Love bites

How to know you've gone too long without nursing your baby....

(That's my shoulder, btw.)

Bowmp bow bwang-uh! and other stuff

Variety is the spice of life. So here are bits of random stuff....

Even though this isn't my inspirational blog, I have apparently inspired a few folks to blog about fashion/shopping with my What I'd Wear Wednesday posts. I should have already mentioned this, and am hanging my head in shame. Kristi at Interrupted Wanderlust has been doing hil-ar-i-ous Fashion Fright Friday posts -- so go on over and visit today -- and Soy Is The New Black has been doing Shopping Sundays (with a six-week-old baby!) What fun!

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Also....

I blog like a girl -- a rockin' girl, that is!



Oh Amanda nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. Sweet! Thank you, thank you!

Allow me to play my rockin' air guitar...

Bowmp Bow! Bowmp bow bow bow bow bwang-uh! Wah wicka-wah wah, wah wicka-wah wow Wow!

I pass this award onto:

Amber at Crazy Bloggin' Canuck. She rocks because she is climbing a mountain this weekend and always has a funny spin to everything.

Kristi at Interrupted Wanderlust. She tells it like it is and has a cute little girl about Fly's age. (Too bad arranged marriages aren't the thing anymore....)

Guinevere Meadow at Guinevere's Thoughts on Nothing in Particular. She is a rockin' real-life friend! If you knew her, you'd give her the award too.

Much More Than A Mom. She runs Web sites, she teaches, she is pregnant with her second baby!

Amanda D at Tumble Dry and The Wink. She writes so poetically about life with her two sweet daughters. And she just celebrated her anniversary!

But really, everyone whose blogs I read rock! If you didn't, I wouldn't spend Flybaby's precious naptime reading you. You rock, and you rock, and you and you and you rock....

Speaking of which, I have just updated my blogroll in, like, forever. If I missed you, please lynch me gently remind me with an e-mail, and I'll add you.

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This morning, look what I found in my purse:



JP slipped my favorite shade of Burt's Bees Lip Shimmers in there a couple weeks ago, and I just found it!

What a sincere love.... Swoon

Jumping to dreamland

Ahh... sweet baby sleeps. While I was in the bathroom this morning, JP put Fly in his Jumperoo. (I was surprised Fly didn't cry because lately he hasn't been lovin' it.) Then I said goodbye to JP at the door, found Fly playing happily in his Jumperoo and decided to do a quick e-mail check.

At some point, I realized Fly was completely silent. When I went over to him, he was asleep in his Jumperoo! Amazing! This has never happened.

Is it wrong that this is now my favorite way to see Flybaby?!

What I'd Wear Wednesday

Some folks have asked why I call this What I'd Wear Wednesday. It's easy. I'd wear it if I had it. It doesn't necessarily mean I'd buy it, because many things I post are out of my price range for what I would pay for clothes and accessories. But it's fun to dream....


What I'd wear today if I could: this rhinestone-studded DKNY T-shirt to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This is actually a designer item that isn't out of my price range, and it's for a good cause. Plus it's got a great message.

Because I'm a mom now, I think charities that benefit children are really something I could get into. There's a local group here that houses and helps children who have been pulled from their homes because of abuse or neglect. My friend Missy wants to volunteer to just hold some of the babies -- that's an actual volunteer position -- because the babies haven't had that human contact. Can you imagine?

What are your favorite children's charities?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Been downhearted baby
ever since the day we met
I've been downhearted baby
ever since the day we met
Our love is nothin' but the blues
Baby how blue can you get -- B.B. King

Now once, I was downhearted
Disappointment was my closest friend
But then you came, and it soon departed
And you know he never showed his face again
Your love, lifting me higher
Than I've ever been lifted before -- Jackie Wilson

How is it that the most wonderful, awe-inspiring, grateful time in your life is also the most nerve-wracking, soul-wrenching and depressing time?

How to know if you're ready to have children

Feeling very blah. So I'm posting this, sent to me by a friend, while I tend to Child Who Never Sleeps (aka Flybaby).

