July 9, 2006 9:16pm

I just put Derick down for the night.....Finally. It's been a long day for this little family. It's hot for Seattle....80 something degrees indoors and out. Ugh. I used to love hot summer days...but now I worry about Derick getting enough liquids and if he is too warm. I struggle to keep my liquids up-breast feeding in the summer can be a bummer. Everyone ends up sweaty, sticky and hot. Derick fused all day long today. We'd feed him, change him, try to play with him....but sooner or later the session would end up in fussy baby or frustrated grunts. Jeremy was home today, and I wanted to get some of my own things done....but it was tough with fussy Derick. He took a lot out of both of us, just to keep him anything but upset. The best part of the day was our evening shower (thanks Greta, for the suggestion!). Derick was kicking and making happy faces-and Jeremy and I got to cool off and rinse off the sweat and sticky-ness of the day. Now, as I watch Derick sleep, I remember what an angel he is and the love swells in my heart. It's amazing how deep that well is, even after a day like today.

He's been changing so much these last few days. Even I can see it, and I am with him all day long! His face is getting rounder; his legs are getting that baby chub-chub; and he's starting to talk to me with his mouth open and using his tongue. He's been literally chewing on his hands non-stop for the last couple of days. It makes me wonder if he's starting the teething process. We have felt his gums a couple of times, and you can't feel anything poking through, but Derick sure likes it. We gave him some baby tylonol before bed tonight, just in case all this fussing was sore gums. Poor baby. I don't know what cutting teeth feels like, but it can't be very good.

It's finally starting to cool off outside, I am looking forward to getting some rest. Derick has slept through the night twice now, on July 3rd and July 4th. Most of the time, he only wakes up once around 3am. It's nice to be getting regular sleep again....and I can live with getting up only once a night. Hopefully, this pattern will last a while.

Well, I am going to crawl off to sleep. Thanks for this fun new update to our website, Jeremy. You rock. ~Jill