Rootin' tootin'.

Reed and I have been suffering from a mild stomach virus this week, mild because there hasn't been any vomiting, but stomach virus because there has been much loose stool and tooting and cramping and moaning and nausea. For Reed, not for me. Okay, for me too. I TOOT. I am human, after all.

I went out on Monday night, leaving Jason home to contend with Reed, and he said that he was up and crying most of the time until about 1:00 a.m. when, writhing around in our bed with Jason, Reed let out a very long, very painful sounding, VERY STINKY toot, after which he whispered the word "better" and promptly fell asleep.

I felt sentimental upod hearing a toot story. Being a parent is touching in the most bizarre ways.

Peeps got to watch out for one another.

On the job front: No one's calling. It's very reassuring, especially with those $15,000 worth of student loans that I have yet to pay back. But, really, I guess I shouldn't expect that much. That girl from Jersey Girl, Raquel Castro, I saw her on a fucking Pillsbury Cinnabun commercial the other day.

Evidently it's tough out there for everybody.

For the love of Pete, Kevin Smith, TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE.

Pedanticism.

I think Kane's favorite word right now is "fuse", because he is CONSTANTLY talking about fusing this and that together. He told me about the whole fusing plants thing, and how they might blow up, to which I replied, "I'm sorry. I don't think that's true." Then the other day he was talking about some Pokemon fusing together, and then he went right in to a story about how "people who specialize in snakes" keep tons of viles of snake venom with them because if you get bitten by a snake he can just give you some more of the venom from that snake and the two will cancel each other out and you'll be fine. He went on to say that the guy in the Simpsons with the "big bald head", Mr. Burns, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with "every disease known to man and three that aren't known to man". But, he said, if that really happened, you'd be fine, because "all those diseases would just cancel each other out." To this I replied, "I'm sorry. I don't think that's true." This time he came back with, "Well, MAYBE not. There's no way to know." I replied, "Kane, if a person had cancer and AIDS and pnemonia and arthritis and Parkinson's, the diseases would NOT cancel each other out. The person would be very, very sick." He was like, "Yeah; good point."

I am freaking EXHAUSTED at the end of every day. I wonder why?

Raising a boy.

A few days ago in the car Reed found his old toy cell phone, picked it up, and decided he liked it again. As we were riding along, he flipped it open, held it against his ear and said, "Hey! [pause] Oh, nothin'. What you doin'?"

It has yet to cease amazing me how Jason and I but mostly I created this PERSON. MY BODY MADE THAT GUY, that little guy who sits in the back seat of my car and has conversations with imaginary frat bros on his cell phone.

Egad, fraternities. One more thing to add to the list of "things I will lock Reed in the basement for if he ever shows interest", along with the Republican party, yo girls, and Nascar.

Getting the feel of things.

So today we went out to the place where we'll be photographing that wedding in October. It's beautiful; I'm really excited about it. It's a really lovely lake house with multiple decks and balconies and a pier. The back yard is is hit perfectly by the sunlight and the ceremony is going to be in front of two tall cedar trees just in front of the water's edge. There's a gorgeous swing underneath an awning covered by muscadine vines that will be perfect for photos.

All in all, I think it's going to be a good experience for us. I think the lighting and location are perfect for our first time, as it's all really conducive to great pictures- you can't beat a sunny place with a lake and vibrant foliage. Add to that the fact that it's a joyous occasion with family, friends, food, and drinking; I think this is going to be fun.

Time to embrace.

Time to embrace.
Originally uploaded by cuttingroomfloor

Okay, so, I drink about fourteen gallons of Natural Light, Lindsey and Dave drink about twenty two gallons of red wine, and what happens?

Slow dancing on the patio to Crowded House. Naturally.

So the other day Kane was telling us how you can fuse two plants together and it's a very delicate process but it's possible but you have to be very very careful because they might EXPLODE so you have to REALLY know what you're doing, when I realized that I might not make it through the next 16 years (the amount of time until Reed graduates high school, meaning Kane and Jude will already be off at college GOD-WILLING, and Reed will be on his way GOD-WILLING.

I guess that's all I have to say.

Finding God. At the age of almost-two.

So one of Reed's favorite passtimes at my mom's house is to play the piano. Sometimes he pokes the keys, and sometimes he bangs the keys with both hands. Recently, though, he's taken to running his hands up and down the keys, from one end of the piano to the other, and he gets so excited when he does it that he ends up screeching, breathing heavily, and stomping his feet.

Last Sunday he was in the midst of it, standing on the piano bench and really getting down on the keys when he suddenly stopped, slapped his knee, and yelled, "OH GOD!" and then went right back to running his hands up and down the keys.

If that's not getting taken up by the spirit, I don't know what is.

These are the boys I live with.

These are the boys I live with.
Originally uploaded by buffpuff

Jason has decided that he'd rather not transfer to Nashville right now, and I support him in that decision. I had actually started to get more excited and less mournful about moving away, but it doesn't make sense for us right now, as we're eating beans out of the can and all showering at the same time to save money.

Kane seems to be dealing with middle school pretty well so far. He's kind of been keeping to himself lately. Someone very wise recently told me, "He'll find his niche. Don't worry." So I'm trusting that advice for the time being.

Jude is... Jude. He's leaving his homework at school and forgetting EVERYTHING including the rules and doing flips and making friends and suggesting large, expensive pieces of electronics we could buy to make the house a little more entertaining. The word "no" is becoming the soundtrack of my life.

Reed. Today on the way home from daycare I said, "Did you have fun at school today?" "Schoo." "Did you have a good day?" "Day." "Do you want to sing?" "Nope." Do you want to count to ten?" "Nope." "Do you want some juice?" "JUICE!"

Sexy flute lady.

Sexy flute lady.
Originally uploaded by buffpuff

The party Saturday night was a huge success. You can tell by the fact that we broke out my flute from seventh grade. That's the mark of a good party- several people taking turns on an instrument they can't play. There was also some trampoline action, as well as some righteous karaoke.

Score.

This week has been bone-crushingly hectic at work. The owner's sister passed away last week and the funeral was on Monday, then we had a big event on Wednesday, then the rest of the week has been spent getting back to normal from those two big deals. This job is deceptively high-stress, in that it's one of those things like knitting- you think, "Knitting: low stress." That's what I thought about this job. And now I'm all getting hung up on more than once a day, hauling around heavy, heavy buckets, getting yelled at randomly for nothing every few minutes. I'm SO lukcy to have this job.

I am currently eating a bean burrito and watching It's a Big, Big World with Reed, and learning how fish hearts work. I have to tell you, when I was a kid and I imagined what my life would be like, if someone would have given me 17,000 chances to guess, I never would have guessed that I would live this life that I'm living right now. And I mean that in a good way. And a weird way.

Tonight we're throwing a party for our friend Mason, on account of he eloped and didn't even give us a chance to watch and then get drunk and tell Joy embarrassing stories about him. LOOK OUT, because tonight's the night.