Catching Up

I haven't gotten around to posting much lately. Just not feeling it. And I've been busy cleaning and taking care of E and trying to work on that book project I mentioned earlier. (I'm learning a lot, but I think this could take years.)

To catch up briefly, we had a good Labor Day weekend. On Saturday we went to Wimberley to visit Nana. She looked pretty good, just very tired. The chemo and radiation have thoroughly kicked her ass. Luckily, she just finished her first round, so now she'll have a six-week break. She hopes to get some of her energy back during this time.

On Sunday we drove down to San Marcos to my childhood friend Amber's ranch. She was throwing a bbq birthday bash for her husband, who we hadn't met yet. It was great to meet him and their two boys and some other Austin Mama families, and E had fun in the pool. The food was heavenly, and the setting could not have been lovelier. The party was actually at Amber's parents' house, which might be the most beautiful home I've ever seen. Seriously. Breathtaking.

We started out Labor Day being very domestic. I cleaned downstairs and TJ make hummus and bean salad. Around lunchtime we found out that Catherine and Shannon (who just moved into their first house) had had a plumbing fiasco the night before (the bath water wouldn't turn off) that resulted in the water for the whole house having to be turned off, thanks to a neighbor's assistance. They were waiting for the plumber to arrive that afternoon. When we heard the situation they were in, and learned that they didn't have any food for lunch, we drove down to South Austin and picked up food for them at Central Market, along with several gallons of water, and went on over. The plumber was there by the time we arrived and was able to fix the problem, and we got a chance to visit with them. TJ hadn't seen their house yet. It was fun.

This past Saturday my dad and Gwen were going to be in Austin for a choir thing (my dad's a choir director), so they came over and we went to lunch at the Eastside Cafe and then came back here to visit awhile. They hadn't been to our house in months (they had the craziest summer) and hadn't seen Eamon's latest tricks, so I was excited to have them here.

As for E, he continues to pull up like crazy, has started to take a few steps while holding on to things (but isn't really cruising yet), and is still transitioning to one nap. If he wakes up between 5:00 and 6:30, he needs a morning nap, but if he wakes up closer to 7:00, it's a one-nap day. Lately he's been waking up super early, and in the past two days he's started teething in earnest again (the second top tooth), so that hasn't been fun. Last week when that first top tooth was really coming through, his gums were actually bleeding. But the pain seemed to dissipate after a day of that.

He's been having a great time playing with his round blocks downstairs (balancing them on their round edge and then watching them roll and fall), he still loves rolling the cylinder blocks across the wood floor, and he's gotten hours of entertainment from this little tupperware cup that he pushes around the kitchen. Because of its shape, it rolls in circles and other crazy patterns, and he crawls after it, delighted. I get the sense that he thinks it's alive.

His love affair with Squeaky continues, and TJ and I think that he might be trying to say "Squeaky." I always thought that would be his first word, but the jury's still out on whether he's really saying it. Whatever sound he's making, it's new and it's two syllables, and it makes us laugh.

And I guess that about sums things up.