How to know whether you're ready to have children

MESS TEST
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer. (I would add: make a nice mess on your in-laws' white carpet.)

TOY TEST
Obtain a 55-gallon box of LEGOs (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.

GROCERY STORE TEST
Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

DRESSING TEST
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag, making sure all the arms stay inside.

FEEDING TEST
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

NIGHT TEST
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 p.m. begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 p.m. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 p.m. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 a. m. Set alarm for 5:00 a.m. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

INGENUITY TEST
Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a Ping-Pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. (I would add: make a castle, dollhouse and golf game.)

AUTOMOBILE TEST
Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it into the cassette player (ha!). Take a family-size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There, perfect.

PHYSICAL TEST (Women)
Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

PHYSICAL TEST (Men)
Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

What I'd Wear Wednesday: help me decide

What I'd wear today if I could: I can't decide! I love both of these skirts:



This is a skirt by INC. I have so been wishing to wear a swingy skirt, and this one looks so of-the-moment somehow. It's short but not too short.



But this skirt by Not Your Daughter's Jeans (love the name!) has a "tummy tuck" feature, and denim goes with everything.

Which skirt do you like better? Or do you like them both?

Speaking of skirts, please vote for my contribution to Sk*rt here as part of a Parent Bloggers Network contest. When you read my story, I guarantee you'll feel super-great about yourself all week. Please! Have a laugh on me! Why not enter the contest yourself while you're at it? Voting ends Friday.

What am I hiding?

...a tale from my past. Please check it out here and vote for me!

The not-vacation, or, Where I'd Have Been This Weekend if I Could

So, this weekend was all about Father's Day and doing fun things around town in place of going on a real vacation this year. Did you see my previous pictures? Here are a few more.


One-eighth-scale real working train ride for JP and Flybaby



Enjoying quality reading material at a local bookstore



And yes! Those matching shirts I told you I sewed as one of JP's Father's Day gifts. I know they are ridiculous. But that's the whole point of a Hawaiian-style shirt, right? (Don't worry, he also got a scrapbook of photos of just himself and Flybaby, plus some "real" clothes and an ice cream cake.)

Yesterday, we went to the nearest zoo for the first time ever. It's amazing how a whole new world of things to do appears just because you have a child! But we quickly got rained out, so, no pictures from that excursion....

Now that I got those pictures out of my system ....

Well.

Doing a not-vacation is better than not doing a not-vacation. But it's still not a vacation.

I don't want to complain because we had fun, but everything we did on our not-vacation was something we could have done on a typical weekend. And because it was Father's Day weekend and I'm a mama, I probably did more work to give JP a nice weekend -- rather than relaxing like on a real vacation.

In fact, because this weekend was our not-vacation, our attitude was "We are going to have fun if it kills us, dern it!" which is really not the way to not-travel. Or to travel. We just went from one activity to the next -- pausing only to breastfeed, really -- and it was tiring.

So now I'm weighing it out: screaming baby as we take a few hours to go somewhere and have a real vacation, or shuffling around town in the name of having fun on a not-vacation? Screaming baby for a few hours ... shuffling around town? Hmm. Excuse me while I think about it....

My day in pictures

JP took the day off because we're not going anywhere on vacation this year, and it's Father's Day weekend....

Discoveries

I just found a forum for people who are insane about Gymboree clothes. And all I was really after was an archive of all the themed clothing lines Gymboree has ever made. (It's there! With pictures of every single item including accessories!)

Also. Dove Irresistably Raspberry ice cream in a pint covered with a layer of chocolate. Therapy on a spoon ....

Disorganized conduct

Thank you, blog friends, for your comments of support on my sublime pre- Father's Day poosplosion and the resulting humiliation that came with it. It's times like these I really love blogging. Don't you?!

