After we put Milly to bed last night we watched Supernatural.  Amanda asked if I wanted to go ahead and watch Persons Unknown, but I was about beat and knew I’d fall asleep.  I did nod off, and at whatever point she went to bed she took care of me.  She let me stay on the couch instead of bugging me about going upstairs, put my phone (which was sitting in front of me on the couch) somewhere that it wouldn’t fall and covered me (and I think Bruce) up with a blanket.

Harvey woke me up by tramping down the stairs around 2:00 or 2:30.  I let him and Bruce out then took care of the same business they were taking care of before we all went back upstairs to bed.

As we do every Sunday, Amanda got up and showered, I got up and showered, then we tag teamed getting Milly ready and headed off to church.  We saw the Nowaks in the Grow Zone line, which is great because Sarah just had surgery on Friday and that meant she was feeling better.  Amanda said that she had told her she was feeling much better than she had just the day before.

After church we went home, where I put Milly to bed while Amanda went back out to get bagels.  Sunday morning bagels with ham, egg and cheese seem to be becoming a bit of a tradition.

We thought about going out to the beach, but Milly wasn’t napping well and was cranky (plus we were feeling lazy, but we’ll say it was mainly the former).  Milly would act tired and we’d put her down then she’d either scream the whole time or she’d sleep for a short while before waking up and making her displeasure known.

We had a nice evening with her though.  As much as she was in need of a nap, it wasn’t hard to make her laugh when we played with her.  Holding our hands, she walked down the driveway and wanted to play in the sand in front of our mailbox (years of runoff from the yards in the neighborhood).  We didn’t think that the best idea, so I took her to the new sandbox in the backyard, but she didn’t stay there very long and got in a chair on the patio.

By this time Milly was pretty filthy (fortunately I’d thought to take off her dress, so she was just running around in a diaper), so Amanda went inside to draw a bath for her.  Milly wanted to follow her in though, so I bought Amanda some time by letting Milly climb up the stairs.  We’ve been doing that a bit lately, staying close behind her all the while, of course.

Milly enjoyed her bath like she always does.  We played in the nursery after that for a little while.  There’s a cardboard box that used to hold some diapers, I think, that Milly has taken to playing with.  Amanda first did it a couple nights ago I think.  Milly sits in the box then you can peek at her or stick your fingers through the handle holes or push her around on the floor.  She enjoys it.

Milly ate after that and went down to bed just fine.  Amanda and I watched a bit of TV before Amanda went to bed.  Right now I’m watching I Survived.  I can’t decide if I shouldn’t watch it because of the absolutely horrific things that happen to people or it’s good to watch to make you think about what you’d do if you were ever put in a life-threatening situation.  Either way, once you start watching one of those it’s hard to stop.  I just pray that no one I know is ever faced with situations like the ones they show.

Zach Dotsey

Left the house at about 1:45. Kept going back in to get things. Bruce and Harvey are going to miss us, but I think it made things easier for Bruce that we kept going back in the house.

Enjoyed having GPS. Don’t have to worry about missing turns. Also gives a pretty accurate ETA.

Milly started getting a bit fussy around Greensboro and Winston-Salem. We stopped at about 7:00 to refill the gas, get some food and switch drivers (to me). Milly ate and fell asleep a little while after. She’d wake up now and then to let us know she was unhappy at finding herself still in the car, but there were no major issues.

The trip went pretty smooth altogether. We hit some standstill traffic around Siler City (caused by people rubbernecking at the other lane) and made just a few stops. The first was to give Scott, my boss, the old iPhone. The second was the one I mentioned earlier and the final was when we were about 30 miles from Lexington. I was getting kind of tired and needed to stretch my legs and get something to drink.  (Chose orange juice.)

We made it to Baba’s house at about 11:30. We put Milly down then talked to Baba for a bit before heading up to bed ourselves. She didn’t realize that we came completely separate from the other crew: Dad, Erin and Andra’s clan. They were due a few hours after us. Mom’s flying in from Rochester tomorrow and Adam is coming Saturday.

Baba mentioned Pap a little. She knows he’s gone, yet thinks he’s upstairs. I didn’t know what to say to that.

Milly woke up and screamed like she was teething when Amanda and I went to bed. I took her for a drive to try to soothe her, but she was screaming again when I put her back in the pack & play. She eventually stopped and went to sleep.

