At 7:30AM, Rob was in the middle of changing Holden’s diaper.  Diaper changes these days are fraught with squirming and sometimes the accidental bumping of Holden’s head on the floor .  Holden bumped his head and started crying.  And of course he kicks even harder when this happens and tries to get away to avoid the dreaded diaper change.  While this was going on, I heard a door slam really loudly downstairs and then someone stomping up our steps and banging on our door.  Rob answered the door.  Our neighbor had come upstairs to tell Rob that we need to keep our baby more quiet because he is making too much noise right over their heads while they are trying to sleep.  Rob replied that we don’t like the noise either but that there isn’t exactly a whole lot that can be done with a 10-month old baby.  They simply make noise, kick, pull heavy books off bookshelves that come crashing to the floor, bang spoons and mixing bowls on the floor, test the loudness of their voice, etc.  Ten-month olds aren’t exactly quiet.  Well, I guess our neighbor was dissatisfied that Rob wasn’t willing to duct tape our first-born to a chair and wire his jaw shut because she left in a huff and muttered that Holden was a nuisance.  Rob was flabbergasted and closed the door, not wanting to escalate the situation further.  So at this precise moment, while Holden is trying to nap, they are blasting truly awful hip-hop and slamming doors.  I could simply call the cops and have them arrested for the sheer amount of drugs they have in their unit.  Typically, I don’t care about whether people do drugs or anything like that.  Why should I?  But shit, if you want to come up here and insult my son, BRING IT.  This girl’s father owns the unit downstairs, and her parents have traditionally stepped in and protected her from everything, so she probably thinks she can get away with saying or doing whatever she wants.  She has taken the trash out maybe 3 times in 3 years.  She doesn’t recycle which is a pretty good indication of how useless she is.   She has NEVER vacuumed the common area.  She is a slob and a disgrace to society and I just really hope I don’t see her again because I really don’t know what I’ll do to her….verbally, of course.

We have an Open House for our unit tomorrow.  I am worried that they will be smoking pot and blasting music during the Open House and that no one will buy our place and we’ll be stuck here longer.  It’s getting stressful for us.  Every time Holden makes a noise I find myself shushing him, which really isn’t fair to him.  It just makes me feel awful. 

I can’t wait to be out of here so we can feel like a real family, like real adults:(

Holden loves books.  He loves flipping through the pages of his books, pulling all of his books off of his bookshelf (and ours).  If he is fussy, reading him a short story is almost always a good antidote.  Recently however, his love of reading has gotten so intense that he will start bawling when we get to the end of the story.  It’s like he is crushed that the story has to have an ending.  And it probably doesn’t have anything to do with impending bedtime as I read to him at pretty much all hours of the day:  first thing in the morning, when he gets up from a nap, before dinner, etc.  I’ve noticed that if I actually say “The End” at the conclusion of a book, he will cry harder and longer.  So I’ve taken to omitting those words.  Tonight, Rob was reading “Bear Snores On” which was a wonderful gift from our friend Jen.  It’s one of Holden’s newest favorites at the moment.  When we got to the end and Holden flipped the last page to reveal that there were no more pages to be turned, he started crying inconsolably and rocking back and forth.  Rob picked him up to comfort him, but he arched his back and tried to wriggle away.  There was no convincing him that endings to books are normal and that all good things come to an end.  Even though it is sad for Holden, it is kind of funny for us, and we fully intend to capture one of these crises on video.  It’s nice to have a nearly 10-month old baby who adores books as much as we do.

I have to share some of my recent favorite photos.  Holden is a photogenic lad and a loving little guy—-and I think these qualities are conveyed in most of the pictures that are taken of him.  I guess I am getting sort of nostalgic as he is getting a bit older and he is turning into a little boy—I feel like I must capture him when engaged in even the most mundane of activities.

H admiring his mama (I LOVE this one):

H dancing to the new Junior Boys (we have a video of his dancing that we still need to upload):

H LOVES animals.  He loves fish, puppies, kitties, and more exotic animals that he has only seen in books.  I can’t wait to take him to the zoo.  We have an aquarium just a 5-minute walk from the house and we plan on taking a trip there next week.  He follows our cat from room to room and torments the poor rabbit in her cage.  And even at Oma’s, Holden couldn’t contain his excitement when in close proximity to a kitty:

Rob took this awesome photo of H looking rather contemplative.  I love it: