Week 13 started with a bang. We went to the library and then to school to see the yearbook staff. It was nice to see everyone, and the kids thought Lennie was adorable. She fell asleep in her sling while I heard all about this year’s chaos. I really miss all of the problem solving yearbook requires, but I’m glad that I’m staying home with Lennie. I can’t imagine ever leaving her for more than a few hours, although I know I will eventually.

Friday night was a welcome return to our “date night” with Dave and Karen. It’s been a couple of weeks since we got to hang out and even longer since we’ve had a long evening to just talk. Zac was his usual adorable self, and Ella was amazing. She gave me five repeated (both up high and down low), and I almost believe she did it knowingly. She also sits up and is just generally an interactive person now. She’s not a fan of “This Little Piggy,” however.

Lennie was happy for most of the evening, but she got a bit fussy when her bedtime rolled around and we weren’t in her usual environment. She’s definitely a creature of routine like her daddy. For the last several weeks, she has been willing to go to sleep if I lie down next to her and nurse her, if I rock her, if Daryl carries her around like a football, or if he rocks her on the patio swing. Frequently the patio swing routine is all that relaxes her during a fussy period. A couple of times it has been raining when we really needed the swing. I think we might have to move it into the garage before it gets too cold to take her outside in the evenings. That will necessitate some clean-up, though, because we are currently a storage place for my brother’s stuff.

Saturday was busy for Daryl, but lazy for Lennie and me. Daryl and I had optometrist’s appointments at 9 and 9:30, and afterwards we went to the grocery store. Lennie had a gigantic poopy diaper in the store, so I ended up going out to the car before Daryl was finished and changing her in the front seat. Boy was she mad! After we got home, Daryl went back out to buy mulch and mums for the bed around our mailbox. It has looked horrible since the mint died, and I’ve felt guilty that the people across the street have been trying to sell their house while our yard looks so bad. I really wanted to help with the yard work; I was actually dying to, but Lennie wanted me to hold her, so we found a lawn chair and supervised. We didn’t have quite as many mums as we needed, so Daryl grabbed two potted rosemarys from our patio and planted them with the mums. My favorite plant in our yard is a gigantic rosemary beside the front door, so I’m hoping the new ones will resemble it.

Sunday was very lazy. I made a ring sling, and it’s a huge improvement on my pouch sling. The fabric is also much better. It’s two layers of t-shirt material, so there’s some give. It has made the vertical hold, which Lennie and I love, possible. I took her to the park to swing while Daryl worked on his web stuff. Later I cleaned the kitchen while he played with Lennie. She’s been all about Daddy this weekend, frequently preferring for him to soothe her. In the early evening, she rode in the sling while I made a pie crust. Daryl held her while I made the filling, and we ate dinner while my first blueberry pie baked. After dinner, we went out onto the patio to swing and to have a very important discussion about how we were going to get ice cream to go with the pie cooling in the kitchen. We called to invite Abbey and Andy over on the condition that they bring ice cream, but those punks turned us down. I ended up leaving my two red-heads swinging in the back yard while I ran to the gas station for ice cream (and some candy for my chocolate stash). Dessert was delicious, warm and berry-y with loads of melting ice cream.

Monday has been amazing. Lately I’ve been a bit impatient when Lennie refuses to nap anywhere but on me during the day. I’ll have a million things to do, and I’ll forget to enjoy having a warm baby puddle sighing and sleeping in my lap. Today I decided that if I was going to be a napping place, then I should enjoy it. Who cares about vacuuming? When she napped I didn’t think of anything except how nice it is to be close to her. I kept looking down at her rounded little forehead and her ski-slope nose and her long eye lashes resting against her cheeks. She’s so beautiful that I get a little weepy thinking about her. I love it when she almost wakes up, but she starts sucking her tongue and puts herself back to sleep. It’s also pretty cute when she does wake up a little, but after smiling a bit, her little eyes start to close and I can see that she’s too asleep to focus. Who would have thought that seeing a baby’s eyes roll back into her head would be so cute?

Lennie and I went to the park twice today and walked around outside at least three more times. Usually it’s too sunny to have her outside much without a hat, and she fusses when she has to wear a hat, but today was overcast. We enjoyed our long walk and swinging in the park. She really enjoys swinging high while she’s safe in the sling. Lennie fell asleep while we all ate our dinners, some of us one-handed, and she has been asleep ever since. At sunset there were two huge rainbows outside. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.