Poked and Prodded

No sooner than when I just finished talking about being a needle punk, of course I had to go to the doctor and take a cold hard poke of thin steel to the vein in order to fill up (what always seems like) five 2-gallon containers of blood.

That's just.... Great.

Justin and I evidently have the same cold, including the same whooping cough that has been keeping us both up at night; me a lot more than him fortunately. At almost five months old, he doesn't have much a choice but to wait it out without medication. But after getting just 84 minutes of sleep last night, I finally decided to make my pilgrimage to the doctor to plead my case for antibiotics for myself. It's funny because when I was in college the docs and nurses always seem a little stingy with the antibiotics (until I found a hookup)... but ever since then every doctor I've had gives it out like it was leftover Halloween candy, handing over the prescription without batting an eye. Anyway, I got my fix. So lets hope that it works. As for Justin, I'll just have to keep smuggling him shots of Robitussin and Ricola cough drops in the middle of the night until his immune system knocks the cold out for good.

It's hard out there for a pip (see comments here to make sense of that one)... but he's definitely a trooper. Granted he's a little dramatic with his coughing episodes (he puts on a show like every cough might be his last dying breath) but that's classic Justin. I'm sure he'll whip this cold sooner than later. Ironically though, the coughing and congestion seem to bother us a lot more than him, as he has been about as happy as ever over the past few days. So much so that I haven't been able to put him down or stop playing with him lately. For some reason it seems as if he has stolen my heart all over again over the past few days.

Beyond Adorable.

In the meantime, here are my most recent photo favorites. He can't pull himself up to that position yet (thank God!) but yes, he is holding on by himself... and yes he can stay like that forever. He is just so thrilled with himself when he stands up unassisted. And his kung-fu grip is incredible. Two days ago in the supermarket as I was carrying him in one arm, I gave him a pack of hamburger buns to carry in his free hand while we stood in line to checkout (yes I exploit my child at every opportunity). For one, I was amazed that he never dropped it. I never realized how heavy a pack of buns could be. And so when it came time to ring up, first the cashier gave his buns a little delicate tug (the hamburger buns, that is). He wouldn't let go. A second tug. Nada. I just kept smiling as her facial expression quickly went from "he's adorable" to "gimme the bread, boy!" and she decided to tug a little harder. What probably took about 4 seconds seemed like a 5 minute duel as I laughed hysterically on the insides. In the end Justin was victorious as her final tug ripped the plastic wrapper in two, leaving him standing there with a little piece of plastic in his right hand and a little grin on his face... as if he had just won some unspoken game of tug-of-war with the check-out-girl.

Another notch on the diaper of the baby Kung-Fu Warrior.

Titi Monica & the crew during her visit to VA this past week