Laz and Mama had a big day today -- lots of family to see. We picked up Laz's great-grandma Sally and drove out to (great) Aunt Carol's, where we also saw Larry and cousins Bonnie and Sherry, and Ryan and Nicholas. Nicholas seemed a bit shy at first, but once he realized Laz was a little guy just like him, he couldn't wait to show off his trains. Laz wasn't sure what to make of them but was definitely interested. Ryan really took a shine to Laz (posing here in front of a picture my grandfather painted). Of course, with all the activity (and food), Laz and Grandpa just had to take a nap...

Another day older and deeper in debt...

We're here in Philly, adjusting to both the time change and the weather: cool and cloudy. Haven't seen any of that since... oh my, since May 20, actually, the day Lazarus was born. It rained that morning and was unseasonably cool all day, and all day and into the night, I couldn't get this line out of my head:

I was born one day when the sun wouldn't shine/I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine/I loaded 16 tons of number-nine coal/and the foreman said, Well bless my soul...

That's from a lullaby my dear dad used to sing to us kids to help us sleep snug and happy all night... Yeah, I'm serious. That and stuff about poor starving waifs fainting on rich men's doorsteps, their cries muffled in the falling snow - and my second favorite ("16 Tons" beats all), "Daddy, don't go to the mines today..."

Anyhoo, Laz is an absolute champion traveler. He did save up his poops for three days and gave me one shot in the airport, another on the plane an hour or so after takeoff, but the terminal's nursery section and the plane's pull-down changing table in the restroom helped me take care of that. Other than poop, he slept, looked around, cooed, fussed just a bit when he got hungry, ate, chomped on the pacifier, and slept some more. When we landed, I managed to talk him through the scary THUMP of the plane hitting the tarmac and the cacophony of the jet engines reversing - his eyes got wide, but he gazed at me and I held his tiny hand and talked, and he was okay. And then, the big moment: meeting Grandma and Grandpa! The Philly airport has a bunch of rocking chairs right at the terminal's exit, and of course Mom was in the very first chair, rocking like mad waiting for da baby! Laz recognized her and gave her a big smile, and then while Dad and I picked up my bag, he regaled her with stories of his first big trip. He's such a little talker now... time to get out the video camera...

I'll get some new photos up tomorrow... we're going to see my grandmother and aunt so I expect to take lots of pictures...

Leavin' on a jet plane - I don't know when I'll be back again...

Thirteen hours till takeoff!!!!!! I'm so excited - kind of terrified of the traveling part (I hate airports, hate being cramped in an airplane, and hope Laz doesn't have trouble popping his little ears) but so ready to be outta here and back in Philly. Mom went on a shopping spree for baby stuff - Dad practically had to drag her out of the store - so Laz will have a comfy little home away from home for the next two and a half weeks.

So, for now - bye!!!

Three days to go, and then Lazarus and I are off to Philly! Can't wait to see Mom and Dad - and they're dying to see da babe, too! Last time Dad saw Laz, he looked something like this: sleepy... He didn't open his eyes much back then (Laz didn't, that is), but he was already working on his great facial expressions, including my old favorite, the kissy face! Of course, Mom saw Laz just two weeks ago, but it's never enough, right, ma?

Antonio hasn't seen Lazarus in a month, and I'm afraid he's missed an awful lot. Not just the physical growing but also the giggles, increased eye contact, "conversations," and, of course, cuddling. Okay, so Laz still sleeps a lot... Antonio is up in the mountains above Denver this weekend fishing with a cousin, and expects to finish packing up his dad's house next week. I've asked him to be back home by the time I return from Philly... I guess in some ways this separation has been a growing time for both of us, but it has been very hard on me to be taking care of *everything* while he's gone, from Laz to finances and working to the house and garden and fish... don't do this again, okay, hon'? You're missing too much of the fun... :-/

okay, this is supposed to be a soapbox and I'm taking muppets quizzes and mooning over my baby. and I got my dsl back and have to make up for lost time! so I'm surfing... check this out before your next mall/Target/BabiesRUs expedition:

