Oh, August...

Peekie is napping and Lance is at the gym, so I actually have a minute with both the computer and two hands. Pictures are uploading as I type, because let's be honest, that's what everyone wants to see most! In the mean time...

I'm really enjoying my haircut. I was too hot in LA, so I asked Cerris to give me the Carrie Murphy special: we put my hair in a ponytail and cut it off. That left it short in the back and long in the front. After that, Cerris played around a little and I now have the shortest hair I have ever had since I was Parker's age. I love it. The more I sleep on it or mess it up, the better it looks. Now THAT's a haircut a new mom can live with!

Parker is cooing like crazy these days, as well as smiling. If I thought it was nice to have a baby before, when all she could do was sleep and sometimes stare, that is nothing compared to a happy baby! She still smiles in her sleep and Lance even caught her laughing the other day during her nap. Speaking of...

Parker is getting a lot more sleep, and subsequently so are we. There's been a solid 5 hour block nightly, sometimes stretching into a 6 and even 7 (once) hour block! I'm not sure how that is translating now that we are on NY time. Like now, she's been asleep in her swing for 1.5 hrs. Now, is that a nap? Or did her big nighttime sleep start at 5 pm? We shall see. We really want to have it be during a time that we can get a good night's sleep, but beggars can't be choosers.

Lance is still really good at taking her for an hour or two in the morning so that I can get some deep Peekie-less sleep. It's so different sleeping in a bed where no one cries and I don't have to make sure I'm awake enough not to roll on top of her or miss her waking up or something. Lance rules.

Parker can hold conversations. She'll gurggle something out and then wait for a response before the back and forth begins. She also responds really well to exercise and wind chimes. AND the amazing orange tree. I really need to figure out how to get one of those in our bedroom. No matter what, all it took was a trip outside to the orange tree when we were at Lance's parents and she calmed down (except for when she was starving, but that doesn't count). We've got the pink flowers on the ceiling, but they have yet to be truly tested.

It was great meeting lots of family friends on both sides and being able to introduce them to Parker. She was a big hit at the B&B, at my dad's shop, with Lance's folks' friends; hell, she even got us to the head of an enormous security check line at Dulles, thanks to a sympathetic guard! Gooooooooooooo baby!

Being out of the city for over 3 weeks really changed my perspective. I've known for a while that I don't want to stay here forever, but I think I'm antsier to leave than I thought. Driving home through Canal street made my skin crawl. Although, it IS Canal street. Still, being in people's houses for so long made our little apartment seem kinda grim. Lance reminded me that I just need to finish school and then we can take stock and check out our options. I would love to live somewhere a little greener, but I refuse to move just for the sake of moving. The last thing I want to do is walk away from good friends and satisfying jobs just to start from scratch somewhere new. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, after I graduate, some theater somewhere is going to make it worth our while to head to their town so that I can work in their admin while Lance acts and Peekie has her own room and a backyard for Rozo. I really am that traditional. If there was a white picket fence, I'd be sold. As long as art was involved. I don't think I need much more. Most of my best friends live outside of NYC now as it is, so I know I can take those relationships with me wherever I go. It's really just finding a place where I can pay the rent working in a theater. Or theater school. Or SOMETHING having to do with theater, with enough time for my own projects on the side. That is my dream and 3+ weeks out of the city is making it pretty appealing right about now. Sooooooooooo school starts on Thursday. I just need to bang out some classes while spending as much time as possible with my family (and still earning enough to eat and pay rent and the babysitter we still have to find) and then I can go do whatever I want. The world is my oyster. I am it's pearl? Where the hell did the oyster expression come from anyway?

xoxo