PACHOW!

On your three month birthday you gave us all a great gift--your first belly laugh! I admit to being thrilled that it happened while splashing bare bellied in the bathtub. I love that you seem to love the water as much as I do. I'm not sure the video quality is fantastic but it's the audio that's really important.

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. You've been on three major roadtrips and have a new address. We're still unpacking on Zimmer Drive but the process is made so much easier with three sets of hands. You love to sit on the back porch in the Guatemalan swing (you come by this rightly, Poppa Joe spent most of his time at home swinging there) or walk around the neighborhood staring up at the tree canopy. The fact that Mr. Reindeer, your favorite mobile character, made the trip too seems to please you greatly.

This past weekend you saw your Mississippi grandparents and met your first great-grandparent. You were quite a hit in the nursing home and had plenty of smiles to pass around. You cheered at your first high school football game and Ocean Springs beat the competition into the ground. Watch out, you could become a team mascot.

The weather has turned cool, my favorite season is settling in. We all slept under the covers together last night and I dreamt of babies giggling. It was the sweetest dream.

The Spaceship has Landed

Marian, you've made it home. We left Silver Spring, Maryland about two days later than expected, spent one night on the road and pulled into 1224 yesterday at about 7pm. The Penske truck was packed so tight that when your grandfather pulled out of the driveway and started down the interstate with the back door open, nothing fell out! Our station wagon looked like a lunar lander with your enormous stroller strapped to the roof rack and Mrs. Canela (one of our favorite plants that we really didn't think would make the cut) sandwiched between your car seat and the bellycast. Peanut spent the entire trip with her nose up the air conditioning vent and your pa's knees were up in his chin but you rode in the lap of luxury with your crinkly bee and your mirror (whose beautiful face did you look at for 16 hours?) for company. And here we are on the other end with boxes absolutely everywhere. But you're home. So am I. Weird.

Things You Should Not Agree to Do Before Moving

1. Continue to work for an organization that no longer pays you
2. Agree to pull together a curriculum for a weekend retreat for aforementioned organization.
3. Tell the organization you can deliver this curriculum at a meeting 4 days before moving.
4. Joyfully assent to preaching and planning a church service 6 days before moving
5. Write a magazine article with a deadline 3 days before moving

Marian, we have a lot of ground to cover. When I last wrote you were sore and sad, today you're just restless and tired of sitting inside looking at the computer screen. We haven't even reviewed you baptism weekend (which was a big deal, folks came from near and far to see you!).

But writing a blog is also something you should probably not do the week before moving.

Worst Day of Your Whole Life

It occurred to me yesterday, as you were screaming the kind of screams that we've so rarely heard, that this was the one day in your life that you could say "worst day ever" and it would most certainly be true. With just two months under your belt, you haven't had any day that hurt so bad. I'm glad you can't talk, because if I'd heard you say "worst day ever" (on top of the wounded screams) I would have just rolled over and died.

You had three shots yesterday and if the brief prick of the needles weren't bad enough you were sore and feverish most of the day and into the night. You displayed amazing stoicism about the shots, the nurses were still commenting about that when we left the office, but once you were safely out of the crowds and in the comfort of your own home, you let me know just how bad it felt. You cried, I cried and then we cuddled up for a long nap on the couch hoping to sleep off the pain and bad memories. When you woke up, feeling slightly better I think, we went for a long walk with Peanut and you enjoyed staring up at the leafy trees and drifted off into another nap. For the final feel-good treat of the evening, I filled up the bathtub and you and I splashed around for about 30 minutes. You decided to call it a night, all wrapped up in blankets, and you slept straight through to 5am. Your dad and I thought you were a little too warm and your temperature (taken the pansy way, under your armpit) was a little over 100. So we broke open the safety seal on the cherry flavored Infant Tylenol and you had your first non-breast milk "food" ever. We prefer to think your had cherry pie instead of medicine. A few more hours of sleep and you woke up ready to smile at Mr. Reindeer on your mobile. Much better day today, maybe not "best day ever" but moving in that direction.

PS. You made an "A" weight! You bent the scales at 13 pounds 1 ounce and that puts you in the 97 percentile. In my book, that's an A+! Good work my little chunker.