Behind the Label

wonder where those $12 pants come from (guilty)? or the adorable $4.99 baby onesies with booties (guilty)? wanna know where to get stuff made by fairly compensated adults, not slave-wage kids? look behind the label to get the real story... I've mouthed off about this before but am still buying cheap stuff that's cheap not cuz it's used or trash but because someone didn't get paid what they should have to make it. and that someone isn't the store selling the stuff, or the distributor/importer bringing the stuff over from whatever place they've managed to find yet another exploitable cheap labor source. I'm starting to get more stuff in thrift stores and feel a bit better about buying "recycled" goods, but still...

and while I'm up on that soapbox, here's a great quote I just found:

Profit is unpaid labor. Profit denies that resources are limited. Profit denies its connection to the disposal of waste. Profit relies on blindness to connections, consequences, and responsibility.

Can I get an amen. Okay, off to bed.

Well THIS is a big friggin' surprise... :-b

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

Lazarus is three months old, as of yesterday... seems like forever, in a way; sounds corny but I can't imagine life without him now. All the things I feared about motherhood -- losing my sense of self, never having a chance to do what I want to do, being tied down, etc. -- have been blown away by this fascinating creature who greets me with smiles and giggles every morning. He's a great traveler, so I can get out of the house and on the road whenever I want; and although he loves to be held he is also, in general, a very content, mellow little guy, so I can get stuff done around the house or work or garden when I really need to. And he looks dang cute in overalls!

I just had to put up this photo of Lazarus and his newest admirer, Sarah Jo - she and Sandy came over today to take Laz and mama out on the town, but first (of course) had to spend some time chatting with the little guy (does he look like a future president in this photo? God I hope not...). I can't believe how expressive he is, with both his face and his hands - and, of course, his voice! He gave a great, melodious sigh after eating tonight that started high and descended at least an octave. Oh, we'll be working on scales and arpeggios in no time... And now, I'd like to sing for you a selection my dear mother taught me long, long ago...

Laz is in da house. Yeeah.

Tummy time again?!? I don't wanna! Okay, at least I have something interesting to look at... hello, Mr. Ant... Oh, mama, this is just too hard... Okay, enough... time to flip back to my back... Ta-dah! Man do I crack myself up!

Wow, my mom should come out more often - we went to the beach *again* today! It helps that we discovered (thanks to Sandy for the tip!) that Bolsa Chica state beach is nice and not terribly crowded (even on a nice Sunday) and has very easy parking for $3 a day. It was getting unpleasantly hot up here in Whittier, so off we went... of course, the real reason for this post is not for me to ramble on about the beach but to post another picture of my happy baby!

We're going to the beach today, for the third time this week - it's dreadfully hot here in the LA Basin and Grandma wants to go boogie-boarding! We had a lovely outing Wednesday at Bolsa Chica State Beach, where Laz and Mama hung out in the nice breeze and Grandma tackled the waves... kinda funny that Mama hangs out with the babe and Grandma goes out on the boogie board, but my mom has always been cool like that...

Antonio called this morning to tell me he and Billy are heading back to Denver and William is heading back to California. They had a good time hanging out in the wilds, listening to the coyotes howl and huddling in their screen tent during some wild summer rainstorms. Oh give me a home....

I'm just a few days away from taking annelear.com live - I just have to figure out a few more html thingies and finish the main pages. I figure I'll post the site just to get some critique and work on interior pages over the next two weeks or so. I can't keep staying up till 1:00 in the morning, though... Laz wants to get up and play once the sun is up, and I'll only last so long getting five hours' sleep night after night.

One more cute picture: Lazarus in the dunk. He doesn't hate bathtime anymore, but I wouldn't call him a waterbaby just yet....

Hey, what's that over there? What is it, ma? Hey, it smiled at me! Georgia sits on the arm of the recliner almost every time I sit there to feed Lazarus, and until this morning he didn't pay much attention to her. Then he realized that she wasn't furniture - it might have been when she leaned over to sniff his hand as he waved it around to indicate how pleased he was with breakfast, and her whiskers tickled his hand...

