1500, my new radio home

That show Medium always freaks me out. I love it!

Tonight I seriously HAPPENED to turn on 1500AM, only because I just had to reprogram all my radio stations in the van because my in-laws left the lights on when they took Lucy to church on Saturday so the battery died so all my pre-set stations went the way of pin-rolled pants and banana clips, and while reprogramming the stations I actually remembered that the Twins are no longer on 830 but 1500, so I actually set it correctly, so then when I turned on the radio (which I only get to do when I'm alone in the car which is very rare these days) THERE WAS A TWINS GAME ON!!!!

Yes, spring training has begun! I am not kidding when I say my little heart skipped a beat at the sound of John Gordon's voice. The ride to the Dayton's Bluff Rec Center is less than 5 minutes, so all I really caught of the game was that we were ahead 1-0 in the 3rd based on something Jason Bartlett did, and that we're scheduled to play against Kyle Lohse later this week, but WHO CARES, it's BASEBALL!!!

Now, it still confuses me that major-league ballplayers can be younger than I am. I know, I know, some of them are an entire decade younger than I am. But it's still something that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around.

Silly kid update!
Lucy's taken to calling Ed "a stinker." Probably because I do too. The other day Ed was hollering about something and Lucy said to me "What a loud stinker!"
Also, she uses "stink" when she means "smell" as a verb. Today, she picked up a diaper Ed had just dirtied (and I had just carefully wrapped) and said "Let me stink this," right before sticking her nose in it.

Good-bye, nursing bras! Hello...

Um... hello? Hellooooooo...

hello... hello... hello...

Well! I finally went through my bra drawer and removed every last nursing bra and washable nursing pad. Ed and I had one last nursing session last week and we are totally done now. So now my chest is a size it hasn't been for... three and a half years? Which means the only 2 bras I have that fit now are four years old and came from the teenage-girls bra department at JC Penney. Ugh.

Lucy's word for "nipples" might actually be "mittles." I can't quite tell.

My mother-in-law is participating in a Polar Plunge at Lake Calhoun this Saturday. We're going to see her to cheer her on and wish her luck and warmth!

Going ot have to finish this later; it's bedtime...

Friday

Nuthin' new here. Lucy just got up from her nap; she walks out on her own with her sleep-ruddy cheeks and says "Hi, Mommy." It's awesome.



Ed still has his four teeth and they're huge. He grins and says "Hi, Da" all day.



Lucy's phrase this week is "You gotta buy some more." As in:



Me: "Lucy, this is the last cookie for you tonight."
Lucy: "You gotta buy some more."

Lucy discovered her nipples (or "mimples") this week.

(Lifting her shirt) "What are these, mommy?"

"Nipples, sweetie."

"I have breasts?"

"No, right now you just have nipples. In about 10 years you'll have breasts."

"Maybe later. When I'm older."

We had lovely playdates with the Dalys and Watsons, respectively, this week. Toddlers are just so, so funny. Love them all.

New baby

Well! Ask and ye shall receive!

CONGRATS to the Pudwell Family on their new baby girl! I got this email this morning:

Nicole, Scott, and Joshua are proud to announce the newest Pudwell!!
Ashley Ann Pudwell was born at 8:02pm [on Feb. 22].
Ashley weighed 7lbs 11oz, and was 19 inches long.
Pictures coming soon on pudwellfamily.com
Both Mom and Ashley are doing great!!

Welcome to the world, Ashley!! Welcome to big-brotherhood, Josh!

New blogs and whatnot

New Blogs
My friend Jara now has a blog, as does my cousin Amy. Actually Amy has had one for several months; I'd just missed the loop, for some wild reason.

Whatnot
Also! Congrats to my friend Michelle who is relatively-newly pregnant with #2.

Please send power out to 2 of my due-any-minute preggo friends, Nicole P and Tricia. Can't wait to hear their stories!


More Whatnot
So I read this item about birthing and breastfeeding/latching in Parents magazine last night and I thought it was really interesting. Of course, I am the crazy granola mom. So I'm embracing my role. :)

"Sometimes it takes a bit longer for a newborn to latch -- and the most common reason is that the baby's sleepy because his mother was given an epidural or other labor medications."

Then they quote a gal from La Leche League, Katy Lebbing:

"Research has shown that if an epidural is administered for more than two hours, you'll have latching problems. The longer the epidural is in, the more likely you are to have trouble. ...A woman ... had an epidural for 48 hours; her baby didn't latch on for three weeks."

I had never heard before that the two were related... though I knew I was already a firm believer in both natural childbirth and breastfeeding, but I guess this info makes me feel a little better since I know I'm in the minority. Maybe I need to really strap on the Birkenstocks and learn how to become a doula or something. Always searching for my mission in life... :)

I should really try to figure out the source; I would love to read more about this "research." Usually Parents magazine is a neverending slosh of ridiculously expensive "must-haves," excessively consumeristic "great ideas" and unrealistically idealistic "safety tips."

Sample tip for raising earth-conscious kids: "Go on a hike through some nearby woods and introduce your children to the different types of plants, trees, and ecosystems in your area." This would be assuming the parent is some kind of crazy botanist with encyclopediaic knowledge about the local flora. Can you even see me? "Okay, kids, this is a tree. It's got branches. And... leaves. And here's another tree! Also with leaves. Ooh! This one looks like a bush. It has leaves, too. Here! On the ground; this is a stick. It fell off a tree. Or, a bush. And here we have some mud. And there! More mud!"

Rounds and worms

Happy Fat Tuesday, everybody! I'm actually coming off an entire Fat Weekend (pizzas and gyros and pie, oh my!), so I'm trying to eat healthier starting today... sort of. I was actually thinking maybe I should add a couple more layers of fat to insulate me from this ridiculously cold weather we've been having. Then today it's 43 and sunny. Can't win!

My friend Nikki posted that she thought she heard a bird the other day. I heard nothing, but saw an entire round of robins* on the roof of my garage! And they were the fattest little robins you ever did see. It was a little bizarre. This was RIGHT in the middle of the coldest part of the cold snap, too. I do not know what they were doing. But they don't look too happy with themselves.

*(I Googled "collective noun" and "robins" and came up with zilch, so I sort of made that one up. Okay, actually I just looked a little closer and one site says "worm"!?!? Well, that's just silly.)

There's GOT to be a better way
Hey there, inventors and entrepreneurs! You need to invent something that makes it easier to get kids in and out of car seats during winter. It's not safe, buckling their buckles over all those coats. And it's certainly not responsible or possible in a practical sense, to remove the coats before putting them in the car seats.
I think what needs to happen is a special coat with slits made to slip the seat belts/buckles through. The slits could Velcro closed when the kid's not in the seat. Oh, no, that wouldn't work because of the kids' arms... Okay, what about a harness that you put on the kid prior to donning the coat (which would still have to be a special kind of coat, with slits or something) and then buckling the harness onto the car seat? Grrr.

Let's see, what's new -- my mom ("Grandma Books") was up for the weekend. It was so great to see her and the kids just loved it. Ed even took a couple steps (maybe even 4?) unassisted (but with heaps of encouragement) for her to see.

Ed had a yucky fever most of the weekend (high of 104.3 on Saturday morning) and the rest of us have been a little cold-y too. Lu loves being the booger police, letting us know when she or Ed needs a kleenex. I guess we should have taught her to say "runny nose" instead. You live and learn.

Ed loves to say "hi." Over and over and over. It charms the heck out of old ladies at the grocery store.

More later...

My brain was frozen and filled with snot!!

Back by popular demand, today's Guest Blogger is none other than fan favorite, JG!

I was so excited to find an ultra close spot at the bus stop. Background: My company subsidizes a parking spot monthly which is, say, 9 blocks from work. Okay so like only 4-5 blocks. It's walkable, but a bus pass is included in the parking permit so you don't HAVE to hoof it. Buses leave from the lot every 10-15 minutes in the morning. So my usual routine is to catch a bus in the morning. (The walk is uphill and I can barely stand to think in the morning before my 3rd cup of coffee.) Not to mention, every time I do walk I see the stupid bus pulling up like just as I am arriving at work. So really, why not just catch the bus. I do walk at night, so I don't have to wait for the bus, and then, yes, you guessed it, it's downhill. Easier to keep one's momentum going when one has some additional weight in the fulcrum of one's body, you know?

So, like I mentioned, I found a primo spot in the lot. I believe Meggo and I used to call it porno parking. Since we have kids now I think we have taken that out of our vernacular. Prolly not though. Noting that the bus is ready to leave, I hop out of the car, grab my workout bag, and jump on the bus. I pull out my cell phone to play with the buttons so I know how to shut off the ringer... see if there are any games... just get used to how the blasted contraption works. I mean really, I don't need to take pictures, make a meal, or complete a masters degree online with it. I just need to be able to call someone and answer it when it rings. On the bus I start a conversation with a guy who was recently in the news, quite an interesting story, I'll tell ya sometime. Then I arrive at work to realize gangnabbit I left my keys on the bus; they must have fallen out when I was playing with my stupid cell phone. Well there's nothing really one can do when that happens on the bus and we had our all company meeting to get to. So I started that trek of lemmings down to the meeting room with our good friends Carol and Patrick Daly.

