What We've Been Up To

Life has been pretty normal lately. This past weekend, I spent some time painting Brooklen's room. I am re-decorating it. Yes, you read that right; I am RE-decorating it. I guess I didn't do a very good job the first time because only six months after his birth, I am already making changes. It's not that I am terrible at decorating, it's just that it sometimes takes me several tries. Not a good thing. Sometimes, I fantasize about going back to school for interior design. Life would be easier (and less expensive) if I made good decisions the first time around. I'll post more pictures of the room later, but for now . . . a look at the wall color. The walls were already a dark brown; we added a horizontal green stripe.

Saturday night, we went out to dinner with Brooklen. While it was nice to get out, it was not very enjoyable being at a restaurant with a baby. I think that Rob and I switched places 4 or 5 times throughout the dinner. Just imagine us moving our bodies, our plates, our drinks, our silverware, and our coats across the table multiple times . . . what a mess! A short anecdote from the evening also captures my frequent incompetence as a mother. As we sat down, I scanned the table for a quick fix to keep the baby quiet. "Aha," I thought, "this slim plastic packet of splenda will do just fine." A few minutes later, while caught up in conversation with Rob, I heard gagging. Brooklen was choking. The splenda packet, which I thought was plastic, was actually paper, and had disintegrated in his mouth. Talk about a sugar high! I fished the paper out of his mouth (which required further gagging caused by my fingers) and scanned the room to quickly count all of the people who had observed my stupidity. Luckily, I don't think many noticed (the benefit of being in a restaurant on a Saturday night when it is loud and busy). Despite the unpleasant moments of the evening, we had a good time and good food, and as always, I adore being with my boys.

Lastly, Brooklen has moved on to baby food. The high chair came today, and he has officially become a "big boy" in my eyes. It is bittersweet to see him grow so fast; I love watching him learn new things, but I am sad that he is not a newborn baby anymore. Currently, he likes sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and apples. Later this week, I plan to puree peas. Cross your fingers that he doesn't fight green vegetables.