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Yeesh.

What a day.

You’d think, since I had a nice, refreshing nap this afternoon, that I wouldn’t be this tired right now.

Yet it cannot be denied. I am really tired.

Maybe it was the fact that August woke up at 5 this morning and then went back to sleep in five to ten minute spurts until 8 a.m. (Which means that I got up at 5, basically.) Maybe it was the whirlwind grocery shopping trip. Or the snappy cookie-baking session into the harried supper-cooking session. Or the La Leche League meeting where I had to juggle said cookies, said baby, diaper bag, purse and a big bowl of grapes going in.

Search me.

August is slowly, slowly getting over his cold. His nose is less stuffy every day, and he seems to be spitting up a little less (only a little, though). I weighed him today and he’s officially 16 pounds! Wow. He’s such a bruiser! You should check out the pictures! We added new ones! Finally!

We go to the doctor on Wednesday for more shots and a checkup, now that he’s 4 months old. We get to talk about starting solid foods!

These are exciting things for moms like me.

It happened again.

I fell. Again.

Can you believe it? I’m pretty incredulous myself. So, here’s the story. Last Friday, I was walking down the steps when my feet just flew out from under me and I was on my back, on the stairs. Ouch is right!

Mistake #1: Walking down our hardwood stairs in socks.

Mistake #2: Walking down our hardwood stairs in socks without using the handrail.

Mistake #3: Walking down our hardwood stairs in socks without using the handrail while not paying attention.

So I fell. Hard. I totally knocked the wind out of myself, but managed to pull it together enough to call Tim and ask if he could come home. At this point, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to lift August again, my back is hurting so badly. Luckily, August was ready for a nap, so we lay down on our bed and he napped while I tried to assess the damage.

I torqued the muscles in my back pretty good, but it didn’t feel like I’d done any skeletal damage, which was a relief. As Tim pointed out later, we were really lucky that I didn’t hit my head. As soon as he got home, he set me up with ibuprofen, the heating pad and the TV in the bedroom. Then he didn’t let me do anything for the next 6 hours, which was really nice. Yay, Tim!

By about 3, though, I was feeling a lot better and was more concerned about getting stiff by laying around than immobilizing myself. Anyway, long story somewhat shorter, it wasn’t long before I was carrying August around again, for better or for worse. And now I’m feeling almost completely better, except when I have to bend over to pick up something off of the floor.

I’m a much more cautious stair climber now, too.

That’s the story. Come back later this week when I reveal the awful truth: I’ve become a cloth diapering mommy!!!! Tim asked August the funniest question last night (after I started talking about making our own baby food): “Is Mommy listening to Grateful Dead music while Daddy’s at work?”

Woo-hoo! Thanksgiving vacation!

We’ve been having a good old time, wallowing in laziness. Actually, that’s just me, since Tim is home to help take care of August. Oh well, why bother with semantics? It’s been great!

One thing that has not been great has been Tim’s worsening cold symptoms. Both of his parents have recently gotten over very nasty colds, so I’m hoping that he was not exposed to their germs.

After spending Thanksgiving and the Day After down in Cape Girardeau (my home town), we came back home to do some serious relaxing and unwinding. Tim got to finish his book (The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Klay, which he says is “excellent”) and I even got to nap a couple of times!

Now we’re coasting until Christmas”¦ That is, we’re staying home lots and cooking our own meals lots and trying to figure out how we’re going to get all the Christmas presents we need with the money we have/don’t have”¦ Fun!

I still haven’t seen Harry Potter. To make up for this, I’ve begun rereading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. My imagination is better than any old movie anyway, right? Right.

We measured August today (May-suring Day, for you fans of The Angry Beavers)! He’s almost 24 and a half inches long! Two feet! Amazing. He’s well over 15 pounds now, too. I can’t believe how quickly he’s growing.

And he’s doing new stuff everyday! He clasps his hands together and brings them to his mouth (which my child-development-specialist stepmother tells me is very advanced), he laughs (kinda), he grasps his toys and brings them to his mouth (are you sensing a theme here?) and he is kicking so much, it’s hard to change his diaper sometimes!

He was adequately spoiled over the holiday as well. Everyone fought over him, and Nick and Abby were so cute playing with him! My youngest niece Olivia was also fascinated with August. I think it’s so cute when older babies go around saying, ‘Baby! Baby!’ while pointing to a younger baby.

Now Tim goes back to work tomorrow. I’m sad. It’s been so nice having him around. I almost feel as though my IQ has risen back to normal!

So today I’m 27.

Sigh.

I won’t go into a tired “I’m old” lament here, because I really don’t think 27 is that old. The only thing I’m really sad about is that birthdays just aren’t that fun anymore.

Remember when you were a kid and your birthday was like the biggest deal of the year (tied with Christmas)? My family always made me feel so special on my birthday.

Of course, this isn’t to say that no one makes me feel special on my birthday. Tim was so sweet today. He sent me 27 e-cards!

