In other news, Baby and I are in the process of buying a condo. For those familiar with Austin, it's near the corner of Shoal Creek and Anderson, by the Short Stop. (I'm not sure why Baby and I seem to be the only people who know where that Short Stop is, but it's my favorite landmark and I'm going to continue using it as a point of reference until LONG after it's shut down, probably for health code violations.) Although it is not our dream house (for instance, it's not a house), it's good for us in a number of ways. For one, we can afford it. For another, it's very close to Wren's school (where she'll be starting in a few months). It's also on NOT ONLY a really great bike path that I can take almost all the way to work, but like five bus lines, three of which go by my office. Also, it's near some of our favorite places, like Alamo Drafthouse, the movie theater where you can drink beer (tm). So, many thanks to my parents, who are helping us out, and to the Federal Housing Administration, who will be insuring our mortgage. After reading the draconian 158 page bylaws of the homeowners' association, we're referring to the complex as Charterstone but we hope the neighbors won't be as meddling/murderous as Mary Worth herself.

Other briefs:
- We found a great independent mechanic who specializes in diesel VW's! And then he moved to Colorado. And then our driver's window fell off its track. Damn.
- Wren has had some amazing quotes lately. My favorite, from a couple weeks ago is: "See that sun? I don't like it." She's also been going on about whales a lot, which is funny because she's not really exposed to information about whales much. She recently confided to us that Arkay has a baby in Scotland. I have no idea where that came from.

So, it's been long enough that it's quite possible that this blog no longer has any readers.

Life has gone on for the Lazlo and Baby family for the last eight weeks and four days in the usual ways -- some ups, some downs. For whatever reason (Gypsy curse), it seems to have been mostly downers lately. Since we last spoke, Baby has had to get her wisdom teeth removed in an emergency surgery (without dental insurance) on the same day that Jane had to go to the hospital for dehydration caused by excessive vomiting due to a bladder infection (who knew UTIs made some babies puke?). That was not a fun weekend. There have been other bummer things (stomach flu, a job that sucks, car repairs, tickets), but overall we still feel pretty blessed.

Our wonderful friends from BODIES OF WATER came to town for SXSW, along with a small, but also quite wonderful entourage, including the inimitable MR RUPERT, and the incomparable MRS C. GLADDEN, whose name has yet to be mentioned on this weblog, but whose presence makes everything a bit better. These people all stayed with us, in addition to the indefatigable NOAH, who played the SXSW gigs with BOW, and RYAN P., who was the only person actually there to just watch SXSW shows (and whose sunglasses are still in our living room -- sorry Ryan!). All told, there were twelve people staying in our 890 square foot apartment or in an RV outside that week, and it was actually really great. Definitely the highlight of 2008 so far, even if BOW did manage to somehow sound like a mix of "half commercial jingle, half Spaceballs". We're really glad they stayed with us, especially since they were so busy that we'd barely have been able to see them.

Other things that happened:



- We went to Beaumont. It was fun.

- Wren turned three! Hooray! We had a birthday party at Zilker Park and Dave was there. Everybody rode the train.

- We got a baby turtle.

- We released our baby turtle into the wild.

- Wren and Jane's Nana visited from Beaumont. I am jealous because she got to go to Wren's dance class, which I have yet to do.

- PAPERHAT / the KING OF WIMPKILLER BBS and I saw Buddy Guy for his birthday. BG was great as long as he was playing his own music, but unfortunately he didn't play much of his own music.

"Hmm... that would be many hours ago. Maybe this morning before we left the house to run some errands. Now that I think about it, it's weird that she didn't come greet us when we got home."

At this moment Lazlo is having yet another conversation with Wren about how it's not okay to shut Ramona in the bedroom closet and poor Ramona is enjoying a very very long pee in our tiny strip of a yard. Poor poor Ramona. She was only discovered because Wren decided that the closet was "the barn" and Lazlo, or "daddy-horse" as he's currently known, needed to go to sleep in the barn. I'm sure we would have found her eventually, the next time we went to hang something up (ha...).

shake!! 2, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

Hurray for Preschoolers. Someone in Wren's class is sure to be sick all the time, which means our little family was probably all healthy at the same time for about 27 minutes back in November.

