The latest from Carter

Here are a few highlights from last week...

Carter absolutely loves this little elephant that hangs on his bouncer. I think he must be kindred spirits with his cousin Moriah since she has a stuffed elephant that she loves too. There's a giraffe that hangs on the bouncer with the elephant, but he definitely prefers the elephant.

He even gives him dirty looks.

This is his deep sleep meditation pose...or something like that.

I think he might be thinking, "Wow, daddy's neck is starting to get scruffy."

His lounging pose.

Carter is starting to have more awake time where he's alert and looking around. I think he gets bored just hanging out with me in the apartment sometimes. So Chris takes him for walks and he is happy as a clam. This particular picture was for the Saturday morning donut run. Maybe he was just excited about getting donuts and it had nothing to do with the walk. It was pretty cold that morning because the marine layer still hadn't cleared, so he was decked out in a hat and blanket. I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm smothering the poor kid in August LA weather:-)

Carter's blessing

We spent last week in Temecula since I needed a vacation and that was about as far as Carter would let us go, and even then he fussed most of the way there. They say babies like cars, but Carter is not a fan. Although, he did do well in my dad's car. Maybe it takes a BMW.

Our real reason for going down was because we wanted to give Carter his baby blessing at a small family gathering instead of at church. It went really well except that Lorein forgot the outfit she wanted him to wear. She forgot even though I specifically asked her if she had the outfit before we left the apartment and she said yes. Of course, she says she doesn't remember this, so it seems we'll just have to chalk it up once again to Lorein's penchant for tuning me out. It makes it hard on me because I always turn and lovingly pay attention whenever she speaks to me, even if it's in the middle of the Dodgers game, but she ignores me and then gets mad when I pester her to get her attention. It's really unfair.
Anyway, it was a fun trip and Carter enjoyed all the attention his relatives lavished on him. In fact, it was so busy and Carter got so much exercise that he suddenly developed massive muscles on his arms (at least we're calling them muscles) as documented here:

In addition to pumping iron, he also experienced other new things. For example . . .

His first excursion with sweet kicks;

His first bottle -- Lorein wants it noted that she was still a part of the feeding effort since she worked hard to pump the milk -- which he gulped down so fast I had to refill it with Dr. Pepper
(just kidding! It was Sprite); and

His first encounter with his namesake, who he seemed to really take a liking to.

Summer job is over

I finished my summer internship at Hughes Hubbard & Reed on Friday. Overall, I thought it was a very good experience and I really liked the other attorneys. Also, the big plus about working at a big firm is that the cases are usually pretty interesting -- it's the stuff you read about in the newspaper.
That being said, I'm a little annoyed because they're not going to meet until next week to decide if they're going to give me an offer or not. That's annoying because law firms are coming this week to UCLA to interview, and I really, really, really don't want to go through the interview process again, but if I don't interview and HHR doesn't give me an offer, then I'll have to interview without the aid of the on-campus interviews. Basically, I'm between the rock of not wanting to interview again and the hard place of having to make sure I have a job
That last paragraph sounded depressing, but I don't want to give you readers the wrong idea. I'm not actually worried, just annoyed at not knowing. I think I did a good job over the summer and my reviews were positive, so I think I'll be fine. I just wish I knew. I mean, I need a job because this kid just keeps eating and eating!

Baby blog Schmaby Schlog

Okay, okay, I've failed in keeping this from being a baby blog. I'll get back on track in a few weeks, but in the meantime . . .

Is that the hairiest back you've ever seen?!

Pondering life's great questions -- he's already concerned about the issues.

Two tired dudes

Butt Paste? Really?

I had one of the more surreal moments in my life tonight -- I bought my first tub of Butt Paste. Yessir, Butt Paste. I have to say though, the product's got some things going for it. First, I appreciate their honest marketing; they're not trying any crazy gimmicks, just telling you exactly what they're selling. If you're in the market for butt paste, you don't need to look for some cracy sounding pharmaceutical name. Nope, just look for "Butt Paste". Their website is even www.buttpaste.com. Second, they're proud of their product. It's not just Butt Paste, but "Boudreaux's Butt Paste". Boudreaux thought his product was so good, he wanted his name associated with it forever. Third, in addition to soothing sore bottoms, it also brings strangers together. While we were in Target, three people saw the Butt Paste in our cart and started talking to us about it. Including two dudes! One of the guys even offered his own testimonial about Butt Paste's effectiveness (I assume it was from his baby's usage). It was really surprising because he was like this super cool motocross guy, and there he was, extolling Butt Paste's virtues. I have to admit, I'm kind of sad it took me this long to purchase some Butt Paste, and I advise everyone to go straight to your local pharmacy and pick up a tub of your own.