There Will Be Date Night

On Friday, my mom and dad offered to baby sit for Ellie while Lee and I went out, so I jumped on the offer. I wanted to see Juno, but we wound up watching There Will Be Blood. And really, there was not as much blood as I thought there would be. It was good to have at least seen two of the movies nominated for Best Picture since the 80th Academy Awards were on Sunday night. We have Michael Clayton at home so we'll be watching that soon too. I can understand why TWBB was nominated, but I didn't much care for it because it just wasn't my type of movie. I start loosing focus and checking my watch after two hours in a theater. Daniel Day Lewis was really good though, so I wasn't surprised when he won the Oscar for Best Actor. After the movie, we had a late dinner and then caught the last part of the Memphis-Tennessee basketball game.

Ellie slept until 7:30 AM on Saturday morning and 7:45 AM on Sunday. SEVEN FORTY-FIVE. For those of you who do not have children, this is like sleeping until noon. Lee and I were trying to think of the last time we slept that late and could not remember. This almost makes up for her waking up at 4:15 on Monday morning. I went into her room because she was screaming, and I found her standing up in her bed clutching the crib rail. She knows how to get down, but I think she just needed to be talked off the ledge. As soon as I gave her the paci and blankie, she was fine and went back to sleep until 6:45.

Ever since we let her "cry it out" for three nights back in December, Ellie has been really good about falling asleep. In fact, I put her in bed totally awake last night, and she didn't make a peep. We read every night before she goes to bed, and right now her favorite books are Touch and Feel Puppy and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. These may not be her favorites, but I get a kick out of reading them to her. When we read Touch and Feel Puppy she has to feel both of the noses of the dogs on the last page - first the left one and then the right one. Then when we get to the goldfish while we're reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, she pokes it right in the eye. Every time. It makes me laugh.

That was it for our weekend. Lee's back has been bothering him, but it didn't slow him down out in the yard on Sunday. He's been planting a lot in preparation for spring because he wants everything to look really good for Ellie's first birthday party. We also installed a new baby gate this weekend at the top of the stairs and Lucy is afraid of it. She will not come up the stairs now. This morning, she bolted past the gate and frantically tried to paw her way into her kennel in the other room to get away from it. This is the dog we refer to as our "smart" one. And we now have another concert to look forward to... on Saturday we bought tickets to see The Police and Elvis Costello on May 21. Very excited. They came through a few months ago at the American Airlines Center and tickets were outrageous, but Lee and I got lawn seats for this show for only $40 apiece. I thought that was good considering who is playing.

I was asked to join my high school's alumni advisory board, and I went to the first meeting on Monday night. The topic came up that the school now has an Engineering Club and it would be nice to be able to have some sort of a search tool to find alumni who could speak to the group about careers in engineering. I immediately envisioned myself helping to meld the young minds of the best and the brightest at my school with a rousing speech on the joys of science and engineering. Beaming with pride, I perked up a little because look no further ladies and gentlemen - there is a board-certified engineer in your midst. "I'm an engineer. I would be more than happy to speak to your Engineering Club", I said with a touch of smugness. Then I went on to add, "I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." (Okay, I didn't say that last part - Ron Burgundy Channel 4 anchorman did.) Pat, the alumni director, said "That would be great! Let me check with the club sponsor because I know that it's not 100% an Engineering Club. Sometimes they just play ping pong. It sort of alternates between an Engineering Club and a Ping Pong Club". Background - we used to have a club at our high school for the D&D dorks called the Gamers Guild (picture Anthony Michael Hall's nerd friends in 16 Candles). It doesn't take my years of book learnin' to know that it's now morphed itself into the Ping Pong-ineering Club. Distance yourself... "Um, yeah... that sounds neat. Just let me know if I can assist you guys with anything".

Nicole's due date was Sunday and still no baby. Little Evelyn Molly McLean Haley Mary Alice Dijonaise Erwin should be here any day though. My mom had a thought the other day - what happens if E.M.M.H.M.A.D.E. comes on Friday, Leap Day? Her birthday will only come once every 4 years! Stay tuned...