If it's not a poosplosion, it's a teething toy that falls apart. It's only fair to mention that a couple days ago, Sassy e-mailed me with this:

"Thank you for your email. We were sorry to hear of the experience you and your son encountered with the Dragonfly Teether. Be assured the safety of the children playing with our products is our primary concern, and all of our products meet and exceed all safety standards set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM). FYI...this is an isolated incident. We would like to send you a postage-paid envelope to send the toy back to us for a Quality Control inspection. We will also send you a merchandise credit order form, so you may choose a couple of different teethers from us. The envelope and order form will go out in the mail this week. Each consumer is valued, and we thank you for taking the time to contact us. Best Regards, Jane Doe/Sassy Consumer Relations"

"An isolated incident," eh? So Flybaby just happened to be the one unlucky little guy, I guess. Isolated. It makes him sound so ... alone. It gives me a mental image of him drifting on a block of ice near the South Pole, chewing on a broken toy.

I'm glad the company at least responded to my complaint. And it's nice Sassy offered to send me an envelope to mail back the teether. Guess on the form I filled out, I shouldn't have put 123 Main Street as my address....

I have been a bad blog reader/commenter, thanks to nonexistant naptimes, Father's Day prep (I'm sewing matching Hawaiian-style shirts for Flybaby and JP), "cleaning at" my house without really making it clean, having way too many hobbies, and now I'm baking Flybaby some teething biscuits/wholesome cookies. It's no wonder it's almost midnight and I haven't showered yet! It's not like I'm training to summit a mountain. How do you all do it?! I just feel so disorganized these days....

What I'd Wear Wednesday

What I'd wear today if I could: this blue circle shoulder bag from The Sak. I'm really not a knit purse kind of person, but this design just looks so fresh and ... I don't know, American. With Fourth of July coming up, I guess that's where my thoughts are turning these days....

The Sak also has this adorable baby-themed bag:



It comes in pink or blue. Oops, I mean blush or dream. Wouldn't it be a cute gift for an expectant mom?

Slo-mo poo show

For anyone who's ever been in a car crash ... made an elaborate show of spilling sangria on your new white pants ... watched as your mother's favorite vase toppled and smashed to bits after you were horsing around ... or maybe were tossed fully clothed into a swimming pool by your older brother ... you know how some unfortunate events in life seem to happen in slow motion. And all you can do is watch.

Well.

Yesterday, JP, Flybaby and I celebrated Father's Day a week early at his parents' house. JP's sister, Sabee, and her husband and boy were there too. Just a nice family gathering to bestow gifts on dear old Dad.

Just as it was time for everyone to help themselves buffet-style, JP and I smelled something.

"The deviled eggs on the table?" I asked.

"Uh-uh," JP said.

"I'll change Flybaby," I said. "It's your special day."

I took Fly to a back bedroom, laid out a blanket, and started to HOLY HECK WHAT A SMELL! started to OH MY GOSH, WHERE DID ALL THIS POO COME FROM? started to "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

Flybaby flipped over onto all fours and started crawling across my in-laws' carpet.

Perfect, off-white carpet.

You can see where this is going.

And I saw exactly where it all went -- poo creeped up the back of Fly's diaper, onto his romper (one single piece of clothing, only one!), and was now making a horrible, smelly decoration on the wall-to-wall. In that moment, I thought for sure I was on a reality show edited and slowed down to show just what kind of slacker mom I am. (Even though I'm not the Queen of Poop.)

"JP!" I called.

JP was on the scene in a flash. He held Flybaby while I used every wipe we had to clean his bottom, his back -- oh, now it's on his arms, his legs, his ... well, his whole body, actually.

This was happening all while Fly was screaming, which brought JP's mother to the room, and I felt just like the newly soiled spot on her floor.

I think God makes people parents to keep them humble.

JP's mother, MM, cheerfully cleaned the carpet ("We're washable!"), and JP took Fly's romper and washed it in the bathroom sink so it could be tumbled dry in the dryer. I put a new diaper on Fly and tried to get him to quiet down.

MM carried nearly naked Flybaby into the dining room where the whole family was now eating ("Flybaby! What a good look for you!" Sabee said), and I gathered up the wipes, yucked-up blanket and a towel that had appeared from somewhere, stuffing it all in a bag.