Zach Dotsey

A Flickr Pro account is only $25/year and also allows for unlimited photos uploads and storage.  On top of that, there are plugins I can use to integrate the pictures with this website.  The only real drawback is that I’ve got six or seven years of full resolution photos on the site, and it will take me forever to load them all back up on a new system.

So, Milly and I had a fun morning, and that’s not sarcasm.  We walked to the grocery store this morning (well, I walked, she rode in her big comfy stroller, sipping a milk and formula mix) because she hadn’t pooped at all yesterday and we didn’t have any food that was specifically helpful in alleviating that particular state, so I picked up some prune and oat baby food for her.  Does that not sound disgusting?

Anyhoo, Milly finished her drink in the grocery store, so I picked up some orange juice and poured a little for her (watered down) along with a long john that we split (she only had about three bites) while sitting outside before heading back to the house.  I’m thinking that might become a Monday morning tradition; walking to the store with Milly and grabbing a doughnut.

She was pretty good for me today.  Playful, talkative, not too fussy.  We watched her sign language video after Milly had her lunch.  She was pretty engaged in it for the most part, though she hasn’t picked up any new words yet.  Not that I’d expect her to so quickly.

We put Milly back in cloth diapers for the first time in a while today.  The problem we’ve had is that she kept getting rashes, and rash cream isn’t good for the cloth diapers.  Amanda found and got some that is fine with it, so hopefully we’re good to go on that front now.

I almost got an iPhone 4 tomorrow.  I mentioned to Scott how frustrating it is to use my first generation iPhone sometimes and we got to talking about phones.  A new shipment of the 4′s is being released tomorrow and Scott was going to come down here to upgrade both our phones, but it was going to be extremely hard to work out.  When I called AT&T about it they said their doors were opening at 7AM and that I should probably be there at 5AM to get in line for it.  That would be all well and good, but Scott wouldn’t be able to get down here to Wilmington for a while after that, so I’d just be sitting in the store clutching two boxes for who knows how long.

It’s not just a gadget-happy thing, wanting to get a new iPhone.  Baba doesn’t have internet and isn’t close enough to a wireless network for me to piggyback a neighbor’s internet, or at least that’s what the case was two years ago, last time I was in Lexington.  The first generation iPhone only has access to the painfully slow Edge network, and it’s almost useless for loading websites.  Checking email is okay, but that’s about it.  The new iPhone 4 has a 4G network, which is lightyears faster than the Edge network.

At any rate, I suspect I’ll get a new phone before long.  It would be really great to have for the Kentucky trip, but it’s just not looking like it’s in the cards.

We’ve got a sitter lined up for the boys.  It was a little stressful, but it looks like it’s all worked out.

Amanda made us ham, egg and cheese bagels for dinner.  After Milly went to bed we watched a bit of TV and she went to bed around 10:30 after talking to her mom for a bit.

Zach Dotsey

But this evening I had finished feeding her some apple sauce and I was watching her sit on the living room floor stabbing her little plastic spoon at the shallow plastic bowl, trying to find some apple sauce to scoop up after she had scooted herself out of my lap.  She was oblivious to me as I was lying on my side with my right elbow on the floor propping up my head, marveling at how a few months ago she couldn’t climb out of anything, much less my lap, and now here she was developing skills to feed herself.

Amanda was looking at me looking at her and told me, “I like the way you look at her.”  I had a tear forming in my eye that I was trying not to let out.  Maybe she noticed that, I don’t know.

And Milly has learned how to give kisses.  I think she was doing it some yesterday, but she’ll do it when you ask her to (usually) as of today.  She opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out a bit then puts her mouth on you, so I’m not sure if she learned from watching Bruce and Harvey or if one of the boys she hangs out with taught it to her (I’m looking at you, Eli Warkentien!), but it’s adorable.  It’s the most precious thing.

Amanda got the last kiss this evening from our baby girl.  After I’d tucked her in and asked for one she took the paci out of her mouth and stuck it in mine.  But that’s okay, I’ll get one tomorrow morning.

Zach Dotsey

I instigated the offense in the Sippy Cup Rebellion, and the first salvo worked momentarily, but the Bottle Loyalists won out in the end.  Just a minor setback; the Sippy Cup Rebels will win in the end.

