A direct quote from the boy: "I can't enjoy myself in the dark when I'm all alone." While I'm hitting myself in the head with a book because I can't get the vaguely dirty connotation of that statement out of my head, it's still a great snapshot of my child's mind. Any NORMAL 3 year old will just say, "Mommy, I'm afraid of the dark." But NO, not my 3 year old. He has to utilize that embarrassingly large vocabulary of his and make me feel GUILTY. For leaving him in the DARK. Because he's so CUTE. Damn kids.

Anyway, so today. Whew. End of a busy weekend. I don't think the ILs have seen this much of us in a long time. We spent all day Saturday at SIL's parents' lake house for Alex's cousin Jazlyn's birthday. (Is it just me, or was there an overabundance of "S"s in that sentence?) Alex got to go in the hot tub and ride in the boat, as well as playing with Jazlyn all day. Emma did what she does. Which is to say, coo, burble, look adorable and be happy. And get passed around to everyone and their mother, which I totally don't mind - I'm feeling a little kid-centric these days and I appreciate being able to hand them off to someone else. We had fun, although the weather didn't cooperate and we didn't get to spend time in the water like we usually do.

Sunday was Emma's blessing, and despite the fact that I break out in hives when entering a church (no, I'm kidding) we survived. Actually, I was just glad the church didn't burn down around me. :-) Alex watched adoringly as his little sister was gathered into the circle of men and given her name. I told him that he had the same special thing happen to him and he just got a huge smile on his face. He was very good and only had one issue - sharing his snack with Jazlyn, which was a recurring theme all weekend. Baby sister makes otherwise good-sharer into grabby and whiny non-sharer. Life with two kids is nothing if not entertaining.
God, I love those toes. What is it about baby toes?

Monday, Labor Day, was Kristy's baby shower. It was nice and small, just Oma, Grandma, Aunt Mary, Kristy, Kristy's mom and me. Jazlyn and Alex stayed with the dads (which is to say, they played video games and watched movies) while the babies (Emma and cousin Matsen) stayed with us at the shower. Mary certainly got creative with the menu - I had feta cheese and hummus for the first time, and tried a frittata, which wasn't bad but could've done without the onions. Emma was cooing and burbling and adorable, as usual.

Nursing update: I've made it 17 weeks and we're still exclusively breastfeeding! I start back to work tomorrow with our nuts and bolts staff meeting and an ice cream social, so I'll have to start pumping. I'm worried that this will mean the end of nursing, since I generally don't handle stress well. I'm enjoying it so much that I don't want to give it up - it's my time with my baby girl that has really strengthened the bond I have with her. I'm planning on doing a weekly nursing update to keep track of how things are going. Right now we're nursing 6 times a day at least, usually on a 6-9-12-3-6-9 schedule, and she's sleeping from 9 to 6 at night. Couldn't ask for a better baby.

And that's about it. I'll blog tomorrow about the parents I meet at the ice cream social, if any show up. I usually get 3 or 4, so we'll see. Wish me luck!