I felt so bad that I couldn't eat dinner after all that. I couldn't even look at anyone. Oh, the shame! I imagined Sabee snickering to herself about how I couldn't keep my baby under control. I imagined her and MM tsk-tsking me after we would leave. How the Great Father's Day Poo Stain of 2007 story would come to be told for years to come. How MM would warn me to bring my own changing table next time we visit.

If there's any one trait I want to display in front of JP's family -- especially now that I'm a mother -- it's competence. I think this stems from my first day alone with Flybaby, when MM declared I couldn't possibly take care of Flybaby all by myself! Since that day, I have gone to almost super-human lengths to prove her wrong. I can take care of my baby very well, thank you, and not only that, but hey! I'll host Thanksgiving dinner too! I'll design and mail birth announcements with the 53 thank-you notes I had to write after receiving so many gifts for Fly. I'll keep going even when I get mastitis.

And then -- oh, thankfully -- something like a poosplosion happens to take me down a notch and remind me I'm just a normal parent with a normal baby who poos the way babies sometimes poo, and if that means my child sits naked at the family dinner table for Father's Day? Tough tacos.

Let she who has never lost control of her child cast the first stone.

This teething toy doesn't cut it

Dear Sassy:

If you're going to make a teething product, make sure that when babies are cutting teeth they're also not cutting your products.

What is this plastic stuff made out of, anyway? How many chemicals did Flybaby ingest before I saw the purple bit on his tongue and snatched it away?!

BTW, Sassy has yet to respond to my message about this from two days ago.... Good thing my baby didn't choke or something.

Nine in, nine out

Flybaby is nine months old today!

And I'm telling you, I insist he is talking.

If Fly wakes up before an appropriate hour of the morning (say, before 6 am), JP usually goes to him in his room, changes him and brings him to snuggle between us. Flybaby usually falls asleep, and we can all rest a little bit more. Three humans and a cat.

That's what happened this morning. When JP went to get Fly, I rolled over and covered my face so Flybaby wouldn't see me. Part of the trick of getting him to go back to sleep is playing possum. But invisible is even better.

Fly is getting too smart for it, though. Just when we thought he was going to settle down and sleep, he noticed me lying next to him.

"Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" he said, slapping my side.

Now who could play possum with a darling baby doing that to her? So I said "Hi!" back, and got up and nursed him.

(All right, I admit sometimes it does sound like he's saying "he" or "hey," but still. I think he knows what he's saying.)

Also, he might be making the baby sign for "change." He motioned something like it a couple days ago, and when I checked him out, the diaper had slid over so the edge was going up the middle of his butt. And I really don't think Flybaby was going for the thong diaper look. Not comfy for crawling....

Flybaby hasn't been a great eater lately, though. Maybe more teeth are coming in -- I guess seven and a half teeth aren't enough. I was trying to get him to eat breakfast a couple days ago when JP came in the room.

JP: (opening mouth) Ahhh!

Flybaby: (blank stare)

JP: You've got to eat, little man. If you don't eat, you're not going to grow out of your clothes fast enough. And your mama will be sad that she can't buy you new stuff. And your friend Lancelot will laugh at you and say, "Oh, you've already worn that outfit!" That's right, and Mr. Big Lashes is also going to get bigger than you. Do you want your friend to get bigger than you?

Flybaby: (blank stare)

Me: ROFL with a baby spoon in my hand

What I'd Wear Wednesday

What I'd wear today if I could: this orange and white print dress from Boston Proper. I mean, I wouldn't wear it today, but I'd wear it on vacation. If I were going anywhere. But I'm not, hmph.

For our honeymoon, JP and I traveled to the mountains to learn how to ski. He wrote "Superdate 1995" in the snow with his finger. And he told me he wanted to go on a superdate -- a trip -- with me every year. Swoon.