Jane got shots yesterday, and she and Wren both cried. It was very sweet and sad that Wren got so upset, but it unfortunately translated into multiple tantrums on the way to the car. Jane is not her usual easy self, and was so hot and feverish last night we ended up putting her in a cool bath for a while. Poor little baby. She's such a dear- she's in the 'flapping like a bird every time anyone looks at her' stage. She giggles, and squirms and sits up (sort of) and chews on ANYTHING that gets remotely close to her face.

Recent victims: everyone's hair (poor Wren lost a clump this morning), everyone's noses, the half and half bottle from my coffee this morning, diapers, whatever book I'm reading, the laptop cord, the laptop, whatever Wren has just become attached to (necessitating a screaming fit), and Ramona.

So far Three, or almost three, is looking a lot harder than Two. Wren is wonderful. Spontaneously singing, showing off her dance moobs, astounding us with her brilliance and breaking hearts everywhere with her beauty. She's also contrary, shrill, stubborn, selfish and usually sticky. She's not interested in potty training, per se, although she's very interested in flushing anything -else- down the toilet. She is most expressly not interested in following directions or listening. She is perfectly capable of dressing herself, unless you ask her to, and then she isn't. Things she's done since she was tiny, she won't do anymore, like hold your hand in a parking lot...

A lot of this new 'tude is due to the baby, the move, me getting sick and disappearing for a week, and just all the new stuff all at once. It's a lot for a little person to process. Also though, I blame the other perfectly nice kids at her new dayschool. Most of them are boys, and they do things like wrestle, sword fight, yell and knock down towers of blocks. In their spare time they cook up super-viruses to cough onto my daughter.

She's trying on some of this aggression, and then some of it is just home-grown three year old angst. I need to get ahead of the curve on parenting, here. Or at least find a way to catch up. Any parents with older kids have some suggestions? Other than constantly reciting the fruits of the spirit in my head (emphasis on "patience" and "gentleness")...?

Anyway, as ever, I'm so lucky to get to be home with her blah blah blah. I really am. She's changing so much right now. Breaking away from us, learning things without us. She'll start singing a song, or repeating a conversation, and Lazlo and I will ask each other, "What's that from?" and neither of us knows.

It's awesome and scary and a glimpse into a rose-tinted but also really sad future where she's hopping out of the car before I've stopped to go stand in line at some stupid movie with a bunch of kids whose parents I don't know.

She's going to be so so embarrassed by me. Especially if my dreams come true and I'm rolling a WVO Eurovan. Poor Wrennel.

Kate's health problems (alluded to below) turned out to be gallstones. Over the weekend, she was in severe pain and we decided to go to the hospital on Monday morning. Like, writhing-on-the-floor-moaning pain. And vomiting. So, I figured out the insurance stuff (we borrowed some money to pay the exorbitant cost for COBRA) and we left the girls in the capable hands of Stands With A Fist (and later Baby's Aunt Pam) and went to Seton. (That's a hospital for you non-Austinites.) She was seen relatively quickly and got an ultrasound confirming that she had gallstones, saw a surgeon, and was admitted. Yesterday the doctors did an endoscopy (with lasers!) to dislodge one particularly out-of-place stone, and this morning Baby went under the laproscope and got her gallbladder removed. Baby is feeling like a car ran over her midsection -- which is to say much better than she felt on Sunday. Otherwise, she's doing really well. The surgery went off without a hitch. The lasers did what they were supposed to do. Baby should come home sometime tomorrow.

The timing on this whole thing could have been better -- it could have happened in two weeks, when we'll have insurance through my job. Wren could have not come down with a serious cold yesterday. I could have had some accumulated sick time instead of having to pay for my time off. It could have even happened when my parents were in town so they could watch the girls a little bit. However, right now I just feel incredibly blessed. Our families have provided so much for us in the last four days: childcare, stew, lots of money, and so much of their time. Also sympathy, good advice, and diagnoses (some false, some accurate.) Baby's surgeries have gone as well as possible, and we've been able to use the COBRA with no problems so far. (I've been told that we'll be fighting bills for the next two months to get Baby's hospital stay covered, but nothing so far has prevented her or Wren from getting care quickly.)

So, to all of you have have helped us out this week, thank you. We'll be leaning on you a little while longer, but you have made our lives so much better than they could have been. Now I've got to go to bed early so I can start making up for some of this time lost off work.

jane smiling, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

Sorry we've been so lame with the pictures. We lost our picture jazz. Seriously- like 5 good pictures since we moved.