But there just isn’t the build up anymore. Heck, I even forgot my birthday was coming up for most of this month. (Perhaps the baby had something to do with this.)

Anyway, all I wanted to do for my birthday was to see the Harry Potter movie and we didn’t even get to do that (for various sad financial reasons, I’m even sadder to say). Oh well. Maybe we can go on Thanksgiving.

Enough of that, though! Let’s hear it for August, who officially weighs 14 pounds, 13 ounces! He is so big now that I can hardly remember what he was like as a newborn! I can remember being in the hospital and worrying that he was so tiny and fragile. Last week I was looking back at all of the pictures we’ve taken of him and I was nearly in tears. He was so fragile and tiny!

I still feel some guilt about those first two weeks when he wasn’t eating well and I was too dumb to not know. I worry that I did long-term damage. What if his brain needed that nourishment those weeks to develop properly? What if I ruined him forever?

These are the crazy, irrational things you worry about once you become a parent. It all pretty much comes down to that one question: Did (insert incident) ruin him forever?

Development-wise, however, he seems right on track. He’s reaching for things now, which is fun. Diaper changes are getting more challenging, since he keeps reaching for my hands to put in his mouth. (Hope that diaper ointment isn’t poison!)

He’s babbling away, especially in the morning. He cracks me up, totally. The way he moves his mouth to make different sounds is hilarious.

I guess the most amazing thing is watching him become so aware of his surroundings. I mean, he pays attention to stuff now. Like when he’s eating, if he looks up at me and I’m smiling at him, he stops eating and smiles back! Ask me how much that melts me!

So that’s 27. I’m glad I have my boys to keep me happy. Otherwise, it could get pretty depressing around here.

Ahh, Friday. Ahh, nice weather. Ahh, Daddy’s home.

I talked Tim into coming home early this afternoon, what with the weather being so spectacular and all. We walked August and the dogs over to this park that’s really close to our house. I couldn’t help but smile, because I could totally picture August playing on the playground equipment and fishing in the “kids only” pond, playing in the sprinkle fountain and practicing his swing on the baseball diamonds. Sigh.

I’m really trying to enjoy every day, though. So many people have told me to not rush him — to enjoy his babyhood. Or babyness. Whatever. Just looking back at the photos of him so far, I can’t believe how quickly he’s changing. So I’m just taking each day as it comes. Enjoying the gift of my Auggie.

I was so tickled yesterday when Tim got home. August had just had such a great day. He woke up kind of early, but I just can’t mind when he looks at me and smiles. What a wonderful way to wake up. After watching me make oatmeal (again), we played on the floor for a good while. This consisted of me acting like a nut trying to make him laugh (still no success). All of a sudden, in the middle of a tummy raspberry, he grabbed my hair. Neat! Something new!

All day long, he was grabbing at stuff. He’d grab the dangling rings on his bouncy seat and just stare at them, brow furrowed, like he was really trying to work out what to do next. ‘Hm. I’ve got this ring in this hand and this ring in this hand. Now what?’

At my mom’s group that afternoon, several of us decided to start getting together on Monday afternoons to walk. Since the weather’s going to be cold (ostensibly), we’re going to meet at the Galleria, but in the spring, we can go to the park! And then the babies will be getting more mobile, so we’ll have a real playgroup! (This is exciting stuff for those of us looking for ways to entertain our babies all day, every day.)

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving a lot. I love getting to show August off at family gatherings. My family (all sides) is very important to me. I want August to know how much he is loved by his family; just like I’ve always felt so loved by mine. I think about all of my relatives — Annabelle and Clata in Tennessee, my Grandma, dad and all the Farrows, my mom and her family — and I think about how much fun it was visiting everyone when I was a kid. How I was always made to feel so comfortable. I always felt like I belonged. Like I was part of something.

Only now do I realize that that is one of the best things about family. I mean, these people knew you when you tried to hide peas in your pants instead of eating them (true story), and they still love you. Of course, they bring up that peas in the pants story all the time, but you still love them too.

Yay, Thanksgiving! Yay, nostalgia!

Well, just a couple of small technical things from me. I’ve added some functionality on the blog page that lets you, our dear readers post comments about our blog entries. It’s provided through a service called BlogBack which I found on the main blogger page. Now you can let us (and everybody else who reads it) know what you think about our posts. I’m excited about it because it makes our conversations with you even more dynamic.

Also, I’ve suffered the same fate as Beth when trying to make Blog posts in the past. So if you’re a regular Blog user, and you’re getting ready to write a really long missive, I’d encourage you to write it first in Notepad or Word or something, then paste it into the Blogger post screen. That way, if Blogger decides to flake, you don’t lose a whole bunch of writing.

Well, that’s about it. I haven’t added any new pictures yet. I’ll try and get to the latest ones from Auggie’s baptism up in the next day or two. I’ll let you know.

