Baby baby, sweet baby ...

It was another scorching day in West Michigan today ... but who cares when you can share it with a sweet little baby like Brendan? 

Last week while I was out and about, I stopped by at "Once Upon A Child" and picked up a few slightly used, but very nice, items for this little sweetheart. I couldn't WAIT until he came over to try them out! 

Brendan has always always liked being upright where he can see every little thing that is happening, so he was very pleased to sit in this walker while we ate our dinner tonight.

Brendan is fully five months now and has graduated to sitting by himself, very steady and strong ... which makes it possible to play all kinds of stuff with him. We got out all of the baby toys we could find, and even did some puzzles with him tonight ... in this smoldering heat! We tried wrapping him in a Frogg Togg, which is kind of a sports towel that stays cool and is supposed to keep a person from sweating and overheating ... I think it helped baby Brendan a tiny bit. 

We took a short walk around the neighborhood tonight. A friend of mine was having a garage sale with some baby things, and since I was looking to buy an umbrella stroller for Brendan, she sold me this one for practically nothing! We stopped by where there was a sprinkler so that we could get Brendan's little feet cool ...

But then it was STILL too hot, so we walked home and put him in my shower for a little while. He seemed very happy with the cool water pouring over him. Doesn't he have an adorable little face?

The evening went by too quickly. The toys are put away. The dinner is cleaned up. I'm so thankful this little grand baby is here in town where I can see him and love on him on a regular basis. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Too hot on the fourth ...

It reached 100 degrees here in Grand Rapids yesterday, but since that temperature only officially lasted three minutes, it could not be counted! The temperature has to maintain a full five minutes in order for it to be counted. However, in my books, it was fully 100 degrees most of the day yesterday. The humidity reached about 74% in some places, making the heat index 110 degrees. It certainly felt at least that hot at my place!

Dylan, Kelly, and Brendan came over in the early afternoon to spend some time. According to Kelly, my little house was cooler than their inner-city apartment. Poor Brendan was pretty miserable in the heat. 

We gave him no less than THREE baths in our kitchen sink throughout the day to help him cope with the heat ... poor baby.

 It was too hot to entertain going to see any fireworks whatsoever. Just the thought of being outside in the direct sunlight was almost sickening to consider. We at least had a little tree cover at my place. Shane came over and joined us for awhile too. 

Look at the fatness of this wee baby! Isn't he such a chunk of adorableness?!! 

Brendan is happiest if he is standing. His legs are so strong! 

It was too hot to sleep, so he only got a small nap in the afternoon. But finally, while rocking on Dylan's lap, he drifted off to slumberland ... what a sweet picture! The heat is supposed to peak tomorrow and then lessen by the weekend, which is just fine with me. 

Home again ...

I've been home now for about two days, arriving in Grand Rapids at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning. While I was waiting for my flight out of El Paso, I noticed a AA worker talking about how they had "overbooked this flight again!" and that she would need two people to voluntarily be "bumped" to the next flight. I jumped at the chance when I heard her offer a very nice travel voucher, plus two meal tickets as well.

I took a taxi home from the airport. It was pitch dark when I got back to my little house, but it was SO good to see it again!

While I was waiting at the Dallas/Forth Worth airport, my phone completely died (the white screen of death evidently). So I am presently without a phone. I did go to the AT & T phone store today and got everything straightened out. Since there was no physical damage to my phone, and it was still under warranty, they are completely replacing it. The downside to all of this, is that they are snail-mailing the replacement to me. I most likely will not receive it until Monday. So if you are trying to reach me, please use my e-mail address or Facebook.

 It was super hot in El Paso ~ some days it was 105 degrees. I have come home to extreme heat as well, but a completely different kind. I don't mind the heat, though (good thing) because I love everything that goes along with it ~ the abundant green grass (hardly anything is GREEN in El Paso), gorgeous flowers and trees, the fragrance in the air ... I love summertime! Missing all of you in El Paso. Looking forward to Jesse and Diana posting more pictures of baby Kaitlynn over on Facebook ...