Cutting teeth

We knew they were coming...he has been drooling for months. They were not here this morning. But by 5 pm they had peeked there way through the gums. How did I discover the change you ask. Well lets just say his teeth are sharp...this may me a deal breaker for the breastfeeding Dude.

The haps

I have had my nose to the books for the last few weeks, with Rob breathing down my neck to study. He of course left town for a weekend with his buddies which makes studying a little difficult. Seeing as I had to entertain the dude. Rob left the morning Floyd decided to puke his Sweet potato and apple breakfast all over with me. Rob was just waiting for me to drop the hammer and put the brakes on his boys-weekend, but I let him go. I did my best to study with Floyd in one arm, holding him at arms length from my desk so he did not pound on the computer keyboard. We went on a 30 mile bike ride together- he did great in the trailer. And we took a walk to see "Little-big-Joe-Cooley." This is their 8 month photo. They are both 9 months old now. 

FAILED

FAILED

I got a letter in the mail about one year ago that said that. FAILED - in big black bold letters. I had failed my physics board exams. It was shocking. It sounds cliche, but I had never really failed anything before. Sure there have been let downs in the passed, but never something so absolute as failure. Rob insisted it was a mistake. I was devastated, I cried the whole night. I awoke the next morning and decided that no one had to know. It would be my own silent plight. Upon arriving to work, I learned quickly that I was not alone in this shortcoming. Though sad for the others, I was glad I wasn't alone. 

It is this failure and the knowledge that I had to retake the test again this September that has been haunting me all year. It was this failure that made it necessary for me to leave my son for the first time since he was born. On the 5th, I left for Davis, California for an intensive physics review coarse at the U of California:Davis.  It was a difficult trip for many reasons, not the least of which was leaving home without my boy. Not to mention the anxiety that comes with being bombarded with detailed and extensive information that I have to understand thoroughly by september 8th. 

Rob and FLoyd survived with much help from my mom and Paul. Floyd even had to have a sleepover at grammies house because was Rob was on call over night. I left 4 pages of instructions with checklists to make sure nothing was left to chance.  

I don't want to do any of it again, failing, leaving, physics......

Sun Valley '08'

We made it back to Sun Valley after a one year hiatus-thanks to Floyd. We arrived thursday night to our sweet digs. What is it about time-shares and really bad southwestern design? Floyd had a hard day in the car seat so had to visit the spa in the kitchen sink the night we got there. The next morning the good times began.
We caught Floyd and Olivia Jones "playing" together. Notice the surprised and coy looks, the hand holding, and Floyd's pants under her head. This is what happens when the mom's are away. Rachel and I went for a 35 mile ride Friday morning while the boys waited for the Baldwins to arrive so that Eric, Rob, and Josh could go on an "epic" bike ride.
The girls and the kidlets headed to the pool where we ran into the famous traveler el Margot Zollinger. Floyd loaned her some swim wear for her first dip.
The kids played well together, especially Gracie and Conner who got into role playing games of Mommie and Daddy.  Grant was of course the voice of reason.
The trip was based solely on biking. We all brought mountain bikes, road bikes, kiddie bikes, bike trailers, etc, etc.  And we road them too. The girls put in 60+ miles, the boys about 20, but the emphasize that the climbed a dew thousand feet too. But we know who is stronger. Try pulling the dude and el Margot up hill in the trailer with the wind howling, then you will see strength. Sun Valley was awesome.  Hope we can make it happen again next year.

Here comes trouble

The dude is mobile, auto-mobile. He has developed a hybrid means of transportation, which is the "in" thing to do-the foot crawl. One knee down, and one foot to push. It makes for a crooked crawl, but it gets the job done. He can readily wiggle across the floor, pick up Porter's bone, and put it in his mouth. He progressed quite quickly from the wounded soldier-army crawl to the hybrid foot crawl. It required a quick trip to the store for a baby gate. I thought this would be a simple, straight forward task. But going to the store with Rob, where there are usually crowds of people, is a difficult task. Add to it that it was 104 degrees outside, this compounds the stress of shopping. Rob stood reading the specs for the baby gates for a good 4o minutes in Target. I thought we had made a choice when he stopped to look up the gates on consumer reports prior to purchase. Next thing I know we are leaving Target and on our way to Babys'r'us. I never thought I would hear Rob say "lets go to babys'r'us." I was as shocked as when he started reading "Harry Potter".  He successfully installed the gate. We also lowered his crib mattress. In the nick of time I might add. Now you can find the dude trying to push his face through the bars to get out.

FLoyd and Grant

Floyd got to hang with "G" the other day while Mom, Dad, and Aunt Mugs went to see Batman. I used to fly out to Michigan to see Grant when he was the same size as the Floydster. I can't believe how grown up Grant is.

NKOTB

So a new kid is about to move into the neighborhood. Hanni is prego, and due very soon, 3 weeks or so. Jules, Udy, and I had a little party for her at my house. Hanni made me swear that I would not put a picture of her on the blog, and I mostly kept my promise...her foot is visible in the lower right corner of the photo of me and Rachee Roo Jones.

It is always fun to get the clan together. I forget how great we all are...E.H.S!

It is amazing that we are all 30+ years old. Seems like yesterday we all donned pantyhose over our faces, crammed into my mom's jeep, and attacked Mrs.Parker's house.