Little man of steel

My son is standing and swiveling me around in the desk chair and laughing gleefully as I try to type.

The golden hour

Gabriel and I don't have much of a schedule, other than feeding and nap times. These stay relatively the same every day. We try to walk Molly in the morning, but only because it's still so dang hot right now. Later when cooler weather hits we can walk her anytime during the day. I used to run errands before lunch every day (once again, because of the hot weather), but now that's pretty flexible too. So our day waxes and wanes depending on what I'm trying to get done, with the occasional doctor appointment or pressing something-or-other thrown in.

My day has gotten easier as Gabriel has matured. I have more time to do chores or laundry while he plays on his own, or I can bring a bunch of toys with me into the room I need to work in, and Gabriel and I will play while I'm getting things done. Most of the housework gets done during the week this way. None of our day is too rushed or stressful, but I stay pretty busy. That is, until about 5 or so. Without a doubt my favorite time of the day is the hour or so before I start dinner, Gabriel watches one of his Baby Einstein DVDs, and we know Jav is on his way home from work.

Many days we'll spend this time outside (if the mosquitoes don't drive us in the house), languishing on a quilt and listening for different birds. Molly's always out with us, chewing on her sticks, and not even pausing every now and then when Gabriel wants to climb on her for a little while. Bones is also out with us, and lately Henry's been joining us too. Sometimes I'll fake being asleep, which always gets Gabriel to laugh and then come poke me in the belly button to wake me up. Sometimes we'll play my version of "Airplane", with me holding Gabriel with his belly balanced on top of my head while I whirl in circles. Sometimes I'll carry him around the yard looking for bugs or different leaves or flowers. He loves to swing at the wind chimes, and now gets upset if I forget them.

Last Friday we hung out in the family room with any toy he has with wheels. He all of a sudden likes to push cars or trucks or trains on my great grandmother's old cedar chest, the top of which was scratched up and water damaged years ago. I just sit and marvel at how much of a little boy he has turned into, and wonder about how fast my little baby boy is growing up. I had my Ipod playing too, and a couple of times I'd yank him up and we'd take a turn about the dance floor, even remembering how to two-step, which I haven't done in awhile. It's just blissful to get to spend time with him like this. Really lazy, unhurried time. Plus we know Jav is on his way home, which is another reason to feel happy. It's the best time of the day.

Happy Birthday Gabriel-your first year has flown by!

I want to remember...

his little dimples in his hands, and watching him open and close his fingers when he felt different fabrics and textures.

his rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, and then standing on his hands and tippy toes trying with all his might to move forward instead of backward.

his arms flapping up and down with excitement anytime any or all of the pets were around, and especially all of his time with Stanley.

his little mouth making an "o" with his lips wrapped around his gums everytime he really wanted to tell us something.

his face, even though every morning he resembled a different member of the family when he woke up - my brother, Jav's sister, both of our Dads, his cousin Cade, but always with Jav's cheeks.

his smile first thing every morning when I walked into his room, or when he was proud about something new he had learned.

his laugh, right from the belly, first when the cats came into his room chasing the tape measure, and then when I danced a little jig over and over again, then later when his grandmother tossed the ball up in the air and caught it again and again.

his crazy bunny hop crawling.

his lip that would stand out a mile long when he got really upset, really fast.

his fingers which he would hold with his other hand and stretch his arms over his head.

his voice, crying "ma ma ma ma ma" when he wanted anything at all, and his constant humming through meals.

his bashful pose that he still does anytime we squeeze Rubber Duckie, with his shoulders hunched forward and his head down.

his need to pat his chest or tummy every time he sings, and now his need to pat us to make us sings too.

his sweet baby smell, coming from his head while I read him a book in my lap.

his warmth, feeling his head against my chest and his arms around my neck as I rocked him to sleep.

To sign or not to sign

Our neighborhood is right in the middle of the Urban Gas Drilling controversy. We've received one letter asking us to sign a 5-year lease. Then, another letter explaining that the drilling that will be taking place in the Tandy Hills nature area will be moving forward with the utmost regard for the environmental concerns that the residents are all voicing. Our neighborhood association President has thrown himself into this debate (as he throws himself into every issue in our neighborhood), and is on a Task Force to get all of our questions answered. Jav added me to his email list after deciding that I would be very interested in everything that's going on.

