“Elmo is so proud of you!”

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!! The potty talks!!! It says things like “Elmo is so proud of you!” and “You did it! Way to go!” and “It’s potty time with Elmo!”—in both English and Spanish.

We finally went out and bought the Elmo potty for Meredith—the one that she has been asking for about ten times per day for the last two months. She was ecstatic, of course. She hugged it tightly to herserlf in the car on the way home.

Since I am totally unprepared to begin potty training—and I have my doubts as to whether Meredith is even READY to start potty training—I started reading a potty training book in the car on the way to Toy’s R Us to buy the potty. (I know … I can’t stand it either … I’m such an advance planner.)

My suspicions were confirmed that Meredith probably needs a few more months. I hope we didn’t jump the gun. It would be ideal for her enthusiasm over the potty to peak around the same time that she is ready to begin her training. Oh well.

Kevin and I both had a big chuckle over this paragraph in the book—which our experience shows is entirely untrue!

[In speaking about the tools you will need to purchase to begin potty training, the chapter starts with the obvious one, the potty chair itself.]

“New chairs start around $10.00 and go up from there depending on how many bells and whistles you desire. The ‘you’ in that last sentence refers to Mom and Dad because your child really doesn’t have a preference at this early age what her potty chair will look like or what fancy sounds it can make.”

Ha, ha, ha!!! Very funny.

Okay, well maybe not when I'm hearing the “Elmo is so proud of you!” mantra in my sleep.

One Year

It suddenly dawned on me, as I was sitting behind the steering wheel at some nondescript intersection waiting for the light to change, that today is our one-year anniversary of moving to Indiana. It was one year ago today that we left our hotel in the Wisconsin Dells, drove through Illinois, and crossed the border into Indiana to begin this most recent chapter of our life.

Like many things in life, it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year, yet, at the same time, it’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year. Do you know what I mean?

When I remarked to Kevin that today is a one-year marker for us, his first reply was, “Can you believe you still haven’t been to the BMV yet to get your driver’s licensed changed over?”

Some of us, unlike the Kevins of this world, aren’t perfect. Some of us don’t rush in the week we move to take care of all the necessary business transactions.

Also, to be perfectly honest, I’m kind of scared to take the test. I don’t want to do it cold turkey but, at the same time, I haven’t felt like reading the driver’s manual. There are so many more interesting things to read, don’t you agree?

Isn’t that ridiculous? I took the California bar exam without batting an eye but every time I think about having to take the BMV test, I run and cower.

I know I’m going to have to do it eventually ...

My California driver’s license expires in 2009.

[Just kidding—I’ve already promised Kevin that I’ll take it next week.]

Spontaneity

My friend Kristi called this morning and invited Meredith and I to go to the zoo with her and her three kids. I took a speed shower, got Meredith ready, packed a lunch, and we flew out the door. We had a great time, except for the fact that a lot of the animals were missing from their cages! I felt sorry for little Levi who talked excitedly about seeing the kangaroos … until we got there and they were mysteriously gone. Fortunately Kristi has a pass and we all got in free! But we still had fun visiting and seeing the animals that we did see. Meredith was very happy to see the giraffes, elephants and monkeys. She’s getting to the age where she really appreciates the zoo.

I think spontaneity is important. It’s important to be willing to chuck the prearranged plans at the last-minute and do something new. If you always stick with your Plan A, life rarely has any surprise or adventure to it.

It was fun to hang with Kristi because she is the type of friend who inspires me with her endless energy and love for life. She has twins who are three and a 15-month old, yet she never allows having three toddlers to get in the way of family fun! Everyone needs a “sure-why-not?” and “let’s-do-it” friend. I’ve found that in Kristi.

Irrational Fear

Meredith has suddenly—overnight—decided that she is afraid of her diaper changing table. Whenever we put her up there she kicks and screams and claws at us with sheer, authentic terror in her eyes. We cannot understand what has gotten into her. Whenever we approach the table, she starts crying, “No! Fall off! Change on ground! Change you floor!” If we set her on the floor, she runs over to where the carpet is, in the hallway, and lays down to wait for us to join her.