Even after giving Milly her bottle though, she was not very happy.  She was very fussy and made a lot of bratty noises (“NUH!”) while I was trying to get some oatmeal ready for her.  Once I did finally have the food ready though, she was pretty content.  She also ate about half a banana, which I gave to her in sections.  She doesn’t seem to like slices, but she does like chunks.

After breakfast Milly was much happier, though she’d get angry any time I was out of her sight.  We played for a bit then I decided to take her for a walk.  Since it was a lot earlier than the usual time we go on morning walks, I thought I’d make this one a little longer.  Then, as we were walking, I figured I’d just take her on down to the grocery store for a nice, really long walk.

By the time we got to the store I’d taken Milly off my shoulders and was carrying her facing forward with my hands clasped under her bottom, almost like a sling.  A woman coming out of the store commented on how cute it was while we were walking in.

We walked around the grocery store a bit and I ended up buying a doughnut.  We sat down outside and I gave Milly a few bites, which she liked.  I wiped her hands and face down with some sanitizing wipes I saw at the front of the store (for grocery carts) then we headed on back.

I decided, for the heck of it, to walk back along Murrayville Road instead of going through the neighborhood.  I probably shouldn’t do that as a general rule because of the faster traffic, but we had no incidents and it was actually a lot faster.

We played a little more when we got back.  Milly found a hat and kept putting it on my head and on her head, and on Harvey’s once or twice.  I’d taken my shirt off because I was a little sweaty from the walk (it’s very humid already this morning) and Milly pinched one of my nipples.  Those little tweezers she’s got for fingers hurt, but it was funny.

Shortly after that she started yawning, so I put her down for her nap.

I’d gotten a text last night from Mike Nowak asking if I wanted to do lunch at 11:30.  Last night I told him I wouldn’t even be able to get out of the house until after Amanda gets home around 12:30, but he called this morning to talk about it and I told him I was planning on talking to Amanda about it, since she’s actually home today.  I mentioned it to her after I put Milly down, so I’ll be going out.  She still shouldn’t have to worry about taking care of Milly very much since she shouldn’t get up until about 12:30 and I should be home not long after that, if not before.

So, given Milly’s mood early today, I thought I was going to have a rough time this morning.  Instead I got to spend some good, quality time with my beautiful baby girl.

Zach Dotsey

On the further subject of Milly food, Amanda tried giving her some pear slices today, but she wasn’t having it.  She started off liking things like that, namely peach slices, but she hasn’t wanted anything to do with them lately.  She did chow down on some green beans for dinner though, which is the first time in a while that she’s eaten those.

Milly and I have been going for walks in the morning, and we did it again today.  This time though, instead of going down to the cul de sac we went down Leaning Tree Court.  It was a little longer, which was fine.  We also went for a walk down the cul de sac this evening, though we didn’t make it all the way down because we bumped into Charles, Deanna, Kenzie and Kimber.  I ended up talking to them for a while.  In fact, after we got back Kimber decided she wanted to come inside.  It was like we were having a party- Nick, Amy and Eli had recently arrived then Bonnie came in (I’d seen her dog, Cream, outside and thought it was Nick and Amy’s dog, Max, and went outside because I was worried that he and Harvey had somehow gotten out of the backyard), then Kimber came in so I told Deanna, who was following Kimber, to come on in too.

After Bonnie, Deanna and Kimber left the rest of us ate dinner and, after the kids went to sleep, watched Thursday night TV.  We just have 30 Rock and Flash Forward left to watch from tonight.

Earlier in the day I had a meeting with some potential clients I’ve been speaking to for a while, and I think it went well.  Also on the job front, I’ve got a good number of applicants from the Craigslist ad I posted.  I think a few of them have some good potential.  It’s kind of exciting, getting ready to expand the company.  Hopefully it’ll work out the way we want it to, and hopefully we pick the right person from the get-go.

Michael got wind of the job search and called me to ask about it.  I told him that with his lack of design experience I really didn’t think I could do anything for him, but he is now interested in web design, and so I told him I’d be glad to show him a few things and help set him up to see if it’s something he really would want to get into.  I wouldn’t be able to give him a job, but he could set himself up to come up with designs and have us do all the backend stuff for him.  He seemed pretty excited about the possibility.  Of course, he’d have to go out and get clients and such, which isn’t something I could really help him with.  Still, it’s cool that he got excited about it.