Meeting over. I stopped by at the bus office in the skyway to get info as to what one does when they leave something on the bus. Call lost and found tomorrow, is the answer I get -- I knew that one. It's now 11:45ish and I'm working up the gumption to call Meggo to let her know and logistically it's not a big problem; I can catch a bus home at night and back to work in the morning, but just in case I'll walk on down there to make sure: A. I didn't leave the keys in the car; B. I didn't drop them in the transition from the car tothe bus; and C. Verify the car is still there. I bundled up and walked down. Half way I realize I didn't grab my cellphone. Smart Joel real smart. I mean, insert Meg's voice here: "What do you have a cell phone for ANYWAY!" I turn the corner to where I can see the parking lot and the cars all lined up. Terror dripping from my brow. I'm straining to just get a glimpse of the little car and not seeing anything. Scanning the row back and forth hoping that it's just hiding behind the Bonneville. Nope. Getting closer well maybe it's beside the Seabreeze. (A shout out to Bridget Fors old baby the Sebring.) Oh wait I see my bumper. WHAT THE HELL, there's exhaust coming from the tailpipe. You have got to be kidding me. Sure as my vacant expression. I did something I have never done before. I left the car running with the doors locked for 4 and a half hours. No cell phone. IDIOT!! I caught the bus back to work, called Meggo who I knew was at book readings (ed. note: it's actually called "story time") with the kids. Well my valentine came to my rescue. I walked on down there again to visit and grab my keys and see the family. Eddie fast asleep, Lucy clutching her red balloon and new "Philadelphia Chickens" CD Meggo purchased for her and the funniest little expression on Meggo. One that says, you will never live this one down. Needless to say Meggo now has, in the immortal words of Paula Abdul, her back pocket token for whatever she wants. What can I say, my brain was frozen and full of snot.

I switched to the New Blogger

I don't feel any different.

Also! I need a recipe. I was sitting next to a mom at storytime today who fed her daughter what appeared to be an oatmeal-raisin cookie, but what I'm sure was actually an uber-healthy granola-ey concoction, optimized for high fiber and nutrition and minimal fat and sugar.

But you can't exactly type that into Allrecipes or Epicurious and expect to get any results.

Also! New poll. Oh... except I don't have the time to figure out how to do a poll again.

Ed slept for maybe 30 minutes in the van right before noon/lunch, due to a set of somewhat bizarre circumstances that I will allow Joel to post at his discretion. We got home by noon, finished lunch by 12:30 and Ed was in his crib for nap by 1:00. Except he was wiiiiide awake. But happy. He jabbered to himself and played his fish-music-boxes for close to two hours(!!) until I thought to go in, at which point I immediately discerned he had a large dirty diaper. I changed it, and put him back down. He fell asleep almost right away.

Am I a bad mother for letting him fart around for two hours on his own? I'm not so concerned about the diaper; it didn't seem to bother him. But, like, should I have taken him out and played with him? I really thought he was going to fall asleep at any moment. Really.

Corrections and Clarifications

ST PAUL, MINN --
In a recent blog entry, Meg may have unintentionally misled readers to believe that she:

a. has this whole motherhood thing figured out

b. is never cranky, crabby, or at all out-of-sorts

c. never, ever wishes that the kid clawing his/her way up her pants leg would just go bang some Tupperware bowls together, or something, and let her just fold this one last stinkin' dish towel, if it's not too much trouble, please!??

d. galavants happily throughout each day, magically whisking her children to and from enriching activities, providing nutritious and delicious snacks and meals at appropriate times, and always provides consistent and firm, yet gentle guidance and discipline when necessary.

Meg wishes she wasn't so fast and loose with her posts on her happy days, and Meg wishes she could also post her grumpy days too, but you definitely don't want to read that. Meg guesses that what Meg meant was more, like, she understands herself and her role and her life a little better now, and she hopes that readers know her well enough to know that mood swings and waffling emotions are still to be expected.

Meg regrets the error.



Lucy Speak
These days, when Lucy asks us to do something, and we have to say "no" (like, she wants me to pick her up when I am already holding a very sad Eddie... OR, she wants me to peel her another orange when she has just devoured two of them)... she replies:

"You got to try!"

Or sometimes it's:

"Don't say 'no' at me!"

It is sooo hard not to laugh.

Also, I know everybody already knows this but I have to write it down for posterity: she calls the refrigerator the "fridgerfridger."

Half a recipe

I was emailing a friend and she sent me a recipe for some Asian wraps that sounded wonderful, and in a weird coincidence, us Gs had just eaten some really tasty wraps for dinner that night. Short story long, I promised I would post my wrap-recipe... but the bag that the tortillas came in (on which the recipe was printed) got tossed so now I have to kind of recreate the recipe for you. Whatever; they're really good. Joel raved.

Flour tortillas
Cream cheese (you don't need a whole brick unless you're making like twenty)
Shreddy cheddar cheese
Deli-sliced roast beef
Red onion slices
Avocado slices
Roasted red peppers (I always use jarred)
Fresh spinach leaves

What I did was warm a tortilla a little, then spread about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the cheddar on the tortilla. Add 1 or 2 roast beef slices and then microwave that shebang, just to soften the cheese and bring out the meat flavor a bit. Then add some of the onion, some avocado, a bit of red peppers and exactly six spinach leaves. Roll up and eat. Feasty!

Really, I don't know why this was so good. It just kind of was.
If you're not a tortilla person, the results are just as nummier on some toasted sourdough bread. Toasted bread is good.

I can't actually feel my toes... is that a problem?

I peeked out at our thermometer in the backyard this morning around 7:45 and I said, hey Joel! Looks like it's up to 20 degrees! Thank goodness!

No, you dummy, he replied, that says twenty below. And gosh danged if he wasn't right.

So... it's chilly here. How chilly? You may ask.

Whatever diesel gas mix they use in school buses is actually freezing.

Paint is chipping off the window frames in Ed's room.

There is snow buildup inside many of our windows on the north side of our house.

Every once in a while I hear a loud "pop" come from somewhere... like the roof or an exterior wall... like the stucco or something is cracking? Ick.

Our garage door opener has gone into hibernation. It now takes a party of at least two to open our garage door... one inside, madly pushing the button; the other kicking and/or pushing against the door trying to force it up.

Wait, there was a point to this... what was it? OH! Some clarity.

I was at a party this weekend (one of three, all of which were very much fun if a bit overwhelming; Sunday morning when Lucy woke up I asked if she knew what we were doing today and she said "Another party?!?") with both kids climbing/hanging on me, and I realized... I didn't mind.

This was sort of an unusual (that word has three u's. That's a lot!) feeling for me, and I was trying to figure out why. Most parties in recent history, I've been super annoyed that the kids were hanging/clinging and I just wanted them to run/crawl off and play on their own. So there I was, happy to be serving as a human jungle-gym.

Here's my only theory: I have grown to accept them as part of my life, and not just a distraction from my life. Is that terrible? I'm sure most mothers pick that up sooner than I did, but it's a great feeling. Joel's Aunt Denise (who comments here sometimes) sent me a wonderful message when I quit my job back in October about how God showed her that her kids should be her first priority, and never simply an "interruption." And I think I'm beginning to feel that way, too. Which isn't to say that I don't certainly need my Meggo time. I think maybe I'm just finding out how to embrace motherhood.

Speaking of embracing, Ed just turned on his fish-music in his crib which means naptime is over and cuddle-time must begin. Now I get to find a warm spot in the sun to hang with Ed until the Princess of the World wakes up.

Thanks to Julie, Carol, Trish, Kevin, and Dave and Dana for hosting your respective parties over the weekend! We had such a great time. Thanks to Peg and John for driving all the way up from MKE to visit as well! Warm, warm, warm hugs to everyone.

Bored?

If you want a good laugh, go over to the right of this page and click on the link(s) to Jan and Feb 2006. It's mostly me being pregnant forever but I've had SUCH fun rereading everything, now that I have a year's perspective on it all. Of course, maybe it's only fun for me, because it was me... well anyway, read the comments too; there's some good comedy in there. :)

Ed gets a haircut

Here's the new 'do!

Nothing else is new. The windchill is eight below today. I WANT OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

I am, however, a genius for stocking up on fresh foods last weekend. Fresh basil, tomatoes, avocados, and assorted other whole foods have been fortifying my sanity for the last couple days. Well, as much as possible I guess.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me three times, thy name must be Cub Foods.

So I've HAD IT with Cub Foods. They have their stinkin' coupon books with all their "buy-one-get-ones" and you have to rip the coupons out and hand them to the clerk and then you have to bag all of your own groceries even when you have both of your very small and very wiggly and very vocal children with you in the store, so you can't really take the time to watch the clerk's every movement to make sure they actually ring up all the coupons you just handed them, and then you get home and just happen to be glancing at your receipt when you notice that the $10 worth of roast beef that you bought that should only have been $5 was still showing as $10 so you have to go all the way back to the store and have them adjust it and give you back your $5.09 in cash and you're telling me they don't have the technology just to put it back on my card?! because giving it back to me in cash is like not giving it back to me at all and it happens once and I feel stupid and embarrassed and it happens again and I start to get angry and it happens a third time and even though your 18-year-old manager was super nice and actually gave me back the entire $10.38 I spend on roast beef that day, and even though Cub is super close to my house and also I know the layout like the back of my hand so I can actually find a jar of roasted red peppers or wheat germ when I need it, I will be taking my grocery business elsewhere for the next month or so, because I Just. Can't. Take. It.

So, Byerly's, here I come. Or Rainbow, I guess -- it's probably only 5 minutes farther away.

As Joel said last night, if I'm going to get ripped off anyway, I'd like to know about it when it happens (i.e. at Byerly's), rather than finding out after I'm already home.


In More-Positive News!
Ed got his first haircut yesterday! I did it myself, with distraction-help from Joel and Lucy. Ed is so adorable I can hardly stand it. I guess I could post a photo... um...

Far be it from me

I hate to squash my daughter's individuality by gently suggesting she wear something other than dresses. I mean, I like dresses too and all. They're pretty. And what the heck, they were all either hand-me-downs, save one which was $6, so it's not like we're saving them or whatever. And they make her SO happy.

Here is the problem: LOGISTICS.

A. It's January. Minnesota. I can put tights on her, but they are a very thin and ineffectual windbreaker against single-digit windchills. I can put pants under the dress, but then she gets bunchy and tuggy and that causes trouble.

