my steel spine / shines up fine / valentine

Joy in motherhood is continually sneaking up on me from around the oddest corners. Yesterday I was nursing Blake and thinking about how amazing that particular relationship is. Think on it: he's hungry, cold, tired & lonely but I can satisfy every one of those needs. I can't count how many times I've felt those needs. I can't remember a single time when they were all satisfied at once. It's pretty overwhelming when you realize how much you mean to your baby. Makes me think along spiritual lines, which is something I've lost touch with in the last couple of years.

To return to the physical sphere, I can't wait until summer. Cuddling his bare body after baths drives me half-mad; I want the weather to warm the hell up so I can dress him in a diaper all day long & feel that intoxicating baby skin anytime I want. (Yes, my feelings are physical and greedy and sensual (without being sexual). I have a passion for my baby. It makes things like last Tuesday a lot easier to deal with. It also makes me crave weekends, so I can get a bit of distance from my passion & see my babe in his daddy's arms.)

Today we took in a special showing of "50 First Dates" for parents & babies. It was very very cool to be out in a movie theatre with Blakers & the Boy. Blake was very well-behaved the whole time: he sat quietly for most of the movie & nursed efficiently when he was hungry. The Boy made 2 trips to the diaper-changing station outside the theatre during the movie (we had to be extra vigilant because we'd managed to leave the house WITHOUT THE DIAPER BAG and thus had no diapers, no wipes & no spare outfits if he were to poop his way through his clothes.) I think the Boy had an even better time than I did. He kept leaning over and saying, "I'm watching a movie AND holding my baby!" Big grin from both of them.

When we got home I took a nap & we took pictures of the Blake with various gifts (details to follow). These gifts, by the way, are gifts from afar, not V Day booty. I was surprised by VD gifts yesterday: the Boy came home with 6 red roses, a sassy card, a Kinder egg & a little box of chocolates with dragons on it (this last only makes sense once you know what Amy & Andy & Quinn gave us). I was utterly overwhelmed at his thoughtfulness. Once again I let the holiday overtake me and I had nothing for him. Of course, once I said that to him, he got all sappy, hoisted up the Sprout & told me that he already had his Valentine's present.

Heh. He said that at Christmas too. I wonder when my free pass expires.

He's never bought me roses in all the 6 years we've been together, so this was particularly striking. Roses plus a happy cinematic baby plus a chance to wear my red striped stockings out on the town plus a positively decadent 2 hour nap makes this definitely one of the best Valentine's Days ever.

me & my valentine, taken by my other valentine

We were twice blessed this week with packages for the Rocketfamily. First up was Javina, who tucked away an assortment of thoughtful items for us before she took off for the left coast. Among the swag were crazy hair dye, The Romantic by Barbara Gowdy, a little fake tanzanite (choking hazard!!), and the World's Coolest Groovy Girl (next to Jayna, of course). Not pictured below: a useful book on Baby Yoga & my blue grunge sweater (precious blue grunge sweater...). Again, a snazzy mix of 'stuff for us' and 'stuff for Sprout.' I am well pleased.

finger puppet theatre starts now

And then, just when my parents were getting suspicious of the constant stream of boxes arriving for us, the Lester box showed up on the doorstep.

blake gets in touch with his inner dragon

Remember last week when I moaned & bitched about my 70's childhood? Well, Amy was in a mindmeld with me (as usual), and she accompanied the terrifying Dragon Bath Towel with the tiny Nutshell Library. Squee!

in lieu of the original Amy Bunny, I started reading Alligators All Around to Blakedor in her official costume.

From the super baby department:

I've discovered a new trick to keep the baby occupied. Scout gave us a turtle for Christmas that includes a mirror, and I've taken to setting it up a few inches from his face when I change him. He's hypnotized by his own reflection – he just coos & babbles away until one of his flailing hands manages to catch hold of the toy or knock it over completely. I call it Blake TV. Now my biggest problem is that I like to watch him watch himself, so I'm not capitalizing on his fascination. Nuts.

He controls the horizontals, he controls the verticals too...

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 2/14/2004 10:58:00 p.m.