She’s not the type of kid who is ordinarily fearful. She normally doesn’t mind heights. Like I said, we cannot understand her sudden fear of being up on the changing table.

We wonder if something happened that we don’t know about. Maybe she fell off the changing table at the MOPS group or at the church nursery. I’ll have to ask around to see if anyone knows about this. Until then, I’ll just be puzzled by it.

Maybe potty training time will come sooner than I thought. She refuses to let us put her on the fold out table in public restrooms and I’m certainly not going to change her on the public restroom floor!

Another reason potty training time might come sooner … Meredith spotted an “Elmo potty” in the Babies R Us catalogue (she loves to look through this catalogue whenever it comes in the mail) and daddy promised he’d buy it for her if she was good to sit still in church for four Sundays in a row. Every time she hears the words “good girl,” “church” or “shopping,” she pipes up, “Elmo potty!” How could we forget? It just so happens that this coming Sunday is the fourth Sunday.

Pasta, Procrastinating, Dating, and Finals Begin

Today I ordered “Cooking Light Pasta” on Amazon. Although I enjoy cooking I rarely buy cookbooks because there are often only 5-6 recipes in a particular book that I think I would really try out and likely enjoy. (So, I’m cheap and I copy them by hand instead!) But after browsing through the “63 essential recipes to eat smart, be fit, and live well” in “Cooking Light Pasta,” I thought to myself that I would likely try at least 52 of them. So, I bought it for only six bucks, including shipping, online. Nice! I think it will truly be worth the money. The book features everything from family favorites to casual entertaining to world cuisine.

Today I also procrastinated (only for a short time) in getting my work-work (as opposed to household work) done. My favorite way to procrastinate doing work these days is to look at homes for sale online. It’s not that we’ll be able to buy any time soon—not at least until Kevin is done with school which is Summer 2008, but, hey, it’s nice to dream. Plus, it’s very wise of me to get an idea what the value of homes really are. Right? Right.

Today I also went on a date with my husband. He took a break from the books—and we took advantage of Meredith being at her grandparents’ house—to walk across the street and go to a restaurant we’ve been wanting to try for eight months. I can’t believe that we live in this “hip” part of town with lots of young people, restaurants, and night life and we never go out. Today we tried to remedy that a little bit.

Final exams begin for Kevin tomorrow. He’s taking five of them in the next two weeks. He was really happy on the last day of class (Monday) when he could fill out one particular professor evaluation form. He felt like this was the worst professor he’d ever encountered and said it was "the day he was waiting for all semester." He took all of his frustration out on that poor little form!

So far Kevin seems pretty stress-free about final exams. I hope it stays that way. We can’t wait for summer to begin! May 9th, finals are over and summer begins for the Koons household! Yay!

Glimpses

This weekend we tried to spend as much time outside as possible because it’s been simply gorgeous here—warm with cool breezes.

Here are a few glimpses of our weekend …

Before we got to fly the kite, the guys had to figure out how to put it together.

It was purchased in China with no directions.

Meredith thought she was such a big help! She kept yelling things like,

“Me do it! Here. Help you! Hey, Uncle Colin! Oh!”

Finally, Soaring! Success!

Laughing

Me and My Girl

Hot Momma (don't ask me how far along I am because it's my second pregnancy and, frankly, I can't remember anymore--I think I'm due some time late summer??)

Brothers and the Tag-along (I can't remember what they're enamored about. Maybe grandpa is flying the kite).

Family Circus, er, I mean, Circle

Meredith went to a birthday party for a boy at our church turning two years old.

She didn’t understand why he got all the presents.

She loved every bite and lick of cupcake!

______________

Okay, one cute Meredith-ism. I don’t mean to go on and on about my child but, I guess that’s my prerogative, right?

Last week it rained one morning so I sang her the song, “Rain, Rain Go Away!” I probably sang it three or four times throughout the day. Several days ago it rained again. She asked to go to the park and I told her, “No, because it’s raining.” She then burst out singing every single word of the song:

Rain, rain go away!
Come again some other day.
Little Meredith wants to play.
Rain, rain go away!

