Busy Day

Today began at 5:30 AM.  Bug woke up after sleeping for 5 hours.  Amelia fed her and they played dancing monkeys and spent some quiet alert time together.  Maria zonked out at 6:45 AM and Amelia could not go back to sleep because the sun was already up.  I have to be honest and say that I did not wake up when she cried at 5:30 and only partially woke when Amelia put her back in the bassinet, so I am kind of feeling like husband and father of the year.  Bug and I slept until 9, while Amelia and my mother worked on putting in some fiber edging around our vegetable garden.  It took a fair amount of effort, but with the help of my mom the work got done.  I guess I should add son of the year to the list.  When I finally got out of bed, I helped Amelia start the lawn mower. Amelia mowed the lawn (an activity she actually likes) while Maria and I played inside. Once Amelia was done outside, we cooked a large breakfast of blueberry pancakes, cinnamon eggs and maple bacon.  Once we had stuffed ourselves with breakfast I left to get the car inspected (only a month late).  I have been feeling very nervous because Amelia has been driving the SAAB and the last thing I want is for her to get pulled over because I was too lazy to get the car inspected.

The inspection place was relatively empty and the inspection only took 15 minutes.  I was feeling pretty good because I had banked that I was going to spend an hour on the inspection.  He walked me out and tells me that the car failed its inspection because the passenger side rear tire is too worn.  Generally, I am wary about these inspection places, but the guy was really nice and when he showed me the tire. I could see that it was too worn.  The SAAB dealership mechanics had told me the same thing back in December, but I had ignored them because we had replaced all 4 tired less than two years ago.
 Grimacing, I took the car to Costco to get new tires.  I decided that there is no way that I was going to get Pirelli tires again.  I have had two sets in 6 years and the car doesn't even have 65000 miles on it yet.  The previous set of tires that we bought, cost $1500.  At Costco, I got all 4 tires replaced with Michelin performance tires for $550.  Hopefully, this set of tires last for the remainder of the time we have the SAAB. The tire replacement took 2 hours after which, I went back to Inspection place, which now had a queue of three cars and it took an hour to get reinspected.  The inspection that I thought would take at most an hour has now taken four hours.  (Hooray for being a law abiding citizen)
By the time I was finished Amelia's parents had arrived from San Antonio, where they had attended a water board conference (the government group, not the torture technique).  All of the grands watched Maria while Amelia and went out to Hyde Park Bar and Grill for dinner.  Amelia had her first beer in almost a year. (Hooray beer)
Amelia felt like she was missing something.  In Iraq, she constantly carried a weapon.  When she got back to the states she would sometimes look around for her "missing" weapon.  The whole night Amelia was looking for Maria.  It was incredibly sweet. We had a great meal, but hurried home to Maria.

When we returned home Maria was screaming.  In the last couple of days she has developed a bad habit.  I usually burp her midway through her bottle in an effort to prevent any spit up.  Previously, she would stop eating, burp and then start again.  She has now started to scream when I pull the bottle away.  The screaming stifles her ability to burp, which makes her even more fussy.  Grandma Gray was trying to negotiate Maria's new trick when we got home so we jumped in and got her to burp.
After having a screaming fit, she crashed in my arms.  I put her in her swing at 10 PM and that is where she is right now.  By the time I finish writing this it will be after midnight CST, which means that officially it is Father's Day.  I can't wait to write about my first father's day.