rain, callie, and luna, and another funeral

It rained this morning----a very nice ground-soaking, early morning thunderstorm. You could see the flash of lightening and hear thunder rumbling down the creek behind our house. All this at 6 AM. I got up to start the day, let Katie out, and make coffee---then realized today was a state holiday, (Juneteenth), so I crawled back into bed til 8 AM. Sleeping in during a rainstorm is the BEST!

I had great plans for this evening! Ruth and Chad went out for the first time without Miss Callie and I got to baby-sit! Callie was still napping when I got there, so that when she woke up, she was all warm and sleep-soft----she gave me a great smile when she saw me. Ruth and Chad left us after a photo session marking this "first" for them. The good-byes went off without a hitch and we proceeded to play with a ball, kiss/lick particularly favorite pages in a book, play patty-cake, etc. At the appointed time, I gave her a bottle--attempted to cuddle closely, but Callie is too busy! She squirms, sits upright and takes her bottle in perpetual motion. Then a diaper change, more playing...a little fretful at this point. Maybe it's suppertime. High chair, bib, spoon, and applesauce----we made a stab at it....but Callie realized someting was wrong. She kept craning her neck, looking around for Mom/Dad----her usual feeders----but they were nowhere in sight. She wanted out of the high chair. At this point, she's a wee bit frustrated that her routine is not happening. We walk around, look at the beautiful baby in the mirror, more patty-cake, then she starts nuzzling into my shoulder----sleepy? We go into the nursery, plop down in the crib, she collapses down on her "lovey", then bolts upright, and starts playing with the buttons/sounds on her crib toy---I leave the room, turn on the monitor. She sleeps---Mom calls to check on things---I gave her a minute by minute account. Thirty minutes of nap---then...round two! Same things---very frustrated with the applesauce issue---still looking around for those other people she's used to. But she's peacefully asleep when they get home.

During this---Brooke calls in tears. Luna has annoyed a neighbor greatly---doing the non-stop for no good reason beagle howl. Brooke is off to Petsmart for the no-bark collar---Brooke can't stand to interfere with her pup's natural instincts, but the howling is wearing on her also. Here's hoping that it works!

Zack and I leave for Ruston, Louisiana tomorrow evening after work for the Saturday AM funeral for one of Clu Flu's sisters. This will be difficult......