The “little Meredith” part is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard coming from her lips. She loves to sing and songs really make an impression on her. She remembers songs that she only hears a few times because she really, really loves them. In the next few years I have to find a choir for her to join because it seems to be her passion.

Me and the Cheese Case

Lately I’ve been tired of the same old, same old cuisine. I tend to cook a lot of the tried-and-trues for a few weeks and then I get sick of it all and want new things to explore with my taste buds. So, this week I’ve planned for a week of dinners that I’ve never made before.

When I went grocery shopping to buy the ingredients, there were naturally many items that I wasn't sure where exactly to locate. It took me forever-and-a-day to find stuff. And, to make matters worse, I didn’t head out the door until 11:00 p.m.

I’m convinced that people who grocery shop until midnight are either crazy or desperate, and definitely tired.

So, there I was, a crazy, desperate, tired person moving my cart through the aisles, trying in vain to find things like Kahlua for coffee crème brulee, lemon grass and fish sauce for Thai soup, and gruyere cheese for a Panini recipe.

It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that, as I was standing over the imported cheese counter, squinting my eyes to find the gruyere, my grocery list (which included the planned-out menu for the week) fell through the slat of the cheese display. The slat was only about a half inch thick and my grocery list must have been just vertical enough to easily fall through it.

What are the chances of that?

At first I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t move on without my list because I had spent about an hour putting it together and had only just begun my shopping. I found a lady sweeping up behind the deli counter who looked to be about a hundred years old. I asked her if she could help me, presuming that she would call some robust man to come take the display apart and find my list. Instead, she started moving cheeses and attempting to dismantle the display herself.

The worst part is that I couldn’t remember exactly where I was standing when I dropped my list. So, we moved a bunch of cheese, lifted up a large slat in the case (it took both of us to do the lifting), and the list wasn’t there. We rearranged the cheeses, moved more cheeses, and lifted up a second slat. It wasn’t there either.

By that time, the lady looked at me like I was on drugs or something and asked, “So, you don’t know where you were standing?” I told her that I thought we should try one more area of the case and fortunately it was there—my little grocery list written on yellow legal paper! Relief!

The cheese case was a mess by the time we got through. We tried to put everything back but it was obvious that it had been sorely tampered with. The previously neat little rows of overlapping cheeses were now in complete disarray.

To my surprise, the elderly worker lady said, “Ah, as good as new!” Then she added, “I won’t be here tomorrow. No one will know.”

I seriously doubt I will ever let my grocery list near a cheese display ever again.

Hidden Forms of Exercise

Over the weekend I was inspired to do some Spring Cleaning. I got online, took a look at Martha Stewart’s spring cleaning checklist, and quickly became uninspired.

Who has time to vacuum all their mattresses and dust every single book on their shelf?

I was lucky to get my windows clean! It took about two hours and I figure that I burned 400 calories. I found this handy-dandy chart online that tells me I’m exercising even when I don’t think I am. I love it!

Staying Fit—Hidden forms of exercise

Ever wonder why you're huffing and puffing after vacuuming? It's because you're burning about 200 calories an hour! Here are some other daily activities that can get your heart going and make your body stronger.

• Kissing: 58 calories an hour
• Playing with a toddler: 216 calories an hour
• Washing windows: 200 calories an hour
• Walking the dog: 238 calories an hour
• Gardening: 324 calories an hour
• Heavy cleaning: 432 calories an hour

Second-Born

My aunt, who is a second-born child, recently sent me some advice about second-borns:

“As a second child, speaking from experience, let me tell you: don't forget to set time apart separately for each child. Us middle/second-born kids tend to always feel overlooked. The oldest and youngest children tend to get all the attention. Especially when it comes to baby/childhood photos.”

I remember my second-born sister always complaining about how every baby photo of her also had me in it too. She hated the fact that there weren’t any baby photos of her just by herself.

Are there any other second-borns out there with any advice?

