... is not really my bag. Nekos has been out of town on business for far too long now. That's meant lots of time with this lady, just the two of us. It has--thank you baby Jesus--been much better than I thought. She's been pretty even-tempered and up for playing independently with her toys while I work. She also learned to climb up her little slide and go down it all by herself this week. I cried when I saw her do that. If you'd seen the look of pride on her face, you would have cried, too. I swear it to you.

Also, I hosted a damn fine girls' night at the house last night, and Tess stayed up over an hour past her bedtime to join in on the fun. Can I just say again how much I love a good girls' night? It is good for the soul.

That said, I've missed my Nekos terribly. I thought it would be that I missed his help with Tess and I do miss that, but mostly I just miss his silliness and his grumpiness and his guffawing at the television and his being-around-the-houseness. And his unbelievable hugs and his strong shoulders. You know what they say about absence and the heart.

Here are some pictures I took this week with my iPhone since the mister has our fancy camera.

Captions:
- Baby covered in eggplant parmesan
- Baby in bathtub
- Baby roaming around restaurant barefoot
- Mommy & baby bike ride
- Baby wearing helmet indoors because baby likes helmet and bike apparatus so much and cries when they're left on the front porch
- Baby covered in tuna fish

(You can tell I don't really like putting clothes on Tessa very often. I'm kind of obsessed with her sweet, innocent nakedness. I mean that can only happen for so much longer. I am gonna go with it as long as it's legal.)