Brian and the Blurb

Today's post title sounds like it could be a book ... or a TV show. Like "Pinky and the Brain" (which I never saw). But really, its all about a visit from Brian.

Who's Brian? Well, my cousin, of course. Brian was in Phoenix this week for some training and Liz, Christian and I met him for dinner.

Unfortunately, dinner was preceded by Christian having a bit of a rough day. He hadn't eaten much (he's going through some kind of phase) and he was tired. A hungry and tired baby is a bad combo.

We walked into the restaurant and one of my worst fears came true: a quiet restaurant and a fussy baby. I hoped for the best, but wouldn't get it. Christian refused to be put into his chair, so that forced me to hold him standing up. We were right in front of the restaurant focal point: a huge plasma TV, so I felt that all eyes were on me. Thankfully Brian, who has two young children of his own, suggested we get dinner to go. Doing so and eating at his hotel room bought us some more time with Christian.

Side note: If you double-click on the second picture down to make it bigger, you can see Christian's oh-so-cute two front teeth!

We had a very nice visit, and in Jonathan's absence for the week, it was wonderful to interact with adults who didn't cry and need their diapers changed. :)

Brian and his lovely bride Cheri embarked on a six week African Safari earlier this year, and Brian had some great stories to share. Which brings us to the second part of "Brian and the Blurb."

Brian and Cheri put together a wonderful picture book of their adventures on http://www.blurb.com/.

Here is their book, Africa 2008 Glimpses of God's Glory: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/264260. If you click on "Book Preview," you can see the first few pages ... wow!!

I was impressed ... and inspired! What a great idea for putting together Christian's first year of life! So that is my new project in my "free time." (Free time? What is that?) And so I wanted to share http://www.blurb.com/ with all of you. Many of you have children, and some of you have taken fabulous trips around the world and might like to chronicle your adventures this way.

Brian, we thank you for visiting with us this week and for a tasty dinner. And thank you, especially, for being a dad and understanding about Christian's fussy mood. Safe travels back to Cheri, Natalie and Kendra!

Jennifer

All the Latest

Here's the latest scoop on the Lucero family:

Our house is in the process of being sold - yay! More details will come soon, as the closing date is on 9/30 and I don't want to jinx anything. :)

Jonathan is in North Carolina this week for training. So its just me, Christian and Bella. I'm pretty certain I'll be insane by week's end ... mostly from walking Bella twice a day with Christian strapped into the Baby Bjorn on my chest.

Jonathan's 24 year old Honda has died for the last time. So, Christian and I went car shopping yesterday with Liz. We won't buy anything until Jonathan is home next weekend ... so stay tuned to learn what car we'll be driving next. I can assure you, it will not be a two door. We've had just about enough of trying to get Christian and his car seat out of the back of my car. Its frustrating, difficult and hurts Jonathan's back. Not to mention that Christian is heavy and its very hard for me to get the car seat in and out.

Its still very hot here. The locals have informed us its "cooling down." I don't know if I consider 101 to be cooling down, but I guess its all relative. Certainly better than 114 from July.

Jonathan took Christian to "Gymboree" last week, and so once Jonathan gets back, he'll be taking Christian to Gymboree once a week for some fun and "daddy/son bonding." We also attended a "Baby Signs" demonstration on Saturday and we were most impressed with the instructor's 16 month old baby was signing to her mommy! So, we've signed up for a six week class.

Christian is quite proud to be able to pull himself up to the side of the bathtub (both when in the bath itself, and when making his visit into the bathroom several time a day), the stair case railing upstairs, and his crib. He especially gets a kick out of climb up the stairs. As soon as I put him down in the living room and he sees the stairs, he makes a beeline for them. So I've learned to become very watchful of him downstairs. He's quite good at climbing the stairs, but can easily lose his balance if he turns his head to look behind him. So I'm always there with a supporting hand.