But JP and I just decided we aren't going to travel anywhere this year because my nerves can't take it. Flybaby doesn't take to long car rides well. (A flight would probably be the same.) After our recent camping trip in which a two-and-a-half-hour jaunt turned into a five-hour trip of wailing (and that was just me -- you should have heard Fly), well -- I really don't need a holiday like that. So instead, we're just going to loaf around our hometown, eat out, maybe visit the zoo.

And you thought this post was just about fashion.

I'd like to imagine myself, though, on a cruise to the eastern Caribbean wearing this to dinner (with a cami underneath for more cleavage coverage). I hear steel drums in my head when I see this dress. Which is as close to hearing them as I'm gonna get.

At this point, I might never die

Melissa at Little Woolgatherings just might have saved my life!

A while back she sent me the book Knitting for Dummies and some yarn to get started learning how to knit.

And I'm learning. Very, very slowly. See?



I casted on, and according to the book, that's considered a stitch. So now I'm a knitter, hee hee!

So how did Melissa save my life?

Knitting gives me a hobby. And hobbies are important to our well-being, according to Get A Hobby! 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle, a new book by Tina Barseghian. Stress is harmful to your health -- it could even kill you over time -- and hobbies reduce stress and promote relaxation. Having a hobby could save your life!

According to the book's quiz (who doesn't love a quiz?), I am adventurous, animal-loving, musical, nature-loving, nurturing and outdoorsy, so I should pick out hobbies that go along with these traits: falconry, caving, deejaying or storm chasing, the book suggests. Hmm. Can I keep a bird on my arm while I strap a headlamp on my forehead, spinning some records in a van outfitted with tornado-monitoring equipment? Cool.

Get A Hobby! is easy and fun to read. You'll find hobbies you might have never heard of before (balsa wood sculpture or Polaroid transfer, anyone?) and read profiles of people who actually do the hobbies. For each pasttime, there are tips on how to get started and a sample project so you can try it out to see if it's for you.

I have several hobbies -- or I did, before Flybaby was born -- including sewing, gardening/landscape design, singing, wildlife watching, reading, tent camping, collecting vintage hats, travel . . . . oh, it was a fun and busy life. Why, I still manage some of them today:



Here I am (in all of my curly-frizzy-haired glory because I didn't get a chance to straighten my hair -- wait, could that be considered a hobby?) enjoying hiking, cooking, blogging on my notebook computer, birdwatching, reading, knitting and wearing one of the hats from my collection. And pushing a stroller. (Usually, there is a baby in the stroller. Or a cat.)

At this rate, I should live a good, long time.

Unless I take up something dangerous like storm chasing.

Dear Daddy

The approach of this Father's day has brought so many joyous emotions. This year, my dad's birthday is on Father's day, which happens about once every 10 years or so. The year I was born, I was due on my father's birthday, and it coincidently fell on father's day. Alas, I made my appearance late and showed up three days after Father's day. This year, our family (my husband, daughter, and I) have the distinct honor to spend Father's day in London with my parents.

Dear Daddy,

You have always been so special to me just because you are my daddy, but there are so many other reasons why you are so important to me. My earliest memories with you I look upon with prodigious fondness. I remember far more than you perhaps realize.

My first memory I have of you is when we were overlooking the Grand Canyon. I can recollect holding tight to your hand an feeling safety being near you. I can still close my eyes and reminisce our trip to Knott's Berry Farm and the parachute ride. I can recall the first horse you bought so we would have the "pony" we always wanted. I reflect on the hunting trips we took with Pop Pop and how I was never told I could not do anything because I was a girl. You inspired me to be all that I could be. I can recapture all the moments that I cherish. They are so dear to my heart.

I reflect on the many hours you worked that we may have the things you wish you had when you were small. You encouraged all our dreams. I can still think back to the support we all received when we wanted to do something. You never discouraged us from any of those impossibilities. No. Not for your children. They were smarter and could do better for themselves. You always believed we could do anything we wanted. You supported my dreams of becoming an Olympic bicyclist, horseback rider, track and field star, and swimmer. You encouraged my creative writing and assured me I could be the next Ernest Hemingway or Edgar Allen Poe. You advocated my dream to become an oncologist, attorney, and politician. You endorsed my aspiration to study abroad TWICE and in fact financially assured my travels. You stimulated my lifelong love for learning and eagerness to attend college. Your example you set illustrated the importance of hard work, sacrifice, self-sufficiency, and their correlation to success.

