My last day in SciPubs at M. D. Anderson will probably be January 15. I will be leaving to work for Nora, Cammie, Mike, and myself.

I wonder if I will still use the series comma.

The morning of the 16th, 2009, I will wake up, and ... I know it's not an indefinite vacation, but there is an inner voice claiming that this path is the lazy way out. I do not want to overfill my days building launch pads of high expectations (sewing! cooking! capoeira! music! art! productivity!) that will really lead to disappointment, but I also want to do enough to deserve Mike's part of this sacrifice. Full-time motherhood is a luxury for me, in that it is something I want, and I wouldn't be able to afford it on my own.

I can't remember a time when I was this anxious about an upcoming date. It isn't just the extent to which I think I'll be able to get the house and my own life running in a more satisfying way than ever, or about not "having" to do anything in particular (is that freedom?). It's not about a career decision or motherhood, either, I think.

But I have been waiting for a change like this for a decade? forever? I don't know how this very big thing has snuck up on me. But I can look at my wall calendar and see that January 16 is very, very soon.

I have no idea how much cat hair Nora's already eaten. I do try to brush it off before I pump or before she latches on, but it's so sneaky. Sigh.

Builds immunity, they say.

This week has been made more complicated by Mike's being away, the treacherous construction-perverted traffic and rainy weather, and my laptop being stupid.

All these add up to my not being able to handle HHA business as thoroughly as I would like, the morning and evening routine being completed by one person instead of two, and ... more uninteresting drudgery.

On the fun side of that coin, Nora surprised both herself and me last night by rolling onto her stomach and elbows on her own. It happened in the blink of an eye, and she was so stunned that I had to start enthusiastically congratulating her (after taking a sec to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing) before she could realize this was all good and the YAY-WOW-ha-HAAA face was called for.

So, there in her crib, she proto-crawled (cute! scary!) until her neck got tired (I think) and she realized she was stuck, not knowing how to get out of that position after 3 long minutes of being in it. Before her throat-clearing became crying, I rolled her back. Happiness and a call to tell Daaad were next.

Also, when she's seeing me off to work from her Nana's arms, she seems to really enjoy hearing the zipping up that my motorcycle commuter suit requires, and we also play a modified peekaboo with the helmet.

Woooo... We made it through year one!

We have a lovely little Norbles and Wabbles at home.

We had a reservation at a nice local Steakhouse for dinner tonight. Angel's parents lined up to babysit the little one while we go out... and then...

... I get on a call on Thursday and one of the sales guys tells a vendor that 'the whole team will be onsite in DC next week.' Furiously sending IM's to my boss and sure enough, without checking with us all we were assigned to travel up to work on sales docs. Granted it is a huge deal, but I am typing this from an office in Bethesda, MD, and am not at home with my wife, child, and cat!

NOT HAPPY!

Sooo... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE!

Will be home as soon as I can!

Wednesday night Nora was to get a bath... I set everything up as per usual. Angel brings her up after her latest snack at the Moo Machine and I take over.

Warm water... check
Naked baby... check
Towel, and sundry items required to clean Nora... check

SO I get Nora into the bath and she is happy enough. She then starts to blow bubbles and then decides it would be fun to clean her system into the water. We pick her up, rinse her off and I hold onto her while Angel replaces the water. As I am holding her she lets another little poop go, (which was the cork) and then dumps a load of poop onto the floor by the way of my hand. Sigh.

We clean up that mess with me standing in the bathtub to get us both rinsed off, then back to the Nora bath. And off we go again... another poop. We rinse off, again, replace the water, again, then finally get her back in and get her washed.

After the bath I dry her off, put some lotion on her dry skin and then go to put her diaper on... and she pees all over herself and the diaper.

We then go back to the bath, rinse her off again, and then dry her off and finally get her dressed. By this time she is very NOT happy and I hand her over to her mum for comfort and food!

Phew... that was a lot of poop!

On its way to recovery. The page is back up, and the 'pod' on the right menu bar of what we are reading is soon to follow. Still plenty of work to do but still, getting back to usual!

So, Friday was Halloween, and you have already seen the outfit she was in... well there are more photos of her in her costume online now, as well as photos from months 2, 3 and 4 taken on my mums camera... so enjoy!!!

Nora's First Halloween	Nora - Month Four (aka 2nd Quarter Begins!)
Nora - Month Three	Nora - Month TWO!

Two photos for your enjoyment... Sunrise over Bissonnet, and the funny Monkey...

Three of the four grandparents have been over today (Lourdes taking care of Nora here today) and they suprised me with a little monkey! She be cute right? Think we will have to keep her!!!

PS... More photos on Nora - Month Four Slideshow

If you are interested, you will have seen I seem to have been stuck reading the same book for weeks. Not quite true... I just have not updated the page, and with good reason. I have a stack of books I need to add to the list (both read and unread) and I will be adding the capability for Angel to have her own list... which will require me to rebuild the book list functionality... which will take a little while. Started work on it, but will be a little while before it is live.

Update: So I just turned off the pod for the current book... you can still get to the book list, but not what I am reading right now!

Was a busy one, with us going to Raka's Mundan on Saturday afternoon, and then to Carol's open house at the studio (where she sold 3 paintings while we were there!)

Sunday I went to golf at Memorial where the course kicked my ass... big time! First par was on the 16th hole, and I think I hit the fairway a total of 2 or 3 times in the whole round. Sigh. Back to the range when I can get a chance.

While I was golfing Angel and Nora went shopping with the maternal grandparents, then we all had dinner at Crooms Cafe. Back home, put the little one to bed and then crashing, getting up early Monday for my 7am call (which was postponed... but no one thought to tell me, sigh).

One funny story from early last week. Both Angel and I have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night thinking that Nora just fell out of bed. It is generally nothing, and the rest of the time it is Cammie moving around. Well, the other night I felt, what I thought was Nora, slipping off the side of the bed. I dove to catch her, only to actually wake up and realize it was Wazzles, who needless to say was not happy with me jumping at her while she was moving about. Sigh... It would not be so bad if it didn't happen at least once maybe twice a week... even when Nora is sleeping in her crib in the other room. Sigh.