So after all my Beckham frivolity at the end of last week, we had a pretty somber weekend. My mother called early Friday morning from the airport to let me know that my grandfather had passed away in the night and that she and my dad were on the way down to Naples, FL. As extremely sad as I am that I won't see Papa again, or hear him call me "Lis-er" in his Southeast Virginian accent over the phone, he truly led a full and miraculous life and he departed in the peace that we all hope for. I hurt for my grandmother of course, who is now without her partner for the first time after 63 years of marriage, and is in failing health herself, but when I sat down Friday night to list some of the many things that will always capture Papa's spirit for me, I began to feel a bit better about my personal loss. I was also lucky to have my cousins and brother to lean on as I shot Email back and forth to them Friday completely worthless at work (5 beers with Carter over the United/Galaxy game the night before hadn't helped on the worthless at work front!) I know that they, as well as I, feel blessed to have had Papa as such an important player in our lives well into our early adulthood. I'm very sorry I never got the chance to introduce him to Leila, but I know her pictures smiled down on him daily.

And speaking of Leila...Before I learned about Papa, I had intended to take advantage of my 1:00 departure Friday to go see either Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Stardust, or Becoming Jane, but with events, I wanted nothing more than to pick Leila up early from day care and spend time with her. And its a good thing that I did, because shortly after I got her home she stood and threw up buckets worth all over me as I sat on the living room floor and played with whatever she'd been instructing me to play with...ahhh...motherhood! (And I find that it is always the mother who is the target for the projectile vomit!) She ran a fever all night into the morning and still wasn't quite herself Saturday, so we wasted a beautiful day lazing around watching Nemo (and it's a good thing I like Nemo, b/c it's been shown 3 times in our house this weekend.) She was a bit spunkier following her afternoon nap, so we did get out for a walk to Old Town and sat around the square blowing bubbles by the fountain.

And lest I not forget...I brought Leila to our bed Friday night because she was roasting in fever and I like to have her close when she's ill. At about 3a.m. she was asking for 'medicina' and more milk and I'd left her Advil downstairs in the kitchen. Care to guess what greeted me as I peeped cautiously around the kitchen door....mouse corpse numero ocho (that would be 8, but ocho's the most fun number to say in Spanish.) Cesar was awakened to deal with it before I stepped any further into the kitchen of course. My neighbor (that would be my neighbor who graduated from UVA a year after Carter and who owns that house that was listed for $589,000 -depressing) stopped to tell me last night that he had gone ahead and preemptively called our pest control and Scott found no signs of mice in their unit, so they're just somehow contained to our little Amityville. Sigh...Carter does say that is within our legal rights to withhold payment of our rent until our home is vermin free, so it's time to get back to the property manager/owner again to insist on removal and hopeful replacement of the antique/gargantuan stove that is serving to hide the critters!