weeks 15 & 16

How have two weeks flown past without me updating? Work and traveling and family have all conspired against me, I fear. But it has been a good two weeks. PJ is like a real baby now, putting everything in her mouth, grabbing her toes, pulling your shirt down when you hold her, etc. She's even discovered her upper register when babbling. I call her the pterodactyl now.

Week 15 found Shannon with a break from her rotations so she spent a lot of time with PJ while also trying to get ahead on some schoolwork. We decided to change our daycare so we gave them the required two week notice as well. A classmate of Shannon's is going to watch her for the summer and then we'll have to find a more permanent care provider. We are both much happier about this arrangement even though we'll have a busy summer trying to find more daycare. I think we are going to go with home care. Now that we have met our child and have 3+ months experience as parents, we are much better prepared to evaluate care providers and follow our guts.

Thanks to the local library system here, I got Shannon a free pass to the zoo and she took PJ during her week off. I wish I could have come too because it seems PJ was fascinated by the coral reef and the tropical exhibits. The last thing of note from this week was that we got the plants we bought over Mother's Day weekend into the ground or pots. There are four kinds of tomatoes, two hot peppers and one sweet pepper plants in our backyard, hopefully thriving. Our deck boasts some sweet lawn chairs we got a few weeks ago, plus marigolds, mint, oregano, two kinds of basil and lemon balm. We got a hanging basket with tiny purple flowers but we haven't hung it yet. Shannon got the pots at a yard sale along with one of those kid swings. We are going to hang it on the deck and it will be so awesome.

PJ and I flew to St. Louis from Sat-Tues where she got to meet my dad's side of the family, including my stepmother's extended family that I haven't seen for at least ten years. My little sister graduated from high school, and I attended with my daughter (which is a crazy sentence to write). Shannon barely survived the four days without me and PJ, and I totally sympathize with her. I wish she had been able to come. My family held her often, but I was still a bit overwhelmed being in charge that Saturday to Tuesday.

My mom had a dinner at her house and PJ got to meet some old family friends, the Petes. I've known Marcia and Jeff since I was 7 years old and I was so happy they got to meet my daughter. My mom also got to baby-sit during my sister's graduation. It lasted until 10 so my mom picked her up at 6:30 or so. Of course she didn't fall asleep until about 9, but I think they had a good time.

The sickness has let up a bit at the house. There is a lot less snot and I can even almost hear out of my right ear again. PJ no longer wakes up with one nostril crusted over and this is a very good thing.

Now we are at the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial beginning of summer. We might try to introduce PJ to grass. We already ran some errands today and there's laundry in my future. Mostly though I am happy for a regular old weekend where we can sleep and lay around often. Just me and Shannon and the baby.