What a weekend. And how very Cleaver-ish of me to say. I have to watch that, what I say. Did I write that Ryder was in a phase of not wanting to be held much? I did, and it’s no longer true. He was whiny all day Sunday, and he cried every time we left the room. He also learned how to hold his little arms up in the air, the universal sign for “pick me up,” in an attempt to trigger massive parental guilt whenever passing by. But the boy has a good excuse, a really good excuse, for being whiny.

Let me begin at the beginning. Having decided B and I needed a BREAK, I arranged for my mother to keep Ryder overnight Friday. We did not have plans. We did not go to dinner. We did not leave the house … until Saturday morning to get donuts, but we then quickly crawled back in bed and remained there until 2 p.m. Later that evening, I bought my mom a filet and lobster tail as a sign of my gratitude ... to repay her, if you will.

Exchange rate:
sleep >= $ filet + $ lobster tail. Whatever, I always sucked at math.

So Sunday Ryder wakes up with a crusty eye. He’s had quite a bit of congestion and is getting over the ear infection, so I wasn’t that alarmed. After reading The Book, Brian thought it might be a clogged tear duct, but the eye kept oozing most of the day, and yesterday morning we decided he should see the doc. It’s a very good thing we did, too.

I had feared Ryder’s fussiness was related to our leaving him overnight, but it had nothing to do with that at all. The boy's sick. He has conjunctivitis (pinkeye), and his ear infection still hasn’t gone away. The amoxicillin didn’t do the trick, so we have a new antibiotic that should knock out the bacteria causing both infections. Ryder won’t be returning to daycare until mid-week or later. My husband's at home with him for the second day in a row.

So Ryder has good reason to be whiny; he obviously hasn’t felt well, poor guy. We're giving him extra hugs and lovin', but still, I should have never written that he doesn’t want to be held much.

OK, exciting stuff here. Almost as exciting as when I learned about the Ms. Manicure marvelous minis for on-the-go grooming from Jessie.

When I stopped into the nail salon this week, I decided I wasn't going to have a french manicure. While I like the look (and the compliments received after posting a photo of my middle finger) the white always chips off too soon. I decided to opt for clear polish. At least it's not as noticeable when it chips because it's sometimes difficult to find time to sit down with remover and a cotton ball.

Somehow the chatty, male technician talked me into having my nails buffed as an alternative to polish. He used the electric buffer tool ... and I LOVE the result. Love it, love it, love it. Why have I not done this before? My nails are so smooth and shiny, and they look as if they have clear polish on them, but the coolest part is that they don't, and they won't chip. It's so low maintenance, which fits me perfectly these days.

Anyway, you should try it sometime. How lame am I that I get excited over buffed nails?! Aw dears, it's the little things.

Last Friday, Brian and I went to dinner to celebrate our first anniversary, though our anniversary was actually yesterday. We wanted to have a celebratory dinner on a weekend evening, and the weekend before the date seemed better than the weekend after. The thing about having a baby is that these things have to be carefully planned. We made arrangements for R to be picked up from daycare, and we met for dinner after work.

But yesterday was our official anniversary date. We celebrated at home, with our "real life baby." Ryder is in this stage where he doesn't want to be held much. Mainly, he wants to be on the floor so he can sit and roll around and work on trying to crawl. So last night, while in his room selecting his clothes for the morning, I placed him on the floor. I sat down with him and just watched as he played with his stuffed toy dog. "DOG," I said. "Da. DOG." He spoke some gibberish back. About that time, Brian sat down on the toy chest to join me. We watched Ryder a few minutes, and then Brian said, "We have a real-life baby. What happened to that blob we had that only ate, slept, and dirtied diapers?"

I told him soon we'll be saying, we have a real-life kid. What happened to that baby? It's going very fast.

After putting our son to bed, we watched a movie, we ate anniversary cheesecake and then called it a night. It was a good first anniversary.

It was a good weekend, but weekends go so fast -- even faster now that there's baby. Last weekend was good, too. I never got around to mentioning Mother's Day, and it deserves mentioning.

I received my first Mother's Day card last year when I was pregnant, and I remember thinking baby would be six months old by the following Mother's Day. It was hard to fathom, and now, here we are. Part of this year's gift from Brian was a new surround sound system ... obviously, he benefits from it as well. To his point, we do watch quite a few movies these days. My gift from Ryder was this charm, which I adore. Word has it he STILL hasn't reimbursed his daddy.

Ryder's getting more teeth. The two bottom front have been in for a while, and now the top front are on their way. He gets them in pairs. Because of this, he was a bit grumpy on mama's day and most of last week. He ran a low-grade fever until Wednesday, when I got a call from daycare at 3:45 p.m. informing me that Ryder's temperature was 103 degrees. PANIC, I did indeed do, and I rushed out of the office to go get my baby.

His fever broke after alternating doses of Tylenol and Advil, and we made an appointment to see the doctor the next morning. Turns out, in addition to the pains of teething, the little guy has an ear infection. His first ear infection earned him his first prescription medication, and we've been shooting pink, bubble-gum tasting amoxicillin into his mouth via a syringe for days now. He rather likes the stuff, and it seems to be doing its job. He was a happy baby all weekend and enjoyed our lunch date Saturday and time at the pool Sunday.

After a couple of really busy weeks, this one looks less hectic -- for now. I could use some time off. The good news is that we do have a vacation coming next month; I'm ready.

No. 1 reason to smile:

And check out those teeth!

I've been so busy and overwhelmed lately that contributing anything here has been difficult. Think you've heard that from me before? You're right. I seem only to muster a few sentences now and then ... things that stick in my head. I have stories, many stories, but they evaporate before being transferred to paper or screen; the next event is happening, the memory is gone.

Much is transpiring -- some things good, many others not. Still, my outlook is rather positive. This is my favorite time of year, which helps matters. Drama is part of the collective "much" to which I refer.

Close friends, family members, are going through trials. You may not want to associate with me, as it seems nearly everyone I know is on the front lines these days. I'm certainly not alone in battle, and I feel fortunate for faith that I'll make it home.

Best thing heard all day:
"It is like seven monkeys trying to date the same monkey sock puppet."

I have a feeling "date" would have been replaced with another verb had this not been stated in a professional environment.

A couple of things ...

Today's my girl Robin's birthday. It's the big'un.

I'd like to thank Amy for free music.

That is all for now.