B. She's going potty on the potty. Only occasionally, true, but with enough regularity to make it really difficult to bunch up the dress, pull off the tights/pants, tuck the dress up into itself, and hold the entire package steady atop the toilet for upwards of 5 minutes... with one hand, since the other is invariably either holding a whiny Ed or stiff-arming him to keep him from splashing in the toilet water.

C. I know, I know, I should have a C. I don't.

Have a great weekend!

Do yourself a favor!

Go see my sister Jean's blog and scroll down to her photos of Peru. The photos are breathtaking.

Oh! And we figured out Jean looks more like me when she doesn't wear makeup. Which is why, for a sec, it might look like I'm in Peru. I am not. :(

Photos! At long last! (Sorry if the captions don't line up correctly; also, don't forget you can click on each picture to make it bigger.)

Adorable Ed in his cowboy jammies (just like Joel's!)
The kids with friends-from-Winona's kids. See Carol and Becky's respective blogs for versions of this photo with at least one child actually looking at the camera.


Ed eating jubbalos. You can see his hilarious front teeth.
Waking up happy from nap (for once!)
Lucy dolled up for Elmo. In one of her dozen "pretty dresses" that she insists on wearing. Every. Single. Day. I have a hard time coming up with reasons why she can't wear them. Every. Single. Day.


Ed and my dad sharing a moment at the window.

Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance

Where to start?

We took the kids to see Sesame Street Live last night. Our friends, the Curtis family (whom we met in birthing class pre-Lu) got a bunch of free tickets at the last minute, so we, the Curtises, and Liers all met at the Target Center for some Elmo madness. The show was pretty cool. Lucy was an angel (she danced and sang and looked totally wowed by the spectacle, plus the "number of the day" was 8, her favorite number) and Ed was a little wiggly but spent long moments staring at the stage and he yelled along a little bit too. Joel and I got a big kick out of the old-school Sesame Street songs; we did NOT get a kick out of the $8 mylar Elmo balloons they shamelessly peddled during the completely unnecessary intermission. But the evening was very fun and very unexpected, and a nice treat for us all.

You know what's a better treat? The kids proceeding to take FOUR-HOUR NAPS today. Heck, yeah!!

Speaking of sleeping! Ed has slept through the night (from 8ish PM to about 7:30 AM) more often than not the last week! Sweet action. This has obliterated our middle-of-the-night nursing session (I decided to hold off on the weaning for now), so we're just taking it one day at a time. I, inexplicably, seem to wake up much more rested when I actually get to sleep all night. It's amazing.

Lucy is... man. She's Lucy. I really don't do her justice here; you just have to spend some time with her. I'm sure I've said this before, but it's hard to remember she's only two, because she talks so much and has so many things figured out! Okay, okay, actual conversation when my dad was in town on Monday (tip: "Boofer" is my nickname for Joel):

Grampa: Lucy, what's Mommy's name?

Lucy: Meggo.

Grampa: And what's Daddy's name?

Lucy (so pleased with herself): Boofer!!

Okay, what else? Eddie bit Lucy the yesterday. HARD. His teeth, they are few but they are sharp. Usually they get along really well. I asked Lu how old Ed is, and she told me "Thirty." Where does she even get this stuff?

Oh! And we're working on pronouns: people are not "this" and "it"; "her" isn't generic for "he/she/him". And the concept of a double standard: we can tell her to do things but she can't tell us to do things. It's very challenging simply to stay ahead of her.

With upper lip we do a "pico"

They're back!

Jean and Ellen made it home safely from Peru. I hope Jean will blog about the trip; it sounds like it was totally amazing. They went whitewater rafting, biking, and hiking (apparently all three of those words are euphemisms for what actually occurred) and managed to get Ellen a new passport and all that rot.

And they brought back souvenirs! Including a "quena" flute for Lucy. It looks a little like a recorder, but it's not super-intuitive to play, so it comes with an instruction booklet. The booklet is entitled "Quena: method for to learn to play" so you know you're in trouble from the start. Some excerpts follow. I have actually corrected spelling of words I could decipher.

The quena method and size
As belong the family flutes, the quena is a instrument mouth piece with 6 holes before and 1 back.

(Ed. note: so far, so good, right?)

The permit intervening to blow of uslert air and opening and closed different musical notes necessary for any song. The measure the quena it's 37 cm. length for 2 cm. diameter.

TIPPED
We support the quena for medium part with finger index and thumb with chim closed hermetical entrance to quena.
With upper lip we do a "pico" that we throw a flow air weak to entrance of tipped as a "tunnel" try play sound.

FINGERING
Use hands following way:
The index middle and thumbs finger the both hands it cover upper holer and right hand the inferior, the back hole it cover thumb of the left hand. They also work the little finger of the two hands but the thumb finger of left hand.
Also worked the small finger both hands more thumb finger the right hands as supports and back part. ...
That sames the fingers not must, pressure the holes with finger tips more good a few more back at the sames.

Mannery to Utilize Method
There is in musicsing it change the intose a the sounds it rising, descend or changing at his natural state, this figures it put at left part the note and it read so.

.
.
.
.
.

Great! So at least the thing comes with instructions. At first I got the biggest kick out of the last "Mannery..." part, but now I think "FINGERING" is growing on me. We gave the whole shebang to Lucy to see if she could figure it out. She licked the whole thing and then started hitting Ed with it. It's probably a good thing that we can't figure out how to make it make noise yet.

Boring kid updates

Ed says "uh-oh" when he drops his cup on the floor. I guess we're counting that as his first word. He repeats what we say, too, as long as it's "mama" or "dada" or "eddie" (which is more like "ah-dee," so maybe he's just speaking Steve Lindsayese and we don't know it. OK, like four of you will get that joke). I don't recall Lucy repeating things at this age. Wait, I phrased that incorrectly: Lucy did not repeat sounds, back before she knew words. Does that make sense? Now, as you know, she's a stinkin' parrot.

Lucy ends every sentence with "...okay?". Ex: "Lucy, it's time to brush your teeth." "No, okay?" I know exactly where this comes from, as JG and I end everything we say with "okay?" -- I think we do it to make sure Lu heard/understood us. Well, she's picked it up.

P.S. Today got a lot better when both kids took 3+hour naps. Sweeeeet.

If Ed thinks he is getting up from his nap yet, he is sorely mistaken.

Sometimes I think blogging is a huge waste of time, and sometimes I find it strangely cathartic. Just writing things down, I think, helps.

Eddie is toodling. I think I forgot to mention that. Toodling is what we call it when he walks along holding onto both my hands. It's not so good on my back; I need longer arms (or shorter legs!).

The other night, it must have been Monday because that's the last time I was out of the house, Joel put the kids down in the living room to play while he tackled the dishes. After a while he heard a small crash, followed by Ed whimpering a little. Joel peeked around the corner to see Ed toppled headfirst into the Rubbermaid toy container, with his feet kicking out the top. Lucy quickly got up, saying "Eddie are you okay? I coming, Eddie! I help you! Come here, Eddie!" Apparently she actually helped Ed get out of the toy bin. Of course, as my dad pointed out, she was probably the one who pushed him in there to start with.

Also! Joel wrote me an email yesterday:

To: Meg
From: Joel
Re: Oh Man...

So I get back from playing basketball and the meeting that was going on in the conference room is over. (So, background information: there was a meeting going on in the conference room all morning.) I notice one lonely sandwich in a plastic box just sitting there on the conference table. I walk by slowly eyeing that lonely sammy. Stop... look around... walk backwards past it again to see what other goodies are there. Oh, pop and cookies as well. Hmm.. One step towards the door. Corner of my eye, I see someone turn the corner so I kind of act as though I was reading the invisible flyer on the wall. Luckily, I escape notice. So I just walk back to my desk. Maybe if I walk by in a couple of minutes it will still be there...

Okay I get the guts to walk by... Hmm, it's stilll there. IT'S FATE!!.. Oh no, more people. I walk back and ask Brent. Hey man, is that meeting over? YES!! All right. What do you think about me snagging that sandwich? YES YES. I RUN.. I mean casually walk to the room to claim my rightfully due sandwich. (Note: a couple of people I noticed have walked in and walkedout with things but I cannot tell what they are)

It's still there... Raise the roof. Sweet bos-e-fus!!

So to make a long story short. I ate the sandwich. It was good. I am full and happy.

Love,
Joel

Losing it!

Both kids have colds or something -- they were both coughing much of the night last night again. I have a couple cute stories to post, if I ever have a moment... not happening this morning I tell you what. With the weather (and the kids being under it) we are totally stuck in the house. I don't think they like it either. They're both whiny and clingy and I'm super short-tempered. And Lucy's down to exactly three diapers, so I'm just going to have to go to Target tonight when JG gets home.
We're watching the Laurie Berkner DVD for like the 20th time in 2 days.
Oh man, Ed's whining again. Got to go.
Please email me or call me or something, I'm going nuts...

I wish I was kidding...

I seriously JUST got an email 5 minutes ago saying the show this Sat is cancelled. I am really really sorry about wasting everyone's time and energy. I'm surprised they just found out this morning that they didn't have enough acts for more than 30 minutes... whatever...

typing w/1 hand...

holding ed. he was coughing most of last night. sad sick panda.

--- UPDATE! SHOW CANCELED! JUST LEAVING THE POST FOR POSTERITY! ---
ok so i'm in this variety show this saturday at 7:30 PM at maplewood community center, which is on white bear avenue a few miles north of our house. no, I cannot look up the address for you. tickets are $10; buy at the door.

I'm nervous about this show. We have not had nearly enough rehearsal time. I'm in three dances. A tap, a jazz, and a cha-cha. Joel is in one of them (the cha-cha). Also I may have to sing a song. Alone. Because I'm not sure how many other numbers there are besides my three dances and they might need filler. So... wish us both some serious good luck. Or come to the show and we can all have a good laugh about it later. Like, much, much later. Like, maybe in 20 years or so.

Ok I am totally ignoring my kids so I'd better go.

One bad, one good!

