1 out of every 2...

Tonight I'm feeling a bit shocked because another couple that I know is divorcing.  That makes the fourth one I have found out about in the past few months.  Statistically, it shouldn't surprise me but yet they always seem to come out of nowhere.  It made me hug my husband a little tighter tonight and mental note to make sure not to take him for granted.  He's especially sainted in my eyes today because he watched both kids the whole day while I was in the office.  This is going to be our new routine, once a week for awhile.  We don't want to leave William with a babysitter outside of family/close friends until he's old enough to talk, if we can. 

Back to the friends, in two of the cases, they're "friendly" divorces where the wives wanted to have kids and the husband did not so they split up. I think the women thought they could convince their husbands, that they would change their minds eventually.  And sadly, I know both of these men would make great fathers, they are honorable, funny, loyal, great friends to me so I know these same traits would make them awesome dads.  But that is something they have to feel for themselves.  I hope they don't decide, years from now, that they should have had babies with their ex-wives.  But I don't tell them that I feel this way.  I just nod my head, smile, and listen while they talk about how "we wanted different things" and "it's really for the best".  

In another one of the cases, the husband had a whole secret life and the wife was completely devastated when she found out.  They have children, they're fighting bitterly for custody, it's very ugly.  It's the same old story you've seen on TV a million times, it's just shocking because they both seemed so nice.  You would think you could figure out "the type".  On TV it would be the guy with the shifty eyes, furtive glances, always "at work".  When you find out you actually knew this "type" it's a bit of a jolt. 

ancestors

Lauren with straightened hair & William? No, it's Aunt Patty & Poppy
(aka Patricia and James William) in 1948 or 1949

Half Marathon

Here are some pix from the half marathon that came through our neighborhood this morning. Since we were blocked from going south-bound anyway, we walked down to take a look. Some notable sights in the half hour or so that we were there: 2 separate men running barefood (see pic #2 for one of them), a couple running with their Dalmatian (pic #4), and 2 people pushing jogging strollers. My cousin Andrea runs marathons, and Lauren offered to sit in a jogging stroller for her in the next one.

The funniest thing of all, though, was a guy I saw laughing and chatting with cops. To get the background story on this one, you'd have to understand that for weeks, we've had signs informing us that Venice Blvd. would be closed from La Cienega to the beach on 11/16 from 6:00 a.m. until noon. Then if you were on our street, halfway down you'd see a sign "Venice Blvd. closed ahead". Then if you proceeded all the rest of the block to Venice, you'd encouter a parked "Parking Enforcement" car with its lights flashing parked diagonally across the road, yellow tape blocking the road off (see pic #1) and also a motorcycle cop from LAPD in full uniform.

So, now that you have the background, after I saw the guy get led away in handcuffs (still laughing) and his pickup truck get towed away, I ran into our neighbor who'd talked to the cops and gotten the full story. Apparantly the guy drove to the end of the street up to the barricade, rolled down his window down and slurred to the motorcycle cop, "Kin I turn right here?". The cop asked him if he'd had anything to drink (at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, mind you!) and he said "yeah, only a few". So then he got out and they gave him a field sobriety test which he gigglingly failed.

We're all fine, the drunk guy didn't hit anyone, so we can all laugh at him! And that is what I should have taken a picture of! But you'll have to settle for these. :)

Dukes up, don't mess with me!

William 2 month update

Well, I have a "newborn" no longer!  Yesterday, William hit the 2 month mark and today he had his doctor visit and first set of shots.  :(  We didn't give him the recommended hepatitus shot at the hospital because we did not think he would be having sex in his first few months of life.  The kid's "advanced", but not that advanced!  Anyway, he got it today.  The shot, not the sex.  And he's weighing in at 15 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 24 1/2 inches long.  That's the 98th percentile for height, weight and also head size, which I didn't write down because I don't really care about it.  I can tell you which of my friends are tall, which weigh a lot but ask me who has a big head and I have no clue.

So, you must be wondering what the kid is up to these days.  Or you must not give a shit but you are taking time out of your busy day, anyway, to read this, and I'm going to tell you.  He is able to stand up by himself, smile at us, make that face where he pretends to pout but with a twinkle in his eye and instead smiles, hold up his own head and...oh, he can do our taxes this year!  Okay, maybe not that last one.  He can provide tax assistance by being our second deduction, though, yay!  And okay, maybe not that first one either.  He can sort of "stand" if we put him in a standing position and also hold him loosely, it feels like he's standing though!  So can we count it?  Think I will!

Siblings

One day I will have to show them these photos from this morning, when they're older and fighting! See, you once got along so well! Every morning William would wake up first and go in with Mommy to wake Lauren up. Then she would say "Oh! My brother! Let me give you a kiss!" and play the game where she pretends "I'm an only child, I'm so sad about that, have you got a brother for sale?" and I "sell" him to her.

HAPPY Happy New Year!

Two sleepyheads welcome 2011 this morning with smiles. Wishing you all a fresh beginning and a wonderful year ahead!