Zach Dotsey

It’s a good thing we did get there, too.  There was one family of four in front of us, but the line waiting for Indochine to open was huge by the time the doors did open.  Even though we were second in line, it took them a while to get things set up for us, since I’d requested 13 seats outside (if possible) plus three high chairs.

We had a nice little turnout.  Elliot and Melissa brought Ella Jane, Nick brought Eli (Amy was working tonight, coincidentally at Barry’s partner’s wedding, and Seth’s brother was the photog for it) and Seth and Dana brought Gavin.  Then there was Billy and Cyra, Karen, Michael and Adam, who had remembered my invite for him to come over tomorrow which made him forget about tonight (though he made it well before the food got out) and Amy Farmer, who had a little trouble finding the place.

We enjoyed hanging out with everyone, and I played a little with Gavin.  It was hot outside, which I think eventually got to Milly, but it was also good because the outside area at Indochine is pretty open and very engaging.  It was also good that we had a nice time hanging out because they seemed to be having some trouble in the kitchen or something.  It was after 6:30 before we got our food I think, and some of it was cold.  It’s a shame, because that was the first real experience a few people had at Indochine, and usually it’s top notch.  We didn’t blame the waitress or anything though- she was very good.

Milly didn’t have a great night last night.  She cried a lot, and hard.  After I got to sleep she didn’t bother me, but I sleep with a pillow over my head.  I was more bothered by Harvey, who would make his mooing whine noise because, even though he is perfectly capable of getting into the bed, for some reason he didn’t jump up into it until I pulled up both his front paws onto the bed and boosted one of his back feet.  Anyway, Amanda headed to the guestroom at about 6:00 I think, and Bruce and Harvey followed her there.  Since I wasn’t really bothered by the crying and didn’t feel like getting out of bed I just stayed where I was.

Milly was kind enough to let me sleep until close to 9:00.  Since I knew she had trouble sleeping all night, I let Amanda sleep in and she finally got herself up around 10.  I mowed the lawn after that, which was badly needed despite the last mow being I think only two weeks ago.

I talked to Andra for a while this morning.  I also talked to Aunt Robbie and my dad for a bit later on while Milly and I were sitting out on the porch swing.  Dad’s in Kentucky, spending the weekend with Baba in Kentucky and helping out with stuff around the house.  She’s apparently still seeing Pap, which worries him some.  I have no idea what to make of that.  It doesn’t seem to bother her.  He said sometimes she just sees him and sometimes he’s holding her hand.  He doesn’t say anything, but she said she just doesn’t know what he wants or how to help him.  Pap, for any of you who don’t know, is my grandfather, who died last year.

Amanda’s mom, Karen, came here today and the two of them went out shopping this afternoon for Amanda’s birthday.  Of course, Milly, who stayed with me, ended up with some clothes, too.

Saturday Night Live is on right now.  This episode is hosted by Betty White and is a tribute to women of comedy I do believe.  It’s been pretty good so far.

It just turned tomorrow, and Amanda has just turned 30.  I went to give her a kiss, but she’s pretty out of it.

I just heard Milly and we don’t have a guest room to escape to tonight.  Uh oh.  Maybe it’s just a small, quick cry.

Zach Dotsey

I’ve got a headache.  Sometimes when I have a headache I wonder at how at one point in time, people didn’t have anything they could take for headaches.  I haven’t taken anything yet- I usually try to put it off if it’s not too bad.

Milly was good for me today, which is nice, given that today was a Monday.  A moderately busy one for me at that.  Tomorrow likely will be too.

Amanda was kind enough to heat me up some noodles for dinner.  I don’t know why, but they really hit the spot, like they were exactly what I needed.

That’s really about all I’ve got for today.  Right now I’m just feeling kind of run down, though not exactly tired.  Suppose I should go to bed, but I don’t really feel like it.

Zach Dotsey

The VW got its 20,000 mile maintenance done today.  Amanda dropped it off after work and was shuttled home then shuttled back out to pick it up.  She also talked to them about replacing the windshield, since it’s cracked, but Bob King (the dealership) wanted $700 for it.  When I looked up prices online before they were $300 and less, so we called around and found someone who would do it for about $275.  Still not cheap, but a heck of a lot better than $700.  From what we’ve gathered, Bob King doesn’t like to just give out the service- they like to get themselves a nice chunk of the pie, too.  Not that there’s anything wrong with marking it up, but more than doubling the price?  Come on, now.

