My American Idol baby

In case you missed it, American Idol is back again. Thank goodness because that means baseball and spring aren't far behind.

A few years ago, my first year teaching, my co-worker talked me into doing an American Idol pool with some people she did fantasy football with. You picked who would be in the bottom 3 each week and going home, got a certain number of points for your picks, and the winner in the end won money. Neither of us won, but we spent a lot of downtime and even some phonecalls discussing who would go, who should go, etc. It made the winter and school year go a lot faster, even though I did get a little burnt out on AI. (I think I'm the only person in the world who does not get why everyone thinks Adam Lambert is so great- blech.)

The following year, Olivia had been here and gone, and Joe lost his job at the beginning of December, and I decided not to spare the $30 since we weren't sure how long it would be for him to find a job. Then last year, they had new judges that people didn't like, so they decided not to do the pool. I watched anyway while Lucas was growing in my belly. I thought of my pregnancy in terms of AI, even, thinking if we could just make it till they were down to the top 10, he'd be early but okay. And every time AI was on, Luke would kick and move around like crazy. We made it all the way to the end of April, I forget how many they were down to by then, it must have been about 4 or 5 people left. And I spent many hours nursing newborn Luke on the couch watching the end of the season play out. Joe grudgingly usually watches along too. (He acts reluctant about it at least, but last night he started watching it while I was in class so I think it's mostly an act.)

Anyway, last night I came home from class and we watched the AI first auditions while I sat on the floor and played with Luke. And I watched him walking around (holding onto stuff, not independently yet though he will sometimes let go and not lose his balance), laughing, playing, crawling onto my lap and then off again,  and remembered this time last year, laying on the couch and feeling him move all over and wonder what he was doing, what he would look like, when he would be born. I never could really let myself imagine it turning out *this* well, and I can't really imagine what it will look like at this time next year, but oh, I am so glad to watch AI this year with Lucas roaming the floors.