Yesterday Gabe had his 9 month health check (we’re off a month okay? blame my insurance). Since his regular pediatrician is out on maternity leave (last time we saw her it was so cute, he kept kicking her belly and her baby was kicking back!), we saw a doctor she referred us to. After waiting for the MA to weigh Gabriel (which took quite some time because he refused to lay down and getting him to at least sit STILL was a hassle), we headed back to the room so she could measure his length and his head. Then she went over it with me on the growth charts. For height and weight, he’s in the 50 percentile. For his head? 90th. My kid has a huge head!

Finally the doctor came in after awhile of waiting. By the time he arrived, Gabriel had already walked around the entire room and was growing bored. He was sitting on the floor looking around when the doctor walked in. He stood up immediately and toddled over to him hold up his arms to be picked up! It was so cute. Dr. Degan picked him up and brought him over to the table to examine him. He asked what questions I had and then asked some of his own. Finally, he gave me the info on the shots Gabriel was receiving and bid us goodbye. So then we waited yet AGAIN for the MA and a nurse to come back in to administer the shots. He received a total of FIVE shots. My poor little guy. They also wanted me to take him to lab for a lead paint poisoning test but I told them no way.

After the clinic, we went to Wal-mart to grab some things (hair dye, groceries, shampoo) and then finally returned home almost four hours since we left! Gabriel was getting kind of cranky so I gave him some baby Tylenol for his shots and a bottle and he went down for a nap.

Other than that, I’ve just been cleaning my house and sitting around missing my husband. He won’t be home until Thursday or Friday depending on how much they have to do. I sleep like absolute crap without him, so the nights are always long. It’s easier in the day with the kids distracting me. Mariah especially as of late. Everytime a commercial features a toy she has to tell me how much she wishes Santa would bring it for her, and oh, if Santa can’t bring it, why don’t we make Daddy buy it because Daddy has LOTS of money… etc, etc, etc.

Next Thursday Gabriel will be 11th months old. I’ll start planning his birthday party that week so everything is ready on the Big Day. Luckily, his birthday falls on Saturday this year, so that works out nice. Since its just (JUST? JUST?! I’m going to cry!) a 1st birthday, it’ll be an at-home party with relatives and friends. Then, every year after that we’ll do something special. Mariah’s choice is usually Chuck E Cheese but I’m getting a little burnt out on Chuck E’s. We went the last two years in a row. I can’t imagine going TWICE a year for each kid!

But anyway. Where was I?

Oh yeah. THIS year’s party. It’ll be really casual. I’m trying to decide what theme I want to use, but I still haven’t found any cute ones.

Anyone know of some sites to use?

Man. Has it really been four days? My bad. I hope you’re not expecting some long interesting entry because dude, I am BEAT! (Yes, I say dude. Sometimes I even call my husband dude. He hates that.) I’m halfway tempted to do a bullets-style entry but..I won’t. This time.

Heres what I’ve been up to:

Thursday. Uh… nothing. I sat around on my butt all. day. long. And you know what? I love those days.

Friday. My husband’s 26th birthday. He got home about 5:00pm that night, stopping off at his parent’s house on the way. He called me from there and asked if I wanted to go out to eat. Since I’m not one to turn down food, I said yes. After coming home and showering, he called his parents back and arranged for them to arrive here around 6:30. They showed up right on time (gotta love punctual people!) in their gorgeous ‘37 Chevy. I love that car. I’m not even a ‘car person’ and I drool over that car. I should get a picture of it.. One of these days.

ANYway.. we were going to try out this new place they had heard of, but we were all under the impression that the place had a Friday Fish Fry and it turns out.. we were wrong. They didn’t even have a deep fryer, which is pretty odd for a bar that serves food. So we drove around to some other nearby places and finally settled at Rockton Bar. Ian and his parents had their beloved fish (ew. ew ew ew.) and I had a grilled chicken sandwhich.

Later that night Ian and I were going to go uptown to the bars, but I felt so sick from dinner that we ended up not going. It felt like my entire throat was COATED with grease and I kept gagging. Nasty. Seriously NASTY. So we stayed home and I spent most of the night curled in bed watching Must Love Dogs.

Saturday. Ian went golfing in the morning and I stayed in bed until noon.. Around that time, my stomach finally settled down enough for me to hop up and get showered and dressed. Again, the plan was to go out that night, but Ian and his friend dicked around so long in the city, by the time they returned home it was almost 11:00pm. By the time they got home, I was pretty pissed off and in the middle of the movie Sphere, so we spent yet another night at home. After Sphere, my dad put in Outbreak (from a Dustin Hoffman three-pack if you’re seeing a pattern..) but I went to bed before it was over. I laid there for awhile debating whether or not to watch Ever After which I had picked up from a rummage sale a couple weeks ago and just never got around to watching (although I have seen it before).

Sunday. Today, obviously. We went to Ian’s parent’s house for a Father’s Day cook out. My dad had spent the night, so he tagged along. A couple named Tina and Doug were there with their three kids and Mariah had a blast chasing after them all day. Except when they went in the pool.. She wasn’t too sure about that. It always takes her a bit to get warmed up to swimming. But once she’s actually IN and remembers how fun it is, she’ll be begging daily to go swimming. The day was pretty great, sitting around laughing and eating. Tina wants me to do some babysitting for her while she works and since the hours are good (10:00am-1:00pm), I agreed. We haven’t talked about a price or anything, but I’m definitely going to need SOMEthing from her. Most days its hard enough to buy groceries for just the four of us.. I couldn’t possibly do it for three extra mouths. But it won’t be for awhile anyway. She has to find a new means of transportation first.

Bleh. My arms are TIRED. I can barely type! That’s my cue. Night, all!

PS. Anyone have Facebook? I just got an account and am looking for some new friends to add.

Thanks Loz Angela Simply Precious Marieke Sarah Oliva Kitty Teff Jamie