Happy Birthday To Me!

For my birthday, yesterday, I got orange trees. 2 of them. And for the first time in many a holiday, I didn' t guess my present before I got it. We were told they could bear fruit in as little as 2 years, depending on conditions, and I'm very excited that in a few years we'll have to go all the way to the backyard to pick fruit. Eric wants a couple more trees - a Live Oak, and a fruit tree each of the girls picks out. Roz thinks she wants a mango tree, and we'll have to see when Samantha gets here. We might plant a banana tree, too - they're yummy and fairly small.

Also got the complete run of the X-Files on DVD in the mail yesterday. It was perfect that it got here on my birthday. We'd wanted it for years, but it was too expensive. We checked the price again when we sold our house, and it came way down, so we figured we'd go for it.

Turner's hours upon hours of colicky screaming finally broke us, and we bought a swing. We didn't want to - neither of us wanted to be "baby gadget" kind of people - but we were desperate. A human being just isn't designed to keep a baby in that steady motion. (Maybe we are, but we're not used to it.) The car, a walk in the sling, any motion calmed him. So we got the swing. Now, if he starts to cuss me out, I strap him into the swing. Instead of an hour of yelling at mom, it's about 30 seconds of fussing, and then a nice, sweet, peaceful sleep.

How did the human race survive without baby gadgets?

Eric's brother Mitch is not going to make it to see us. We're all terribly disappointed, and so Rosalind is going to go home early, so she can celebrate the 4th with her mom. They actually do a big celebration, unlike us, who may be at home in bed with little ones before it's even dark enough for fireworks.

I noticed, here, wth us whiteys being the minority, there are lots of differences. Mostly I like them. The newspaper didn't say "Happy Independence Day," it said, "Happy Fourth of July." Because there is a large - majority -Mexican population, and they celebrate another Independence Day as well.

We're still loving it down here. You don't want to go out too much in the heat of the day, but early morning and early evening walks are beautiful.

I've lost well over half of my baby weight - down about 35 pounds. Only about 15 more to go. Fitting back into my clothes now, mostly.

Ah, the swing has lost its magic. Turner is screaming again. Bye-bye.