No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

My last post was written the day that I went back to work and I haven't felt like I've had any spare time since. I have, of course, but I've likely spent it trying to read the last of the morning paper at 10 p.m.

Things are just fine. Julia has been sleeping through the night like a trooper. She even made the adjustment for daylight savings time without too much trouble. I think one of the greatest gifts an infant of this age can give it's parents is to sleep through the night. It makes parents feel human again to have uninterrupted sleep.

Julia started smiling a few weeks ago and we now consider it official--she's laughing too. Not a lot yet, but that makes it all the more precious when she does it.

The other day, I was sitting in the chair in our bedroom and holding Julia while Allie was jumping on our bed. Allie was jumping and jumping and then crossing her legs and sitting down from a jumping position and I guess Julia thought she looked silly, because suddenly she started laughing. Then Allie and I spent the next five minutes trying to get her to do it again, with only the result that Allie got winded and I got mildly frustrated.

She loves her baths now and her eyes get really wide when you first put her in and when you wet her head. She's not so happy generally when you're dressing her afterwards--I think she gets a little cold despite my best efforts.

Julia is also getting better with her fussy periods in the evening, at least for the last four or five nights. It's wonderful to have a happy baby in the house. She's outgrowing her newborn clothes and getting some wear out of her warmer outfits since it's been so cold.

Allie threw up on me when I left her at daycare yesterday. Gosh, she hasn't done that in at least a couple of years. I can wait another couple of years, personally. We think orange juice is too hard on her stomach in the morning, since she's fine afterwards. This isn't the first time she's thrown up that way.

That's the quick update on my kids. Who knows when I'll write again, but Halloween is tomorrow, so maybe I'll give an update on that soon.