Laz gets more active and talkative every day. Yesterday, Grandma propped him in his boppy, and he decided that was his cue to hold forth on a wide variety of topics. He has a lot to say about this world around him... doesn't sound like anyone I know... :-)

Update from the road: Antonio called yesterday from Magdalena - he, William, and Billy (A's godson) have finished staking out the property and will camp there for a few more days. "It's a nice piece of property," Antonio said, with wide-open views and acre after acre of fragrant pinons and other native flora. I'm hoping that he and William will have such a hard time leaving that beautiful land and sky that they'll decide it's time to go NOW. I'd have the house fixed up and on the market before they even hit Needles....

Since I'm so busy today (feed baby, work, change baby, work, bounce baby, work...) I had to find a diversion: yet another one of those "What kind of [x] are you?" quiz thingies (thanks to Ruhiel for the link). The results are interesting given that I've been a tech editor for almost seven years and, even though I barely managed to set up my home network (okay, so Chris did 98% of the work -- and I've managed to inadvertently undo some of it) I know the names and functions of all the components involved... for what that's worth... So here goes:

You are 33% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

A "Which Care Bear Are You" quiz? You gotta be kidding. Oh, what the heck --

	Tenderheart Bear You are thinker, organizer, peacekeeper, and leader all in one. You have a power to command attention and people listen to you. However, you are often so concerned about not hurting others' feelings that you don't tell them what they need to hear and this gets you both into trouble. But you always have loyal friends to help you out.
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

...huh. Well. Okay then.

Update from the road: Rumor has it that Antonio made it down to Albuquerque from Denver - I haven't actually talked to him in two days, but my mom talked to him this morning, so I'm guessing he's still on Planet Earth. William drove out overnight and made it to the property at 3:15 this afternoon, right about when he said he'd be there... and no Antonio. So he drove into Magdalena to call me and find out if I knew what was up... nope - I'm the last one to know anything, remember? William hasn't called back, though, so I'm guessing they finally ran into each other, given that Magdalena is a very small town and only so many silver trucks with California plates can be found cruising the main (only) strip. Why am I dying to move there? That's why.

Lazarus spent the day with Grandma while mama took the CBEST (California teacher certification exam), and seemed very happy about it. Grandma completely rearranged the living room furniture - I kind of like it, actually. I then made four batches of zucchini bread - only used up two friggin' zukes! - and then Laz and I played for a while and took a lovely evening nap. I got him some soft rattles and yet another froggie yesterday, and held them up for him to grab at; we still have a ways to go on the coordination, but he definitely enjoyed himself, especially when I made the frog go Ribbit. Laz giggles a lot now, which makes me hopeful that he'll have the sense of humor needed to deal with his crazy family....

Okay, since this is my soapbox, I'm gonna climb up and rant: I'm so TIRED of all the warnings about death and terrible injury plastered all over every piece of baby gear we own. On the car seat, ironed on right over the cute animal print, in ugly yellow and black: "! WARNING: DO NOT place rear-facing child seat on front seat with air bag. DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY can occur..." On the side of the car seat handle: "WARNING: FALL HAZARD: Child's movements can slide carrier... SUFFOCATION HAZARD: Infant Carrier can roll over on soft surfaces and suffocate child... STRANGULATION HAZARD: Child can strangle in loose restraint straps..." And that's not all - at the base, we get yet another pleasant "! WARNING: Failure to follow each of the following instructions can result in your child striking the vehicle's interior during a sudden stop or crash..."

On the Pack-and-Play (a bassinet-combo thingie, which has turned out to be pretty useless so far), I get to stare at the following, printed right there on an inside panel, as I lay my babe down to sleep (or would, except he's still sleeping in the lovely Moses basket that auntie Heather passed along): "WARNING: FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE WARNINGS AND THE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS COULD RESULT IN DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY FROM ENTRAPMENT, SUFFOCATION, STRANGULATION, ETC."

Now, I know there are a lot of dumbasses out there in the world -- and I also know that companies have and still do put out plenty of unsafe or borderline products -- but why do I have to think about DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY every damn time I take my precious babe for a ride, and DEATH FROM ENTRAPMENT, ETC. every time I put him to bed? Yeah, people need instructions, especially with something so precious and overwhelming as a baby, and yeah, gear can be dangerous if we don't use it properly. What does it say about us as a society, though, that so much of our "instruction" on baby "care" comes less from our human community and more from panels of lawyers and executives striving to ward off consumer lawsuits?

< /rant >