4:45am--local time

That's what time Joseph woke up this morning. Luckily both of our bodies were still on EST, so it didn't seem quite as painful. But, yikes. After 27 hours of driving in the car over the past day and a half, it seemed just waaay too early. We even had to wait for the sun to come up so that we could take these pictures from our balcony.

Left.

Right.

Straight ahead.

I'm hoping to see some dolphins. There's all kinds of places that offer "Swim with the Dolphins" packages. But, I like both of my arms and legs, so I'll take my chances at seeing them from our room...although some binoculars might be helpful...I'm not complaining, though. We've already seen palm trees, so once we spy some pelicans, my mom's vacation will be complete. Florida doesn't usually disappoint.

We survived skiing!

It seems as if so much, and yet so little, has happened since my last post. Joseph got better. Valentine's Day was very nice--Matt sent an Edible Arrangement to me at school. Our friends from Chicago came out to stay with us last weekend and we had a lovely time. I didn't die on the side of Waterville Valley--we actually had a very nice day and it was a ton of fun! We hit the Museum of Science in Boston on Sunday and were in search of chowda (blech) on Monday. Joseph spiked a pretty high fever (103) last night, so we chilled at home today. Of course he woke up cool as a cucumber, perky and chipper. He even ate a hot dog for lunch (except for the bite that the dog stole)! So, enjoy some pictures--I know that's why you all check this thing, anyway ;)

A beautiful day in our neighborhood.

Thanks for the digger book, Babcia! We've already read it like 1000 times...

My sweet Valentine seems to be a car guy already. He always seems to go for the red sportscars--at least he's got good taste!

Me not being dead on the top of Waterville.

We skied that.

Not Sue, but still cool.

He partied 'till he pooped out. He was pretty convinced that he didn't need any naps. He tried really really hard (he made it from about 6:30 am until about 5 pm), but sleep finally won.

Matt's mom got me this little grow-an-evergreen thing for Christmas, and they're growing! Yeah! And the Macro setting on my camera is pretty spiffy too :)

Not sure what it is about kids and washing machines. I should pick up a copy of Corduroy...

You can't tell (since it's a still shot), but he was actually waving at his rocketship pjs in the washer. So cute!

Week in Review (the moderately short version)

So, after last Tuesday when I stayed home with a slightly croupy Joseph, I proceeded to stay home with a feverish and generally miserable Joseph on Wednesday. Matt stayed home with still feverish, but on the mend Joseph on Thursday, and we all got to go back to school on Friday. Which happened to be when both Matt and I woke up with colds...gee, where did that come from? And, Mr. Joseph cut a molar! I know, really! I figure that was part of the problem, maybe, but he's been really fussy with food lately, so I'm guessing that his mouth kind of hurts since I can feel the other one on the top busting through, too. So, that 19 lbs 14 oz of last week...oh well...maybe in another month.

And, my mom and I went to see Ultimate Manilow on Wednesday night. I got her the tickets for Christmas since she's somewhat of a Fanilow. She was legitimately surprised (something kind of difficult to achieve), and since my dad didn't want to go (I believe his exact words were something on the order of "No way in hell"), I got to go with her! I'm not a real Fanilow, but I can appreciate good music and an impressive show, and this offered both! For a guy who's got to be pushing 70, his voice is in amazing condition, and I'm pretty sure that he was actually singing [almost] the whole show. He's had some "work" done, and I think he was wearing a wig, but he was still a wonderfully kind, gracious, and professional musician. He also wore at least 6 different sparkly blazers throughout the night, and you know how I like sparkly things :)

So, that's been the week. Now, we're moving into "damage control" mode as we get the house in order for some guests this weekend. Matt's roommate from college and his wife are joining us for a ski weekend (I should mention that I'm a bit terrified to hit the slopes this year since I haven't moved my lazy ass off of the couch in like 2 years and haven't skied in that long either...I hope I don't break something or have a freaking heart attack). Matt keeps telling me to "clean off the treadmill." He's so helpful. Then, Joseph and I are headed to sunny Florida with my mom for our February break the following weekend. I know that Florida's been in like the 30s lately, so hopefully it'll be a little warmer by the time we get there... And, I finished Breaking Dawn. Eih. Too tidy, although I did shed a couple of tears towards the end. I'm pretty sure that was just because I'm hormonal.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

My mom used to say that: "Shoulda, coulda, woulda..." It looks weird written out, though.

So, I'm home with Joseph and his nasty cold. Yesterday he was all croupy sounding, so we took him to the doctor last night. She said "he sounds kind of croupy." Although, she did prescribe some steroids that we can give him if he gets really bad. We haven't given them to him, though, because he sounds different today. When he woke up this morning, he was less croupy and more just generally miserable cold-y. So, we're taking it easy today. And, he weighed 19 lbs 14 oz last night! I was pretty pumped! Of course, it was the end of the day and I was shoving food and juice into him in the waiting room...details...but, almost 20 lbs :)

Anyway, I've got a whole list of things that I should be doing. There are a pile of things that I definitely could be doing. And, I'm sure that I'll insist that I would have done those things later, if it hadn't been for THESE STINKING VAMPIRE BOOKS!! What the hell?! I'm not even going to lie...I probably could've packed him up and felt kind of guilty about sending him off to day care today, knowing that he'd sleep quite a bit there. The ladies are super sweet and he loves them. But, this STUPID BOOK has been sitting on my table begging to be devoured since Friday. Stupid vampires. For those of you who have felt my pain: I'm about 200 pages into Breaking Dawn which has brought me somewhere into Jacob's book. Stupid werewolves. If you haven't taken up this addiction yet, the Twilight series is rather entertaining. It did take me a while to get through the teenage angst portion of the first book, the second one just made me angry, the third one was amazing, and I'm mystified by this last one (so far).

Before I devote the rest of Joseph's nap to Edward, Bella, and Jacob, I wanted to post a few cute pictures from this weekend.

Matt and Joseph made breakfast on Saturday. My two favorite guys :) Notice the pug butt hoping that food will fall...

We went and visited some friends on Sunday, and I think that Joseph has a crush on Miss Kaylor and Miss Lauren.

They are too cute.

It was so great to see Melissa again, and Matt and I are so happy that Ann and Josh are back in town. We've missed you all!

And, this is why I love my cat, bitches. Joseph has him pinned. I'm sure that he's trying to give him a hug or something, but Charley cannot move and he's not even a little bit aggressive with Joseph.