Sorry to keep you in suspense! I’ve just started getting back to work and that has had me a bit distracted.

All is well here. Joe is getting bigger and sweeter every day. He’s getting a lot more vocal lately. After every feeding he likes to practice his sounds. It always sounds like he’s got something really important to say but it’s just not coming out right.

He’s also discovered a love for the pacifier. We resisted offering him one because he was working so hard on finding his thumb and we really didn’t want to interfere with that. (You don’t have to dig under the car seat for a thumb, or rinse it off because it fell on the floor, or get up at 3 a.m. to put it back in his mouth!)

Anyway, because we don’t want him to get hooked (and because it hides his lovely face!) we only give him the pacifier for a few minutes each day. But it’s so cute when he has it; his little eyelids go all half-closed with bliss, and he rubs his chest with his hands like, “Ahh, life does not get better than this.” I’ll have to get a picture of that so you can see.

Oh, and he’s three months old today! We’ll snap another Ted Ted picture later today to see how much he’s grown.

It takes him a while to get going, but toward the end there I’m pretty sure he says, “Rrrrrrrbbbrrrrbbrr.”

Yesterday the three of us drove up to Manassas to pick up Patrick’s new car (new to us, anyway). It’s a cute little white Scion xA! (With a Russian flag on the back, courtesy of the previous owners. I’m sure that’s soon to be replaced with a Geneseo sticker.)

Anyway, we were worried that 5+ hours on the road would be a problem for Joe. He loves being in the car, but if he slept the whole way we’d surely be in for trouble at night when he was supposed to be sleeping.

But he traveled like a champ! He slept the whole way there, then woke up but stayed calm long enough for us to wolf down a Panera dinner, and then was calm and alert the whole way home. What a good boy!

He still sleeps like nobody’s business (5-6 hours on the first night home — I was afraid to check on him after all that quiet!), but getting there has gotten to be more of a struggle. We’re trying to establish a routine — bathtime, jammies, etc. — to let him wind down, but sometimes he just wants to be up until 11:30. And sometimes he wants to spend that time screaming for no apparent reason. Patrick has started driving him around at night when he can’t settle down. By exit 61, he’s usually out. I hope we don’t have to do that until he’s in high school.

Tomorrow we’re headed to Fayetteville for the Fourth of July. We’ve skipped the Fort Bragg festivities for the past few years, what with all the little ones in the family now. (Those cannons are probably the reason I can’t hear a thing now. What?) So, until they’re all old enough to appreciate field artillery, we’ll just spend the Fourth relaxing at my folks’ house. Joe hasn’t even met his uncle or cousins yet, and my dad hasn’t seen him since he was just a few hours old. He’s already so different!

Five years ago today, Patrick and I went on our first real date. We had beer and calamari at Huske Hardware House. Patrick swears I told him that very day that I wanted to have children in the next few years. Who knew that five years later we’d have one together?

This past weekend, Joe got to meet his Grandpa Mike and Grandma Mary, who came down from New York just to see him. He was on his best behavior and slept most of the time. When he did fuss, Mary showed us her patented over-the-leg trick, which calmed him right down. We’ve been doing that ever since.

We’re going to attempt to have his portrait made tomorrow. In the meantime, we continue photographing his every move at home. Here he is relaxing in the guest bed:

Such a serious face!

Today was Joe’s due date, but he is apparently not as deadline-oriented as his mama. Hmph!

Our bags are packed, we’ve got a muffin basket for the nurses, and everything Joe needs to come home and settle in is in his room. Nothing to do now but wait.

We have an appointment on Wednesday to see him on ultrasound again and then visit with the doctor. Maybe he’ll be here before then?

We’ll keep you posted!

Patrick has taken profile pics of me about every two weeks since we found out I was pregnant. Here you can see how it’s grown, right up to 38 weeks.

(Mouse over each pic as it goes by to see how many weeks pregnant I was there.)

Yikes, right?