Honestly, I’m somewhat scared about being a mom to a second-born. When this child is born she will enter a world of first-born people. Everyone else in her immediate family will be first-borns. And even all her grandparents except for one (my dad) will be first-borns.

I feel that I don’t have very much understanding or wisdom about second-born children. In fact, come to think about it, the amazing, overwhelming majority of all my friends growing up and currently are first-borns too!

Probably the best thing going for me is that I was a first-born daughter with a second-born sister and I can learn from the mistakes I made as a first-born. So, I will have A LOT to say to Meredith about what to do and not do. I have some regrets about how I treated my second-born sister. These regrets are mostly related to how I shunned her and wouldn’t include her with “my friends.”

So, maybe the best thing I can do is try to follow my aunt’s advice—to make this one feel as special and distinct and unique as possible—and then spend lots of time telling Meredith how to love her sister better and do the first-born thing right.

Easter

I love Easter. It’s my favorite. I know I say that about pretty much every holiday but (trying to be objective here), Easter is at least in the top two. The Resurrection means Victory in the Christian faith. I love celebrating this victory. I love celebrating new life. I love spring! And, okay, I admit. This year it was especially fun to make Meredith’s basket and get her all dressed up. The best thing about having children is reliving the newness of something—seeing excitement in their eyes, which is contagious.

Happy Family

Mer got these glasses in her basket from grandma.

She wore them nearly all day.

It was obvious she thought she was a rock star.

With Uncle Colin, looking fabulous in pink.

Or, did he say it was "egg shell"?

Huggin' cousin Cole.

Once she figured the eggs were supposed to go IN the basket, she really got into the hunt. She loved it! (Especially when she realized there was chocolate inside!!)

I think this picture is great! Kevin took it—of the paparazzi surrounding Cole. It captures on the faces of the adults the joy that a child can bring.

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Seven ladies, a good book, and tea to go around.

We had our first book club meeting last Thursday and it was great fun. If any of you out there have thought about joining a book discussion group, I would encourage it. Either that, or start your own. One thing I love about this club is being able to discuss views and opinions on a book with other people who have the same frame of reference. I’m excited about being able to get together with these ladies once a month to delve into a new plot and new topics. It's a great group of people—I consider myself blessed to have such quality, thoughtful friends.

To kick off the club, we had Chinese treats. Heather thought of that idea, since the setting for the book was 19th Century rural China. I made fortune cookies and almond cookies and Heather brought egg custard tarts. Shannon brought some yummy authentic tea. And, best of all, we had authentic China from China. It helps to have a SIL living in Beijing who can get you stuff. This set of China was a gift from Laura, purchased via Megan.

I can’t wait for our next club meeting, in May! We’re going to try a non-fiction book and see how it goes. I have mixed feelings about this. It will be nice to try a variety of things but I did really enjoy reading and discussing a novel.

Lipstick

Typically I have Meredith watch a video while I take a shower to keep her distracted. This morning I decided to let her play by herself. That was a mistake.

As I exited the shower I noticed that she hadn’t taken all her clothes out of the dresser and strewn them across her bedroom, which she is prone to do. That made me glad. Then I noticed that my bedroom door was shut. She doesn’t know how to work door knobs yet, so I figured she was trapped in my room playing. I opened the door to discover what she had been up to. She had pulled my purse off the dresser and had gotten into the forbidden lipstick. She had been looking at herself in the mirror, attached to the back of the door, while doing the job.

Nearly every day Meredith watches me put on makeup. I usually let her put on powder and Chapstick so she can feel a part of it. I should have known she would attempt a self-application at some point!

The lipstick had gotten all the way up her nostrils. Have you ever tried to clean lipstick out of nostrils before? Only a mother of a toddler would know I guess. The things I never expected to experience ... and now I have.

____________________

This week has flown by. Things have been really busy here. I can’t believe Easter is coming up in a few days.

Over the weekend we took Kevin on a trip down Memory Lane—we went to a cool park he used to frequent for little league games. The weather has been so glorious! It was great to be outside. (We went to several different local parks with trails over the weekend.) Then we went to this hole-in-the-wall pizzeria called “Pizza King”—a place Kevin also went to as a boy. He had fond memories of it because they have video games at every table and a little choo choo train comes down a track to bring your drink order to your table. It was a hoot! And the pizza wasn’t totally bad either.