Were you watching the BCS Bowl on TV Monday night? Did you catch the halftime show? Please, please say you were. Because my description is soooo not going to do it justice.

So I think it was the Ohio State marching band who was playing. Joel and I are talking so I wasn't looking at the TV, but the tune sounded familiar... ah! "My Heart Will Go On," of course, the Celine Dion megahit from "Titanic."

And...

Oh, dear.

No.

No, they aren't.

The marching band forms the SHAPE OF THE TITANIC. Spanning probably 70 yards of the football field. Complete with smokin' smokestacks -- I'm not sure if they had dry ice in their tubas, or what. And...

Oh, my.

The other half of the band forms THE OCEAN, waving beneath the, erm, marching ship. And then...

Shut up.

SHUT UP.

I cannot believe I am watching this... NO WAY. The "ocean" holds up a big shiny blue swath of fabric, and the rest of the band (the part that looks like a ship) starts marching forward (downstage, as it were) as though it is SINKING BENEATH THE WAVES.

They march and march until only the smoky smokestacks are still showing, and then they, too, vanish under the blue fabric.
.
.
.

Now, I'm not real sensitive. I'm not easily offended. I'm relatively open-minded and appreciative of art, and music, and artistic interpretation, and all that jazz. I always vote Democratic, except when I vote Independent.

But... seriously?? Well, for one, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. But it was much less of a "wow, that's comedy!" laugh and much more of an appalled and flabbergasted laugh of shock. I mean, something like 1,100 people died on and around that ship. I know it was like 93 years ago, but has that tragedy really been reduced to a bizarre and ill-advised marching-band gimmick? Maybe the performance was of high musical quality, I have no idea, but as a casual watcher I was actually a little horrified. Maybe I missed the emotional and serious prelude to the performance, in which case I apologize to... well, probably Ohio State, unless the Florida State band magically changed their costumes while Joel and I were talking.

As a side note, I have a real soft spot for Ohio State ever since meeting their dance team in college -- they were a very cool group of people.


The good!
I'm not one (I should stop starting sentences that way, it's lame and contradictory) to throw out wild recommendations for childrens' products all willy-nilly and whatnot, but I just love the book When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really, Angry by Molly Bang. It is a very simple but amazing book about a little girl who gets, well, angry, and runs until she is tired and then sits and enjoys nature and then goes home to her waiting family. The artwork wasn't my fave right away but it's growing on me, and the message (Everyone gets angry; how do you handle anger?) has really touched Lucy. For one, she loves saying the title (complete with author name; super cute). For two, Sophie looks more than a little bit like my Lu. For three, the solution presented happens to be exactly what I like to do when I get really, really angry. And for four, it's sparked some actual discussions with Lu about "getting angry" and "getting sad" and what it means and what we do when we feel that way. Lu has the book memorized and I just love reading it along with her. It's been a very cool and unexpected experience and I thank whoever got us the book (because I can't remember now, I am so sorry).

Jan 6 Notes

Hi. It's Saturday night and I thought I was really tired, but I'm writing. Ay-yi-yi!

My dad was here all week for a wonderful visit with us and the kids. He ate all my Christmas cookies (even the "booster batches" I'd made on Christmas Eve) so I had to make a final booster-batch of oatmeal cookies on Thursday... which he also devoured. So just in case there's ever any doubt as to where I got my sweet tooth, I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out. Though Mom likes cookies too, so even if "sweet tooth" were recessive, I suppose I was doomed. :)
The upshot is, I'm out of cookies again, and I think Nicole W's molasses cookies are next in the rotation. If I get any time in the next few days.

Which is unlikely since I'm trying to rehearse three dances for the show on the 20th. Yes, I realize that's less than 2 weeks away. I'm stressing a little.

The kids are great -- I'm kind of starting to wean Ed, mostly because he wiggles and whines and refuses to nurse much... also because we think maybe he continues to wake up repeatedly in the middle of the night because he's not getting enough food. I'm actually extremely dubious about that hypothesis; if you take one look at Ed's cheeks and thighs, you'd probably agree that "hunger" is not one of his problems. I don't know, I'm really ambivalent about the whole thing. I don't have much of a nursing support group; I don't regularly hang with any other nursing mothers, so even though I know who you are it's not like I actually get to sit down next to you and nurse our babies together; it's a challenge, you know? P.S. Ed is 10 months old on Sunday! How did THAT happen?

No major updates from Lu; she remains riotously hilarious and wonderful. We're working on her comic timing; it's coming along nicely.

I got my hair highlighted and it's really... stripey. I thought I liked it until I got a really good look under bright lights this evening and while it does mask the increasingly large gray patches, it's a little bolder than I probably wanted. I'm told it will fade. I'm not holding my breath.

I'm toggling between the Blogger window and an article on espn.com about Justin Morneau. I really wish baseball season was coming sooner than it is.

Well, have a good week!

Mystery gift update!

I keep forgetting I have to UPDATE when I post an unfinished story, or I get harassed. So right after posting the otther day, the kids woke up so I screwed my courage to the sticking place and packed a small tupperware of cookies and walked across the street. Upon arrival on the front step, I noticed the "mystery gift" was nothing but a stinkin' bag of Ice Melt. RATS!

At that point, I'd already rung the doorbell and they were apparently waiting for me because the gal answered right away so we talked a little; her daughter is cute; BLAH BLAH BLAH.

It's a really pretty bag of Ice Melt, honestly.

Oh, man, I just realized I think I actually own binoculars!! I'm an IDIOT!

On mules we find two legs behind and two we find before...

Joel was kind enough to point out to me that I missed some golden opportunities in some of my recent blogging: using, respectively, "All I Want For Christmas Is My 2 Front Teeth" and "Express Yourself" for Ed's recent ventures in teething and breastfeeding. Daaaaang*.

*"Daaaaang" comes from the day Jean and Ellen and Joel and I were trying to go see "The Pirate Queen" downtown Chicago, except we made it to Lakeview (Lake View?) and realized the tickets were still in Rolling Meadows, and I was madly trying to call TicketMaster to see if they had some record of the purchase that would allow us to simply show up at the box office with ID and they could reprint them or whatever, and I got a perfectly nice young TM rep on the phone who was completely unable to help me, not for lack of trying on her part but because, as it turns out, Ellen had purchased the tickets not through TicketMaster at all but right from the box office in a very smart effort to save, like, $340 in fees, and the girl kept entering in Ellen's info into the TM system and getting zero results, and every time (which was about nine times) she would say "Daaaaaang" and it was only funny because we eventually managed to make it back to Rolling Meadows and back to Lakeview and to the crepe restaurant and to the theatre in more than plenty of time.

Omigosh, where was I? Right. HAPPY NEW YEAR! We had an awesome weekend of family fun. We took down the tree and our other assorted (and meager) Christmas decos, we went to Como Zoo, we went to the Mall of America and Ikea (the kids were troopers!) and managed to purchase some wall art and lighting for our living room, we each got brief but much-appreciated naps every day, and we had some family snow-fun in the yard this morning. We got only maybe 3-5 inches of snow on New Years Eve but it was sunny and beautiful this morning, so we bundled up the kids in their ridiculous overstuffed outfits (Eddie in three shades of pink, since we never got around to buying him snow-gear this year) under the pretenses of shoveling. The shoveling did get done, but we spent lots more time making four sizes of snow angels and dragging the kids 'round the yard in the sled. I'm fairly certain it was way more fun for me and JG than for Ed (who was rendered completely motionless by his aforementioned girl-snowsuit) and Lucy (who hates mittens and spent most of her sled-rides scowling and asking for snack).

Thanks to the Crandalls for hosting a family-friendly NYE party -- unfortunately, we arrived late and left early (can't take those kids of ours anywhere!) and rang in 2007 on our own couch, watching the tape-delayed NYC broadcast, which was exceedingly silly. Is that band's name really "Panic! At The Disco"? Is that really what kids are listening to these days? Is it... um... punk?

Big congratulations go out to my pregnant friends Peg and John (due May), Mandy and Shawn (due June), and Julie and Stu (due July, with twins!). I'm so excited and filled with joy and anticipation for all of you.

Two weird-but-true little stories for your reading pleasure

Gift mystery

So the day before we left for Lutsen, our former realtor called, all jolly-elf-like, which didn't fool us because that's exactly how he is... as long as he doesn't have your house listed and it isn't selling... anyway, and he mentioned that he was going to drop off a little gift for us at our house. We returned from Lutsen and found no such gift; however, our Friday newspaper was also missing so we thought maybe both items had just been pilfered from our front steps. Or, we thought, the realtor had simply thought better of driving across town to drop off a present for us. Either way, no great shake.

Except that since then, there has been what appears to be a gift sitting on the top step of the house across the street (formerly known as the Watson abode). It's been sitting there for over a week. People come and go from the house, and the giftlike object remains. I am sooooo tempted to wander over there and take a peek-see. I'm not sure how it got over there, if it is indeed our gift. And I'm not sure why the neighbors have simply left the mystery item on their porch... but we haven't met them so I can't really speak regarding their motivations.

So, should I wait until dark and go peek? Should I go over there under the pretenses of introducing myself? What do you think?


The Marmet Technique

For all my breastfeeding-Naziness, I've never learned to hand-express milk. It's a little too "earthy" for me, especially when Medela makes a perfectly good machine to do the job when necessary. However! My son apparently has Marmet down pat. He finds great joy in unlatching himself and then squeeeeezing... as long as the spray goes delightfully over his head and not right into his eye.

I'm such a housewife!

Okay, I have never done this before, but I was trying to make cornbread, and the cornmeal I had wasn't self-rising, but the recipe I was going to try required it, so you know how they have the company's 800 # on the side of the box, and it says "For questions, comments, or recipes, call..." and I always go "Yeah right! Like I'm just going to CALL and be like 'Hey, I just wanted to comment on your cornmeal!'" ... well anyway I went out on a limb and I DID.

