My theme for this year is...

Drum roll please.........priorities and decisions. How lame does that sound? Last year's theme was "Listening to your instincts." And I just started this theme business last year because from January to December my life was like a God movie where George Burns' voice peeped in at certain moments taunting me: "Kellllllyyy, this is God. You're having too many contractions, call the doctor, you're not craaaazzzzzy." Or "Kelllllllyyyy, this is God. Don't put him on antibiotics." Or "Kellllllyyyyyy, this is God. Don't eat any more gooey butter cakes today or you'll be sick." Sometimes I listened, sometimes I didn't. So this year it's all about deciding what my priorities are and making decisions. Not the easy kind of decisions where afterward you at least know whether or not you'd chosen wisely. There are all sorts of decisions where the outcome can be good either way I choose. Those are the hard ones for me being so indecisive to begin with.

Tonight we go on a date. Sushi. I'm trying to be positive and get excited about the date, but the negative half (2 thirds really) of me is bummed about all the stuff coming up in our schedule that doesn't involve Sawyer and I and more involves Pat's upcoming short trip and his friend coming to visit. It's great that he has a friend coming, but I wish I could have more time with Pat before he leaves. Especially since I don't enjoy being here much without him.

Sawyer had another week of huge growth, even if it wasn't the enjoyable kind. What baby development isn't a joy? Sawyer can't crawl. This is fine, as some babies never crawl and eventually go straight to walking. Plus, developmentally, Sawyer should be closer to a 9 month old than a 10 and a half month old. He tries to crawl, he rocks on his hands and knees but then splats down flat on his belly and resorts to the commando creep for as far as he needs to go. His transportation of choice is rolling. And he rolls fast. Yes, this is all fun to watch and cute, but he rolls straight to the places he's not supposed to go. We have a sort of entertainment center built into the wall about 10 inches above the ground in the living room. Underneath are some wires and like his daddy, Sawyer loves wires. He doesn't even just pull them and chew on them. Sometimes I've seen him wrap a wire around his wrist a few times to add power to his pull. Now that he's discovered this area, he's constantly rolling in that direction, bumping his head trying to fit where he doesn't, yanking on wires, and throwing mini-tantrums when my aching back and I stagger over to pull him out. He thinks it's funny rolling over there. Sometimes he laughs at me on the way, challenging me. Grrr...

Sawyer's standing is getting better as his tippy toes slowly flatten and he puts more of his foot on the ground. Another thing Sawyer can do now is wave goodbye. He doesn't always do it. Only the chosen few get a wave from him, like our maid, Arlyn. He sometimes says, "Ba ba," but we're at that stage where lots of things are "ba ba" and maybe he just happened to say it at the same time someone is leaving. Sawyer is getting better at putting his different shaped blocks into the appropriate holes in his bucket. The round and square blocks are easy, but the triangle is tricky, and the star...who needs a dumb star anyway? I have to admit that a little part of me cheers when Sawyer attempts to put a completely unrelated toy through the openings because maybe it's a sign that he's an independent thinker :) More like his daddy and unlike his wishy washy mommy!

Personality-wise Sawyer is mostly a sweetie. His face lights up every time we make his favorite dog bark. This dog is from his Auntie Debbie. He gives the dog kisses and hugs, more than I get but that's okay. At playgroup, he's getting a lot better at handling other kids' playful shrieks and sometimes chimes in. He's the second youngest at one playgroup and second oldest at another so I get to see both ends of the spectrum of development. Both playgroups are mostly girls. Actually one is all girls. He's training to be a ladies man so that he can compete with the baby boys on the way in Maryland.

To My Moms and Dads:
This blog does talk of hearing voices, staggering, and me not enjoying myself. Please don't worry. Let's make a special warning flag so that I can let you know when I'm really down in the dumps...a picture of Hillary Clinton. Okay for you?