There are numerous memories I revere, but the benefaction you bestowed went well beyond tangible gifts. What I learned from your life, your love, and your example are all fortuitous and incalculable blessings we received as your children. I learned to stand up for what is right. I learned that respect has nothing to do with the age of a person; respect is earned. You taught me that humor can heal almost any wound. You taught me to get my education, preserve my health in my youth because you do not get a second chance, and live without regret because life is too short. You taught me to take care of myself, because no one else will. You taught me to beware of handouts; they often have a price tag of obligation and not to become obligated to anyone. You taught me not to expect anything from anyone. You taught me that being a parent has little to do with DNA and everything to do with the life moments, which are opportunities to teach. There is an abundance of lessons I learned from you Daddy.

I thank you for being a living example of what a husband, father, provider, and man should be. I thank you for the values, morals, and ethics you taught all three of us children. You are one of a kind.

For all these things, I thank you. I will not forget the impact you had on my life. Thank you for all the overtime you worked through the years to ensure our memorable vacations and trips. I love you.

---

Stay-at-home mom, runner, disgruntled...

Laura blogs at My Beautiful Life and lives in San Diego, California with her husband, 19 month old baby girl, two dogs, and a cat. She blogs about anything that comes to mind, which is often running, her adorable daughter or various randomness.

You can find more info about the Blog Exchange and how to participate, as well as the June participants and entries, by clicking here. Damselfly is at Laura's place today!

Lucky me

I -- er, Flybaby -- won a Giggles bib from The Opinionated Parent! It's a clear vinyl with a cute goldfish theme. The pocket catches spills during mealtimes. It's great!

You can win stuff from The Opinionated Parent too. There are giveaways all the time.

Thanks, TOP!

Weekend camping trip, Or, lovebug orgy fest

The weekend is here, so it's the perfect time to share what I did last weekend. Because it's taken me all week to get my pictures together while keeping up with a baby who now crawls all over the house.

I have sorely missed my "green time," getting outdoors and traveling the way JP and I used to before Flybaby. So JP and I gathered a few friends, and we headed to one of our favorite campgrounds to test the camping waters with Flybaby.



Gotta keep that wiley friend Star and her husband in view at all times. And yes, that's smoke from wildfires we had to drive through.

One of the main problems with our trip was the timing. Yes, it was a nice long holiday weekend, but it was also the nice long lovebug orgy weekend. The lovebugs were out in Biblical plague proportions. I have never, ever seen them so bad.



And these are alive -- just a small minority of the ones that didn't get squashed on the windshield.

As soon as we could set up camp, Flybaby and his friend Lancelot settled right in like old pros.



Hey! Where'd everybody go?



Um. You called this a tent. But seriously, where am I?

Our friends had a great time exploring the park.



What do you want to do first?
I dunno, what do you want to do?
I don't care. Whatever you want to do.

One of the coolest things we did was climb an observation tower. Here are Star and I:



But then we looked down.



Gulp.

We also saw some cool wildlife, like this barred owl:



Everyone saw it, that is, except me, because I had to comfort a cranky Flybaby:



Flybaby would have done better if we had brought a Pack 'n' Play or his Jumperoo (riiiight! like we had the room) or some way to let him expend some energy. He was so keyed up that he wouldn't sleep for 10 (one-zero) hours. And that made me cranky as well. But there was no way I was going to let him crawl around in the dirt. Our campground couldn't have been any drier and dustier than if we had camped in the desert. And it showed.



Dude, you reek.
Yeah, well, you don't smell too great, either, homey.



Whew, I'm gonna have to keep you at arm's length.
You're telling me, bro!

I think it was all worth it, though, if only to see this for a short while until I get the courage to take Fly camping again: