Connor started feeling bad around dinner time and we were up several times through the night as well. He had a tummy ache, his head hurt. That meant he didn't want to sleep in his own bed and worried that he would throw up again, I really didn't want him sleeping in my bed, so we wound up downstairs on the couch together. The bathroom for the guest room is just a few short steps away so we were safe in that respect.

By morning he was tired of me and whining constantly that he wanted Daddy to come look after him. That evil side of me almost picked up the phone at 4 am and called Joe to come over. But I managed to hold off until almost 8 when I called to see if Pam could pick up Lily and take her to school so I wouldn't have to bundle Connor up again.

She agreed and Conn got his wish when Joe drove over with her. He has a charter leaving in the afternoon so that meant Connor got all his attention until lunch time. I did my best to give father and son some space, hanging out either in the kitchen or in the nursery with Bella. She's trying her darndest to walk and I have a feeling she might actually get the hang of it by her birthday. We called Chris and she babbled into the phone for a few minutes. He's in Richmond and feeling good about tonight's show. It's closer to a sell-out than he's had in the past few dates and that alone is enough to put him in a good mood. I guess in that business it really is hard to face signs that you're not as popular as you once were but if the fan boards are any indication, they are excited at the possibility of a new CD and some new songs later this year. Chris is slipping one or two into his set list just to see what kind of reaction he gets before he commits to recording anything.

I hear Joe call my name and lifting up Bella, I go downstairs to discover grilled cheese and tomato soup waiting. As I work my way through my own lunch, Joe sits between the two children, alternating between slipping Bella little pieces of toasted bread to munch off while he coaxes Conn into eating at least half his sandwich. And once again I'm struck at how much the man truly adores kids.

Then it strikes me that he too didn't want anything to do with one of his children for the longest time. After the unfortunate circumstances that brought Katy into our world, he did his best to pretend she didn't exist. If it had been up to him, he would have gladly ignored her, it was only because Mel ran away and left the child behind that he was forced to parent her.

But now she's as much the apple of his eye as his other children.

Does that mean there's still hope Chris will change his mind about the place Mikey has in his life? I find myself crossing my fingers and hoping.