Yeah Baby, That's What I'm Talking About

I'm not sure what this image has to do with anything. It's one of the very few we took this 4th of July. More about that in a second, but first:

My brother and sister-in-law had a baby today! It's a girl! Her name is Anika Joy. Shannon and Anna are very tired right now.

Heh. . . Heh. Heh.

I'd write more but it feels like someone is constantly pouring water up my nose.

Whatever.

Note to Grandparents: As I mentioned, there are no pictures of any Fourth of July festivities. Sorry. It wasn’t that we were all that busy but nothing seemed to warrant grabbing the camera. It was just a nice, lazy day that didn’t really get started until noon. That’s when we had lunch on a blanket in the backyard plus naked rides (well, some of us were naked) on a Slip & Slide. After that we lit fireworks at the end of the driveway and had a cookout with watermelon chaser. Finally Allie and I watched fireworks at the Jr. Fair.

Deb and I argued over whether or not Julia should attend the pyrotechnics at the fairgrounds. During the day Julia freaked more than once when she heard an explosion. I can’t blame her. Our neighbors were lighting some truly powerful fireworks just two doors down and a couple of them made my own heart leap. Deb was convinced that if these amateur booms were making Julia’s eyes bug out of her head while she ran around in circles looking for a Civil Defense helmet; then a full-scale fireworks display would more than likely put her into a coma.

I disagreed (of course). Didn’t matter, though, because Deb won and she stayed home with Julia. Allie and I went to see the fireworks on our own.

There were none of the pornographic histrionics that we had last year. I’m not saying Allie was quiet. She had a squeal, oooh, ahhh and something to say about each shell that exploded above our heads. Her comments were more refined this year. That was gorgeous! Oh my goodness that was awesome! That one made my heart jump around in my chest! Although she did add, “That’s what I’m talking about, baby!” a couple of times.

More than once Allie would turn to me and say something like, “I’m so glad that you brought me here, Daddy. Thank you. I love you.” I told Deb that as wonderful as it was to hear, I was hoping Allie would keep it down. Each time she said it, Allie’s effusiveness started sounding more and more like we kept her chained down in the basement and she hadn’t seen the sky in months. The people were packed around us pretty tightly so I started to look to see if anyone was examining Allie’s wrists and ankles for shackle marks.

The walk back to the car was longer than it probably should have been - but I'm glad it turned out that way. Allie’s left hand was still sticky from watermelon juice which made for a good grip as we weaved through the crowd. Her right hand was busy waving a flag to hear the red, white and blue plastic flap in the night air. I realized I probably should have been the one repeatedly thanking her for bringing me to the fireworks. But there’s no way I’m going to clue her in to the fact that the ratio of her needing me to me needing her is slowly starting to shift.

This morning Allie barfed at Karina’s. We suspect severe constipation. Deb spent a chunk of the morning making sure it wasn’t anything serious before sending her back to daycare.

My freakin' head is killing me. I'm going to say goodnight. . .