Hugging

Let's just say that our second Daddy-less morning was not a great one. First of all, I am dog-sitting a friend's dog, which makes the dog count in our house now three. And if you take into account the size of these dogs, you could really say that I now have 5 1/2 dogs in the house. My dilemma for the weekend - do I even bother to vacuum since the hair I suck up will instantaneously be replaced with a fresh layer of fur?

Kennedy, the golden retriever (and Roxy's best friend) is not happy being here. The dogs definitely have fun together, but like anyone, the comforts of home are just irreplaceable. Thus, Kennedy woke earlier that I would have liked this morning. Her early rise woke my two dogs and by the time the three of them got to whimpering and whacking their tails against the wall and the bed, Charlie was awake. Plans for sleeping in a little late foiled! And with that, things just got off to a bad start. After feeding and clothing, Charlie was in a mood.

He was instantly calmed with a little blow drying action. Oh, how he loves having his hair styled.

Then, after naively thinking I was in the clear with Mr. Grouchy Pants, he spit up; we had to make a wardrobe change causing Mr. Grouchy Pants to bring out the big guns.

Finally, Charlie composed himself and went back to being the sweet and lovable baby that we all know and love. One of his favorite new tricks (besides biting me) is hugging. Within the past week or so, he has discovered the joy of putting his arms around my neck and snuggling into my neck (and often biting me, but that's beside the point). It is so sweet and every time he does it, my heart flutters.

He even seems to want to learn to smooch. Here, after I crouched down on the floor to his level, he scoot, scoot, scooted all the way over to my face and leaned in for what I thought would be a sweet, wet, and sloppy baby kiss. Instead, he bit me. He seemed to be so happy with his little trick. He giggled so much; I could swear I heard him say under his breath, "Suckahhhh."