I think Lazlo covered the basics of the move, so on to the inessentials-

- our house/apt/townhome/condo thing is cozy (read 'cavelike') but the neighbors are bizarre and awesome. Ramona has become an escape artist in her middle age, and every day devises a new way to get out of our little fence. I don't blame her, really, with Wren holding her Dr. Bag waiting on the other side. Ramona has had her tem-a-ture taken more times than any other lab on earth. And I still haven't gotten all the bandaids off her belly.

- Lazlo's heart was broken by the false advertising that is "Dollar Bowling Night" at Dart Bowl, but with much encouragement, I think he's going to get back on the bowling horse that threw him. or something.

- My classes have started for the semester, and if you want to come distract me while I'm studying Technical Services and Collection Development, I will be at the Dart Bowl cafe, or at Thunderbird Coffee (2 great places within like 50 ft of our house. Hurray Austin!)

- Also in the Pro Austin Column, lots of old friends and family, lots of wonderful restaurants at which we can almost most of the time afford to eat, and lots of really weathery weather. Not accidentally ending up in San Bernadino before I even knew I was going in the wrong direction.

- Cons include: no Dudes, no Bodies of Water, no No Little Kindness (including Finn), our non-banded friends, "Smef" and Xie, pretty much all of Wren's closest friends, and ours too of course. It's a pretty flippin' big Con.

- Also Con, Austin gave me an ulcer. Or something. Probably Gallbladder disease it turns out. Either way, it's gross and very painful and involves bile and that's really all I should say to an audience that didn't do anything to deserve specifics. If you want to volunteer to come hold my hair back or something, give me a call. Our insurance doesn't kick in for another two weeks, so basically, I'm on my own.

Thanks to a truly wonderful guy (Lazlo's octogenarian triathalon friend) I got in to see a family doctor, who said that lots of pregnant and recently pregnant women get gallbladder disease, and basically I just have to have surgery to get it taken out, but that obviously I'll want to wait for some insurance to do that. So that's the story on that. I'm eating white rice and skim milk and bananas until we get insured.

- Hurray for insurance gaps! Manpower sucks.

- This list has degenerated and isn't making sense anymore. Look at the beautiful picture of Jane! Isn't she awesome!!!!!11

There's a lot more to say, but I'm too scatterbrained and malnourished to think of it now. We miss everyone in LA. Come see us! And maybe buy houses here...? It'll be like pocket change, guys. Seriously, turn your couch cushions over and come check us out! Austin! Not quite as hot in the summer as you thought! Now with more Bile! Hurray!

We made it to Austin. Our stuff didn't break. Chet/Barton and I went on an epic voyage of the road while Baby and the girls flew to Austin. Our friends (Chet, Rupert, David and Meredith, Jessie, and others) were amazing in helping us pack our stuff. There were only a few minor hitches, such as discovering on the morning of the move that our front tires both needed to be replaced, and not finding Baby's ID.

Two things I learned from this move: (1) It's not that hard to fly with no photo ID, and (2) it's also not that hard to get a security pass to escort somebody to the gate.

Living in Austin is actually really good. I kind of thought we were going to hate it here -- that it wasn't going to live up to the hype of five years' anticipation. But it's good. I like the weather, specifically the variation: the humidity, clouds, and rain. There are still days and windy days, and when it rains, it doesn't ruin the roads, and people have some vague idea how to drive over 25 mph without fishtailing all over and ramming other cars. (Unlike LA, where a slight mist would cause all traffic to grind to a halt.) My job is good but not great. I enjoy the work and the organization has a mission I like being a part of, but I'm thinking pretty seriously about getting stuff together to apply for teaching jobs, with the goal of starting in the fall. Of course, it's also great to be back around our family and our Austin friends.

The girls have done really well with the move. Wren loves being around all our Austin family, especially her four- and seven-year-old cousins. Her favorite activities since Christmas have been (1) playing with her doctor kit (she's learned the words stethoscope, otoscope, and sphygmomanometer) and (2) playing with her new kitty cat tent. She's also been making up songs lately. Her most recent one goes like this (to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star):

Jane is doing well, too. She hasn't seemed to notice that we moved. She likes looking at things (especially Wren, who really cracks her up), laughing, grabbing things, holding onto things with her tiny death grip, and (as of this week) turning over. She doesn't like being put down or having her diaper changed.