So I had typed up this big, long post about how on the first day of August’s thirteenth week, we had a very unlucky fall. It talked all about my klutziness and related feelings of guilt. It even gave all the details about August’s baptism!

Then, when I hit “Post and Publish,” Blogger completely freaked out on me and — poof! — the big, long post was gone.

So fine. Fate is saying no to you knowing about our fall and his baptism.

If you really want to know, I suppose you can write to me and ask. (Or call! We love calls!)

Stupid Blogger.

Yay, our first trip to the Zoo!

This afternoon (which was so beautiful, and I figure we can’t have many more of these left) we struck out for the St. Louis Zoo (free!). That is, us and all of the other stroller-wielding mommies in the bistate area. The crowd was really small, actually, which made my stroller-wielding much easier. This is a good thing, because I’ve been toting him around in the sling so much that we haven’t even used the stroller since he was about six weeks old.

He did great, riding around with his sunglasses on, enjoying the view and the nice weather. We watched them feed the sea lions, saw the big cats napping and watched the antics of the flamingos. I’m not sure how much August could actually see, but I had a good time, anyway. I’ll get Tim to post the couple of pictures I took soon.

It was so warm, I even broke a sweat pushing the stroller up and down the hills.

So still no laughing, but he is totally reaching for things now and rolling over lots (whenever he gets the chance). We’ve really been working on the napping during the day thing, because even though it’s really great that he sleeps so much at night, I still need to get stuff done during the day! Right now, he’s napping maybe two hours during the day. This makes it very challenging for me to get any work done. And I even have work to do! Work that pays money! We’re getting by right now by working during the evenings and weekends while Tim watches him, but I want to see Tim during those times too, and he has stuff that he wants to do, so we’re kind of in a bind.

But mostly, I’m enjoying how well he sleeps at night. I mean, how many mommies get to sleep in till 8 or 9 every morning?

He has officially rolled over, ladies and gentlemen!

I put him on his tummy in his crib for a while this afternoon. I stood there, shaking his teddy bear, trying to keep him entertained and working on lifting his head and chest up, when all of a sudden he got his arm under him and rolled on to his side! Then, it took a couple of tries of swinging his leg and me encouraging him and BOOM! He’s on his back in his crib!

Now, you know I’m not one to brag, but is my baby the BIGGEST GENIUS EVER or what? I mean, I bet Mozart didn’t roll over when he was 12 weeks old!

At our Moms Group today, August was one of the oldest babies there! It was crazy, seeing all these little tiny babies. Now that he’s 12 pounds 14 ounces (!) he just seems so much bigger. I thought I’d remember what he looked like that little, but all I have to say is thank goodness we took a lot of pictures. Nutty.

We’re up late again tonight, waiting for the World Series game to end. Waiting for the Yankees to pull off another “miracle.” Please, don’t get me started on how every major sporting event is totally fixed to allow for maximum profitability. I keep waiting for them to make the Final Four a best of seven event…

Hardly any trick-or-treaters last night, which leaves way too much chocolate laying around. I was a little sad about Halloween this year. It’s been years since I’ve actually worn a costume and since August is too little to be excited, it was a total let-down. I remember when Halloween was the highlight of fall. Sigh. Just feeling old, I guess. Now that it’s officially November and I’m staring down the barrel of my 27th birthday.

One thing that’s for sure this year: my mom is getting flowers on my birthday. Thanks, Mom! Now I know what you went through to get me here! You should call your mom and thank her too.

Wow, what a morning. Coco was whining every time she moved last night, so I had to take her to the vet this morning to check out her paw. The doc said to give her baby aspirin to see if that helped. of course, it was also getting time for her vaccinations, so I just had them do that too while we were there. Let’s just say that Coco isn’t speaking to me right now (not that she does ever, really).

This all comes on the dreaded Day After the First Night Out, which actually went really well. At least for us, anyway. Tim and I left at about 8 last night, heading down to Laclede’s Landing to Mississippi Nights for the Stephen Malkmus show. Our friend Bob from Louisville is SM’s tour manager, so he put us on the list. We ran into old college friends Jonathan, Holly and Jim (Ouzle, for those of you that speak their little language) at the bar. Then we hung out with Bob for the show. It was really great to catch up with him, as he always has the most interesting stories about horse racing and rock and roll adventures. We love Bob!

I even drank two whole beers! The show itself was pretty good. I was especially impressed that the bass player girl was the inspiration for the Elliot Smith song “Miss Misery.” I mean, what must it be like to know that an Oscar-nominated song is about you? Unreal.

So when we got home about midnight, Tim’s sainted parents were cool as cucumbers. This in spite of the fact that August had been a royal terror all night. Here I thought he would just go to sleep for them very easily, but apparently he just cried and cried. He wouldn’t take his bottle, nothing. Poor guys! He was fine once we were home, though. Smiling and calm and sleepy! We all fell into bed about 1.

So now I’m beat. August seems no worse for wear. Bring on the trick-or-treaters!