Laughter is the Best Medicine

Amazingly, I had a few minutes today to put together some recent baby pics and movies.

She can stand up now herself by holding on to us or the furniture.


Gavin really liked this one. He seems to have a thing with me wearing stupid stuff on my head.


And then for movies...

This first one is several weeks old - just to capture her laugh.


This one is more recent - just having fun.

Best Friends

Oh boy, have I been working hard. Not as hard as some people I could mention, but pretty darn hard. I've done document or presentaion editing at home every day this week except one. I hardly dare mention it, in case I invite a catastrophe tomorrow, but at this point I still think I'll get the weekend off.

When I dropped Carina off at day care this morning, I spent a few minutes talking with the teachers about starting to feed her the school's food. While we were talking, one of the other babies crawled over to the spot where Carina was sitting. Now, I've been told that Carina and Mackenzie are good friends, but I haven't had a chance to watch them together much before. They weren't doing much, just looking at each other and reaching out to touch each other a couple times. But, it was unmistakably social interaction.

I found myself a bit jealous of Mackenzie. Unreasonable, but I'm sort of used to being Carina's only "friend" (well, besides Daddy). It made me start thinking that one day she'll be a teenager, and will probably not consider me a friend at all. She'll rather spend her time with her Mackenzies than me. Another reminder that I need to appreciate every day.

Not Much

I only had to work for about 2 1/2 hours today, which actually made me very happy. I was afraid something would go wrong, and I'd be there much longer.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to relax a bit. I decided not to sign up for my cross-country this weekend. I just feel like I've been away from home too much this week. And I know I'll be away a ton during the mission. Next weekend might work, but that's what I thought last week, too.

Twinge

Can stress cause nerve damage? Because, as today wore on my left shoulder started acting up more and more until by the time I picked Carina up tonight I had trouble lifting her.

I love my job, and I love being the lead. But, I definitely get a little insane the last few weeks before a launch that I'm lead for. I need to chill more. Zen.

That being said, the guy that did the entry for Atlantis today had to leave immediately after landing to meet his 8 hour old son. I don't have that kind of stress.

The Stumbling Edge

We went ice skating today for Cari's birthday. It was really fun, but I'm not nearly as good at it as I remember being. Not that I was ever good at it, but I used to be able to not look too awkward.

After skating, we went to eat an early dinner. By this point Carina had been up for four straight hours. We were hoping she'd nap in the restaraunt, but no dice. Dinner took quite a while, and by then end it was 7:00 PM and she hadn't slept since 1:00! For all that, she was still her happy self while we were there.

The problem, of course, comes after we get home. She's overtired and fussing instead of going to sleep like she needs to. I think she just now finally settled down - no crying for the last 10 minutes or so.

I'm going to try getting in my first solo cross-country tomorrow; the weather didn't cooperate today.

Hodgepodge

In case you were wondering why my Flickr stream has pictures of empty parking spaces on it, it is because I took those photos as evidence of the mismanaged parking situation at work. I counted 62 empty unreserved spots on my way into my building today. It’s rather rediculous. All the parking people have told us to allay the frustration is that they’re going to eventually build a new parking lot - much further away from the building than the existing parking lot that they decided to tear up for a new office building, which means more people working around here… You get the picture.

In less boring news (to me), I got my kitchen fixed today! I’m not sure I ever blogged about our kitchen woes… Short version: The dishwasher was leaking. We didn’t know for a long time. The crap builder-installed particle wood cabinets disintegrated. Anyhow, it took two months of on-again, off-again looking for a contractor to hire one. We finally found one that a) showed up for the quote appointment, b) was on time, and c) actually seemed reliable. I’m very much looking forward to having a dishwasher again soon.

In even less boring news (to me and a few others), I dropped $122 today for four Astros tickets to the Yankees and Red Sox series. They're totally taking advantage charging more for those games - nearly double! And so begins the down side of not having season tickets this year.

Dentist

I'm at home after two hours at the dentist this morning. One crown, two fillings. But they were all in the far back of my mouth, on top. It was difficult for them to get to, and so it took a while.

I think some of the local anesthetic is starting to wear off...

I am Reading

I just finished All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot, and I'm working on The Lord God Made Them All. These books are the last two books in a four book memoir series written by a country vet from Yorkshire. He started practicing just before WWII. I read the first two books in this series, All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful as a young adult. To be honest, I never realized he'd written any more books until Cari said something about it when we were talking about them.

If you've never read any James Herriot - do. He's got a lot of interesting stories, and he just paints a beautiful and compelling picture of rural farming in mid-20th century England. They aren't difficult reads - I believe I read them for the first time in elementary school. I don't think that they are any worse for the intervening 20 years, though.

The Aviator (2004)

2.5/4

I liked this movie, and would have given it a 3/4 except for the 20 minute long Howard-Hughes-is-crazy-and-naked sequence, which seemed unnecessary. I think the movie did a great job of showing both his brilliance and his eccentricities. The aviation scenes were good, although the movie made the Hercules' flight more grandoise than it really was. The FX-11 crash in Beverly Hills was appropriately traumatic. The congressional hearing scene was fun. DiCaprio, Blanchett, and Alda were all good.

I think it would have been cool if they had included the Glomar Explorer event late in Hughes' life, but that was almost 30 years after where this movie ends. Apparently there is a 1970s movie that Tommy Lee Jones did, The Amazing Howard Hughes, that covers it.

Getting Closer

I took and passed my FAA written Private Pilot exam today. That means I have to do a couple solo cross countries, then practice up and take my check ride. Wow, that seems a lot closer than I expected! The next month or two is going to be pretty busy at work, though, so we'll see how fast I can get it done.

Go, Atlantis!

Go, Atlantis!

Making Friends

We've had a pretty social month. First, Kennda was in town for a few days. We got together with her, Becca, Cari, and the Pettys. Carina and Aerik got to know each other a bit.


Then last weekend, Carina had a play date with Lily. Here they are playing in their nearly identical exersaucers.


Carina had fun helping do the laundry this morning.