Stetson = Sweetness

Great Grandma. How many babies have those arms cradled?

Is there anything more perfect than a newborn's toes?

Self-inflicted scratching already. And apparently those little mittens can keep ears warm, too.

Guess which one is pretending to sleep. Ahhh, and the Swee' Pea gown! May rival his toes for cuteness.

24 hours old. One day down...that wasn't so hard, was it?

Yee-haw! Stetson is here!

My great nephew arrived today at about 4:50 p.m. Little Stetson weighed a strappin' 9 lbs. 11 oz. Even though he was bound to be running out of room in his temporary housing, he still held on for several hours even after the door was...

Ew. Never mind.

It was a lengthy process.

But he's here and beautiful. And my nephew was floating around the halls grinning. And so was his mom. And his dad. And his two sisters. We were all floating around the hospital corridors...it was a happy time.

Especially when he caught his waiting-room-weary entourage off guard and burst into the room:

"...he's a big boy!!"

You'd have thought someone had yelled "FIRE!"

Oh, and since this blog is about me, I must publicly thank my good friend Amy who picked up Mickey from school and took him to her house for two hours or more while I waited for Stetson to come. And she did so with a smile on her face. I didn't actually see her but I know Amy and she lovingly helps people who barge in on her with 30 minutes' notice. So thanks, Amy...you truly are priceless.

Yep, and Alex waited it out with me and other assorted family members, even one who is engaged to the family...er, my niece. Aaron very generously turned over the reigns of his IPhone to Alex for most of the wait. Without his help I'd have been searching the hallways of the hospital for a mild sedative. For me and Alex.

So thanks to the people who helped me today.

But even if this blog is about me, today was SO not.

It was about a milestone my nephew and his wife will never forget. It was about them meeting their little boy for the first time. It was about two people suddenly realizing there's a life on this planet more important than their own. At least they'll feel that way...they're parents now.

Great Monday!

Already November?! Let's pretend I posted cute Halloween pics and beautiful photos of fall leaves from our backyard. That's not so hard is it?

The big news in our family for November is that I'm going to be a great-aunt for the...hmmm, third time, and the little one arrives tomorrow. Being a great-aunt has nothing to do with one's age, by the way. It just means I'm great.

Yep, my nephew will be a first-time daddy...I can't even stand the anticipation of seeing him hold his baby in his arms. Oh, my. Why is it that I can remember him as a newborn like it was yesterday but I cannot remember what I had for breakfast yesterday? The years...they just fly by, and yet our memories capture the important moments and let us keep them forever. Thank goodness.

So they'll be starting their journey as parents tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. Good practice, since it could be five or six years before they get to sleep in again.

Best of luck to you W and L. Keep your baby, and your memories, close forever.

Book character day

In lieu of Halloween costumes, my son's school has Book Character Day today. So the kids still get to dress up in a costume, but they're required to find their inspiration in a book so maybe they get a little more creative than Batman and Spiderman (but check back here after Halloween for those staple costumes).

So Mickey chose Mike Mulligan of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.** What an awesome story this is...Mike Mulligan has confidence that his Steam Shovel (who he gave the woman's name of Mary Ann) can live up to his lofty expectations, even though he wasn't sure until she was put to the test. I love that: a man laying staking his entire reputation on the confidence he has in a woman...er...Steam Shovel.

But that message is lost to Mickey, of course. I think he just likes how much of the book revolves around digging in dirt.

As for the costume, my friend Julie came through with the hard hat, thankfully. Pete just called from school, however, and said Mickey thought the hat was too uncomfortable to wear. Oh, well...

I got a couple of pictures, though, before he realized that.



**Thanks to my sis Judy. She passed along to me a shopping bag full of books one day and made it a point to recommend MM.

Note to self

Don't leave blogging interface open.

Without locking my office door.

Or my boy in the closet.

jgjggfhgl,thyl,ygy,lgt,gkgfffffff.fgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Wait, we have movement

Who knows why I'm compelled to post a video here tonight. More of "talking to myself" I suppose.

And this one has way too much information in it when you consider I haven't even posted my boys' real names. Just disregard that stuff. And realize I did not prompt him to repeat it, either.

Try to also disregard the lack of pitch, rhythm, and tune.

And pay attention to the cute.

Just make sure your good wine glass isn't too close to your speakers.

Is it still shopping if you don't buy anything?

Shopping alone is rare for me. I usually have at least one of the boys or...the horror...the whole family waiting impatiently for me in the car or on the other side of JCPenney.

So when I do go by myself...ah, the bliss. I can browse and compare prices and visualize to my heart's content. Except I don't do that because I can't relax because I'm flipping open my cellphone every ten minutes to see what time it is so I don't forget to pick someone up (you'd think I had ten kids or something. Truly it's a miracle I wasn't left somewhere to be raised by truck drivers when I was a kid.).

All that mess to say: I try to have a definite plan when I shop. A carefully crafted mission considering the needed item and the amount of time I have to find it.

I had that all that today...mission miserably failed.

All I wanted in the world was a plain red long-sleeved T-shirt for Mickey to wear as part of his costume. But those are not to be had anywhere, since boys' clothing makers tend to puke graphic designs of monster trucks and boxy superheros on the fronts of all shirts.

So looks like Mickey gets to wear one of Alex's red shirts, which will probably still fit him anyway.

The other part of his costume I needed was a hard hat. Like a construction hard hat. Little boys like to wear hard hats, don't they? Well, apparently not enough for Giant Halloween Store to stock them. But fake rubber b r e a s t s must certainly be in demand, since a couple of versions of those were available. And big axes shoved into rubber masks...thank goodness no one will have to go without those this Halloween. (Note to self: wait ten years to take boys to Halloween store.)

It's a very real possibility I'll have to buy an entire Bob the Builder costume in order to get the stinkin' hat. And I'll have to go to Walmart for it. Ugh.

And I'll probably be dragging people with me when I go.

I may be the one who needs the hard hat...

I wanna talk to me again

It's amazing how a subject can occupy so much of your thoughts and yet your actions toward it are non-existent.

Like blogging.

And working out.

And unpacking those last two boxes from our move three months ago.

But we all know which of these concerns me at this moment.

And unfortunately it has nothing to do with a treadmill.

Yeah, lately I've thought about blogging at least ten times every day, but for some reason the urge isn't quite enough to actually do it. I think I'm in that funk again where I'm analyzing it way too much...as I told a friend the other day: every word I type out here I imagine some one person I know reading it. But it's difficult to consider your audience as individuals when you blog; there are too many people who read me from different areas of my life, and trying to write directly to every individual is a fruitless concept, to say the least.

So I suppose I should just get back to the basics, and start writing for myself again. I'll be breaking a number one rule of any type of writing, and that is to consider your audience.

And ya'll will just have to listen in while I talk to myself.