I talked with Regina at Quaker (the phone actually answered "Aunt Jemima" but my cornmeal is like 5 years old so I'm sure there's been some phone-number shifting since then) and she was delightful and helpful and a real person and she gave me exactly what I needed, with no rigamarole or sales-pitchiness and I am SO happy I called because now my cornbread is going to be fabulous and if you get here by 6pm tonight there may be some left!

Also! Jean and the kids and I went to the indoor playground at Woodbury's Central Park this morning. It's a little wild, and somewhat dark, and it will be funner when the kids are older, but we still had a pretty good time and I think we will go there with some frequency this winter. So that's good!

Also! Remember from my Christmas letter how I am having SUCH issues with Craig's List? Well today it has been totally redeemed -- I got rid of a large amount of old computer equipment and it was unbelievably easy and painless. Thank goodness.

Okay gotta get poppin' on the cornbread. Happy Friday!

Silly Kid Tricks

Actual conversation at the dinner table tonight:

Lucy: "Daddy Daddy Daddy!"

Daddy: "I'm sorry, Daddy is talking to Mommy right now."

Lucy: "Meantime, I eat my jubbalos!"

Awesome!

And in The Second Child is Different, Part XIV:
Shortly after learning to put anything in her mouth, Lucy learned that in order to get food in, her nuk would have to come out. She'd see food coming at her face, and dutifully spit out the nuk to make way for the good stuff.

Ed? Not so much. Yesterday I gave him a graham cracker; three minutes later, I checked back, only to find him repeatedly banging said graham cracker on his forehead. Nuk still in mouth. Facial expression just a little... concerned.



A Good Day
Today was just that -- maybe the best one so far, meaning that I didn't groan in agony when I heard the kids stirring from their naps... and meaning that I wasn't counting the moments until Joel walked in the door. The Watsons Three came over for a morning playdate, and we had such a lovely time. There was actually plenty of lunch, prepared in a timely fashion (this is huge, for those of you who don't have toddlers), and as an added bonus, nobody suffered a bleeding head wound. Hurrah!


Heads Up: A Performance!
I am fairly certain I'm going to be performing in an "open mic/open stage" night at Maplewood Community Center on January 20. It's not exactly "open" because we're all planning our acts ahead of time; perhaps "cabaret" or "vaudeville" would be a better description. Anyhoo, you should plan to come! I'm going to be in a few numbers, at least one of which I'll be choreographing. Watch this space or email me for more info.


Apologies Abound
So, in my concerted efforts to be personal and inclusive and not just sign cards "The Gronaus" without even mentioning the persons to whom the card is intended, though, like, if you do this on your cards, it's fine, I know, I'm a Christmas-card Nazi and I'm harder on myself than I am on others...
What was my point? Oh, I accidentally left out some important people. I'm sure they don't even read this, but if you talk to them, maybe you could let them know that I acknowledge and regret my mistakes? Thanks.
Hey Tom and Mary Fuller, I'm really sorry I omitted Patrick from the Christmas card.
Hey Doug and Julie Dahlheimer, my sincerest apologies for omitting Tim from the Christmas card.
There are various other misspellings that I am not going to apologize for, because in some cases I already did and besides there are still some family members who shall remain nameless who keep adding an "e" to "Gronau" even though there is no "e" in Gronau because it is not French, it is German, and "Gronau" means "green meadow," and if it was "Groneau" then it would mean something like "green water" and that is a little disgusting. :) :) :)
I also wanted to thank everyone for the glorious outpouring of cards this year! We have heard from so many people and our mailbox has been teeming with non-junk-mail. It is so very fun.

Happy morning!

Early-morning grandparent update: tooth #4 is in. Poor little dude!

It's a very overcast, dark, gray day here. Trying to decide if we should attempt a trip to a local indoor playground... hmmm...

Can this bleeping year please be bleeping over?

Ed's third tooth made its appearance over the weekend. It is a really large one, top left. His left. He's kind of a grumbly, drooly mess because #4 is right on the brink as well. Can you imagine getting your first four teeth, all within two weeks? It's a good thing he'll never remember this.

Jean, Ellen, Joel and I returned from Lutsen, mostly in one piece. On the 4th run of the first day (Saturday), Jean fell (mostly because Joel fell and she wanted to check on him) on her back onto a very sharp piece of icy snow, and knocked the wind out of herself and cracked a rib. She had trouble breathing and the ski patrol took her in on a snowmobile and then we took her to the ER in Grand Marais. The doctor was hottish (a little scrawny if you ask me, though nobody was asking me) and possibly single, which made the trip far more intriguing... and we only really lost maybe 2 hours of skiing. Jean was having a heck of a time, since laughing hurt the most and when the four of us are together that's just about all we do. She developed a super-scientific method of snapping her fingers whenever she was afraid that our acute hilariousness was in danger of forcing a laugh out of her... it generally worked, until our own guffaws drowned out her pathetic little finger-snaps.

Eddie's crying so as usual this is cut short. Anyway, Jean will be fine, we got some great skiing in, and I think that's it! Oh and I left my entire toiletries bag up there so I have no makeup and no glasses until Joel can choreograph some kind of exchange for the room key I also accidentally stole.

Victor Vito / and Freddie Dasco / ate a burrito / with lotsa Tabasco...

We have new songs in the house. Thank you, Laurie Berkner Band!

Lucy's new favorite food is vegetables. She calls them "jubbalos." She likes to tell Daddy she has "jubbalos in my pocket."

Which is sometimes confusing, because after her bath I usually put into her superfine, prone-to-scramblies hair, some leave-in conditioner, which Daddy and I call "product." As in, you know, hair product. She loves that, but calls it "pocket" too. The other day she was VERY upset because she wanted "pocket" and I was totally baffled.

P.S. I know some of you have gotten your Christmas cards. The rest of you will. SOON. I promise. The list was done in no particular order, so just because your last name is high in the alphabet doesn't mean I did you first.

If you never do get one and you're insulted, just let me know. And then I'll really insult you. No, just kidding.

Comments to the comments!

Okay, so I was so tickled to awaken this morning to FOUR comments from yesterday's post that I am energized to post again!

Went to a jazz dance class last night at Alesso's studio on Grand Ave. Best $12 I ever spent -- the class was challenging but not over my head, the instructor was a sweetie but not afraid to give some really great pointers, I got a great workout, and I got to dance. Hooray!

Oh, so back to the teeth: Ed has now slept until 5 or 5:30 AM three nights in a row. This is big, happy news, people. Awesome. I am a new woman.

And no WAY is the world short on hygienists; I swear, every college-age girl I talk to is going into dental hygienistry. Or wait, maybe it's dental-assisting, is that different? And maybe none of them are graduating. I can imagine, it's super hard. I observe (and experience!) the work they do on my teeth, and I have relatively-decent, occasionally-flossed teeth.

And actually, I'm going to choose "hilarious." Well, this week anyway!

Toasted bread is good

Not to be outdone, Lucy chose this week to start sprouting her "two-year molars" -- the last four teeth to complete her baby set. Fabulous!

Ed also grew his second tooth yesterday. The other bottom one.

In further dental news, I had an appointment this morning and no cavities! Except the hygienist was sick again somy dentist had to do the cleaning. I don't know if he was crabby about having to slum it, or if he's just extra-thorough, or if he's just not used to cleaning teeth, but it was not the most pleasant experience of my life. Although, I was out of the house sans children, so that was a bonus.

So here is what I need: some, like, "housewife shoes" is what I want to call them: something with support for my arches that I can slip on and off. I am walking around my house (which is mostly hard flooring) all day and I don't think it's good for my feet. I don't want a real bulky gym-shoe. Anybody have any thoughts? Oh, wait, like my Crocs maybe! Worth a try.

Ed, I am SO sorry

I also forgot to mention that, at long last, Ed has grown a tooth. It was two days ago. I am a horrible mother.

Oh, bottom right (that's his right, or your left if you're facing him and sticking your finger in his mouth).

Friday afternoon

Hi there.

Please send some *power* to my friend Nikki and her family; her grandfather passed away earlier this week. Also to my cousin Kate, who had surgery and is going through some health issues.

Ed had his 9-month checkup today. He is the exact same height he was 3 months ago. He has gained a normal amount of weight (he's almost 22 lbs) but his head did not grow very much either. The doc says Ed looks okay (like, he doesn't look like a too-short pinhead), and he thinks as long as the trend doesn't continue, it's nothing to worry about. My theory is that Ed's been so busy learning to sit/crawl/stand/cruise/jabber, that he forgot to grow. Either that, or all the jumping has compacted his spine. Just kidding.

Joel's Christmas Wish List

Joel emailed his Xmas list to my family this year. And I present it, here, for your edification:

To: The Ryans
From: Joel
Re: My list

When I was young I couldn't wait for the JCPenny Catalog to come out. I would pore over everything in the catalog and make lists upon lists. There was the wish list. Which, of course, were items that were too expensive and/or I knew my parents would say were just ridiculous, i.e. an actual 4-wheel-drive jungle buggy. It was great; it had nubby tires, rollbar, etc. Which is probably why my mom didn't like it, ghast my son would actually roll onto his head with this thing (Donna maybe didn't understand the concept of the "rollbar." Just kidding).

The A list. This was a list where I couldn't help but get excited that I would get everything, but knowing full well I would (maybe) get 1 item. Usually a GI Joe Guy or a flotilla of GI Joe Vehicles. Maybe that's why I don't know if my name is Joe or Joel. Meg can verify. Also my recollection of serving in any number of uniformed commissions around the world. I'll call it childhood flashbacks. Or I'm just crazy.

