Signs that your children are on to you

I bought a small computer desk for the living room last weekend hoping that I'll be able to get a little more work done in the evenings after the kids are in bed.

I just finished assembling it using a flashlight and my best ninja silent construction skills because Bubba Gene has decided that he'll only sleep for more than 20 minutes tonight if he's in his playpen... in the living room... about 15 feet away.

At least it looks like I can type without waking the little guy up. I just need a headlamp if I want to read anything other than the laptop screen.


Princess Ana's moment tonight came after dinner. "Ana wants to go outside... and I don't need socks on!" The crusade to keep her properly dressed this winter has been effective, but it looks like she's planning on preempting any attempt to dress her now. If we can avoid the trip to the grocery store in a bikini until May I'll count the effort as a success. She's been wearing her bikini to bath time for the past week now though, so I may be in trouble there too.

Christmas isn't Christmas without an ER visit

Last year I jokingly said we were starting a tradition of taking Princess Ana to the ER for Christmas Eve. This year the tradition changed a bit, but was continued.

The day before we left Aggieland we took Bubba Gene for a preemptive doctor visit hoping to catch any infection that he might have. We got antibiotics for an ear infection that was just starting. Ana had finished a round of antibiotics the day before, so we thought we had nipped the hospital visit in the bud.

Christmas Eve, the day we normally spent in the ER, came and went as did the next three days. The kids were healthy and happy. On Thursday we moved from my mom's house to my grandmother's house and forgot Bubba's antibiotic. Icy roads prevented a trip to get it. The next day he didn't feel well at all and in the evening we finally took him to the ER. His ear infection hadn't gone away. A shot of a second antibiotic and a prescription for a third seem to have cleared things up, so all is well that ends well.

Next Christmas we're just going to ask Santa for gift certificates for the ER of our choice and that the doctor we like be on call.

Merry Christmas

Who Needs a Patronus?

I don't think I could have had a better reading companion for the final Harry Potter book. Princess Ana read the previous book with me, but she liked to be on the move. I wandered through the house with the book in one hand and her in the other. Certainly not the most comfortable way to read.

Bubba Gene was content to lay on the boppy, prepared to protect me should a Death Eater or Lord Voldemort himself leap from the pages. I'm certainly glad there isn't another Potter book in the works. I'm afraid I'd have to have another kid to be able to sit down and read it.

The Tiring Work of Being a Baby

I know... that "moment" I promised was four days long. I'll work on it.

Gene has enjoyed the swing much more than Princess Ana did. He spent the better part of the weekend in it soaking up the sunlight to help knock out a little bit of jaundice, and loved every minute of it.

Your Amazon.com order is being prepared for shipping

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1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Hooray! It's a week of new arrivals at the house. I had jokingly told my mother that if her grandson was born on Saturday I was naming him Harry Potter Smith. Mother was not amused, but the baby came early and a family crisis was avoided.

More on the baby momentarily.

When I'll actually have time to read the new Rowling tome I don't know. I read the last book while holding Princess Ana in my arms. The problem now is that Princess Ana still wants the world revolving around her regardless of who's holding her brother.