Baby Laughs and Babies R' Us

Today was my day to sleep in and, as always, it was great.  I often feel that I'm not taking advantage of my Saturday morning unless I stay in bed until at least 9:00 or 10:00.  But this morning, I was awoken by the sound of 'Rad laughing around 8:00.  Z had him in the living room and I kept hearing these rounds of baby laughter jog down the hallway and sneak in under the bedroom door.  I smiled but tried to stay in bed, in the warmth under the covers with a dog blanket on top of me.  But the laughter kept coming and I couldn't stand it anymore, so I slid out of bed to join the family on the couch.

Whenever Z makes 'Rad laugh, I always have to know how so I can add it to my small but growing arsenal of ways to elicit that awesome sound from the little dude.  Right  now, acting like you're eating his face, gasping then kissing him, and once in a while a good zerberting can do the trick.  He sounds like he can't catch his breath when he's laughing, like whatever you just did was the funniest thing he's ever seen or felt, like you're the funniest person he's ever met.  Whether those things are true or not, his laugh makes you feel like the most important person in the world.  So cheesy and hokey, I know, but as long as I can get a laugh or at least a smile out of Connor, no day could be considered a failure.

Since we've started reading 'Rad-a-dude a story before nap time, we've quickly realized how small our baby library is.  I told you how we picked up a couple new titles, but I welcome any and all suggestions for 'Rad's listening and our reading pleasure.  I think we'll be all set for when he can read Roald Dahl, but any reading level below that puts me at a loss.  A big book of Richard Scarry's rhymes is on my wish list, but that's all I've got.  What are some of your faves to read to the little ones?

We went to Babies R' Us today and almost dropped a hundo.  Seriously, that place makes bank, probably a lot of it on people like us who don't necessarily have that much to spend but need to spend it anyway.  But we got some much needed items: diapers, a baby book (I'm very excited about filling this puppy out), some face wipes, and most importantly, mesh bumpers (we didn't get the pattern in the link, FYI).  If it weren't for my sisters, I wouldn't have known that these things even existed, but thankfully for them I do.  We just installed them a little earlier this evening but are already reaping their benefits - no more pacifier bouncing out of the crib and onto the floor when 'Rad pops it out of his mouth in the middle of the night and no more feet peeking through the crib slats.  Lord knows what else we're going to have to pick up from that maternal mecca over the next few weeks, months, years.