Sorry for the complete lack of posts. Lazlo has been graduating, Wren has been exponentially developing, and I've been trying to fit the rest of our lives into the convenient 30 minute intervals between my bathroom visits.
Two weekends ago we went camping at Sequoia and it was, to use Wren's favorite new word- "AWESOME!" It's an incredible place and we had a great time. I hope we get to go back before we leave California. We saw a bear, Wren ate her first (and second and third...) smore, and, through luck and ingenuity (and unlike our fellow hikers) we avoided being covered in leeches at the very creek you see in the photo above this entry. Ah, leeches, nature's medicine.
General Updates:
- We've been taking the Inquirer's Class at Pasadena Mennonite Church. We're on our way to becoming Mennonites. 'Tis a gift to be simple... or something. I think that's the Shakers. Oh well.
- Wren is sporadically potty training. The important part of that last sentence is SPORADICALLY. We've bypassed gold stars and gone straight to leftover marshmallows as an incentive, but with little appreciable success.
- Our household is in the midst of a population shakeup. The Daniels are on their way out but they're in England until the middle of July. The Daves are in various stages of moving in. Dave the First has contributed a Wii to our entertainment options, which Lazlo REALLY appreciates, and Dave the Second has added to the already considerable amount of music gear in our living room. I wonder how many other 2 year olds know the word "amp"... And Churd wants to switch rooms while we're all moving around, so who knows where everyone will land.
- I'm ridiculously behind on birthday cards/presents/phone calls, so if you are among the shamefully unacknowledged, please forgive me and blame my mushy mushy pregnancy brain, which I've been feeding with a steady atrophying diet of BSG, mom blogs, Martha Stewart Living and hokey-pokey sing alongs during storytime. Basically it's a miracle I'm not in a coma.
And now for the pregnancy FAQ:
- first the OB said it was a boy, then the gypsy witch at a Burger Continental said it was a girl, then the OB said it was a girl. So for names we're thinking "Gypsy Curse Hollyfeld." If anyone has a better idea...
- I'm due Sep. 1st, and no, the heat hasn't been unbearable so far. This baby sits differently- specifically with his/her feet in my ribs, swinging like a monkey and punching me in the bladder. And this baby has apparently not been blessed with Wren's innate circadian rhythym- which is a bummer.
- I haven't had any cravings, unless you can count always wanting to each total junk food exclusively as a craving. I'd call it more a lifestyle. I get some nasty looks at various moms' groups when I show up with my Diet Coke at 9:30 AM, but oh well. I didn't see anyone jumping in line to gestate for me, so...
- Wren is fuzzy on the "new baby" concept, but she's on her way to being a nice considerate person, and is usually gentle and careful with smaller kids (with the MASSIVE exception of Finn, who she likes to literally push around). I'm sure we'll have problems, but she has a lot of independent resources to fall back on. I'm not underestimating her basic sweet nature So no, we're not that worried.
- Thanks for asking, but we don't really need that much- we still have all our inheriited (THANK YOU RODENS, ETC!) baby gear from round 1, and if the gypsy was right, we won't even need new clothes. We're still cloth diapering Wren, and we'll cloth diaper new baby too, although hopefully with a diaper service for that first overwhelming month.
Well, for the first post in a zillion years, I think I kept it pretty brief. Wren is pouring a cup of dried lentils over the keyboard and we're late to pick up Lazlo from work, so, if any of you have plans to visit us this summer and stay on our couch, I look forward to seeing you. If not, you should consider making said plans. Just let us know when your plane gets in and we'll consider picking you up from the airport, but then probably just send you the LA transit map and a couple of bus tokens. You'll be no less welcome if I don't have to drive to LAX!!!!11
That's right, you can now call me "master."
Other than graduating last weekend, there's not much going on in the Hollyfeld house. Those who read Howdy know that we've got a new housemate, which is great. Among other things, it means another Diet Coke drinker to replenish our supplies and nearly unrestricted access to a Wii. (I could only be happier if there were a Wii version of Katamari Damacy.)
Now that Baby and I are free from school (she's taking the summer and fall semesters off for birthing and whatnot), we're going camping in Sequoia this weekend, along with Wren and a whole bunch of friends from church. Woo!
Umm ... sorry. That's all I've got.
