sorry it's been so darn long since i've posted!
we've been having lots and lots of fun with rex. he's more interested in toys, is able to sit up for a spell, and loves bathtime. he has an amazingly cute giggle. he loves the song "rawhide!" (which his dad sings to him, and which he recognized when our friend adam sang it). we let him suck on a plum last week, and play with a banana yesterday, and we plan to introduce foods to him in the next week or so. he is a barrel of laughs!
this week was the first time he's had any health concerns. the poor little dude has been having a bunch of trouble pooping. he's going in teeny tiny little bits every couple of hours (or more frequently) and he is working sooooooo hard at it. his little bum has been sore and so we've been doing what we can to try to soothe him and to figure out what in the heck i ate that would cause multiple days of this! this did result in a (somewhat) funny story...
friday night we were staying up at our friend steve o's house in dillon beach. i was just finishing nursing rex around 4 am and had started to fall asleep when rex let out a HUGE fart and some obvious pooping noises. steve and i kinda both sighed, knowing we couldn't just leave him. so we got up and tag teamed it, luckily calming him right back down again. we weren't in bed more than a couple of minutes when we heard another VERY LARGE fart and some even larger pooping noises. i could have sworn he was giggling at us. he did this THREE TIMES in a row. we were up changing him for probably a good 30 minutes. oh, the joys of parenting!
i was sent a link to this post by one of the moms lists i'm on. it was in response to a mom-to-be asking what all she might reasonably accomplish during her maternity leave. i found it 100% accurate, but i would have loved a follow up post saying "and it doesn't necessarily get much better! you learn to balance more, but you will still have more things that you want to do than that you can reasonably get done, and you will need to be kind to yourself about it!" i'm constantly feeling behind and disappointed, and yet i know i'm doing pretty darn well considering. this week's nighttime poopy disturbances left steve completely wiped out and he told me he was amazed i was still awake and able to function. so see, maybe i just need to give myself more credit!

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in november we are going to be using two more weeks of the maternity leave that i didn't use this summer. we'll be spending it in michigan so that we don't have to hurry there and back for thanksgiving. and then we won't be traveling again in november for christmas/new year's. i'm looking forward to both our big trip and to our non-trip. i'd love to hear from parents out there who might have tips (or even just their own stories to tell) about their first christmas (or hanukkah) as a family, and how they "made it their own" or what traditions they started. does anyone have something helpful to share? pretty please?

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tonight we went to see jake shimabukuro play at symphony hall. for those of you who don't know who he is (probably 100% of you), he's an awesome ukulele player that achieved his popularity after a clip he filmed for a tv segment (showing him in central park, playing "while my guitar gently weeps") was posted to youtube. it's a great clip, and he mentioned tonight that "since that was posted to youtube, my life hasn't been the same", which made me swell with pride. there are some things i don't like about my job, but in general i'm darn proud to be associated with the site.
jake closed out his show with a ridiculous (awesome) version of 'bohemian rhapsody' that led to a standing ovation. hooray!

in case you're in the mood for some awesome ukulele action, the "famous" clip is here: