4 weeks old, are you kidding me?!

I absolutely can't believe that my newborn babe is 4 weeks old today and will be a month old on Friday. The last 4 weeks have certainly gone by much faster than the last 4 weeks of pregnancy. I've spent the entire winter waiting and planning for Harriet to come and also for my mom and Melissa to come and see her this spring. Now, she's here, they've come and gone, and I'm left with "kids!" No longer do I have my darling Grace and my long-awaited newborn baby, I just have KIDS! It's so weird to refer to them as "the kids" now too. For the longest time we have referred to our offspring as "Grace." Now, they have a collective word to describe the both of them. It's really freaking me out.
I realize that a 4 week old baby is still a tiny thing, but my reality check hit me hard this week. Monday was my first "real" day with both of them by myself. My mom and sister left on Sunday and David went to work on Monday (he's been back for a while.) Monday was pretty ugly for us. Grace decided that she would test me to see how much I love her and Harriet decided to spend most of the day crying. In my sleep-deprived state, I wasn't very nice either.
However, now that we're on day 3 of being home together, by ourselves, things are getting a little better. We all went out to a store today and it actually went really well.Harriet is really a dreamy little baby. She loves to eat and cuddle (Grace stopped doing both at 2 weeks old and hasn't done either one since.) She does get bubbles in her belly from eating so much, but other than that, she sleeps well for the most part, and gives me time during the day to spend with Grace and do a few other things. She is really getting a personality too and I can already tell that she is VERY different from Grace. I hope that she will have the peacemaker qualities that she was blessed with in her blessing because we will probably be needing it in our household! David and I and Grace are all very strong willed and want things our way and it's already a stretch to make things go 3 different ways.I am also becoming very grateful that I don't have to go back to a full time job next week. I had to go back to work at school full time when Grace was 5 weeks old and it was terrible. Now, I'm working from home for the barn doing administrative tasks for Rita. It's working out really well. I can work in my jammies. I can work for 15 minutes, stop to feed Harriet, work 15 minutes more, stop to do something with Grace. It's great. I do miss the barn and the horses though. I'm going to go back to the barn this summer on Saturdays when David is home for my own personal sanity.I need to have David show me how to put more pictures on Harriet's little web-page, but for now, here are a few: The first 2 are at one week old, then 2 weeks, then 3 and 4 (today!)

Some fun with Mo Deb and Aunt Lis and Babe!

Well, the rain finally went away and we were able to have a few fun days with my family before they left. We took them to the barn to see Grace ride Tink. Grace didn't want to share with Sean, of course, but she finally let him sit behind her on Tink for a quick picture (Melissa has the picture in her camera.) We thought she was ok about it, but when he got off, she put her head down and said "I am so mad!" We thought it was so funny that a 3 year old could express that she was angry without throwing a temper tantrum about it.

Last Thursday, we went to Drumlin Farm. Sean didn't last too long, but Grace had a blast, we took mo Debbie on a hay ride, and we did some good shopping in the gift store there. Melissa really wanted to shop when she came, but she came to the WRONG place for shopping. I think we got her in a few stores though and she went back with ample souvenirs, including a darling Boston Red Sox hat for Sean.

On Saturday, we went to the Stow town "Spring Fest." Grace and I rode on a wild little ride on some train/car thing and she got a free pony ride (because we NEVER do that!) sponsored by the town police.

Mostly though, we just spent our time playing with the kids. Grace and Sean absolutely loved each other and entertained each other quite a bit. It made me really sad that I don't live closer to my sister so they could play together more and we could have a change of venue (sit on her couch with Harriet instead of mine!) But like my mom says "it is what it is" and I'm just grateful for what I have. I'm so glad they came and we could have fun and I'm glad that we are going to Utah in August to keep it up.

Wkh Frgh Errn

I just finished reading an interesting book about ciphers through the ages. Happy reading, uh deciphering!