The B list. Items I needed, truly appreciated, and wanted. I knew a majority of gifts would come from this list so I tried mixing it up. Socks, underwear, shirts, a Scooby Doo lunch box, switchblade comb, BB gun, Star Wars posters, and a bubble gum dispenser. Is it irony or a potato chip that I actually got a BB gun with which I shot my sister Jamie in the butt and shot up the walls in the basement, cleverly removing pictures from the walls and then shooting where the pictures had been, before returning the pictures to their original location. Only to get busted when we moved out of the house and removed the pictures. I probably would have been better off getting the 4-wheel-drive jungle buggy with the nubby tires and the roll bar. Huh Ma?!?

So with that being said, here is my list:
- Dress Shirt size XL 17-17 1/2 neck 34-35 length sleeves. Hey Jean I wrote Sleeve... Ew...
- Underwear. You may think Ellen's birthday present addition was a joke but it's reality. (Clarifying note: Joel wrapped my sister Ellen's birthday present in a (washed) pair of extremely well-worn hunter-green boxer-briefs. You wish I was kidding.)
- Dress Socks. I'm good on sport socks this year. Black, Beige, designs are welcome as well.
- Electricity tester. I lost mine for some reason. It just lights up if there's electric current to the wire. They're pretty cheap.
- Sport shorts. Knee length, solid manly colors yet slimming and smooth.
- Sliding shorts. Mine have a huge hole in the crotch. I really do give my unmentionables a workout I tells ya. Or Maybe it's...Unmentionable??

Hey was I supposed to comment after every item?? I'll stop.

- Caribou Coffee GC
- Long sleeve white or gray undershirts. For softball, or outside insidewear. Fine if it's a little tight I gotta show the guns off.
Sorry about the comments, I forgot.
- Bologna.. er no. Cologne, I'm out.
And a partridge in a pear tree....Love ya all.
Fat Daddy JG

Leading by example

So I'm checking my friends' blogs, and... nary an update for wayyy too long. And then I realized, I have been even worse about writing recently. Well it's HARD! My new job doesn't come with regular breaks!

Okay, so also I'm trying to write my stupid Christmas letter. "But Meg!" you say, "You don't have to write a Christmas letter! I don't write a Christmas letter, and I manage to sleep at night! I'm a good person!"

To which I would respond: Think again, buckaroo.

I do like providing the complete package in my Christmas card (which, by the way, is probably why I didn't send any out last year): 1. photo of the whole family, 2. letter, and 3. something short and handwritten. I have a rating system for Christmas cards, not unlike my rating system for weddings. It's a system. It's very scientific, and I would be delighted to regale you with it at some point in the future. If you buy the coffee.

Speaking of coffee! I have a story. I'm going to fudge the chronology of it because it will be funnier this way (I think), also because it all happened in the middle of the night so, you know, minutes feel like hours and all that rot. But I assure you, there will be no exaggerations, nor stretchings of the truth. These are the facts.

Thursday night: I played volleyball with a team I am sometimes on, but usually not, in Apple Valley. Afterward I helped Jean with her arts-and-crafts project for work and returned home around 11:30 PM. Joel was, to my dismay, up with Eddie, who'd been crying intermittently. I took out my eyeballs, nursed Ed, and retired to my bed around midnight.

12:45 : Lucy is crying. Joel goes down and apparently she is inconsolable, because he brings her back up to bed with us. She has never slept in bed with us, and this night is no exception -- except that on previous occasions of never sleeping in our bed, at least she wasn't physically in the bed at the same time. So she's wide awake, wiggling, wrestling our pillows, wringing her bankie, flipping and flopping and causing great disturbance. I'm wide awake too, and at 2:30 she says something like "Mommy, my bed" and I take her downstairs and retuck her in, resing "mommy's song" and rekiss her little nose. I return to bed.

3:30 : I awaken and open my eyes to the sight of a little blond head staring right at me. "Lucy!" I say. "I go downstairs!" she replies, proudly (she has "up" and "down" confused). "I need water." She says. So down we go again.

Joel follows. He can't sleep, he claims, and rightly assumes that I won't let him watch "Cops" in our bedroom at 3:30 AM when I haven't had more than 30 minutes of sleep yet. Something about the constant siren background music to that show, I don't know, call me crazy, it's not conducive to sleep.

About 15 minutes later, I hear thumping and, um, maybe jumping? And a little crashing and for sure some stage-whispered obscenities. Well, one stage-whispered obscenity, repeated. Joel saw a mouse. I come running downstairs (again) and sort of watch as he sets six traps up in the living room. I go back upstairs and 20 minutes later the various mouse-viewing noises start up again. He caught one! He asks if I want to see it. I politely decline, but peek a little as he carries it by. It was bigger than I expected and had a longer tail. But it was still relatively small. If there is one thing I am grateful for, it is that my husband is not the type to pick up a dead mouse and then waggle it in my face, or fling it at my head, or put it under my pillow.

I'm having 17 people over for Christmas dinner next weekend. Any brilliant thoughts on how, exactly, we're all going to eat? Where are the people who lived in this house for 52 years --
I want to talk to them and see how they did it (even if all they did was avoid hosting Christmas for 52 years). Because, I'm telling you, it's not going to be pretty.

Do you prefer raining and 50 degrees, or 15 degress and sunshine? I can't decide.

Guess who fell down the stairs today? Not your likely first three guesses, I can tell you right now. Yup! Me. I slipped and bumpety-bumped on my back and bottom down about 3/4 of the stairs this morning. I tore a pea-sized chunk of skin off my hand, but I think I'm okay. In fact, if you like the feeling of having had a terrific workout but don't care for the sweat or for actually having to go through the exercising part, I highly recommend falling down the stairs. I ache like the dickens, mostly in the neck, back, and rear-end area. Especialy those butt-muscles, oooee, feel the burn!

After I hit the bottom, I just kind of sat on the bottom stairs, in shock at my own stupidity. Lucy (who had seen the whole thing) came right over to give me a big old hug. Love that gal. Last night we were all at JCP returning some of Joel's shirts (he forgot his size when he bought them originally) and Lucy's attention was enraptured by the escalator.

"What'zat, Mommy?"

"That's an escalator. Can you say 'escalator'?"

"Escalator."

"Wow, great, honey! Good job! Now can you say 'existentialism'?"

"Eggs." (huge grin)

The saleslady folding pants behind us got a big kick out of that.

Ed is moving and shaking like, well, like he just learned how to move and shake. He's now pulling up to standing and we even took about 10 steps "toodling" (see Lucy, July-August 2005) today. Yesterday I was chopping veggies for dinner and heard Lucy say, very calmly, from the hallway: "Mommy, come here." I rounded the corner to find Lucy laying, head on a wadded-up blanket, straight across the sixth stair (which was funny in its own right)... and Eddie on the second stair, with clear designs on getting up to where Lucy was. Yow! So his motor skills are progressing.

We had an awesome playdate with Joel's aunt Doris and two of her girls this morning. Honestly, all it takes is one good playdate to make me feel like a living human again. The kids were all terrific (by which I mean "absolutely crazy") but Doris and I had good chats (well, as good as can be expected while chasing after four little ones) and really good coffee and oh MAN I just realized I only fed her half a sandwich for lunch. I'm a dreadful hostess. I'm sure she's starving. I'm an idiot.

I'll try to post more often -- as you can tell, anything that involves brainpower is sooo not my forte right now.

...and so is ALL the meat!

My dear sister Jean is planning to train for the 2007 Twin Cities Marathon next fall. As preparation, motivation, and affirmation for her efforts, she has set up a blog to report on her quest. Click here to check the sucker out. Okay, okay, so I wrote the first post for her. And she hasn't actually started her training regiment yet, so I can't vouch for the frequency of her updates...yet!

P.S. Both 'Moulin Rouge' AND some special on the behind-the-scenes of 'American Idol' are on TV right now. How is a girl to decide?!?!

Hey, what?

That last post I wrote, that says "Monday"? Did it seriously not show up until today? Sometimes I do not think Blogger is my friend.

It's 3:23 and I am NOT going to be the one to wake up my children. You cannot make me. I am going to sit here on my comfy couch and think about making chicken chili, but am I going to start? No! I am goingto sit here and enjoy sitting here. And write a little. I do love to write a little.

I was checking my own blog from when Lucy was Eddie's age now (did I say that right? ...when Lucy... was the age that Eddie is now. Yes, that's what I meant) and it's hilarious! And educational! Admittedly, it was about the time I was getting pregnant with Ed, so there's all that hilarity thrown in. But it's amazing ot see what I thought about having one. Like, apparently tears were actually shed when Lucy started to crawl! I am not sure anyone even blinked when Ed started crawling. Sorry, second baby... know that you are no less loved and no less miraculous than your sister. There simply isn't time nor energy for dramatics, but you are just as wonderful as she.

She, by the way, is a laugh a minute. She's been commanding me to draw for her pictures of houses and cars for the last couple of days. I'm decent with a pen, and I finally figured out that "houses" could include tepees (houses for certain Native Americans!) and beehives (houses for bees!) in addition to standard colonials, ramblers, and split-levels. But cars? I ran out real quick. I can do a truck, and a Beetle, and a sedan that really looks more like a UFO on wheels, but that's about it. Cars are hard! All those windows, and wheels, and sculpted fiberglass. Oy.

Ed is amazingly mobile: low-army-crawling, still, but often breaking into a steadily-stronger real-crawl too. He's pulling himself up on everywhich thing, and is much more fascinated by electrical cords, floor lamps, and sharp corners than Lu ever was. "A boy!" you say, and you would be right. When he catches up to this little red football we have, he hoists it into the air with a triumphant look on his little face. The less-fun news: he is not sleeping well these days, waking up in a fit about twice a night.

I'm hosting book club tonight, so I should probably try to pick up some of the food remnants from lunch, and maybe try to get myself a little organized. Have a great weekend!

I don't want to talk about it.

Joel and Jean and the kids and I drove to Chicago on Friday. The normal 5.5-6 hour trip took TEN (10) hours. Blizzard. Wanted to rip my eyeballs out. Actually it could have been worse in so many ways -- the kids were relative angels; Jean helped out by entertaining Lucy and changing diapers as needed; we had food and plenty of gas and we were not in the ditch, unlike many others.