Our new apartment is nice. It's on a bus line that goes to my office, and I'm really enjoying the daily bus ride. I have time to read that I would probably otherwise just sleep through. The bus and being out of school are very good for my reading habits -- I'm mostly through three or four non-fiction books and I just started That Hideous Strength on Baby's recommendation. One of my two new year's resolutions was to read one non-fiction book and one novel per month. The other one is proving difficult to keep, so I'm embarrassed to even mention it. Let's just say it's supposed to help me keep my Greek reading skills up, but I'm going to need to find another system. I digress.

Last night, Baby and the girls and I had dinner with some old friends of ours, along with Chet/Barton. It was a nice evening, but by the end of the night I had consented to doing a triathlon with my favorite octogenarian. I've always wanted to do a triathlon, and I thought Dr. Koenig (not his real name) would be a good person to do my first race with, being three times my age and all. After I had already committed myself, the details of his training regimen started to come out, and I'm starting to get worried. He has a Navy SEAL for a trainer, and the routine involves swimming and running with a SIX-FOOT LOG. Apparently he trains in the icy waters of Barton Springs. He was also recently edged out of some shotput competition by the 1952 Olympic gold medal winner. I am man enough to admit that I'm afraid.

There are other things going on -- Baby is sick, for instance -- but I've rambled enough here already. I'll make Baby write about all that.

We have a place to live, too. We'll be renting an apartment within walking distance of several Austin institutions, including fixture of my junior high and college years DART BOWL (formerly CAPITOL/CAPITAL BOWL -- I remember it being spelled both ways), a fancy newish HALF PRICE BOOKS, and GINNY'S LITTLE LONGHORN. It's going to be the baddest.

I never imagined when I started this blog -- childless, bored, overburdened with free time -- that almost four years later I'd be writing it not primarily for the people we left behind in Austin, but the people we're now leaving behind in Los Angeles. So if you're our friend and you live in LA, expect some features gearing toward your demographic soon. Feel free to make suggestions.

If you're used to calling me on my work cell phone (the number that starts with 487), you should get out of the habit. Call Kate's cell phone instead.

Also, I submitted my real last assignment for school yesterday at lunch. Woo hoo!

As I may have mentioned before, COL RHOMBUS (now aka EL CABALLO) done went and moved to Scotland, and I've been video chatting with him via Skype. I like Skype. If you don't live in Austin, and you like Baby and me, you should get Skype (or iChat AV) and video chat with us. I didn't think I would like it, but it's much better than a phone call, especially since Wren can interact better over video. I'm looking at you, MR. BODDY.

In recent news, everybody's sick. It started with a great birthday party Wren went to last weekend, we think. She picked something up and gave it to Jane, and then to Baby, and I'll probably be sick by tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have very little sick time left over from Jane's birth -- and I have a ton of stuff to do at work -- so I'll be toughing it out, my coworkers' health be damned. That's what they get for breathing my air, I guess. Actually, I'll make sure to always exhale into a plastic bag.

Also, we are borrowing a cat to take care of our mouse problem. Though Moogs (a man cat) has only caught one confirmed mouse (which subsequently escaped his maw), he seems to have scared the others off. Wren pretty much torments him every waking hour, but he's a good sport.

What I'll miss in LA, other than the obvious things like all our friends:
- Our church. There's a Mennonite church in Austin we're going to give a healthy try, but I've heard mixed reports. The good and bad reports were from the same person, though, so I'm not sure what to make of that.
- Public transportation. LA may not be New York or Chicago, but the MTA is better than Capital Metro. There are three buses I can take to work.
- Our housemates Dave and Dave.
- Proximity to lots of good camping and beaches that we haven't taken advantage of nearly enough. Although camping in California is different, in that there are probably more people at the average campsite than in many people's workplaces.
- Dozens of other things I'll probably mention later.

Things I should be using this brief precious time to accomplish:

start a load of diapers
wash the dishes
feed Ramona
work on any of the gazillion craft projects piled up on my desk
call the landlord to hassle him about the mouse invasion (3 more sightings this morning!)
put away the last load of laundry
schedule an optometrist appointment

Does any of that sound like fun? No? Blogging is maybe only slightly up the scale from hassling the landlord or feeding the dog, but since I'm car-less, netflix-less and babysitter-less, I'll take it.

I'm going to keep going with things I like, since yesterday worked so well, and there are plenty of other things I like. Such as:

Looking to brighten up a wall? Books, Check 'em Out! Or maybe this is more your style.

