adolph: do me the favor and post some of those shots of the baby eating that you got last night. i would love to see them up. plus, it would be good if carol could see the baby from N.C.

THE BOYS NIGHT IN

my plan only half worked, but i mentally prepared myself well: his crying went exactly as i thought it would. it all started with a headache; a bad one. the kind that sits in your eyes. so, perhaps it's best to call it an 'eye-ache'. whatever it is, it started with one of those at around 11:30. I tried eating it away, i tried drinking some water, i tried turning off the lights, looking away from the computer for a long stretch, i even tried napping. nothing got rid of it. i could hardly keep my eyes open by the time conference rolled around. I botched conference up, miserably. I totally forgot to plug in the laptop, so in the middle of a dr's presentation, the 'plug-in-your-computer-before-it-goes-dead' dialouge box popped up. It wouldn't go away. I was out in the hallway (not even paying attention as i normally do) resting my eyes on a couch. Dr. Singh grabs my attention and subtly waves to me to get my ass in the room (dr's are impatient with technology). When something goes wrong, it's always bad. I plugged it in and returned to the couch. I didn't care that something else might go wrong. I just needed to close my eyes. I'm called into the room two more times to fix things that i should have taken care of in the beginning. ugh.

Adolph picked me up after work and drove me home. The baby was happy to see me, but not nearly as happy as he is when he sees carol. Adolph distracted him while i got adolfo's bags ready to go to the museum. Diaper's? check. Washtowel? check. Zwieback? check. Change of clothes...etc... By the time i change into shorts and a t-shirt, my eye-ache is thankfully gone. Was it the two tylenol that a secretary handed to me right before conference? I hardly think about it as we drive to the museum.

I dropped adolfo onto the floor right as we got into the 'tot spot', and he zoomed off on all fours. I wanted him to get as tired as possible. We played for an hour and a half. He saw the bubble tube he loves so much. He crawled through a hole in the wall, he played with the dimple balls, he crawled, crawled, crawled. I would have taken the camera, but my hands were so full with bags and an umbrella. I didn't think i would be able to hadle it all.

We left at closing time. He was tired. It worked! but i needed to put the nail in the coffin so to speak, so we stopped by at Adolph's place where he could crawl around some more and get some time in with his wacky Godfather. While he crawled around i prepared a bowl of cereal with banana, and a sippy cup of low-acid orange juice. He ate like a champ. (Adolph, insert pictures here.)

He was rubbing his eyes nearly the whole time. He was tired. I knew he would fall asleep in the car. I was hoping (praying) for at least four hours of sleep in a stretch. I thought that would be reasonable, being that he was full of food and tired. He was asleep before i turned the corner at san jacinto. When i took him out of the car seat he hardly moved a muscle. Straight to the crib where he stayed asleep until:

11:30 PM

hour of crying. i tried console him the first 1/2 hour, but he just wasn't having it. I put him in the crib and left the room. He cried. I sat in the living room. After ten minutes i went in and took him to bed with me. Still crying. Put him back in crib. (Frustration sets in.) This time, i stayed in the room so he could see me lying in the bed. Ten minutes of crying. I tried to think of something else, but the wailing was too much. It blocked out all thought. I took him back to bed with me a second time and he fell asleep. (He got the message!?) Thrashes in the bed (no crying). Sits up, wines softly, falls back to the bed, asleep (apparently). Repeats this about ten times in one minute intervals.

2:30 AM

Thrashes. Where's mommy? Sits up. Cries. I pull him to me. He lays across my chest. (Will my heartbeat quiet the beast?) No. Sits up again. Wines=Crying @ half intensity. I begin to sleepily recite all his kids books i've memorized. "...A is for apple, apricot, asparagus..." He miraculously quiets down and falls asleep.

4:30 AM

Same as 2:30. This time i recite the 'Widow's Broom' in a very sleepy voice. He falls back asleep.

5:00 AM

Wakes up for good. He's awake and slapping at my back with hands. It hurts, but i don't move. He starts to do that thing where you bounce your hands on his mouth and he moans cute-ly with my back. He bounces his open, wet mouth on my back till i finally wake up. He smiles and makes the entire night worth it. We go to the living room and play. I read him 'Tough Machines'. He plays with his stuff on the living room floor.

6:15 AM

I take him back to the bed cause he's rubbing his eyes a lot. He falls back asleep. So do i.

7:00 AM

i wake up and get ready for work. My boss already knows i'm going to be late. I take my time.

7:20 AM

He's awake. For good this time. He's hungry. I can tell. He hasn't eaten all night. Normally, he has something with carol during the night. I sit him in his high chair and feed him a sippy cup full of orange juice (he greedily drinks half of it), a bowl full of oatmeal with fruit, a slice of apple, and two handfulls of cheerios (he loves those things.) Eleo wakes up (thankfully.)

7:50 AM

i kiss the baby goodbye and walk to the bus stop. I get to the med center at about 8:15 or so, i buy myself a frappucino at starbucks and slowly walk to work. I'm not tired, really.