In the realm of new Milly things, while we were sitting out on the swing today (the only thing that made her happy at the time) I was opening and closing my fist to wave at her.  She’s done that just a few times to people, but this time she was doing it was both hands and was very entertained by it.  So she’s starting to copy things more, which is really cool.

We also played a game called “put it in the box” where I give her something and she puts it in one of her toy bins then I get really excited for her.  That’s a pretty fun game, and it shows that she knows what the box is for and how to put things in it, which is pretty cool.  We played that for a bit then I dumped everything in the bin back out, but she got tired of it and decided it would be more fun to stick one of the toys in her mouth instead.

Amanda’s planning on getting up early and going to the DMV to get her license renewed tomorrow.  She stopped by there a few days ago after she got out of work at noon and there was a guy still waiting there who had been there since 7:30 that morning.  Hopefully tomorrow will go alright for her.

Zach Dotsey

I called her around 5:30 and, thought I can’t remember everything we talked about, it felt extra nice to talk to my mom today.  I was sitting outside on the porch swing with Milly, and Mom sounded delighted when Milly made noises.  Milly, in fact, was pretty talkative today, as she has been lately.

We’ve got Nick and Amy’s dog, possibly until early next week.  The Warkentiens are out of town for Amy’s grandfather’s funeral and Max was being watched part of the week by some other friends of theirs, but they weren’t able to keep him all week.  Amanda picked him up today after work.  He and Harvey played outside most of the day, which was fine except that it was wet outside and they were very dirty when they came in.  Bruce just tried to stay out of the way.

For the record, Max’s farts might just be smellier than Harvey’s.

Amanda’s dad, Phil, stopped by for a bit today.  He and Michael had gone to a Bobcats game last night (which they lost, to Orlando) and he was coming by after dropping Michael back off at his apartment.  He was very happy to see Milly and, even though she was a bit shy at first, she enjoyed her time with her Paw Paw.

Angus Trott, who went to school with Amanda, came by today.  He works for the exterminating company we use, Pestco.  It’s funny- they come every three months and you know exactly when it’s time for them to come because that’s when bugs start to appear around the house again.  It’s almost like someone sneaks over a bunch of bugs every three months and lets them loose.  At any rate, Angus is also a Duke fan, so we talked a bit about Duke’s championship while he sprayed.  He had actually gotten a good deal on some ACC tourney tickets, so he was there when Duke won that.

Angus had the Kevin Millard effect on Milly.  She started crying as soon as he walked in the door.  I don’t know what it is- she’s fine with most strangers.

Kirsten came to watch Milly and Amanda and I went to small group.  I really our group.  We have some pretty open, honest and frank discussions.  The newest couple, Reece and Stephanie, seem to have warmed up and gotten comfortable talking pretty fast.  That’s a tough thing for people to do sometimes.

They’ve got a cute kid, Jacob, who is half Milly’s age.  He’s got huge eyes and looks like a tiny little grown-up man.  On the subject of babies in attendance, Felix, Joel and Mia’s boy, literally gets bigger every time I see him.  He’s huge.  (Or as Joel might say, “Yuge.”)  I realized when we saw him on Monday that his head’s as big as Milly’s and he’s what, three months?  I think Mia said he’s wearing 6-9 month clothes.  He’s probably about as long as Milly, but not yet quite as heavy.  Come to think of it, Milly’s about as long as Eli and Eli is 13 months old, so that means Felix is as big as a 13 month old.  They said he drinks eight ounces in a feeding.  Milly usually just drinks six (though I’ve been giving her seven lately).

Anyhoo.

On the way to and from small group Amanda and I discussed some of the things going on in our current study, Love & War.  One of the things I talked about was where I think some of my issues come from, so here’s something to see if I can get a little interaction on this website.  What do you think my issues are and where do they come from?  I’ve had almost 700 unique visitors on this site this month (mostly from things written about Duke, I’m sure, but still), so it might be interesting to see a) if I can get people to actually comment on some posts and b) how well any site visitors actually know me.

For the record, I expect this experiment to be a colossal flop.

Zach Dotsey