Our weekend plans will probably involve these guys. I'm so glad it's finally open! If anyone in town wants to tag along we've still got guest passes.

You've probably already seen this

I'm wondering if I should propose this at our next PMC meeting . We are a peace church after all.

Bossy's family archives.

Interesting, if you're thinking about buying a house someday.

And to end on a cute note, if you haven't already seen this...

the question ... and the answer.

jane in a bird shirt.

Not much is happening in our house this morning. We woke up late and so Lazlo took the car to work. Wren and I are going to the PMC Bible study later (Mennonite ladies talking about Leviticus, or if God has been merciful, perhaps we'll have moved further through the lectionary...maybe even past Numbers?... I can hope).

(Right now Wren is singing to herself. The snippet "my best friend, my very best friend" from the Tim and Eric Kittycat episode. I'm pretty sure this would get us arrested if it happened in front of Melissa Rhoderick).

We're in denial about how soon we will probably be leaving LA, so I haven't even begun packing. I get a headache when I think about it, which means I have a headache alot, or actually that might be the two year old. Anyway, in the spirit of positivity and turning around my mood on this gray day, I thought I would share some things that I like.

I like this chair. Sadly it has not been in stock at Ikea in four months, and you can't order it online. So I guess they don't like selling it. Wren must be content with her booster seat which no longer fits on any chair in our house. It doesn't strap down, so every time she climbs up into it we get to stand around anxiously in "spotters ready" position but not actually TOUCH it because " NOOOOOOOOOO! I dood it MYSELF!"

Moving on, I like this blog. I've been reading Catherine Newman since Sarah Roden gave me her book when I was pregnant with Wren. Sometimes, when she's describing things I've felt but never been able to articulate, I feel like her long lost soul mate. If you like her you can find her older journals on the Babycenter site.

I like this group on flickr. It's fun to see how other people put together spaces for their kids.

I like this blog. It's inspiration to be a better mom, more involved in the process with Wren, not paying attention to her for a minute while mentally tapping my foot until I can get back to whatever lame thing I was doing (like reading that blog. Hm...) Anyway, she's present with her kids, most of the time seemingly without losing her mind, and she also manages to create some truly beautiful things.

Speaking of creating, the Fall (ish) weather is making me pull out my super neglected knitting stuff, and I'm really liking this pattern. Mittens have always terrified me, what with the decreasing and the picking up stitches and pretty much everything about them that's not exactly like making a scarf or hat. But these are topless, they're knit in quick chunky yarn... I may give them a try. I'm about 3 inches into my 57th attempt at a sock on dpns, so maybe this is the year I really learn to knit. Who knows...

For pure time wasting, I like this site.

Another shout out to my esteemed sister-in-law, I like everything I've ever made from this magazine, and you can find a lot of the recipes on the site. Since most of the recipes are for 4-6, you can ask the Dudes how they like them too. Hurray for Martha!

And finally, if anyone is still there, these are the quilts I love right now, and this might not technically be a quilt, since one side is knitted, but it's three layers, with batting, so I think it counts.

worried, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

sitting around the house uploading pictures. I like this one because she looks sort of astonished and concerned. Lazlo is washing dishes and Wren is (contain your shock) pretending to be a puppy dog for about the 56th consecutive hour. There was a little break there when she was actually IN the kangaroo costume and pretending to be a kangaroo, but now we're back to puppy dog.

It's hard to say which of our dogs is actually more whiny. Ramona is giving a strong performance at the moment, after a long night of NOT barking at the group of loud-music-playing loiterers around our front gate. (Lazlo actually went outside, dragged her out of her doghouse and pointed her at them with a whispered "Get 'em girl!" only to watch her do a dog's version of grumbly old curmudgeon going back to sleep...)

Even with Ramona's showing this morning though, I have to give the whine award to Wren- the still reigning champ, just based on perseverance alone.

Last night we went to the annual Fuller Fall Festival. It was fun, although the California Skewers signature dish was pretty disappointing and the miserly portion did not stand up to my mighty nursing calorie need. Worth it for Wren if only for the 30 minutes of Bounce House. I was the only parent who had to go INTO the bounce house and pull a screaming kid out when the time was up. What can I say? She loves to bounce.

Churd is back in town, and occupying his old room. He and Wrennel have had some nice bonding time and it's sad to see him leave again so soon.

