Enjoying the scenery on a detour.

I usually hate writing sappy posts because everything I say looks really dumb in print. It just does.

But all morning today I've been thinking about what must have been a lyric in a song or something, "enjoying the scenery on a detour." Its what I've been doing since Oliver has been born.

I never meant to have Oliver. He was accidentally brought into this world. It wasn't even supposed to be possible for things to happen the way they did, but they did. This isn't at all what I imagined I would be doing but I like this. Its fun to always be around to take care of him.

Christmas was good for me this year. It was very different, but it was good. I didn't feel angry or stressed at all, which I think must be a first for me. We missed our Christmas Eve flight and we flew down to Florida on Christmas morning. Even that ended up being a good thing because I got to spent Christmas Eve with my sister and avoid the pre-Christmas travelers.

Our flight out was mostly uneventful. The plane was 2/3 empty. We got a row of seats to ourselves. He never cried or fussed. He did make a giant poop all over his Christmas outfit, but something like that is bound to happen. It was a mixture of air travel law and my stupidity. Why did I think three wipes would be enough? It wasn't. There was poop EVERYWHERE. On his legs. On his back. On his feet. On my hands. Somehow even smeared on the mirror. I tried to walk out of that tiny bathroom cubicle with as much pride as I could muster, but I suspect I fooled no one. I walked in with a fully clothed baby and a spare diaper. I walked out with a naked baby and poopy clothes balled up in my free hand.

Oliver is getting to seem more and more like a person. I mean, I know he is a person but... he acts more like a kid. He is looking more like a kid. He stands up on his own if you give him your hands to hold. He doesn't scream at bathtime anymore. He watches everything going on around him and seems to be a lot more present. I'm glad Jared has this time off of school where he can just hang out with Oliver and enjoy him while eh is still small.

I know I haven't been around much online but I'll get back to normal once we're all home and settled in. I'm just goign to spend some more time doing nothing before I have to go back to infomercials and shoveling snow. Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year.

-A