No trading on Tuesday. As I said yesterday... did I mention it yesterday? Anyway, we're having a hectic week here and the madness started in earnest today. We're having the baby's 1st birthday party on Saturday. We've got a big room reserved at a restaurant. Part of the package was $400 for the birthday cake and balloon decorations. My wife thought that was hefty (sounds hefty to me, too) so she cancelled that and we went out to a balloon shop and cake shop to get a better deal. Well, after all that, we saved $30. Swell.

We also went to Michael's, which is some big crafts shop that apparently every woman in America knows about. So the baby and I were the only males in there. We killed time strolling up and down the aisles of yarn and thread and fake flowers and brightly colored paper and all things crafty, while the wife was buying yarn (she wants to knit the baby a sweater which will probably be finished in the summer) and buying cheap crap to make grab bags for all the kids coming to the party. So that used up the $30 we saved from before.

My Mom is flying in from the East Coast on Thursday morning for the party. Dad can't make it. He says he has to house-sit and cat-sit. That's Dad, and that's cool. He'll definitely be here in May. On Friday, my wife takes the oath and gets sworn in as a US Citizen, so that's very, very cool. We've been dealing with the INS since 1997, which is slow motion bureaucratic hell, so this will be one sweet day, and I'm very proud of her. Saturday afternoon is the baby's birthday party. Then that night, we're going to a party for my uncle's 70th birthday. So we've got a lot of stuff, and it's all good.

Best news right now is everybody here is finally healthy! We passed around the same flu and stomach bug 2 times each thus far in '05. Baby's diarrhea has finally dried up and he's back to that grey poupon consistency I like to see. Man, has this kid been happy the past few days. He's been in a great mood and hungry as hell. He's definitely making up for all the lost meals he had. He's guzzling formula non-stop. Babies are supposed to wean off it as they eat more solids. This guy gets his solids and keeps upping his formula intake, too. At one year, he's supposed to go cold turkey on the formula in a nipple bottle and make the switch to whole milk in a sippy cup. That's going to be interesting. But that's next week.