what's goin' on

A brief summary of some of the interesting goings on in the Gottula home as of late:

• A whodunit suspense thriller: for some odd reason, the "No Fishing" sign in our fish tank is knocked over. By whom? One of the four remaining fish? Wesley? One of our sneaky houseguests from this weekend? I can only assume someone put their hand into the tank to knock it over, which doesn't sound pleasant. In any case, it remains down, probably until I clean it next.

• Last night, we moved Wesley's crib from our room into his room. I cried. The room's official title went from "the second bedroom" to "Wesley's room" overnight, and that's a big deal. He's all grown up. Shane told me, "you've got to cut the umbilical cord sometime!"

• Tuesday was my first day "on my own." My mom is gone, and Shane was at work. It was an awful day. The worst part: when I got a tupperware of baked beans out of the microwave to eat, and instead dropped the whole thing on the floor. Baked beans on my pants, my shirt, Wesley's swaddle blanket (not him, thankfully), the cabinets, the floor, even the fridge. Are you laughing? Does it sound funny? Well it wasn't. So there. It was awful. Again, I cried.

• I got an estimate from a plumber to "clean the pipes" of our place so we don't have to keep buying Drano. Have any of you guys done this before? To do two bathtubs and three bath sinks (since one of our baths is a double vanity), they quoted me $600! Does that sound reasonable? Shane says he also wants the toilets done... so that should, I don't know, add another couple hundred to the bill. Boo.

• In Wesley's room is a stereo and I like to listen to 88.5 FM at 3 in the morning. They play soft jazz. It's awesome for feeding the little guy and rocking him back to sleep. After 5 or so they broadcast NPR. I'm turning into an NPR junkie, which I never expected. This morning's news included a story on healthcare in the U.S. vs. Great Britain, and a report on the "vitrification plant" (sp?) being constructed in Richland, Wash., for Hanford nuclear waste.

• For our huge Wesley bash this past weekend, we got his picture on a cake! It was the coolest thing ever. I keep telling him, I'll know I've made it when I have my picture on a cake. And he's not even 2 months old. What a guy.

• I'm trying to drink five 1 pint 7.7 ounce bottles of water a day. It's quite the task. My mom had an awesome idea that I've been doing and I will pass on to you: as soon as you finish one bottle, wrap a rubber band around it. That way you don't lose count of how many you've consumed. Genius! I get my five during the day, then I have No. 6 waiting in Wesley's room at night if/when I get thirsty while attending to him at the aforementioned 3 am. It's been great. The doc says I need buckets of water.

• People have asked if our kid's name is "Wes-ley" or "Wez-ley." I don't really think it matters. My brother's wife is named Leslie, and we call her both. I think it's just whatever happens to come out of your mouth when you say it. I'm not going to be picky. I did know a girl once in high school whose name was Laura, and if you called her "lore-a" instead of "laure-a" she got rather offended and corrected you. I'd prefer not to raise my son that way. (I wonder if Leslie gets offended? She's never told me I've offended her).

• We watched The Devil Wears Prada the other day. I just love that movie. Add it to the list of movies I could watch over and over and over again (perhaps the subject of a future blog post?). I could maybe watch it every day.

That's all for now.