We're in the process of trying to get out of the house at some point this morning. The fact the the sky is a weird gray color and our car is covered in ash is kind of dampening. Also the fact that I'm sitting in front of the computer, instead of performing one of the gazillion diaper changes that will have to happen before we get out the door. So I'll stop here.

belly!, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

Okay so mostly they're still sort of pirate-ish grimaces, but ridiculously cute nonetheless.

We're doing great here- just watching Jane grow and trying to keep Wren from peeing on anything irreplaceable. How's the potty training going? Not too well... but we persevere.

Today, in the process of attempting to cull more of our belongings before our move, we were messing around in the storage shed. We emptied a few boxes, but not in time to save our poor housemate Dave L, who was struck in the head by a falling giant barbed-wire Texas. It's really Dave's story to tell, just as it will be Dave's tetanus-racked, lock-jawed body that we will be forced to hide in the shed later tonight. I just want to be clear that it was Lazlo's rusted barbed-wire Texas, and I have no idea who precariously balanced it on that ledge.

Moving on. Jane is progressing adorably, as you will see if you click on this picture and check out our flickr page. And Wren is slowly but surely reemerging. We've had some setbacks: ask poor Rupato about how much fun it is to work from home with a constant whining soundtrack. But in general we're seeing more of fun Wren and less of brittle, depressed and super moody new-big-sister Wren. So let's hope it's a trend.

cute fall picture, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

It's as Fall-ish as it gets in LA right now, and we're taking advantage of it with open windows and lots of hoodies.

What we've been up to:

Yesterday we went to Ventura to pick a pumpkin or two at this cool farm
and had a pretty great time. I had my first wanting-to-beat-up-another-little-kid-for-being-mean-to-Wren moment, and I feel like a joined a big parenting club. The club that's mad at other parents for having mean kids. Lazlo's response was much more, "She's fine. Look! He's not even pushing her that hard!" Whereas I was ready to crawl into the damn hay tunnel and teach that kid to pick on someone approximately 10x his size.

Last weekend we went to the Eagle Rock Music Festival and saw BOW. The show was great and I wish we could have stuck around a little longer, but bedtime was looming. Wren had a fantastic time dancing with all her friends. David dubbed Eisley, Wren, Finn, and Atticus (formerly known as Jackson) the 25 lbs and under mosh-pit and they were really raging. It was a great evening full of friends that made us basically cry all the way home (about 5 blocks) that we have to leave this place.

Lazlo's Psalms class is going really well. In the past he's used boring class times to do our bills and banking and what not, and this quarter he's complained that class is too interesting for him to get anything done. I guess we're getting our money's worth.

It's hard having him back in class again, after enjoying the summer off, but this is the last class, and it's only one day a week, so compared to when Wren was a baby- this is awesome.

I'm registering for my classes soon. They start in January, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the crazy world of librarianship. I'll be taking Collection Development (with a concentration on keeping crazy people from trying to ban your books) and Technical Services. I have no idea what Technical Services will entail, but it sure sounds like a top secret black-ops section of the military. "Next semester- TECHNICAL SERVICES, with Blackwater founder Erik Prince..."

Ha- I bet this blog will be a very unexpected result for people searching that sentence.

Moving on- what's Wren up to? Well I'm glad you asked. Right now she's at the hardware store with Rupato and Lazlo, looking for a humane mouse trap. One cute little mouse has so far made every so-called man in this house scream like the little girls they apparently are. Lazlo actually did a pirouette this morning when little Hunca Munca sprang at him from behind a box of DVDs. Mr. Rupato really really wants to get a cat, but Lazlo has pretty much said that he would use said cat to beat in the giant TV screen in our living room, so great is his hatred for both cats and cable TV. So a humane trap it is, and also hopefully some Diet Coke, because we're out.

The mouse invasion has coincided with a jump in the use of expletives at our house, and Wren has not been left behind. I'd be surprised if Pasadena Day Nursery doesn't say something at our upcoming parent conference. "Um....so your two year old sure says 'shit' a lot... Please drop your check in the tuition box on your way out." Don't worry, grandparents. Her non-R rated vocabulary is also expanding by leaps and bounds. Don't kids say the darndest thing?

In the past few weeks, Wren has asked if we like her new dance "moobs," (moves) has named her Pooh bear "gentle bear," and has begun to "kwa-pa-kwape" (cooperate) when we ask for her help. Continuing cute mispronunciations are : hewicopper-copper, scoop-driber, and of course, strange cheese (string cheese).