He was right! After reading the three email he sent out today regarding the matter, I am now leaning towards fighting any drilling at all, especially in an area that is one of the last pure Texas prairie grasslands. I love the beauty of this state more and more as the years go by, and appreciate the uniqueness of that beauty.

Here is the article that our President forwarded that really sums up what I think about the whole thing.

Mammoth project

I am currently trying to get through 12 or 13 years of packets of pictures. I have a huge box that I have been dumping the pictures in every time I was done looking at them. Then when we moved I added any framed photos that I had collected through the years. After I got through the first three envelopes (which included throwing away at least 3/4 of the pictures, labeling and filing the rest in a photo box), the project I thought would take years to finish is really moving along. I have committed to go through at least one pack a day.

The second part of the project is downloading the good, keepable pictures from the C/D's from each packet (only from the last six years or so) to our computer. Haven't started that task yet.

And the final part will be taking the sorted pictures and putting them either into photo albums or (gasp) scrapbooks. I am not a good scrapbooker. I think they are really cool when done without too much kitsch (is that how to spell it?). I don't think I have the time or patience for it. But because I have illusions of grandeur about what I can do, I am planning to make at least three rudimentary scrapbooks, one for Gabriel's first year, one for our 40-year-old girls Fredericksburg trip, and one for Stanley.

I'm also picking out special pictures to start a gallery of family photos up and down our hallway. There will be current family, pets, and a section of really old family photos. I have some wonderful old photos of my maternal grandparents as children with their brothers and sisters, and then as newlyweds. I also have a box of paternal grandparent photos that I need to go through and see what I can salvage. I'm afraid they spent too many years in my parents outdoor storage building getting ruined in the heat. I'm trying to get Jav to get pictures from his Mom so it won't just be my side of the family up and down the hall. It's weird how the sons don't seem to keep the nostalgic things around as much as the daughters of the family.

It's really hard to not get caught up in reminiscing while looking through the pictures. This has a tendency to make me very nostalgic and emotional, which can hold up the whole process. But other than that I'm making pretty good time and hope to be finished by the end of the year.

Obsession

Jav and I have become obsessed with our 2 hours at night we get to relax and watch TV with no baby or pets interrupting. Actually, make that just no baby, the pets are still jumping on the bed or meowing for food or needing to go outside. But anyway, we are so serious about this time that we spent an hour or so looking over the article in the Star Telegram Sunday about new and returning shows. We decided to pick out a couple of new ones to start taping each week. Our show count dropped now that Sopranos, Big Love and Flight of the Conchords are finished. Here's what we decided:

-Saving Grace - we'll finish out the season

-The Office, which has been a favorite for the past couple of years.

-Top Chef/Project Runway (Top Chef has 3 or so more weeks, and I'm not sure when Project Runway starts).

-Heroes. We just started slowly watching last season and are trying to figure out a way to speed up the process so we can start enjoying Season 2 once it starts. Right now we're only watching two episodes a week.

These next three will probably not all make it. We plan to pick at least one and maybe two from this list of new shows:

-Dirty Sexy Money. Another mob show, and you gotta love Peter Krauss, so we have to try it.

-Cane. This is supposed to harken back to the Dynasty days, only much better writing and acting. It's about a sugar cane plantation owning family. It has a great cast including Jimmy Smits, Rita Moreno and Hector Elizondo.

-Pushing Daisies. The critics are all saying this will be the best new show of the season. It's about a guy who can save a person's or animal's (or even plant's I think) life by just touching them. The only problem is he has to pick out someone or something else to die instead.

And finally, our guilty pleasure - The Great American Band Contest on Fox.

Oh, and we decided to start taping all Seinfelds, just because they're so great and there's a bunch I never saw midway through the run.

And just in case anyone thinks I've become a TV addict, I also try to read for a half hour after we turn off the dreaded contraption every night.

