i'm so glad when daddy comes home

i'm sorry, but how CUTE is a sleeping baby? i just love him.

tommy has been in california the last three days for some interviews. i was so bummed and worried about him being gone before he left (although, i know, it's just three days! i am so totally spoiled) because most days, it feels like we need him to come home to survive the last two hours of the day. so i just made sure to plan outings to keep dane from getting too fussy and bored at home, and we survived. it wasn't bad at all. but i sure am glad he's getting home today! i've had fun watching every rendition of Pride and Prejudice that i could get my hands on every evening by myself (and reading the book), but everything just feels out of whack when tommy's not here. both dane and i have missed him.

the main outing i had planned yesterday was to go to the durham museum of life and sciences (free on wednesday for durham residents!). we've been plenty of times before but never actually by ourselves. i'd planned to meet up with someone, but they didn't make it. and i had so much fun with just the two of us! we went to all of these exhibits and play areas we'd never been to before. they have lots of animals to look at and a butterfly exhibit, and dane LOVED watching the butterflies and the animals. i would point them out to him and he just stared and watched them so intently. we also went on the "dinosaur walk," where they have dinosaur statues, and he was so excited about them. this was his reaction to the biggest, scariest, t-rex-like dinosaur:

he couldn't get enough of looking at them and touching them. we might have a dino-lover on our hands.

i swear, this is my favorite part of being a parent. you get to watch the lightbulbs turn on in their mind every DAY and see them learn and appreciate and love new things as they grow. i never thought i would care that much about the dinosaur exhibit, but i loved it yesterday because he had never even noticed them before and now couldn't take his eyes off of them. i had maybe even more fun than he did, just watching him be so happy. every week he's learning new things and figuring things out--and it is so, so fun to be there to see it happen and help it happen.

on one last note: camille sent dane this ADORABLE cowboy outfit for his birthday and i could not get over how cute he was in it. maybe this could be his halloween costume? although we have so many halloween costume options for him i don't know how we're going to decide.