like a boss

i’m presently in philadelphia, sitting in my hotel room in a leopard-print robe, sipping a glass of lovely white wine and prepping for a fun day of fieldwork tomorrow.   i bumped myself up to first class on my virgin america flight today.  1) because it was only $299 to do so, and 2) because i felt like i deserved it, somehow.  

it was so nice.   it was weird when the flight was almost over i had a sad face on because i wanted to have someone waiting on me and asking me if i needed more snacks/drinks/food all day and all night long.  but alas, the flight needed to end at some point, didn’t it?    
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joaquin is 8 months old today.   i blinked and 8 months flew right past my face.  it’s amazing.  i spent most of my flight going back through 8 months of pictures as i put together a book of photos for my mom for mother’s day.   it was so wonderful looking back on all of joaquin’s "stages of life" – it’s like he’s lived a thousand lifetimes in the course of 8 months.   i can’t even imagine what the rest of his life is going to feel like to me.

friday joaquin had a play date with his (new) friend jasper (my friend cyndi’s little guy who is almost 11 months old).   it was fun!   jasper is AH-DOR-ABLE, albeit a little quiet compared to my little banshee.   but it was cute/fun and a nice way to spend time.   after she left, our neighbor came over with his son who is a month younger than joaquin, and it was so fun to see joaquin show off some skills that another baby was just learning.   mostly joaquin is learning new skills from his playmates instead of the opposite.  

on saturday, we woke up early-ish and took our little joaq to the beach for his weekly beach run. instead of our usual 4 miles, i pushed the limits   (!?)  and we ran 5.4 miles.   it felt wonderful, and joaquin always enjoys the fresh ocean air on his little face.   aaron and i ALSO had a DATE NIGHT which consisted of seeing a movie that featured a tattoo’d ryan gosling and a clean cut bradley cooper.  in theory, sounds like a hot night out.  amiright?

HOWEVER: i had NO IDEA what it was about; and i quickly learned it wasn’t the "feel-good" movie of the year.   without giving too much away *SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN "THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES"*  it featured two guys (RG and BC) who happen to have 1 -year old sons.   and all i want to say is this:  yikes.   by the end of the movie i felt like all i wanted to do with my life was make sure joaquin turns out to be a well-adjusted human being.   at the minimum.  just that.

after the movie we rushed back to "gigi’s" house to go hug and squeeze our little man.     goddamn, i love that boy.  he stayed up "late" because he took a late nap and i snuggled/nursed him to sleep around 9p.   as a result, he slept in until 8a.   HOT DAMN.  that made me so happy.

sunday was extra special because i didn’t have a single.thing.to.do.   well, except pack and prep for my trip.   so in the morning joaquin and i walked aaron to the gym and walked around target somewhat aimlessly.   i picked up a bunch of mother’s day cards and cards from joaquin to his grandmas, and i also grabbed some finger paint.   in my imagination, i have this idea that i am going to make some cool gifts for the grandmas using joaquin’s hands, feet and the paints.  we’ll see if that actually happens.   i also bought a bunch of finger foods.  i have this desire to implement baby-led weaning, but i’m terrified of JRB choking.  so i’m buying him organic, dissolvable finger foods to get him used to feeding himself with easier foods before i start to let him do it with more complex foods.   and lo, it was so fun to see him play with the food and try to feed himself.   he was SO EXCITED. he’s sort of been trying lately, but mostly we’ve been spoon-feeding him.  i know he’s ready to eat on his own, so i’m now trying to let him to do so.    he’s such a big boy now – it constantly boggles my mind.  

after his feeding session, we played a bit and i let him explore his world while creating fun obstacles and hidden treasures.    he loves anything "new" so i try to constantly change it up for him.  we are now shutting all the baby gates so he’s confined to the living room.  he can go everywhere and loves doing it — and he thinks he is so cool because his boundaries have expanded.  he hates the gates, but he has a pretty sizeable area for exploration, so i’m not too worried about it.    we took another walk in the afternoon and then he went down for a little napster.

i think it’s just a matter of weeks before he’s walking using the furniture, and probably just a few more weeks after that until he’s walking on his own.  he’s so close.. but just needs a bit more practice balancing.

IN OTHER NON-BABY RELATED NEWS..

* it turns out that the XX are playing the hollywood bowl the day after aaron’s birthday (sep 29th).   i’m on a mission to secure some tickets when they go on sale saturday.    i also just found out that the black keys are headlining KROQ’s weenie roast (may 18), and those tickets go on sale friday.   i am also going to try my hardest to secure those.     YAY, concerts!

* aaron booked a national commercial and it films later this week.  this is VERY good news and huge relief on many levels.  

* liana is going to have her baby in TWO WEEKS.   i’m so excited for her!  **OK – that was baby-related.    i can’t help it.  

* i’m going to run along now and do a pre-nighttime pumping session and call it a night.

ciao.