Match Point

This is the first time I've ever watched the U.S. Open starting from Round 1 (gotta love the DVR!). I've seen a few entire matches, but mostly some highlights or endings of almost every major match. It really does build the momentum of the tournament when you watch the whole thing and recognize the players. I'm happy Venus is still in it, but there are no American men still standing. I think I like watching the females better, anyway. The matches just seem to move quicker and the players seem more evenly matched, which makes for more exciting games. I had been rooting for an Israeli player named Shahar Peer, but she was beat by a 20-year-old Russian named Anna Chakvetadze, who is playing another Russian (Kuznetsova) for the finals today. On the men's side, American James Blakes's matches were legendary, as usual, even though he finally lost to German Tommy Haas. I'm now rooting for Serbian Novak Djokovic. I like the way he plays, and he has a charming attitude to match. Alot of big names were beat by virtual unknowns, which made things really interesting.

I have tennis fever in my blood, with my Dad having played for years and years (he was good enough to compete in amateur tournaments, but never did), my Mom played for years too, and my great Uncle Robert was still playing in his 60's. His knees and back finally gave out, but he still watches with a passion. One day I'll be inspired to pick up my racket again, only I really need some lessons to unlearn all the bad habits I've picked up.

Moving in the same circles

Jav and I realized early on that we spent five years of our youth at very close proximity without ever meeting. From 1976 to 1980, we lived one street over from his family. Their house backed up to the house that was across the street from us. Maybe we saw Jav or Sandra, but I don't remember it. We pretty much kept to the kids on our street, and they to theirs.

Then the other day we happened to be driving down Lancaster, which has changed so much since we were kids. My grandmother, Mom and I used to head down to our favorite shopping center several times a week in the afternoons. We would have pie or custard at Wyatt's Cafeteria, my grandmother and Mom would shop at Monnig's Department Store, and I would love walking over to Mott's Five and Dime or Skillern's Drug Store. Sometimes we'd go to Cloth World to look at patterns or thread or buttons.

I was relaying all of this nostalgia to Jav, and he remembered that his Mom used to take Sandra and he to the same stores in the afternoons after school. They didn't hit Wyatt's very often, but his mother would shop at Monnig's while he and Sandra goofed around in Mott's. We both reminisced about where everything was in Mott's - the toys, the baseball cards-I can remember the layout like the back of my hand. Jav also remember that he HATED having to wait for his Mom in Cloth World, the most boring place in the world to a 10-year-old boy.

We decided we just had to have been in the same place at the same time long before we ever officially met.

Songs

Gabriel has become accustomed to my singing, and especially to me singing certain songs. It's weird how fast certain songs fell into my repertoire and never left. Some songs have alot of historical value to me, and some just sort of happened.

I sing to him when he wakes up (Good Morning from Singin' in the Rain, Oh What A Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma, Zip A Dee Doo Dah, or It's A Jolly Holiday from Mary Poppins).

I sing to him before naps (I'm Only Sleeping by the Beatles, On the Good Ship Lollipop (which I remember my grandparents singing to me every time I spent the night at their house), The Candy Man, and Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head while it was raining every day) For some reason, nap songs have to have some bounce to them. He goes right to sleep with a little bounce.

I sing to him in the car - whatever is in the CD player or comes up on the IPOD.

I sing to him at night, if Jav doesn't get him right to sleep (humming my favorite Nocturne by Chopin that makes a great lullaby, Stay Awake from Mary Poppins, Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline, and Till There Was You by the Beatles, and an old lullaby my Mom used to sing to my brother and me, All Through The Night)

When he was three months old, it was just before Christmas, so I would sing every Christmas carol I know to him. My favorites were Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (LOVE that song) and Everybody's Waitin' For The Man With The Bag (very good and bouncy for naps). I can't believe it's almost time to sing those again.

Because I sing the same songs at the same time every day, it puts him in "the zone" to sleep. Lately I've tried to throw some new ones in (Sweet Baby James by James Taylor and a couple of others) and they don't put him in the zone. Maybe I need to add them in heavier rotation until they catch on. I wonder if he will remember any of these, or if he hears one later on in life, I wonder if something about it will make him nostalgic without really knowing why.

I guess the only reason for this posting is so that I will remember. Since Jav took over giving Gabriel his last bottle and putting him to bed about 3 months ago, I had already forgotten about the Chopin lullaby until I listened to my Chopin CD the other day and started bawling. Things change mighty fast these days.

Summer fun