Tonight, Mommy and Daddy did something they have never done before: left you with a sitter and went out for dinner and a movie. One of the stay-at-home-dads from the play group, his wife, and two of our friends visiting from Ames, went with us for Brazilian BBQ and opening night of the new James Bond movie, SkyFall. (For those who haven’t seen it, it’s good.) We didn’t get back home until midnight and didn’t get to bed until 1 am…instead of our usual 9:30 or 10 pm. We cannot impress on you enough how thankful we were that you decided to sleep in until 7:30 the next morning.

Today was a hard day for Mommy. You know that she loves to talk (you and her “talk” all the time); what you might not know is that she also loves to sing. You don’t know this because sometime around 4 months before you were born, she got a viral infection that damaged the nerves around her vocal chords; the nerves regrew, but not the way they should have. That is why Mommy sounds like most people do when they have a cold and why she doesn’t sing to you.

The doctor today did a special test on Mommy’s vocal chords to see which nerves are not right and told Mommy that there is nothing they can really do. This means that Mommy will start going to a speech therapist so that someday, with a lot of work, she will be able to lecture and talk at a normal pitch, and maybe…just maybe…really sing again.

For the past four months Dad has been spoiled because Mom would take the night shift. This allowed dad to get 7-8 hours of continuous sleep while mom needed to getup once in the middle and once in the early morning for Alonzo catering, dinning, and linen services. This week mom is out of town and grandma is here to visit. She helps take care of you during the day, but dad’s got to wake up for you at night with linen and dinning.

Now I understand why mom wants to take naps all the time.  Sleep is good; continuous sleep is better.

PS: You pretty much sleep straight through the night, just wake up for a pacifier and a earlier morning bottle and diaper than dad is used to. I am not complaining I promise!

Today you had your 4 month checkup. The doctor said you are doing well though everything about you is long and skinny as you are now 25 inches long (52nd percentile), 12 pounds 14 ounces (11th percentile) with a head circumference of 15 3/4 inches (5th percentile). This surprised Mommy and Daddy who could have sworn you have gotten heavier than that and since you have been eating so well. We have to go in for a weight check in a month…so, think chubby thoughts everybody.

The books all say that one sign that you might be ready to start solid foods is that you are very interested in what adults are eating. We have certainly reached that stage. Every time Mommy and Daddy have breakfast or lunch or dinner or snack, you stare at what we are eating…and drool. Okay, the drooling is a continuous thing, but the staring is definitely new. We’ll give it a little longer till you are sitting up better and have talked to your pediatrician, then it’s time to see how you feel about spoons.

You are one long baby. This last weekend, Mommy and Daddy had to put away your sleepers since you could no longer completely straighten your legs and your toes had to curl when you had them on. This was sad because one of the sleepers had adorable monkey feet and a little monkey-face patch on the backside. Daddy would hold you and say “Guess what Mommy!”, then when Mommy looked, turn you around and stick your posterior out and shout “Monkey butt!” You found this very amusing.

Now you have three 6 month sleepers: dinosaurs, elephants and fleecy monsters, that are all baggy on the sides but long enough. We still have to figure out a way to add some pudge to you.

There are times when Mommy seems to be places for momentous occasions without intending to: the one year she was in Poland was the year Pope John Paul II died, the one day she was in Atlanta was the day they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Olympic Games, and now, the one year she is at Rice University is the year the university celebrates its centennial. Mommy got to attend the chemical engineering department’s 100 year dinner. She met chemical engineers who grew with the petroleum industry and faculty members who were there when chemical engineering really became different from chemistry and other kinds of engineering. This made her think about what her department with be like in 40 years and how they might describe now–just another reminder that we need to act on our ideas for change when we have the opportunities.