I Am a Slacker

I know, I know. No pictures for days. Nothing funny or even remotely a little funny for weeks. I have really dropped the ball here, I know. BUT, the rest of my life is top notch. Yesterday, I plucked my eyebrows AND wore heels to class. All of my laundry is caught up. My floors are gleaming. I haven't fallen way behind in my class yet (mainly because there's been nothing to grade, so ask me how that's going next week-- or actually, don't). I even have time to wipe Harry's sticky nasty handprints off the sliding glass door everyday. And my dissertation? GREAT. In fact, my research assistant (aka my brother Jon) is on his way to Planned Parenthood's archives today, so I can say that while I perfect my pedicure, tons of research is happening, people. Ahh, multi-tasking rocks.

So, the only aspect of my life that is crumbling is this blog. I have a whole week's worth of adorable pictures on my camera, but the camera's battery is so dead that I cannot upload them. And I can't find the power cord. I remember trying to use it in the car (which doesn't work. We were so excited to have a plug in the car, but NOTHING fits in it-- a very weirdly angled socket,if that makes sense. So unless I want to drive with one hand and hold the cord in the hole with the other hand, no in-car charging. And anyone who has ridden with me knows that the more hands I use to drive, the better).

Luckily, Josephine's mom Allison is NOT a slacker, and she emailed me these cute pictures from Little Gym last week.

The world's strongest baby!

Yeah-- he was right on the edge, and I was worried.

Oh yeah! Another aspect of my life that's gone to crap? Cooking. I have not cooked in weeks. Ben's done all the cooking, and I have microwaved a lot of frozen stuff. Ahh, the sodium and preservatives. Today, though, I am about to make a meatloaf. Maybe in heels. How retro. I am, after all, writing about the baby boom these days-- which? After eugenics? A breath of fresh air. Things are definitely looking up.

[Edited to Add: Things were looking down, I must say, as recently as Saturday, when I spent the whole day watching America's Next Top Model reruns on MTV and crying because my dissertation was so overwhelming; my house was so dirty, and I was sooooo hungry for a fruit and cheese platter. Also because it was so unfair that summer was over and I had to work 6 whole hours a week. 6 hours, people. That's my staring-blankly-at-the-internet-and-eating-Hershey's-kisses time. What was I going to do? 6 HOURS. A WEEK.]

Mmmmm. Peanut Butter and Jelly

And luckily, no anaphylactic shock.

He's laughing AT me, by the way.


And dude, I always eat lunch in my jammies, don't you?

You've Got a Letter on Your Head, and the Letter Is T

T for trenchcoat. T for tetanus. T for tar heel.

That's the new bath game Ben thought of last week. You'll have to hear him do it-- a very catchy chant, I must say. Harry loves sticking his bath letters to his head, and we love telling him the most randomest words we can think of, so everybody wins.

Thank Goodness for Washable Crayons

Harry has his own set of crayons and a cute little Crayola sketchbook. He'll spend whole minutes squatting in front of his paper very seriously scribbling line after line. His favorite part of the creative process, however, is picking up the crayons and shoving them in the box. Then he shakes the box all over the place and puts all the crayons back again, repeating this process until Mommy is really bored. I can't really take my eyes off him, you know, because even though these crayons are washable, I don't want my bed spread or my carpet or my clothes covered in crayon marks.

Still, coloring is more relaxing than this, which is how he spends the rest of his days and also requires constant supervision.

Fall Fashion Preview

This is what all the babies in Milan were sporting on their teeny little runways.




He looks a bit dejected, huh? Don't be fooled-- he's perfecting his model pout.

Little Gym

Harry started his Fall sememster of Little Gym last week, and he was so excited to see his teachers and all his little baby friends. Well, he hopes they'll be his friends soon because it's a whole new cast of babies this semester. Except, of course, for Josephine, who was just as thrilled as Harry was to get back on the mats.

I couldn't even keep him on the BIG! RED! MAT! at the beginning of class; he went straight for the equipment and tried to kill himself on the miniature uneven bars. And, he clearly has his daddy's ability to kiss some serious teacher ass. He was right under his teacher's feet everytime she was looking for a baby to help demonstrate one of the skills of the week. Toward the end of class, she even said with slightly less enthusiasm than usual (which is still a freaking lot of enthusiasm), "Oh, here's Harrison...again."

Our class meets right in the middle of Harry's morning nap, so as you can imagine, he was spent by the end.

Max's Birthday Party Where Harry Mowed the Lawn

And Max had some cake


And opened a lot of gifts


Harry appreciated that the Elmo theme of the party went all the way to the goody bags, and he loved drinking out of his Elmo cup. Also? Animal cracker boxes are good purses.


Harry liked his al fresco dining experience (and a good Italian beef sandwich),



but he mainly wanted to play with the big kids,



which gave him the most delicious red cheeks.



And what about me and Ben? We just stood around looking silly.