It takes a village ... of idiots.

I had a dream last night that I met a guy named Paddy Guerran at a bar, and then in my dream I had a "flash forward" sequence (literally in the dream it said "Three years later.") and Paddy and I were getting married. So if you are out there, Paddy, come and find me! And also know that I'll likely refer to you as Pat, because Paddy just feels a little too Old World for me. Sorry!


So my sister has yet to send me the pictures she took on the 4th of July, but in the meantime I have to relay a story. We went to the Borgata Casino on July 3rd for their fireworks display. (Apparently they didn't get the memo that July 4th fireworks usually take place on the 4th, but whatever.) The show didn't start until after 9pm, which is way past baby Brendan's bedtime, but it was his first 3rd of July fireworks show so a bedtime exception was made.

After the show ended, we had to wait for the crowds to die down and then get the car from the valet. During this time, Brendan was stimulated by the blinking lights and recycled air of the casino (as we all were!) but the minute we got into the quiet, cozy car, he wanted to fall asleep. Now, apparently if you let a baby doze off for even just a few minutes ahead of their bedtime, they wake up from the nap crabby, screaming, and with little desire to go back to sleep for the night. So it was the job of Brendan's parents, uncle and three aunts to make the most inhospitable sleeping environment for him during the 20 minute ride home.

It started innocently enough: Aunt Cindy distracted him by letting him play with her ring and then her bracelet, then Aunt Kimberly sang the Cookie Monster hit "Cookie Starts with C", dad Sean gently tapped on his head, and Uncle Chris turned on every light in the car. Even with all of these distractions, Brendan still wanted to go to sleep. That's when we had to pull out the big guns... THE cd.
Brendan is quite a dancer, and his favorite song to dance to is "Temperature" by Sean Paul, so a CD with that song is always kept in the car for situations like this. We turned that song up as loud as possible to get him to start dancing. It worked, so we continued to the next song on the cd, "Miss New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx. Soon the music and dancing wasn't enough to keep him awake, so we resorted to singing. Yes, six white adults were in a car driving through Atlantic City singing "Booty booty booty booty rockin' everywhere!" at the top of our lungs to to a one year old. But it worked! We made it home and got the little guy in his crib in just the nick of time.



Seriously people, when I tell you that my family is crazy, I really, really mean it!