All right, I have been a complete and utter bum.

Really, the main reason I've been quiet for a few days was because we all went down to Seattle to celebrate my wife's birthday. Here's a recap.

Ignoring the good doctor's advice, that we shouldn't go anywhere out of town because of my wife's super pregnancy, we went anyway because, well, it's her freakin' birthday and it's not like Seattle has no hospitals. The trip down was fine, except it was hell to put him to sleep after we got there. It was already later than usual, but now that he's woken up and realized - hey, this ain't home, he was wailing for long periods of time. It was almost 1:30 because we just put him back in his crib to cry himself to sleep. All that wailing suddenly brought me back to that sensation of having a newborn - but any nostalgia that I might have will be realized in a month or so when Zoe is born.

Our trip to the Point Defiance Zoo was great - Grandma got to spend a lot of time with the baby boy, and we got to see the animals. My mom was being the classic Mom that I know - "I don't need to see that, I've seen it before." or "It's just like a big rat - it's not a big deal." Which was actually not a bad thing, but I did feel a tad guilty for taking off on my own to snap a few photos with my spanky new digital camera. I got some awesome shots, and my mom didn't really mind.

We also went to the Great Wall of China, of the mall variety. It's a mallish area in Kent, WA, for all the Asian people who wanna feel right at home. It's kinda cool, really. I like getting their pearl drinks and eating the food - and actually feel kinda handsome once in a while. But that's a different story. As usual, food service in Asian restaurants suck - the prices are great, the food tremendously delicious, but our waitress acted as if she just got the phone call that informed her that her entire family and its future descendents have DIED.

"Hey Sue, you know that hair tonic that you sent all your family members? Well, turns out the tonic is lethal to 1% of the population, and your family is all in that percentile. Sorry, girlie. Hey, see what Table 22 wants, will you?"

But the visit was a fun one. It ended with us dropping my mom off at work, and she took Alex into the hotel to show off her grandson to all her co-workers. We drove around the block endlessly in order to avoid the costly parking in downtown Seattle, and when we swung back around to pick Alex up, my Mom was so happy and proud. All the people loved him, and she was just wearing her heart on her sleeve. I think being a grandmother is one of the happiest things that's ever happened to her.

Today, my wife's mother and sister came to hang out, and we did so in Lynden, WA. Aside from the distinction from being the town that does not allow dancing in public and has a high church to people population (there's a church to every citizen. Or at least that's what we were lead to believe), Lynden also welcomes new visitors by placing a cementary at the entrance. You drive in, and it's a Welcome to Lynden sign, and then you're flanked on both sides with hundreds of headstones. No wonder they have all those churches. But anyway, the stores in Lynden are kinda interesting to anyone over the age of 50, so I was snapping pictures again, carting my son around in the stroller and letting him bat at dangling flowers, or anything that's at that level.

This evening, Alex was so tired and hungry that he had the shakes, which really scared my wife a lot. Basically, he woke up from his nap while we were having pizza, and we sat him down in a highchair and he was trembling. His hands were shaking and his head was wobbly. I reassured my wife that it was a response very much rooted in me, a physical response to not having enough to eat, or just tired out of my mind. Later this evening, he reassured her in his own way by having a laughing fit with me. Basically, I just hold him, laugh for no reason as loud as I can, and egg him on. It isn't before long when Alex and I are laughing our heads off, at nothing in particular. He's laughing because I'm fake laughing, and I'm laughing because his laugh is just breaking my heart with happiness. It's a really joyous feeling to make a baby boy laugh, there's just no feeling like it.

And then I had to be the bad guy and put him to sleep, crying.

But now I'm all caught up!

In lieu of words, watch Alex's New Trick.

Little Alex chillin' out on his stroller.

"Okay little boy. I gotta go change you."

"No, Mommy. I'm not tired. I don't wanna go to bed yet."

"No, you're not going to bed yet, little boy. Just gotta change your diaper and get you ready for bed."

"Okay Mommy. I wanna play some more. I'm not ready to go night-night."

"Okay, little boy. Here we go."

"Bye Daddy."

"Bye Alex."

This entire conversation was carried out by my wife.

Alone.

And they say parenthood isn't some demented form of mental illness.

Easy Breezy Beautiful Cover Girl

I was actually going to just say it was a Easy Breezy Day, but the evils of advertising jingles have drilled into my brain, even though I'm not in the comestics industry demographic. Damned commericals.

So, the take for the Ebay auction is $192, which is pretty nice considering how my wife's birthday will be on Thursday. Some wiggle room financially is always welcome. I'm sorta glad that is over with, watching the auctions got to be a little stressful for me after a while.

Meanwhile, my complaint with Flickr is that they really limit you on the bandwidth, thus crippling my photoblog. So I'm going to have to use Hello, which is associated with Blogger is free, from what I can tell. Problem is, since they don't have a Mac support, I'm going to have to use a PC to upload the pictures. I'm sorry, but my loyalty to my Mac is strong. The PC has already freaked out on me today when I tried to download a driver for my camera.

As I mentioned, the weather is nicer out today; the fans are taking a break after both of them worked overtime the last couple days. Alex is also acting a bit happier - since the heat has made him perpetually cranky and uncomfortable. It's weird because whenever a baby feels wet, you're not quite certain if its sweat or pee. Being a parent, you end up smelling your hands a lot to confirm or repulse whether that stain on your hand is chocolate brownie, or baby brownie.

It was a ton of fun this morning watching Alex play with the ball. He caught this contagious giggle/laugh that would just make the most jaded grouch crack a smile. It's just so happy and pure, it's the stuff that makes you glad that you're a parent.

On the other baby news, my wife is getting more contractions during the night, and getting more nervous about Zoe's arrival. I'm a little nervous, but still kinda relaxed about the whole thing. I dunno, I don't think I'll be that affected until after she's born. With Alex, I was excited about having him, but once he was born, and there he was, wiggling and writhing in birth goo and doing his sad little gaspy crying, I felt a unbreakable unconditional love for him then. He was tangible and real, not just an ultrasound picture or a body movement. I dunno, that's what being shallow means, I suppose. If it ain't there, It don't exist. Of course I know that's not true, but a lot of things for me are out of sight, out of mind. It's bad.

I'm really enjoying my weekend - just hanging out, doing nothing. It's really really nice.