I can't believe it! I'm actually doing a second -gasp!- blog for the month of August! It must be a miracle! The second coming! It's Armageddon for Hawaii! Okay, not really. I'm just sitting at the computer waiting for some photos to upload and thought I'd use the time wisely. The beet is napping in is crib (can you believe it?). I'm so happy I managed to get him used to not sleeping in my arms; it's given me so much more time to get things done! I'm still limited in what I can do, of course, because if I do anything loud (like vacuum) he'll wake up. But there are still plenty of options. It's funny; when I'm away from the computer, I can think of so many things I'd like to blog about, but then I sit down and it's like scrounging for change for the vending machine. You never have what you thought you did. So I try and make the best of it, blathering on about whatever, hoping that the desired bits of relevance will surface for air in my brain and I can pounce upon them like a cat on catnip.

The hunt for a job somewhere outside of Cali is still underway, with Reno being the next target. I confess I never gave Reno a second thought until Steve mentioned it was coming open and we looked at it. I had no idea it was so cool! It's only forty minutes away from Lake Tahoe and the Sierras, there's a river running right through it with a riverwalk. There are festivals of one sort or another every weekend in the summer. Housing is incredibly affordable, there's no state sales tax (I mean, it IS Nevada) and we'd be getting a state refund every tax season (like Alaska). It's halfway between Salt Lake and San Diego, so closer to my parents and the closest office we've considered to San Diego. It's big enough it has all the amenities we're looking for (like an airport and hospital...since when did those become amenities? Since we moved to Julian) and a grocery store closer than a half an hour and a hardware store closer than an hour. Neither of those things bothered me until I stopped working and had to make special trips just for them. Will has graduated to his next sized car seat, which he should be able to fit in for quite some time. Probably until he's ready for a booster seat, but we'll see. We're taking a week long road trip to Utah next month, which should be really interesting. In an effort to not waste our precious time off, we're planning on doing the eleven hour drive in one day. Now, it that actually stays the reality is anyone's guess. It'll be up to the baby. But we're planning on starting really early in the morning (think before 5) so Will can finish sleeping the night away for a few hours and we're going to take turns sitting in the back seat with him, keeping him entertained. He's recently started figuring out sippy cups, so hopefully I can just pump milk to feed him via the sippy cups and we won't have to stop just to nurse him. We are planning on stopping pretty often so we can all get out and stretch our legs, wear the beeter out a bit. Mostly, we're just going to keep our fingers crossed that it's doable. We're planning on going to Seattle for Christmas to spend it with my family, since my sister will just have had her baby girl. We figured out that we could fly to Seattle for a few days for the same price as driving with stops in a few places we want to visit, and it would cost us the same amount. So. We want to drive, if the baby is up for it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Will has learned how to hug. It's so sweet! So far he's only done it to me and Steve, which is to be expected I guess. We'll be holding him and he'll suddenly wrap his arms around our necks and bury his face in our shoulders. My heart got just a little bit bigger the first time he did it. It was a big deal for Steve the first time Will did it to him, too. He's also learned to hold out his arms when he wants to be picked up, or to go from one persons arms to another. So far he's only wanted to go from Steve to me, and not vice versa, but I say just give it time.

Tami and Ira babysat Will for us a week or two ago (the days really seem to blend together lately....as in the past eight months lately) so Steve and I could go out on a date. It was the first one we'd had since he was born. We did dinner and a movie and had a great time. We didn't even spend more than ten minutes talking about the beet. It's amazing how, for me, having any length of time to myself or just me and Steve is so special now. Talk about something you take for granted before a baby! But when Steve is watching Will and I can run an errand, or we have to take two cars and I drive the truck, really anytime the baby is not my responsibility is a novelty. I can't even say when he's sleeping, because I always have one ear open in case he wakes up. Like right now. Gotta go!