Heros, housecats and siblings

Mystery solved on why Ian is so fussy. Rich discovered four bulges on his gums where his top teeth are coming in all at once. It looks painful to me and Ian concurs, loudly at times. I'm due to return the Mini Cooper on Monday for its lease end. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the second key for it. I had just used it a month ago and "put it in a safe place" where it promptly sprouted legs and disappeared.

I have found all kinds of stuff in our house the last two days! I found $14 in various coats and jeans. I found the tripod mounting plate for the camera I've been looking for. I've found countless baby socks in every corner of the house (dammit, cat!). But I had not found that stupid key.

Since the Mini has "Comfort Access" (where the key just has to be on your person to open and start the car), that missing key is very expensive. When I talked to the Mini guy today just hypothetically asking about it, he confirmed that they cost about $300 to replace. I was sick to my stomach.

And then Rich found it! It had fallen behind the desk (dammit, cat!) but not all the way to the ground and was resting on a next of network and power cables. Rich is the hero of the day! All hail Rich!

Despite Ian's teeth and my fretting over the key, we still went out for our holiday photo shoot. It went reasonably well all things considered. While we waited, though, I asked Rich to take my photo so I'd have a new avatar for Flickr/Twitter/Facebook. I'm continually amazed at how much I look like my brother. I really am him only 6" shorter and with more hair.

Casual family dining my ass

This would be one of those days that were it not NaBloPoMo, I would not be going anywhere near the Internet. This is what I do for you. We have reached a stage where eating out is a chore. I wolfed down my dinner while Rich walked Ian around the restaurant and then he ate his while I took Ian outside to watch the rickshaw drivers play hackiy sack. I paid $2.39 for an iced tea I barely touched and boxed up half my dinner.

Ian screamed like we were skinning him alive while we drove the 0.01 miles from the restaurant to Barnes & Noble where he was momentarily sated by the toys and baby books. Then he screamed until he fell asleep on the way home.

And then when we got home he was exhausted but wouldn't - couldn't - fall asleep. The poor guy isn't feeling well I don't think but I'm not sure what it is. I feel like an auger trying to consult the birds on why he's fussy. I cast the bones to see if it's his teeth or his diaper or something new.

So he's now tossing and turning around in the bed and I'm in a foul mood. I'm going to go to bed and hope that tomorrow goes better for us all.

The days are just packed

Today was busy. I had a meeting from 9-10:26am, another meeting from 10:30-11:30 that I ran on something I hadn't really tested before, lunch from 11:30-12:30 so that I could get back for my online seminar from 12:30-4 (which I also hadn't prepped for). By 4pm I was kinda fried. But we picked up the boy and I nursed him in the car before we went to the play area at the mall. Our little boy was very good at dinner and very brave on the slides, learning to scootch himself off the top and slide down expecting us to catch him at the bottom.

And then by the time we got home he was out cold. We got to spend two hours with our son before he was fast asleep. This is why we co-sleep is so I feel like I'm actually spending some more time with him. I wish there were a better way.

And now it's time to pack lunches and wash my hair and have a bedtime snack. Sigh.

Oh, but don't forget that this Sunday is the deadline for our monthly Living Out Loud - the theme is telling us your vice. Can't wait to hear about all of them!