January in New England...

...not the greatest time to be on maternity leave. While perfect timing for my job situation, the next few weeks of maternity leave could prove to be a true test of my ability to keep my mind from turning to mush. The trouble is that Nate and I just can't wander outside for that crucial change of scenery when it's below freezing everyday, and our apartment is too small and dreary to provide much stimulation. I'm sure Nate doesnt care about his dreary isolated surroundings, but it's a downright unsettling feeling to suddenly have nearly all adults yanked out of my everyday existence. If the weather were nice I would be pramming around desperately seeking likeminded prammers for idle chitchat about our babies, or whatever. O how I miss idle chitchat!

So, Nate was up for about an hour and a half in the wee morning hours being extra screechy and wiggly. We both fell asleep on the couch with the TV on CNN, where Anderson Cooper had been yakking it up happily with some West Virginians who just found out that the trapped miners had been successfully rescued. I was pretty surprised this morning to find that that 12 miners were actually DEAD, and the breaking happy news had been some sort of horrible miscommunication. I'll say.

This morning Nate was in full force Twilight Zone smile mode (he only smiles when on the brink of droopy eyed sleep) so I tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of it. Once he realizes that he's been sleepy smiling he immediately wakes up fully and proceeds to resume his usual grouch disaisfied mode. He can't let me rest on my laurels, you know. Anyway this pic came out alright. There's no mistaking that he's a boy... yet I don't necessarily know what it is in his face that seems masculine.