Is It Friday Already?

Here we are again, another Friday, and you know what that means, right? More pictures! I know, it's the best part of your week. And just to reward you, this post has, I think, the most pictures I've ever put in a blog posting. Hooray for you!

Before we get started on the rogue's gallery, let's have a little bit of an update, shall we? I'm happy to say that the colic monster is slowly retreating, and more and more of little Theo's big personality is starting to emerge day by day. He's done sort of half-hearted smiles before, but as of, well, I guess yesterday he's started to full-on social smile. Let me tell you, that's just the greatest thing ever. If only he would hold the smile long enough or smile on cue so that we could get a picture of it. In due time, friends, in due time.

So yeah, the colic is going away. He's really only had a couple of crying fits over the past week, and all of them have been of the consolable type, so it's much easier to deal with. The only remaining issue now is his major separation anxiety. Because he was a nursery baby, he hates to be apart from mom and dad (I know, you'd think it'd be the other way around, but it's a long and complicated psychological process that I won't get into here because I'd have no idea what I'm talking about--just trust me on this one), and that doesn't bode well for, oh, let's say, sleeping on his own for longer than an hour. But it's fine--if that's all we have to deal with, our lives are peachy, thank you very much.

Speaking of peachy, how about those NHL playoffs starting tonight, huh? You know what that means--hockey every single night of the week for the next two months!!!! Sing with me: "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Plus, our Vancouver Giants are starting their third round playoff series tonight against Everett. At least we've got one winning team in Vancouver. Oh, snap!

Anyway, enough blabbering; on with the pictures. You know, when life gets tough, there's always time for a nap:

Okay, what's out of place in this picture of Theo's room? This could be a little game like the old "One of these things is not like the other" on Sesame Street. Look closely:

Aha, I think I've found the problem.

I told you our cat's starved for attention. She still hasn't resorted to allowing us to put a diaper on her though, so there's still room there. Okay, here's a good one. This is him all bundled up in his carrier:

Ahh, the life of a baby. Eat, sleep, poop, sit around...

Ironically, this is what I'm going to look like about two weeks into hockey playoff time.

Like I said above, Theo's starting to get much more social and interactive. This has meant that he's really into playtime now. In fact, he loves it when daddy plays with him. I'm not sure what's funnier about this picture--Theo's wave or my expression.

Whatever. It's not the last time I'll make a fool of myself. Sometimes when mommy and daddy just aren't doing it well enough for Theo, he likes to jump into his little chair and kick at the dangling toys. I have to say, this all just transpired this morning, so you're getting some pretty hot-off-the-presses pictures. Hmm, pensive Theo.

"Help, I'm lost in a jungle of toys!"

And here are a couple more that I just had to include. They were taken about five minutes ago. In fact, I was just proof-reading my posting in preparation for publishing it when Steph called me downstairs to take these pictures.

Can this kid get any cuter?

Yep, things have definitely improved at the Carroll household. In fact, things have gotten so much better that I've actually been able to take pictures of things other than Theo. I know this is his blog, but he's such an attention hog that I have to share some other photos that I took this week. I'm really proud of our garden this year (my Dutch heritage is shining through), and especially some of the tulips we have growing (does it get any more Dutch, really?). Check these out.Okay, so that's all for today. It's been a bit of an epic posting today, so thanks for sticking with it all the way to the bitter end. As always, comments are more than welcome, as are emails. See you all next week.

Mark (and Theo).