and not so small, things in your life amaze you.

Huh?

I just looked at the clock and couldn't believe it was 1 already!  I've spent the entire morning chasing myself in circles.  I was dealing with a whiny sales guy, trying to track down a contact for a site to arrange training, sorting out all kinds of give away things and... well... I know there were other things as well.

I'm not enjoying it.

I may thrive on this kind of stress from time to time, but that doesn't mean I like it.  As a matter of fact, I really don't like it at all.  It just makes me feel even more disorganized and chaotic than usual.  I may be able to "pull it off" quite well, but I always feel this could be so much smoother, if only I could figure out how.  Sure, it would be smoother if I had some help.  Sure, if I only had to pay attention to this aspect it should go smoother.  Yes, my organizational skills in general need a bit of a boost now and again (just look at my desk... or wait... better not....).  Oh well.  Another fun filled week is here and hopefully it'll be better than last.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get some service work done this afternoon, or Friday, or maybe even Wednesday around getting ready for the next training session.

This weekend was a nice low-key event.  Other than rain, rain (and did I mention rain?) on Saturday.  I'm not sure Boo was too fond of it.  We did laundry in the morning and it was so hot and so sticky.  He (literally) melted down right near the end of folding, so I just scooped all of his laundry into the basket and retreated to the air conditioning.

It was pouring like crazy when we went to pick up Gak at work.  I'm not sure wearing my rain jacket was any help.  Oh well.  We did a "divide and conquer" at the grocery store.  We hadn't done real grocery shopping in several weeks.  That was expensive.

The rest of that day and most of Sunday we really didn't go anywhere.  Boo was having a bit of a clingy, don't-put-me-down weekend.  I didn't mind a whole lot, but he really did need to nap.  I managed to get him to take two 30-minute naps yesterday and about the same on Saturday with maybe a few 5-minute snoozes thrown in each day for good measure.  I mean, I'm thrilled that he sleeps through the night, but he really, really, really needs to take at least three 45 minute naps in the day or he gets quite cranky and melts down completely by 8pm.  Even when he gets his naps he's quite happy to go to bed around 8.  Oh well, this too shall pass.  (And then I'm sure there'll be something else that we'll need to work on... like eating... or picking up toys, oh, wait, Momma and Daddy have problems with that one still.....)

Anyhow, I guess I'd better wrap this up and get back to work.  I've been "kicked out" of the office I was using to pump.  There are no other open offices in the building.  The bathroom isn't acceptable, as there's no where to sit other than the toilet and that has no lid.  I've got to figure something out, and the business leader wanted nothing to do with the thought. (Not like I wanted to talk to him about it in the first place....)  Oh well, adaptability and flexibility... that's what you need to be a mom.  (Or anyone really... it lowers the stress level a lot....)

Back to the grind for me.

Peace to all and may your work be easy and your weekends enjoyable.

Grumps and Giggles

Well, we're almost through the week. It's been a long one. Partially due to the dregs of my cold, partially due to all the crap I'm dealing with at work.

My former boss didn't do his job and now I'm paying for it... or should I say trying not to. I understand 100% where the business leader is coming from. But it still stinks. Since my job description wasn't changed because my former boss never bothered to get approval (I doubt he even asked...) the current business leader is trying to get me to travel.

For an entire week.

To Phoenix.

I can't do it and I won't do it. (It's not that I don't want to go to Phoenix, Abi's there now after all....) There is no way I can travel for an entire week without switching Boo to formula and the only person who has the right to even suggest that is his doctor, and they won't. The only reason I'd even consider it is if he wasn't gaining weight like he should or something along those lines.

Anyhow, I think the new manager of the department is going to go to bat for me... at least a bit. I know he doesn't understand the whole reason for my not traveling, as he doesn't have kids himself. It doesn't matter if he understands, it just matters that he listens and takes my case to the leader.

I did get everything taken care of for next week. I still have a mountain of other training things to get out from underneath, but I'm working on it.

I'm trying not to give myself an ulcer over it all. I've got way more important things to worry about, like my boy. He really does make everything all right when I go pick him up. He just has to only slightly smile at me and my heart melts all over again.

We had a very good evening again. He laughed and played and talked. He even sat and listened well through all of Cinder again. It's one of the longest books he has, but almost the only one he'll sit through. I'm not complaining, it's a fun book with great pictures.

Gak surprised me with something when we got home this evening. He'd been taking pictures and used my camera to capture a 30 second clip of Boo actually reaching for the elephants that hang off his bouncy seat. It melted my heart. He's actually started grabbing for things. He even tried to put a rattle-ring he'd grabbed from me into his mouth. He wasn't doing that just a few days ago. My boy is growing by leaps and bounds.