The reason for the trip was my cousin Dan's wedding to Holly. They are an adorable couple. (Dan is Bridget and Kate's brother.) The wedding was very fun; we danced lots (especially Joel, to my great delight!). Thanks to my parents' friends Mrs. Strass and Mrs. Weimhoff for babysitting!

We also had tickets to The Pirate Queen in Chicago. The show is... not great. The show itself, including the music and lyrics, needs some reworking before it goes to Broadway, and many of the acting/directing choices were questionable. But the dancing! I could watch Irish dancing all week and into the next and never get tired of it. The singing was incredible too. I just lovelovelove live theatre.

So, it's back to the grind. Lucy's going to be part of a U of M research study on temper tantrums. Ed had a rough weekend, not sleeping much at night and awakening very unhappy. Joel and I are trying to u..n..w..i..n..d... after the long weekend. 'Zat's it!

Cutting to the chase

Okay, so the entire last post was just a lead-in for what I was going to actually write. Obviously, my luxury of lead-ins has been revoked!

My family is going through an extremely difficult time with my mother's mother, Grandma Jake. She's living here in the Cities but will be moving in with my parents in IL after Thanksgiving. Please think kind thoughts for us as we go through this stressful and complicated transition -- especially for my mom and dad, who just got rid of their last roommate last spring (teasing, E$!) and who are taking on an unbelievably huge responsibility.

We just got home from dinner at Alley Joel & Cara's new loft condo downtown St. P -- it's awesome! They've done a great job cozying up the space, and it's such a neat place. They were brave enough to have us AND the Watsons (all kids included!) over for dinner. The food was fabulous, surpassed only by the company. The twins and Lu are a hilarious little picture, three little towheads toddling all over. We had such a nice time.

Signing off for now...

hi

Hello. It is 4:00. My children are sleeping, there is laundry in the dryer, and I have a warm laptop on my, well, lap. It's lovely.

But it's not always lovely! I have not posted because I have been keeping VERY busy chasing after the rugrats! Also because we haven't been up to too terribly much.

Ed is, well, not crawling actually -- "crafting" my folks call it. I call it a "low Army crawl." Kind of pulling himself along with ihs arms while his legs kick wildly and ineffectually behind him.

Alas! The phone rings, Ed cries. Bugger, bugger.

Wait, I've seen this movie. Only I'm prettier than Bill Murray.

It's going to be difficut for me to adjust to every. Day. Being. The same.

I am not sure what I had thought -- that I was going to get to go to work this weekend? Or, like, on a vacation somewhere? Because I was a little shocked to find that Saturday and Sunday were eerily similar to the rest of the week. Only, with a large blond man also taking up space in the house. And goofing up my feeding/nap schedule.


Oh! Okay, I have held this in long enough. Have you seen those new McDonald's billboards?

"Let us add the cream and sugar."

What?

I'm no marketing guru, but I don't get these ads at all. First of all, who's the the "us"? Is it McDonald's, as in, "No, no, let US do it!" or is it like a collective "us," as in "Let us all rejoice and together we will add cream and sugar!"

So I happened to be at McDonald's for breakfast shortly after these ads came out. (They're mostly billboards here in the Twin Cities, and they are omnipresent.) And I ordered a coffee, and because the ads seemed so blasted adamant, I said:

"... and a small coffee. With LOTS of cream, and a little bit of sugar" (because this is how I like my coffee, and I'm particular about it, it has to end up the right color or I cannot drink it)

and the girl kind of squinted at me and said "Do you want to just do it yourself?"

YES! Of course I do! I don't even trust the "baristas" at a place that specializes in coffee to add my cream and sugar; I'm sure as heck not going to entrust the creaming-and-sugaring of my coffee to a McDonald's employee.

So anyway, totally hate the ads. They just make me want coffee, which I'd honestly prefer not to get at McDonald's anyway.


And! We rented "American Dreamz" last night. It's a movie. With Hugh Grant and Dennis Quaid and a bunch of other people I really like. The movie is cheesy, to be sure, but JG and I LOVED it. Okay, now, I know that I also really like "American Idol" which the movie is sorta based on, but it was just a really cute movie and oh man the baby's screaming gotta go...

Whoa-oh, here she comes...

...She's a bon-bon eater!

Joel just called me that. Mostly because I am not completely exhausted at 10pm. ANYWAY! I made it through Day Three!

I promise these posts will become less child-centric in the very near future. In the meanwhile, though, I feel like a starving child who has been given a free pass to Old Country Buffet. I have been given this amazing gift of Unlimited Time with my young'uns and I am gorging myself.

Long stories short:

On two separate occasions, either Joel or I has injured ourself (that is NOT the right tense but I can't figure it out) when Lucy's been nearby. (I stubbed a toe -- I don't know what happened to JG.) Lucy immediately, upon recognizing our pain, ran over to each of us, knelt down, said "Come-here" and gave us the BIGGEST hugs. Her empathy (er, wait, sympathy?) is astounding.
Also! Guess how many dirty diapers I changed today? Only one. Ed's. Why? Because Lu went in the toilet TWICE today. Both her morning and her afternoon #2s were perfect bullseyes. I can't believe it! Awesome!

Okay, okay, two photos for you guys, I can't resist...

Step One! (We could have lots of fun)

OR

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It's generally not a good sign when you're quoting Charles Dickens and New Kids on the Block in the same breath.

So, today had its ups and downs.

Up: We all slept until 7:45.

Down: That includes Joel, who was consequently late for work. I must have forgotten to alert him to the fact I will no longer be setting my alarm to get up for work.

Up: We got all bundled up and actually made it out to the park!

Up: We had no freak-outs over food and I actually had healthful meals and snacks available in a timely fashion throughout the day!

Down: We had no nap. Okay, wait, Pie-Oh-My took about an hour-and-a-half morning nap. Pants? No nap.

Up: We (and when I say "we" I think you know who I mean) only had one, very small, timeout.

Down: It was due NOT to a screaming/whining fit but rather to a stubborn refusal to help me pick up her toys before dinnertime.

Down: Um, this is a Big Down. We are dogsitting for Hobo until Tuesday. Now, I frequently second-guess decisions I have made -- in fact, I typically second-guess ALL decisions I make. Drat! Should have made a double-batch of AP Bio cookies. Drat! Should have bought the real Philly-brand cream cheese. But the decision to end our status as dog-owners? Best Decision Ever. Of course, it brings up the point of the original decision to get a dog in the first place... never mind! Let me ride my high. Where was I? Oh, right, so we're dogsittting. Total flipping nightmare. He's going home tomorrow and it will not be soon enough, believe me you.

UP (saved for last because it's a Big Up!): Pants WENT in the TOILET. I went in to change her diaper mid-nap because she said she had done a #2. Took off the dirty diaper and she said she had to go. I asked if she wanted to use the toilet and she said "Okay." And she DID! I sat her up there, and she did a #2 and then I asked if she wanted to do a tinkle and she said "Okay" and she DID! She was all smiles and I was caught totally off-guard -- how/when does wiping happen? Who does the wiping? Should I still use wet wipes, or just TP? How much praise do I give? Because I'll tell you, I was pretty dang excited. It was hard for me not to go all wiggy. Anyway, I totally forgot to tell her to wash her hands so that's something to work on for next time.

Holdstillholdstillholdstill

...That was me trying to wipe a huge sneeze off Eddie's face about 7 minutes ago.

So here I am! At home! The weekend preceding was a bit of a challenge -- Saturday was actually all right (got in a walk with Jean and a visit with Great-gram) but Lucy woke up with a vomit on Sunday and spent most of the day moping between the couch and her bed. She never did have a fever, but she kept saying her "bee-bo hurts". Today, she seems fine. Oh, except her new thing is awakening in the middle of the night and screaming for one of us. Oy.

Ed is most likely teething. He's whiny and clingy and unhappy which, as you know, is not like him at all.

Ha! Lucy's eating cereal right now and she was staring at her bowl yelling "where's my spoon??"
The spoon was in her hand. Hilarious.

Signing off! Wish us luck!

Email! Heads up!

Hello there. Just in case you have been living under a rock, please note that tomorrow (Friday, 10/20) will be my last day being able to access any email account you may have for me which ends in:
libertysite.com
altafimarketing.com
harlandics.net

I will not be able to get any emails sent to those accounts after about 4pm CDT on the 20th. Any emails sent to those accounts will most likely be picked up by my manager.

From now on, please use my yahoo! email address. If you do not have my yahoo email, you can get it by looking at my profile on this blog.

Thanks so much for your understanding!

-Me

Snot in my brain

Hooeee, that was one long night.
Ed did not sleep last night. Well okay. He went down at 8 and slept until approximately 11. Then he was up until, maybe 1? It's all a blur. Anyway he was awake again at 4, I think. Alternating between crying and just talking. He just wasn't sleepy. It was very weird.
And of course Lucy was up wanting a drink of water at like 3.
And I am very tired.
And I have a cold, blast it all.

Why I'm staying home

That title is kind of a misnomer. This is actually Joel's story, of how his mornings go when taking the kids to daycare. I thought it was entertaining and totally accurate. This was today:

Usually they are gems in the morning. Eddie was whiney a little bit when you left but really he hung out in his office happy as a clam until I was ready. Then we got ready on the floor in the living room, then perfect timing Lucy turned the doorknob and we got ready and out the door.

As you know it's just one of those days when time is a-tickin' and nothing is going right, eddie's hand gets caught in his shirt sleeve and he twists and you can't get his shirt on and then you can't get his socks on and tick tock tick tock lucy is calling for daddy pounding on her door tick tock tick tock. Then you get eddie in his car seat and trying to get lucy ready.