Okay, now I need to go get Meredith out of her bath, which I’m sure is dyed red with lipstick by now.

Blogs are So Cool

Okay, I’ve always thought blogs are cool … why else would I have one, and read so many blogs on a weekly basis, if I didn’t think that. But recently I’ve decided they’re even more cool than I thought they were before, mainly because of two recent comments left on my blog.

The first comment is from a girl I was in church nursery school with at First Baptist Church Long Beach! Aaaaahhhh! Even though Rhonda and I were like five years old, I have distinct memories playing with her as a child, along with two other girls, Jessica and Katie. I distinctly remember her large backyard and swing set, kitchen, dining room, and another big room upstairs in her house that was full of toys and a TV set. I also remember all of her red-headed and blonde siblings. Crazy! She still lives in Long Beach and has recently realized her lifelong dream of becoming a zoo keeper.

The second comment is from a student in India—a total stranger to me. He randomly came across my blog while doing research for a book review. He apparently told some friends about Meredith and now several of his friends, also from India, have left sweet comments on the Toddler Days post. They have all made me smile, and even laugh. Then I checked out Shrikant’s blog, and found it to be very entertaining, with lots of great quotes that made me think deeper about life. So, I’m glad to have found his blog too.

Blogs make the world smaller. Blogs bring people together. Blogs enrich life.

Pacifier Funeral

We are alive! The weekend I was dreading for months, if not longer, has finally come and gone. We had designated this past weekend as “the” weekend to finally take away Meredith’s pacifiers. I cannot believe how emotionally attached she was to her passy. It had become her total comfort and joy. She wanted to have it either in her mouth or by her side at all times. She was upset when she lost it and overjoyed when she found it again.

Because of her extreme love for and attachment to her passy, I felt like a total villain for taking it away. But then I also knew I had to administer some tough-love because her passy was starting to mess up her teeth. I could already tell its affects on her bite. So, this past weekend was THE weekend.

We started with a “Big Girl Ceremony” on Friday night to inaugurate the big weekend. The ceremony was complete with eloquent speeches, a passy gathering (the "pink one," "white one," "monkey one," etc.), a trash dumping (done by Meredith herself), a final prayer for all of Meredith’s dearly departed pacifiers and grace for her to get through the first couple days and nights, plus ice cream to celebrate.

First let me say, I cannot believe how much time I spent dreading this compared to how much of a problem it really was. Meredith clearly understood what had happened so, whenever she asked for her passy, we reminded her: “Meredith, what did you do with your passy?” “Trash,” she would reply. She wept a few times but never cried herself to sleep, like I expected she might. As the weekend progressed, she asked for it fewer and fewer times. Today, she’s only asked for it once so far.

The hardest part was that she got the flu on Saturday morning (of course, the weekend we were going to take the passy away, she would get sick). Several times I was tempted to give in but, since Meredith had already emotionally said good-bye, I knew I had to hold my ground. In the end I’m glad that we staid course. She’s now feeling better and, with the passing of her pacifier, it seems she has officially entered big girlhood.

Monon Workout

Yesterday I, who rarely exercise despite my best intentions, walked nearly eight miles! Catherine came over with her daughter Hannah and us two pregnant ladies, with our daughters in their strollers, set out on the Monon Trail. The Monon is just a few blocks from our house and is an old converted railway trail.

The great thing about walking/exercising with a friend is that you start talking, get caught up in conversation, and don’t realize how far you’re actually going. So, in other words, exercising with a friend is good! We walked nearly to the border of Hamilton County. Kevin couldn’t believe it when he heard it. We’ve biked that far but never walked it.

I ended up with a few blisters and sore hips, legs, and feet. But all that will go away soon, right? It was good to get out and exercise—and I hope to start walking more regularly now that the weather is nice.

