Apologies, Groveling, and Minutiae

I apologize that is has been so long since I've posted, but if you'll take a look at the top of the page, you'll see that I have been very busy nursing my Karen Kingsbury obsession. Finally I have finished the Baxter Family Drama, and what a drama it was! I did love it though, so I'm not complaining. But I realize that you, dear readers, were the ones who suffered. You poor things. Can you ever forgive me? You've probably had to pacify your funny Quinn story needs with silly YouTube videos of cats. Sorry. But now back to your regularly scheduled programming. On the subject of readers, I have now crossed the popularity threshold into two followers!! Only one of which is my sister! Yay! Thank you, 2nd follower. You've made my week. Although I have to say, I'm so glad I'm not as popular as MckMama. Give me 600 comments a day, and I promise you I will NOT read them all! Unless they each contain a pledge of $2 to allow me to forgo that silly thing I call a job.

Anyway, since I'm not at risk for massive worldwide popularity anytime soon, let us commence with the tales of my darling boy. He is quickly becoming the two-year-old I hoped he'd never be. He says "no" all the time, throws his food and drink at least one meal a day, steals crackers whenever Jalal leaves them in his reach, refuses to give me a hug and kiss at least twice a day, and has now begun jumping off the arm of the couch and climbing up the back of the couch. It is only a matter of time before he cracks his stinkin' head open. On the bright side, how do I complain about a sweet angel who loves to cuddle (when he's not trying in vain to have a BM), read books with me, play with my hair, and ask for broccoli for breakfast EVERY MORNING! He also holds hands with his friend Sarah and puts the books at the library and at church away even when he isn't asked to help. Putting away his toys at home is an entirely different story. I desperately need to vacuum, but just moving all his toys and books is so daunting!

Part of the excuse for not posting earlier this week, and failing to maintain Silly Stories Sunday and Not Me! Monday, was that Jalal had three days off in a row, thanks to a holiday for the 4th of July (not on the 4th of July, of course, since once a year on our country's patriotic holiday, Jalal is forced to entertain hundreds of beautiful young women vying for our state's highest honor [???], Miss South Carolina.) I actually think it's kind of cool that he personally knew the winner this year, the younger sister of one of his former employees. Crazy. So during the first part of the week, we went on a massive hunt for a suitable and available birthday party site. Turns out we waited just a little too long, so we didn't get to reserve our first choice, and many places were just too big and too expensive. We finally found a great park on the north side of town with a small pavilion we could rent. There is a toddler playground that is pretty nice and then a big kids playground that makes me wish I were 12 years old. It is freakin' awesome! If we still live here in a few years, we are going there to play all the time! So now that that is settled, we sent out Evites (to tech-savvy folk) and paper invites (to Nani and Grammy and so on). Now we'll see who can come! If it ends up being just Maureen and Sarah and us, so be it! Well, Quinn is awake and singing "Elmo's World" in his crib, so I had better go get him and fix him some lunch. Maybe he'll eat something besides broccoli. Love, Us.

P.S. He's also chanting "soccer ball, soccer ball, soccer ball" and saying "thank-you welcome bye!" What a trip!