Well, I'm off to bed. It's going to be another long day tomorrow, but it's the last in the work week. I can't wait. We don't have anything planned for the weekend other than staying dry. I like it that way.

Peace to all and may you have wonderful moments with those you love.

Try Again?

Are you sure it wasn't a Monday. It sure as anything felt like one.

Yes, it was the first day of the work week for me. That doesn't mean it had to be so bad.

It all started this morning and it didn't get much better as the day went on.

I'd noticed the other day that Boo's nails were getting a bit long. When I went to wake him this morning, I'd noticed he'd scratched himself quite well in the night. Well, guess that means I can't ignore them any longer. So, I give him his vitamins, change his diaper and....

Promptly cut his finger with the clippers.

I never knew such a little cut could bleed to much. I think it took a good half hour for him to calm down. There was blood everywhere. All over my robe. All over his head and in his hair (he'd grabbed his ear...) All over his other hand and his shirt (white of course...). It literally scarred the poop right out of him too. I just couldn't do anything right after that with him this morning. (Therefore I kept him in his clean diaper and told Gak he had to get him dressed today...)

I manage to convince myself he won't hate me and get to work only about 10 minutes late. The first thing I had to deal with were some stupid sales people who have no idea how long it actually takes to do things and travel between points try and cram 4 days of training and 3 or 4 days worth of travel into one 5-day week. Isn't going to happen. It wouldn't happen when it was me traveling and I'm sure as anything not going to make anyone else do it unless you give me a very, very good reason, and $6000.00 isn't a good enough reason.

Of course, while I'm in the middle of this, someone calls and asks about a ticket I've been assigned and haven't even looked at. (I never did call the guy back today... oh well, he'll forgive me, he used to work for us....)

I then try and get the rest of the training manual that I need for next week done. Yes, it's my own damn fault I didn't get it done last week. I tried like crazy to get it done today but I kept getting interrupted by stupid things or kicked off the computer or other things. I have to get it done tomorrow. My printer doesn't even know I have a new book for her, let alone that I'll need about 10 or more copies by next Tuesday, 12 two weeks after that and probably another 6-10 the week after that. (Hey, at least I don't have to travel anywhere and it's making us money...)

We had a meeting with the new manager. I think it went well, but only time will tell. I'm not holding my breath, but it's not as hopeless as if we had someone who has no clue about the business and is a "corporate guy" coming in. (Don't get me wrong, there are some people from corporate who are very competent and can and are willing to learn... but most of them... well... they've been a waste of space.)

The evening was just a little off. I blame most of it on the dregs of this cold. It's no longer really a head cold, but has moved into my chest. This is standard for me. Hopefully, if all goes like normal, this will clear up by the end of the week and just be a bad memory. Hopefully.

As you can see, we did get a picture of Boo and his dragon tonight. He wasn't cooperating well and I didn't have the patience to try and work with him. This is the best we'll get this month. I'll try and get a better one next month.

Exciting times are happening this month. The 18th (I think...) is my cousin's son's 1st birthday. We're getting together with the family on the 21st. It'll be great. His family is from CA and both my aunt and uncle and his sister and her wife will be out. I haven't seen them in so long. I really do enjoy my family. Then on the 25th it's Gak's birthday. The 26th is my company picnic and, hopefully, both Gak and Boo will be joining me. Boo will be at any rate, even if Gak has to work.

Well, I'm tired. I need to go to bed to get this day behind me.

Peace to all and may things go your way.

D.C. Adventures

Well, traveling with Boo is a success! I won't say that it was all fun and games and was easy as cake, but overall, it was a great trip.

Amazingly enough, the only thing I actually forgot was the Snotling Grabber. Luckily, we didn't need it. I also only packed one burp cloth, but that wasn't too bad.

Ok. Let's take this from the top shall we?

Sunday morning I ran around a bit disorganized (due partially to not having a clear list in my head of what needed to be done, which was somewhat caused by my cold...) getting ready to go. Everyone managed to get cleaned up, packed up and fed. We were on the road a little earlier than I had originally planned, but that's OK. Extra time is always good when traveling, especially with a little guy.

Boo was asleep before we even hit the Turnpike. He did great for the first half of the drive. We stopped at the second rest stop in Maryland. (I can never remember if it's Chesapeake or Maryland House...) Gak and I got a bite to eat and something to drink. We all went potty (or had our diaper changed for the 3-month-old crowd). Boo had a very long meal in the car and then we got going again.

Boo got a little fussy about the last 45 minutes of our drive to Aunt Michelle's in Reston, VA. Poor Gak spent a good potion of that time with his arm being pulled out of it's socket with his finger in Boo's mouth. (He didn't want the bink...) So, out of about 4 or so hours travel time, 45 minutes of slightly fussy isn't bad at all.