Super Size Me

I love the library. It’s always a good thing, but it’s especially good when you’re on a student’s budget and regularly frequenting Borders and Blockbuster is prohibitive. I love being able to walk into the library knowing that everything is free and available to me. It’s wonderful. I’ve always been a liberal library-user but lately, with no cable TV (and desiring to watch something while I’m ironing shirts), I’ve been stocking up on lots of videos in addition to books.

Last time I was at the library I saw the documentary Super Size Me sitting on the shelf and took it home. I’d read some of the reviews on this documentary when it was released but was unprepared for its persuasion. I won’t say that I’m ready to give up all fast food (not that we eat it very often—maybe once a month) but Super Size Me was a good reminder about the fast food industry, junk food in general, and the overall threat of obesity to health.

For those of you unfamiliar with Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock goes on a 30-day McDonald’s-only diet under the supervision of three physicians and two nutritionists with shocking results. The film was very eye-opening, informative and even entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Ironically, the day I watched Super Size Me, I had already planned on having grilled burgers and homemade onion rings for dinner that night! Ha!

Toddler Days

Here are some cute Meredith-isms from the past month—little things I’ve jotted down as they’ve happened. I’ve only just now found the time to post them!

This picture of her is a VERY typical Meredith expression. She likes to look at people sideways. She is now 20.5 months and such a joy!

Mer’s new thing is getting in and out of her booster seat by herself and then fastening the buckle by herself. In fact, she pretty much wants to do everything by herself lately. When I try to help her, she says, “Self!” When she doesn’t get her buckle fastened on the first try, she’ll say “Almooost” to encourage herself. Lately, though, she’s gotten really good at it—she buckles herself into her booster, stroller, and grocery carts.

Speaking of grocery carts, going grocery shopping with her is crazy! She loves to identify all the objects she knows and yell out the names of food she sees. When she’s not yelling “Banana! Grapes! Bacon! Pasta! Cookies!” at the top of her lungs, then she’s loudly singing one of her favorite songs. We couldn’t sneak up on anyone if we tried.

She has learned how to pray, repeating prayers after daddy: “Fa-der, tank-you … for our food. For mommy, daddy, and baby. AMEN!” It’s so sweet to hear her childish voice saying prayers.

Speaking of prayer, when the pastor said “Amen” at the end of his prayer at church last week, Meredith loudly asked, “All done?” She was tired of being confined in the pew. Children are so honest!

She knows all of the colors of the rainbow, plus more. She loves to identify everything by its color: pink shirt, brown bear, grey shoes, etc. Her favorite color is pink, of course.

She has become a backseat driver! Totally! “Red stop! Green go!” “Turn!” (We wonder what she’ll be like when she’s three!)

Mer is constantly pretending. The other day she picked up a piece of scrambled egg on her plate and said, “Dinosaur. Rooooaaaarrrrr!” Every time she sees two of something where one thing is bigger than the other, the big thing is always the “mommy” and the little thing is always the “baby.” For instance, “Mommy grape, baby grape.”

She wants to be included in everything. When I kissed Kevin hello the other day, she said, “Mommy, daddy kissing. Mer-mith kissing?” We quickly gave her a kiss too.

She copies nearly everything we do. She must always spit in the sink when she brushes her teeth, despite the fact that she’s already swallowed all the toothpaste. :-)

The other day she picked up a semi-transparent blue Tupperware lid, held it to her eyes, and said, “Dark outside!” She loves to tell everyone when it’s dark/night vs. light/day.

We went shopping the other day at Macy’s. We were walking through the underwear aisle when Meredith spotted the most hideous pair of granny underwear in the whole store—big, white, and plain. She reached for it and said, “Awww, cute!” I just about fell to the floor laughing. As we left the mall on another trip, she cried, “Shopping! Shopping!” We asked her if she wanted to do more shopping and she said, “YES!”

Meredith was upset that I wasn’t paying more attention to her as she slid down her plastic slide in the living room—I was reading a book at the time. She looked up and me and said, “Book down! Mommy watch you! Book all done!”