Jane has made her first non-cry, non-snort noises, and they are about as cute as you'd imagine. She's a bit of a piglet, and has outgrown all of her 0-3 month clothes, and is working on outgrowing her 3-6 month stuff now. It's that loooooong torso that does it. The last 3 nights she's slept from about 10:30 to 5:30 or 6. Praise God. The overall volume of snorting has diminished, and I no longer feel the desire to put her in the doghouse with Ramona overnight. I'm keeping it in mind though, as a backup. Maybe the fleas would teach her not to snort so loud.

Poor little lady. She's never not had a cold. It's going to be a glorious day for our family when Jane can breathe through her nose.

Lazlo is applying for jobs in Austin, and he's eminently qualified for them so he'll probably be getting some interviews in the next few months. We probably spend a combined total of several hours every day on the Austin MLS, looking for a place to rent when we get to town. I know if we hadn't left Austin we'd think house prices were ridiculous, but after LA (our current mouse infested bungalow was on the market last year for 500k (and Dave swears he sees drug deals outside "like, every other day, for real")) pretty much everything else looks totally reasonable. If anybody has any leads, let us know.

oh my goodness!, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

Today we went to LOBSTERFEST and saw Bodies of Water play. We also watched several of our friends consume fishy tough $17 lobsters, but since Wren and I had spent about 30 minutes watching some lobsters frolic around in a tank earlier, and since we recently saw the "Pinchy" episode of the Simpsons, Lazlo and I decided on the $5 fish and chips.

Lobsterfest was fun, with lots of people dressed up, sort of like Renn Fair but for pirates. The highlight for Wren was the "jumpy kids!!!" on the bungee cord thingy, and the highlight for Jane was when we finally got home and she got a diaper change and a decent meal. Both girls passed out in the car on the way home (with intermittent waking/screaming by Jane) and Lazlo and I thought longingly of Sunday afternoon traffic in Austin, which usually doesn't involve bumper-to-bumper gridlock for roughly 28 miles of a 30 mile commute.

We've been thinking about Austin a lot lately, and about how great it will be to move closer to our families, and how wrenching it will be to leave our wonderful family of friends out here. Wren so loves living with our housemates- and she frequently reminds us to call our friends if we haven't seen them in a few days- "Davib? Mer-ner's House?" Dudestorm was absent for part of the last week, and our house felt kind of empty without them. (strangely enough, the sink was also kind of empty... a connection?) Poor Lazlo is so social- and he's so used to just wandering out to the living room if he wants to hang out with some dudes, I don't know what he's going to do in Austin... set up some sort of dude colony in our yard?

The absence of the guys allowed for potty-fest 07 (please God let there be no potty-fest 08) in which we stripped Wren down for most of every day and constantly asked her if she'd like to go to the potty. The answer was always no, even if as we asked, she was squatting in the corner of the utility room, peeing on the floor. Potty-fest was a failure. I guess she'll let us know when she's tired of sitting in her feces. In the meantime, I will continue to sneak M&Ms from her jar of potty-bribes when she's not looking.

The lack of housemates also allowed me to stop carrying a blanket around all the time, and hunching furtively to nurse poor ALWAYS hungry Jane. She is a laaaaaazy but frequent eater. She like to lounge around, burp every 5 minutes, break for a good ceiling staring session, and then come back for round thirteen. I get the feeling she'd prefer to have been born on an island in the South Pacific, where the breasts are always completely accessible and she could just stay latched on eternally. By comparison, Wren nursed for about 7-12 minutes, once every three hours. I may have been a bit spoiled. It's funny that the real Lactation Consultant term is "latch on." It sort of forces me to think of the baby as a moray eel.

Anyway, we're all doing fine. Lazlo is in his second week of half-time, and I'm so grateful to not be on my own yet. We are still adjusting to the whole "there's 2 of the them!!!" thing, and we don't totally have our rhythm down yet. (That might be the first time I've ever spelled rhythm right on the first try. I'm not even going to check it. It just feels right. If it's wrong don't tell me.)

Wren is still having some problems, but happily seems to direct her emotions at us (her betrayers) rather than at her new sister. When my mom was visiting she heard Wren say, "I love you big sister," while holding Jane's hand, which is incredibly sweet, even if it's slightly grammatically off. We're playing a lot of games where Wren is a "tiny baby" and that seems to help. She's such a kind person; I'm so grateful to have such wonderful daughters.