Late nights with a book

I hate it when I get hijacked by a good book. I'm reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" and have become obsessed. I read it every free moment I have and can't wait until it is finished so that I can have my life back. When I was a teenager, in the summertime I would blissfully read book after book, usually at night until 3 or 4 a.m. It was awesome. I loved those late nights alone with a book and my imagination...but, then, I had the luxury of sleeping in as late as I wanted the next morning. What were other teenagers doing? It certainly could have been worse. ;-)

Flash forward 20 years and I was up until 2:30 a.m. last night reading this damned book, then up with Max at 4 and 8:30 a.m. Sometimes I think might be better to read the mediocre than to get swept up completely in the best. Naw...I'd never. Any candidates for my future obsessions and sleep loss out there? I can't wait.

Maxie G's two teeth

Caviar dreams, fish stick budget

Yesterday, we ran around and did all kinds of stuff...today Max and I are dragging butt. He's been sleeping a lot and I am just tired. No naps for mommy. Adrian took the day off yesterday and we went to a nursery to look at shrubs (the Herrera excitement continues), had a landscaper over to give us an estimate on the front yard...and during our travels saw an open house for a still-being-constructed $800K house in a neighborhood we like. Unwisely, we stopped and went inside. It was an absolutely gorgeous palace (with no yard, of course, and close enough to the next house to have to share a driveway) with a master suite that our entire second floor could fit in. Custom everything. Crown molding everywhere, even in the garage. With stars in our eyes, living on one income and soon opening a business, we eagerly calculated that if we ate ramen noodles for the next five years and sold our cars, we could definitely afford the place. "To hell with Max's college fund! Yahoo! We're moving!" Luckily, there was no salesperson around. By the time we got home, we had come to our senses and trudged with leaden feet and downcast gaze into our hovel of a home. ;-) Just kidding...we realized our house ain't so bad because we don't have to eat ramen and Max can have a college fund! (Plus, who wants to clean all that square footage?) Ha ha!

Crawling

Max is officially crawling now. Yesterday, he was still kinda scooting and flopping with great effort to reach the bad stuff he shouldn't be playing with...today, he just pops up on all fours and motors straight for the still uncovered electrical outlets, clumps of dog fur, power cords and thumb tacks left carelessly on the floor. ;-) Ahhh, such a brave new world.

Also, yesterday we were hanging out on the lawn in 70 degree temps and turning the soil in all of the flower planters, today there are four inches of snow blanketing everything and I had to cancel the lawn guy. Gotta love Colorado weather. God certainly does have a sense of humor.

March Madness

Here is Max with Audrey Woodhouse (her mom is Max's godmother). We hosted a brunch a few weeks ago to which the Woodhouse and Solanki families came. Though it is a huge effort for me (I can be a hermit), we love having our good friends over to visit and eat. We are even planning to roll out the second editon of our Chilean Wine Tasting Party this summer. Stay tuned for more details on that. Anyone reading this blog is probably welcome to come (NO flashing and boobie grabbing this year, Stephanie). What a crazy month it has been for the Herrera clan. I just finished six days of corporate CBW training, which put a lot of stress on me, Max, my mom and Adrian. It nearly force-weaned Max, but I think we are recovering. Since we all feel like we haven't seen each other in over a week, we're going to Glenwood Springs this weekend to enjoy the hot springs and mountain air. We might even rent bikes with a pull-behind kiddie wagon. It will be so nice to spend some quality time together -- Adrian and I are wonderful partners in parenting and life, and we also recognize the need to reconnect in the romance/friendship departments.

Teeth

Max has two little teeth now. Lots of crying involved with this teeth stuff. Also, the prune juice hasn't been working, so Adrian fed him an entire container of baby prunes last night...positive results came out this morning. An all-around success. This is what gets us Herreras going these days...good baby BMs, slobber kisses, playing with blocks. It probably sounds crazy (and miserably boring) to the childless, but, man, this is really the good stuff. What did we do before Max? Nothing important, that's what.

Turds

Max's love of all things beta-carotine has led to an uncomfortable case of constipation. As the doctor says, "p" is for poo, so he's now on a regimen of pears, peaches, plums and prune juice until the ugly, smelly clog passes. For me, the turdy episode is a metaphor for how I feel about recent comments to this blog. It will certainly feel good once the toilet finally flushes and we can move on with our day. On that note, here's some newsiness about our goings on...our Greeley Camp Bow Wow is moving along and, if all things continue as they are, should be open by May. We exhibited at the Greeley Home and Gardens show last weekend and convinced nearly 400 potential customers to give us their mailing and email addresses. I've been spending a few hours (at least!) each day working on our grass-roots marketing efforts, including visiting Greeley vet offices, volunteering for the Humane Society mobile pet adoptions, etc. If you have any grass-roots marketing ideas, feel free to post them here! Go to www.campbowwowusa.com for more info about what we're doing with our lives.