She finds excuses for her finger to be hurt just so she can have it “kissed all better.” When I kiss one finger, she holds up the next one, and then the next one, saying “this one ... this one ... this one.”

Meredith is such a toddler! She has recently gained so much confidence in herself. She chatters and sings nonstop. She understands how everything works and has definite opinions on what people should do, not do, say, and wear. She will be such a bossy big sister! But she is also kind and obedient. We love our little girl!

Serenading Birds

This morning we woke up to happy, tweeting and chirping bird sounds. Kevin noticed it first. We hadn’t realized how much we missed bird sounds until we realized (this morning) that they had been absent for a long time.

Winter had silenced the birds. But, thankfully, winter is not forever.

And then there are the flowers. They’re starting to pop up here and there, just a little bit. On a walk yesterday afternoon, Kevin noticed some blue wild flowers sprouting up in someone’s yard, along with daffodil and tulip leaves too.

All those years I lived in California I never really appreciated birds or flowers because they were always around. Here, I appreciate every little sign of spring that I get.

I also appreciate the fact that I appreciate it.

I think the changing seasons teach us things about life, time, and various forms of beauty.

Floods and Sales

On the worst day possible, as I was rushing around like mad to do laundry and pack stuff for Kevin to go on a men’s retreat, our (unfinished) basement flooded. I spent about three hours on my hands and knees mopping up water, and trying to dry things as much as possible.

From what I can tell, the room was filled with about an inch of water (based on the water line on a cardboard box). The water must have receded quickly down the drain, though, because it was mostly dry on the concrete where I stepped. I wouldn’t have noticed it had flooded (as soon as I did) if I hadn’t picked up one of Meredith’s toys to find water rushing out of it. I realized how bad it had flooded only when I stepped onto an area rug and water seeped all over the place.

We don’t use our basement very much—just for some furniture storage, pantry storage, laundry, and I have a scrapbook table down there. Fortunately nothing of sentimental value (e.g., pictures) or other value (e.g., furniture) was damaged. An area rug and some stuffed toys were drenched, but easily dried out. Probably the worst thing was a box with Kevin’s sheet music, but I think those will dry out fine too.
________________

On Saturday morning I went to the Mother lode of all garage sales. A local Nazarene church hosted 200 private garage sales—selling kids’ stuff only. All of the toys and clothes were presorted and organized by gender and size. I hear that a week of work goes into this sale; with massive volunteer effort (25% of the proceeds benefit various charities). They hire two accountants to manage all the numbers.

It was crazy! I got there 45 minutes before the doors opened and there were already at least 150 people in line, ahead of me. When the doors opened everyone rushed in like mad. It was probably the most insane thing I’ve done in a long time. But I did come away with some cool wooden puzzles, books, and nearly all the clothes Meredith will need for the spring/summer. None of the clothes had any stains on them. Most of them look like new and there were quite a few name-brands. So, I guess in the end it was worth all the insanity—and setting the alarm clock about three hours earlier than I wanted.

Peeking Inside the Package

The idea of “sisters” has been on my mind a lot in the past day because we just found out that Meredith is going to get one! We are very excited. I’m already envisioning a double stroller loaded with pink stuff.

You’d think that our life would be destined for sugar-and-spice and frilly things, because we’ll have two girls. But then I remember that my parents had daughters who were interested in things like politics and hockey. So, you never know.

It was so cute—baby #2 was sucking her thumb vigorously when her profile popped up on the ultrasound machine. You could clearly see her little fingers and her mouth opening and closing. Ultrasounds have to be one of the coolest things ever invented. We’re really glad we found out the gender of this baby. We didn’t find out last time. That’s great for some people, but I think I prefer knowing. It gives me more time to be excited about the specifics of what our family is going to be like and helps me to bond better with the baby.

The ultrasound tech also told me that they will push my due date up a week. This is good news, as far as I’m concerned. Meredith came a week early too. So maybe I’m just a 39-weeker. The new due date is July 29.

Here’s an ultrasound pic of the new baby. We haven’t picked a name yet but, after finding out the sex, our list of choices has been cut in half, which is helpful.