still not friday

i feel like i've been struggling to catch up all week, even if by monday evening it felt like friday already.

monday we had our smoked ham and it was DELICIOUS. more smokey towards the outside, which is to be expected. it came out a little dry, so we'll have to remedy that next time (perhaps with a mop). even so, it was very good. i also got to nibble on some pig fat, which is one of the few real joys left in this life. ;)


tuesday, bryan's father flew into town to spend a few days with us. oliver decided he didn't want to nap at day care, and took a grand total of one nap all day, from 12pm - 1pm. so he was pretty cranky by the time he got home at 4pm. and thus had more interest in crying rather than settling down for a nap. i gave up completely on sticking to our nighttime routine, administered some tylenol, thinking perhaps it's the teething, rocked and snuggled him, and he conked out around 6. the first half of the night went really well, but he was pretty fussy the second half of the night (or rather, the morning, as it was technically after 12am). he just seemed restless and uncomfortable. i should have given him more tylenol, but didn't. i just hesitate to dose him all the time, but if he needs it, i guess he needs it.

wednesday, bryan took the day off so he and his dad, bill, could do some projects. they got our vegetable garden planted!! it's pretty small, but has a good variety: green beans, sweet peas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, a variety of peppers, asparagus, rhubarb, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, and i think that's it. it will be a nice supplement to our csa. bill made us his specialty for dinner - spaghetti. i had been craving spaghetti lately. it was delicious - slow simmered, with italian sausage and bell peppers. i cleaned the last bits off my plate with garlic bread. YUM!

oliver hadn't done much better during the day - one nap from 12pm - 2pm. but, although he was tired in the evening, he wasn't fussy/cranky. so he hung out with grandpa bill instead of crying in his crib, which made everyone happier. he ate his dinner like a champ (oatmeal and sweet peas). we had a nice bath, got ready for bed, and tried to settle into the rocker. our day care provider had recommended trying teething tablets, so bryan picked some up while running errands. i'm not sure if they did the trick of if i was just lucky, but last night was a breeze! he fought me for a few minutes trying to feed at bed, then calmed down, ate, and went right to sleep by 7pm. he woke up just before 10pm, and i went to change his diaper and figured i had a good hour of trying to calm him down. but he settled right into my arms! so i was able to put him back down quite easily. he woke up around 12:30am, ate well, and went back to sleep without a peep. he woke up at 4:30am, and bryan tried to give him a bottle, but he wasn't interested. i think he got frustrated trying his new trick - pulling the nuk OUT of his mouth. he just can't figure out how to get it back in. :) he's been working on this new ability all month, and while he's fantastic at grasping the ring and yanking the sucker out, and he's better at consistently making contact with his mouth trying to get it back in, he still can't quite figure out how to position it so that he gets it back - any time he does i estimate is pure luck. ;) but, i got him tucked back in and happy, asleep at 5. at that point, though, we were pretty much laying in bed fooling ourselves that we were resting, since we get up before 6am. we woke the baby up, to keep with our schedule. bryan packed the munchkin up and they went off to take grandpa bill to the airport, leaving me some quiet time to get ready. oliver was in a great mood this morning, eating his breakfast well (oatmeal and prunes, his new food for the week) and smiling all the way to day care. i LOVE happy smiley baby!!

bryan has an appointment with home depot today to make some tweaks to our kitchen cabinet design. i am really looking forward to nailing that down. hopefully we'll get a chance this weekend to solidify our tile selections.

i am definitely looking forward to the weekend. we've got some rain forecasted, but hopefully we'll be able to sneak in a bike ride. i'm actually looking forward to doing the laundry, since i miraculously got 99% of it done last weekend (except folding the whites), something that never happens. usually on saturday i'm scrambling to fold the last 2 loads so i can use the baskets to haul that week's dirties downstairs (and haven't even washed the whites). on sunday, we're having dinner at mom and dad's - they will be smoking a beef brisket. yeehaw!

WFD: something with pork loin, since we have one in the fridge we need to use. probably with a mojo type marinade, since i have some tangelos that aren't sweet enough to eat. and salad, i need to use lettuce. and maybe potatoes, because that sounds good. now, if i only had some cream cheese and guava pasta for empanadas, i'd have the full cuban meal!