Runaway Horses Can Sense if You Are Kind and Will Slow Down

Y'all, seriously, the heat is turning my brain to mush.  I haven't posted anything because I just cannot think of anything to say ... I can barely hold a conversation with anyone at this point. 

I officially went back to work this week.  I complain a lot about being self-employed because it is stressful, but it did allow for me to take more than 12 weeks off for maternity leave.  However, all good things must come to an end and so I went back to work "for real" this week.  I've had some test runs, letting the boo-boo go to my mom and dad's for the whole day (I would go in and work then ... while I have been on maternity leave, I've been going in periodically for whole days and half days throughout, so it's not a complete shock to the system), and survived just fine.  It's almost better now that I'm working all day long - I'm distracted, at least.  However, just because I'm distracted (and busy) doesn't mean that I don't keenly miss the little guy all day long.  Luckily, my mom is doing us a favor right now and keeping him, so I'm certainly not worrying about him all day since he's with Nana, and she sends me text updates so I know what he's up to.  We're going to do Mother's Day Out when the school year starts, and then being self-employed will come in handy again since I can come and go as I please and don't have to keep specific office hours, so we'll get to spend afternoons together.  So, it's sort of like I'm a part time SAHM, but not really.  I'm just thankful that my mom lives close by and is willing to help us out right now - daycare is expensive, yo!  She told me that Jones rolled over back to belly today, so I'm hoping I can get some video of that soon and let everybody see how advanced my boy is.

So, me going back to work is the only real "news" we've got around here.  We barely leave the house because of the heat, so I can't report any interesting outings.  We had a good weekend - friends came over Saturday night and we visited and played spades and had a delicious cookout.  Sunday we went to North Little Rock (Dog Town!) and went to Alan's hometown church with his parents and showed off Jones - Grandma Betty and Grandpa Richard were so proud and we got tons of compliments on our progeny.  And can you blame anybody for thinking this is the best looking baby ever:

Love the boots and hat!  This was taken before a visit to my grandparents' house in Van Buren County.  My grandparents owned and operated a cattle ranch for many years (now, obviously, they're retired) and are very "Western", so I thought they would get a kick out of this outfit ... plus, it's cute, I don't care who you are.

Tummy Time!  I try to get fancy with the camera sometimes and do black and white pics.  I'm practicing with it right now because I want to take some to use for Jones' birth announcement ... it's not too late for a birth announcement, right?

The Harry Potter movie blew the box office away this weekend.  I'm hoping we can go see it in the next week or so ... I like to go when the theatre is not totally packed, and it will probably still be pretty crowded this weekend.  And, on the topic of Harry Potter, more of my favorite passages, this time from Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

"Harry crouched behind the headstone and knew the end had come.  There was no hope ... no help to be had.  And as he heard Voldemort draw nearer still, he knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason:  He was not going to die crouching here like a child playing hide-and-seek; he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort's feet ... he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible ..."

"At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared.  The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined.  There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles.  There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat."

"Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry.  He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother.  The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs. Weasley held him to her.  His mother's face, his father's voice, the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him."

"'Remember Cedric.  Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort.  Remember Cedric Diggory.'"

Happy Tuesday, everyone!