Slave Labor

Yesterday, I went to visit my parents and brother and his wife. We had a great visit! I got to see the new house my brother and his wife bought. It's got so much potential -- and lots of fireplaces. They've got some nice land to work with, too. It's going to take some work to get the house the way they want, but I can't wait to see what they do with the place! Like I said, it's got lots of potential.

What I found amusing is that their new house has two strange things in common with their old house -- a pink bathtub and toilet in the master bath and a creepy bathroom in the basement! The house I live in now has some funny commonalities with my previous house, too. Is it possible that we gravitate towards these weird features? Like pink bathtubs or bathrooms without doors....?

So, my brother is so cute with Nick Knack. The joke is that you better get your "Nick time" before Scott shows up, because he'll take over from there. He was showing Nick around the house and kissing him. It was really sweet!

Then, he said the funniest thing -- that he would be over 70 when Nick could legally have his first drink!! WHOA! That really threw me.....that's about how old our dad is now......then, I had to do the math, and DAMN, I'll be almost 60!!! I suddenly feel really, really old.....

Anyway, I was talking to my dad about got baby! and how I've got the entire family working for me as slave labor! Sounds like he might be my latest victim.....I mean, "volunteer." I told him I need a good Marketing man to help me do some research on ways to advertise our sites, and I might be able to eventually pay him for helping out. Right now, I'm afraid his "pay" would be a visit to the Chinese buffet for lunch when I come to visit [although, Dad loves Chinese buffets, so I don't think he'd mind this deal].

Prior to retirement, my dad managed department stores. I think he's kinda bored. He tried to work at the local Whole Foods, but his knees couldn't take a full day on concrete. He does a lot of charitable work and was sending care packages to the troops for awhile. They were really busy over the holidays and raised something like $10,000 to send these boxes. I can't remember how many hundreds of boxes they sent out.

Lately, he's been busy with his college fraternity, but it sounds like he's got some free time. I don't want to take advantage of him, but if he's bored and looking for something to do.....plus, if the company meeting in Hawaii ever happens....well, we'll be sure to take him along!

Visit the 'Rents

This weekend, my husband is in Seattle visiting his mom. Nick-Knack and I are home alone, so I decided that we would also make a visit to the 'rents. Mom is always asking when she'll see him, and they are only an hour and a half away. It's a trip I should really make more often....

Since Nicholas is hitting six months tomorrow and allowed to start riding forward facing [not to mention that he's almost too big for the carrier], I decided to make the switch to his "big boy" car seat. We were lucky enough to win a Britax car seat from a local store, so I attempted to install it this morning and replace the carrier we've been using.

The carrier we have is by Chicco and was part of a travel system. I have to say that I love it. It's served us well, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. In fact, I just happen to have one for sale.....ha, ha.

Anyway, after a few trials and errors, I did manage to install the Britax car seat using the latches. It was a serious pain in the butt to get the latches to "click" properly, but I finally got it all hooked in. Then, I packed up some diapers and formula, grabbed Nicholas, and we were off!

I'm not sure if he likes this new car seat. He kept looking around like he didn't know where the HELL he was. I also didn't get the usual smiles out of him. He just kept looking at me with this perplexed look on his face.

As usual, he fell asleep on the ride home, and his poor little head was slumped forward. It did not look comfortable. It did give me an idea for a possible new invention, though! I'm sure somebody has already thought of it, so it might save me the hassle of making a prototype.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Nick takes to this new car seat. It seems very comfortable, and I do like it. I hope he adapts and decides that being able to see out the windows and look at Mommy are pluses. And that change is good.