Yesterday, B. participated in his very first playdate. There were 3 boys including him and 3 girls at the hostess' house, so it was admittedly fun. I watched B. interact with the other children somewhat and mostly observe the squeals, chattering, and whining. (By the end B. was doing some whining of his own). He does play fairly well with girls since he is not aggressive or with holding - I notice that girls can be aggressive also. He really enjoyed this LeapFrog play table that was just the right size for him to pull up on. I think we may have to invest in one of those. His second favorite toy was stackable cups that he preferred to hold onto and crawl around with. He interacted with some of the other mommies too - which was great to see since he can turn on his charm. I noticed that compared to other babies he had quite a bit more hair (which some mommies commented on) and the funny thing is that it is already beginning to curl. Will he have curly hair like mom? Yikes! He also looks older for his age, so some are surprised to hear he is only 10 1/2 months old. When I dress him and he stretches out from a nap, I just see this long skinny child with a little bit of baby fat. He may in fact be a skinny child - which wouldn't be bad for us since we would need to keep up with his little self. All in all he had a fun but tiring time. When he got home he konked right out after he threw a "I'm really, really tired" fit. In essence he went to bed a 6 pm. But the flip side is he woke up at 1:30 pm :( I think there is no hope for him sleeping through the night since he desires to go to bed so early. Even if you try to keep him up - he becomes extremely crabby. I have had some advice on it but it is a rare night when he does manage to go to sleep all night. It makes a huge difference for me since I would prefer to just get like 6 straight hours, than to be sleep interrupted. It just lags on my day. But no one said being a parent meant you would get unlimited sleep - so I'll just accept it until he gets older.....

Today is a usual Thursday, (its Thurs. isn't it?) relaxing, looking after baby etc. Not much new news to report - although I seem to keep up on the news a little too much. I grow tired of hearing every single gruesome, bothersome, horrible news story that could possibly be reported on. Anyhow, I need to read some upbeat news instead.

Last week, I found a few nostalgic items from Brian and I's courtship. I read over them a giggled at how much thought and effort (because I remember) I put into the little notes, cards, gifts and generally any correspondence we had. I can recall reading an email from him late at night, then getting up the next morning, running on the treadmill and deciding in so many words how I would respond that day. Even crafting these emails was laborious because I didn't want to appear to forward, or too shy, too neurotic, or needy. He was the first guy I loved, (after the regulation 3 months time) so I often racked my brain way too much over the relationship. He even told me once in an email to relax and not worry about us. As I look back - it was great times, but in hindsight I wish I would have taken his advice more to heart and not barraged myself with 20 questions about our relationship and my 'role' in it. Often when you overanalyze something really wonderful - you can literally overanalyze it to death. All that said, I honestly had a great time dating --some of the best one can have with a true gentleman. My only wish is that I had kept a few more things from that time, but thankfully email is around so we can have that record of our time forever.

Well it has been a while since I have posted...but I guess there hasn't been too much to say. Brennon is growing and changing before my eyes - and before I know it he will be walking. I am supposing he will be unstoppable then.

In other news - supposedly we can mourn the slow death of the PC in favor of smartphones, iPads and the like. Apparently, consumers want seamless data on the go and at their fingertips. Now I haven't been into Best Buy in a while (a tragedy I know) but I imagine the desktop PC section is slowly shrinking while the other, more mobile gadget (and t.v.) section is increasing. The thought is, why get a PC when a smartphone or tablet can do the exact same job while being highly portable? Well, 2013 is the year that PCs will be completly outsold by other smaller, cooler gadgets - so till then we can enjoy clunking along on the desktop until then.

In still other news - you know you are OLD when you start listing to conservative Christian radio purposefully. Many times I will catch myself flipping the dial to the word- and listening to whatever happens to be on. Honestly, I have caught some very thought provoking shows about marriage, finances, reform etc. And I have heard people who have called in with some pretty wild stuff that you would hear on Jerry Springer. I don't know why I listen, because sometimes I will disagree with some things - but it has some attraction for me. However, I can vouch that you will not catch me listening to Limbaugh or Beck or any of that....I have my standards!

Brennon went in for his '9' month check up even though he is 10. We did that because I had already taken him in at 9 months for some sickness and just didn't want to kill two birds with one stone. It's funny how the nurse and the doc calls Brennon the same things we do at home...'he's a little wiggle worm', and 'he's a busy little guy-he wants to go and play' which the doc says is typical for boys which makes them a little harder to raise (gulp!)

Well I've heard it all now. A guy in the West End of Dallas has been sketching people's behinds for 21 years...and now he want to sue someone else who is doing the same thing. He has patented the idea of "the original butt sketch" and has apparently done so around the world. He stresses that he doesn't do it for giggles, but he wants to portray a certain quality of the sketch he makes of his subjects. All I can say is that if he happens to catch me walking around he better not subscribe to the idea that bigger is better...

We live close to Independence St. and so it makes me think about our upcoming holiday. As I monitor events around the world - we are fortunate to be in a position free from tyranny and war on our soil. Yes, there are problems in our nation- but as I was walking outside last night, I thought about the freedom we have to simply walk outside in our neighborhood without fear. We can own whatever dwelling we choose, buy whatever product we need, own animals, eat abundantly and the list goes on. I cannot fathom moving to a country of extreme war and poverty without mourning what I would leave behind. It would sure make me appreciate what I have in the good old USA. I know of an acquaintance that became fed up with where America was headed and proceeded to move away to the islands (American or British-I can't remember) Anyhow - he loved this country but just couldn't handle the current govt.? I'm not clear on the why of it all, but he likes where he is at right now and is staying put. All that said - I am thankful each and every day that I have the freedom that was gifted to me by simply being born in this great country.

I watched an interesting NOVA two days ago about the NSA and 9/11. It described the NSA and their role in the events that led up to the tragedy. I urge anyone that is just curious to look it up on the NOVA site. It sheds some light on some information that you might not know. It made me angry when I saw the show, because there was knowledge about these terrorists - they were being monitored for three years prior to the disaster and up until the day before the tragedy occurred. They showed the record of phone calls back to OSB's terrorist HQ and a record of where they shopped, what they bought, what flight training they took, and even a speeding ticked they received on their way to NJ. They didn't even have aliases while they were in the US - they operated under their real names - received VISAs etc.etc. Now when the 9/11 commission questioned the head of NSA he cited that due to the laws of the time one could not infringe on the rights of a person legally here on US soil (like listening in on conversations, detaining at airports and the like) The sad thing is that in all honesty this could have been prevented had the govt agencies coordinated their info or just spoke up about bad guys being on our turf (as one FBI agent said).