Aunt Michelle was sooo glad to see us. We hadn't had a chance to talk to her much, let alone see her, since the party back in July. I'm really going to miss her once she gets posted outside the country. (That shouldn't be until the first of the year... but... she's got a lot of training and travel before then...) We used to get together almost every month or two. Oh well, she's got a great job now and I'm sure we'll get together as often as we can. And just like I said with Abi, thank all that is good in the universe for "free" long distance on cell phones and email!

After a brief bit of fiddling around the house trying to figure out what we wanted to do, we decide on going to the dinner for lunch and then to ride the Metro into D.C. and visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (one of my favorites...)

Lunch was uneventful. Boo enjoyed his first Metro ride. Well, other than having to have a major blowout diaper changed. Not only did his diaper have to get changed on the Metro, but his whole outfit. I'm glad I'd remembered to make sure there was one in the diaper bag, not just his overnight bag! (This is why if you look at the pictures on Flickr, half are in his overalls and half are in a white and blue onsie...)

We spent a good long time in the Museum of Natural History. First off, I love the fact that the Smithsonian stop on the Metro lets you off on the Mall right in front of this museum practically! Boo had a bottle while we were there, napped for a little bit while we looked at some of the dinosaurs and had a nice feed while Gak and Aunt Michelle were looking through the gift shops. Boo is getting much better about eating somewhere other than the rocker and not from a bottle. I honestly don't care. Unless you came right up to us and looked, there was nothing to see and you probably couldn't even really tell what was going on unless you thought about it. I mean, sure, it's hard not to flash the world before he gets settled, but that's all of about 5 seconds at most and, who cares? I'm too busy trying to get him to settle to care who's staring at me. (Besides, I was on a bench in a side hallway...)

We spent almost all afternoon in the museum. We did take a few pictures on the Mall, just to prove that we were in D.C. There was a nice breeze and the setting sun lit up the flags around the Washington Monument beautifully. This isn't a great picture, but it will do and you can actually see the flags!

We were going to go to Leedo's for dinner, but by the time we got back on the Metro (all the way out to the west end of the Orange line...) and back to Reston, it was past Boo's bed time and he was letting us know how unhappy he was about that. We went home instead. We were going to order for pick up, but it was too late. Oops. We had frozen pizza instead, which was fine. Boo had another snack and fell asleep in the pack-n-play with no problems. Of course, I was smart enough to bring the swaddle blanket he'd been using all week and "dino puppy" and his dragon blankie. He was so tired by the end of the day, I'm sure he would have fallen asleep anywhere slightly dark and calm.

He slept through the night and woke up around 7 or so this morning. I never realized it, but he moves around quite a bit in his sleep. He's just as restless a sleeper as his daddy and I are. He's doomed. (I never realized this I don't think because since we've been home from the hospital, he's always slept in his bed, which is just far enough away I don't hear his every move...)

This morning was a slow morning. We fiddled around the house a bit. I fed Boo sitting up in bed. I never get to do that at home because we have a water bed and it just doesn't work well. It was really nice actually. I pumped a bottle and a half for the day. (He only ate off one side and I had to pump....) Can you believe my little baby boy is 3 months old today?!?! I have problems with it myself! (No, I didn't get a picture of him on his dragon, he was way too fussy when we got home tonight. I'll take one tomorrow.)

We kept today pretty low key. We went to breakfast (and over ate). We went to Target to exchange an outfit Michelle bought Boo (I'd picked up the exact same one!). We went to the book store. We got Boo this really neat book about a bubble blowing dragon. Michelle and I picked it up to look at because it was on the bargain stack. Boo listened and looked intently through the whole thing! How could we not buy that one?

We left Michelle's around 1pm. We did not take 95 back home. Instead we went up 15. It took a good bit longer, but was a much nicer drive in many ways. That and we weren't going to have to deal with beach traffic. We stopped outside of Fredrick, MD. We then didn't stop until we were almost home. We stopped at Cabella's and wandered around there for a bit. We found Gak three shirts! Not only were they 3X, but they were 3X tall! We also had dinner at Cracker Barrel. Such good food. Such cheep prices. (Our snack in the museum was almost as much as our dinner at Cracker Barrel!)

Anyhow, we made it home just about 8pm. Just as Boo was demanding it be bed time. (He ate very well on the road when we stopped and slept well too. I couldn't imagine him being tired enough for bed after sleeping so much in the car, but I guess he is...)

I really don't want to go in to work tomorrow, but I've got to. (It should be interesting... we've got a department meeting tomorrow afternoon...) I hope everyone had as good a weekend.

Peace to all and may there be fun adventures in your lives!