She wants to play, eat cereal skwirm around while diapering... tick tock tick, and then getting them into the car tick tock tick tock. Lucy falls down in the kitchen. tick tock tick wants to zipper her own jacket tick tock tick tock. Eddie's happy in his car seat. Lucy wants to close the door, its cold outside eddie's giving funny windy faces.. Tick tock tick

1...3...8 count the steps .. 1 2 3 4 8 13 5 3 count the steps to the car... Tick tock tick tock. Lucy wants to get in the car first.. Wants to open the door.. Get eddie in the car. Tick tock tick tock.. Need I go on... It's funny. Nothing bad it's just strange how like I can feel my stress level, (10 is the highest) at a 13 before I even get to work. Very weird. Okay enough about that.

Sort of like a second honeymoon?

We dropped off the kids with Joel's p's on Saturday morning and had 30 FULL HOURS to spend with ourselves this weekend. It was awesome. On Saturday, we went to see Theatre Latte Da's Gypsy at the Loring Playhouse, we got dinner at Donovan's by the Lake, and we went to see The Departed.

Gypsy was great. Different, but really enjoyable. I wasn't familiar with the show but my friend Katie played June and it was fun to see her. We were extremely undecided about where to go to dinner but decided on Donovan's because every time we drive by it Joel says "Someday I'll take you there!"

So he did! Apparently it just reopened about three weeks ago. We got there at 5pm and had an entire dining room to ourselves, with a lovely view of... Tanners Lake? Some lake. The owner came out to talk to us and ask what we thought. The food was really incredible and it was a great dining experience.

We were really disappointed with The Departed. Like, I think maybe we didn't get it. I think it's the kind of movie that improves upon repeated watchings.

Sunday, we did laundry and moved the kids' beds away from the cold, exterior walls in their respective rooms. Woo-hoo, I know, can you even handle the excitement?

We also bought a new car seat for Lucy with the intent of moving Ed into Lucy's convertible seat. That huge box will be sitting in our kitchen until at least Thanksgiving, I think.

Lucy is slimming down a little, looking and acting much more like a little girl than a baby. Well, except for the temper tantrums. Joel and I decided we are going to have to start teaching her deep-breathing relaxation exercises or she'll have an ulcer by second grade.

Ed does not crawl, but that doesn't mean he's not mobile. On his tummy, he pushes up into, well, I think it's called "downward dog" in yoga. And he can kind of tuck his legs under his body to inch along like an inchworm. Only far less gracefully. Just about yesterday he started standing, holding on to things (typically, the shirt-front of the person monitoring him at the time). He's just delighted with himself. I still desperately want to try a crib bumper -- I think that would do the trick to keep him from A. losing his nuk and B. finding himself with his face pressed against the bars at 4am and screaming his lungs out.

So I'm in my last week of work! Hurrah!

Hi, what's new?

Well, I had my Psych midterm last night. I didn't do any "studying" but I had read the text and taken notes and defined all the vocab words and rewritten each chapter's "summary points" and answered the prof's essay questions she'd handed out (all of which are required for this "notebook project" she asks us to hand in later in the term). Anyway, the test seemed really easy. I even went back and checked all my answers (because I was done in, like, eight minutes) and found a couple answers to change -- cripes, I probably should have done that in undergrad, I might have done better.

Anyway!

I was talking to a gal in the class before the test started and she sounded JUST LIKE ME. Except, with more money. She's a financial adviser and she's just totally sick of corporate America. She's got one kid and wants more, and wants a career with more flexibility and in the healthcare industry. It was really interesting talking with her. Basically our situations were almost identical except she and her husband earn approximately twice (soon to be four times!) what us Gronaus do. But you know what? She had all the same concerns, all the same issues. Okay, she probably owns a dishwasher. BUT she also works like 60-80 hours a week. It was just really fascinating. She had done some job-shadowing in a hospital and I gave her my email address. I hope we'll stay in touch.

The kids are great. Ed has not been sleeping really well lately, but last night he only got up crying once... or maybe twice. Instead of letting him cry it out (because he just gets angrier and angrier!), I kept rocking/bouncing him to sleep. I also gave him the undershirt I'd been wearing all day, in hopes my stink would soothe him. And I think it did the trick.

Autumn has hit in full effect here -- it's mad windy and really cold. I have NO idea where all our hats and mittens are -- a project for the weekend, I suppose. We are mailing the kids off to Monticello for about 24 hours this weekend, and Joel and I are going to see Gypsy and then maybe do dinner and a movie. And of course we will find time to reorganize the garage so we can get both our cars in there! House-for-sale be danged, we need to reclaim some of our "real life living," including a place to store boots and hats and mittens by the back door.

Thanks to everyone who has posted, emailed, or spoken to me in person with words of encouragement for staying home with the kids. Your kind thoughts and "you can do it!"-ness means the world to me, and I have really been pleasantly surprised at how supportive everyone at work has been, too. Unfortunately for you, this just means I will be calling YOU for help when the dirty dishes/crayon on the walls/food splatters get to be too much. Ha! I can't wait!

Read this book!

For those of you who may not have heard, my friend-from-high-school Alison Strobel Morrow (Al, I'm not sure that's really your name but it gets the point across) has written (and published!) two books. She's currently in the process of promoting her second book, Violette Between.

Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578567947

Read the first chapter of the book online!
http://www.americanfamilysuperstore.net/e/firstchapter.asp?mode=view&index=470

You can also read Alison's blog here. (http://blog.alisonstrobel.com)

Here's a quick synopsis:

Violette is the quintessential artist: passionate, emotional and full of life. After suffering a great loss, she finds herself enamored with a new relationship and asking if it is truly time to move on. Christian lost his wife years ago and understands Violette's pain firsthand. He offers her a chance to love once more, and hopes to build a future with the spirited artist. But just as Violette and Christian begin to feel something unexpected, tragedy strikes again. Violette retreats into her past -- and she finds that she may not want to come back. This is a captivating novel that asks what is more precious: the memories of one who is gone... or the memories waiting to be made with someone new?

Al, I want to apologize for the uncreative post -- I got to work an hour late and have been in spaz-attack mode ever since. I am so proud of you and your writing. This is an awesome accomplishment!!

I DID IT!

In a fun little twist of events, "I Did It" is the title of this post for two reasons:

1. It's Lucy's new favorite thing to say. If you have been paying close attention (that is, if your name is John, Donna, Ray, or Leslie), you'll remember that Lu had been using "my" as her first-person pronoun of choice, i.e. "My scared," "My eat now." Recently, she's upgraded to "I". And she really likes to say "I did it!" It makes her sound very empowered.

2. Now for the big news: I have given my notice at work. That's right, boys and girls, at approximately 4pm on Friday, October 20, I will officially be a stay-at-home mom. I'm excited and scared, of course! And I don't know what to say besides that -- though I'm happy to entertain questions, as always.

In other news, we had a lovely weekend in Chicago. We went to Dennis and Sally's wedding reception (they were married in Tuscany over Labor Day) and got to hang out with some very dear friends we don't see too much. As always, it's good to be home. Okay, I really have to go work now.

What a lovely weekend it was!

I mean, A) the weather was simply gorgeous. Just the perfect fall weekend, but a little warmer than you'd expect. Beautiful.

B) We took the kids to Como Zoo on Saturday. We saw the animals (Lucy had very little interest in the animals, but she loved running around), and we took Lucy on some of the Como Town rides. She took one look at the rides and said "Round and round!" and she was very excited for "Aladdin's Magic Carpet" but when she found out she was going to have to go alone, she got a little teary-eyed. "My scared," she said, very matter-of-factly,* and we moved on to the Teacups. Which she loved. Then I took her on the train. It's so nice that they have some rides where parents can ride too -- it was just a great experience. AND, we discovered, it was the last day of the season! What fortune! We ate a PBJ picnic, did some people-watching, and headed home. I LOVE little outings like that. They remind me so much of my childhood -- only with shorter drive-times. And smaller crowds.

C) We got to hang out with the Curtis family on Saturday night. Dave and Jen were in our birthing class when we had Lucy, so they have a little Mandy who's just about to turn two. The two girls were very cute together and we had a very nice time.

D) Joel got to go golfing(!) with Pat Daly and some Brians, while

E) The Daly girls and Jean and the kids and I got to see the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday. We sat at, like, Mile 24.5 on Summit Ave. Jean and I each saw someone we knew (she some doctor from her hospital, and me Tasya Rivera who I was on the WSU dance team with like, a million years ago; I am pretty sure I read somewhere she just got married), and us three grownups had one good tearful moment when a husband jumped out of the crowd to cheer on his wife, saying something like "You can DO this, honey!" and it was just such a cool thing to watch.

F) We had a showing(!) last night(!). Amazing. And we have another one tomorrow, which may or may not be the same people. *sigh* I don't know if I'm really ready for this.

G) The Twins Actually Won the Cental Division. I don't think anyone in the entire state can believe it. After ALL THAT. And, (G1!) Joel and I get to go to Game 2 on Wednesday!! Hooray!

*Seriously, I just think she is at such an interesting age. She's not afraid to tell you the exact truth, she isn't afraid of any consequences, and has no sense of shame or deceit. It's so wonderful. And she's so curious... as we were driving around over the weekend, she'd frequently ask whether we were going to Jean's house, or Dee's house, or the doctor. On the way to the Curtis's house, she even asked if we were going to see Paige, her little friend who lives in the same neighborhood. Now, Lucy's been in that neighborhood maybe twice, tops. How on earth did she know that's where we were? Amazing.

Side note: we gave her a Ziploc baggie of Cheerios in the car on Saturday. Instead of getting frustrated about being unable to open the zipper, and instead of asking us to help, she chewed right through a corner of the bag to get the Cheerios out.

P.S. I am in desperate need of a crib bumper for Eddie. Anyone have a cheapo/used one we could borrow for a few months? I am totally unpicky of color/decor. The poor kid just needs something to cuddle up to -- we find him every morning all wadded up against the railings, usually with a limb or two dangling out the side. Help!