Uhfhqwob L mxvw ilqlvkhg uhdglqj Vlprq Vlqjk'v Wkh Frgh Errn. Lw zdv yhub lqwhuhvwlqj wr uhdg krz shrsoh kdyh wulhg ryhu wkh djhv wr nhhs wkhlu phvvdjhv vhfuhw. Lw zdv hvshfldoob whoolqj krz oxfnb wkh Doolhv zhuh lq Zruog Zdu LL wr kdyh eurnhq wkh hqljpd dqg rwkhu flskhuv. Lw gudvwlfdoob uhgxfhg zdu fdvxdowlhv dqg wkh ohqjwk ri wkh zdu. Dqbzdb lq krqru ri pb ilqlvklqj wkh errn L wkrxjkw wkdw L zrxog sxw rxw d olwwoh hqflskhuhg phvvdjh iru doo ri brx wr uhdg. Jrrg oxfn ghflskhulqj!

Harriet's Blessing Day

David blessed our little Harriet today. It was such a different day than when we blessed Grace. We had horrible weather (as you can read) and I was just not on top of my game. Grace and I had a "discussion" about her hair this morning. I lost. She wouldn't do it so that we could have a cute family picture. We did take a picture, but it just wasn't what I wanted it to be. That's ok though, not everything turns out like you hope, and like my mom says "it is what it is." I did get Harriet all dressed up though and she looked beautiful. She is so much different from Grace. She wore the same blessing dress - 6 weeks earlier and it didn't really look too big on her. She has an entirely different personality and has brought an entirely different spirit into our house. We absolutely love her to pieces. I am in love with her. She is a lot more like me than Grace is. Grace is such a different soul. Sometimes I have trouble relating to her, but Harriet just seems to be a "mini-me" even at 2 and a half weeks old.

We did make it to church on time -even with a 2 week old baby, an 8 month old baby (cousin Sean) and a 3 year old toddler. We were all dressed and ready and we didn't forget anything - amazing! I did get caught off guard though, the blessing came much quicker in the sacrament meeting than I was thinking it would and I didn't have Harriet ready to hand off. It startled me so much that I didn't get emotional during the blessing, but I did afterward. David teared up during the blessing and gave her a unique blessing all her own - much different from Grace's, but just as special. She was so good through the whole meeting - didn't make a peep once. It all came and went so quickly, I kind of feel like I missed it, but I do remember it all. Very weird - I guess that's what happens when you have more than one kid. You get all caught up with so many other things that you can't just focus on the one thing that you want to.

Anyway, it was really cool to be able to bless her on Mother's day with my own mom here and also Melissa here on her first mother's day with her baby. We had all the "mom's and babes" together and it felt really good. We're having a blast together and I'm so glad that my mom and Melissa could be here for it.

Rain rain go away...

Friday night the rain started coming down. Saturday the rain came down some more. Today it continued to rain. As if it isn't bad enough that it rained out 2 Red Sox games, we now have lake side property. We always thought it was great living across the road from the river, but now that we have beach front property I'm not so sure. I woke up this morning to find a duck swimming on my grass. Or at least it use to be grass. Now it is under 3-4 inches of water and still climbing. Anybody have a canoe? Grace is one person who is enjoying the rain. Yesterday I had to MacGuyver her some rain pants out of duct tape and grocery bags and we went out to stomp in puddles. We each got a little more than we bargained for and after splashing around for 30 minutes had to come in throughly soaked but happy. If the rain keeps up though, I may have to go for the house boat.

Reenforcements have arrived!

Since Harriet was born 3 weeks early, we were all caught a little by surprise. Luckily I have been able to stay at home while everyone adjusts to another little one around. Luckily (and just in time as dad was getting a little worn out) some of Michelle's family has arrived. On Friday, Debbie, Melissa and Sean flew into Logan airport. Unfortunately they brought the heavy rain with them, but so far we have had some fun despite the weather. Trust me, I am glad that my mother-in-law is here for the next week. Grace loves that her Mo Deb, Aunt Meliss, and cousin Sean are here. She is keeping everyone entertained and is exerting her role as grandchild #1. Hopefully the rain will let up soon and she can show her Mo Deb and Aunt Meliss all the fun things she does around Boston.

I like to eat, I like to eat...

On Wednesday Harriet went into the doctor's office for her 2 week appointment. The goal was to be back to birth weight. However, our little chunky monkey not only got back to her birth weight, but had added another 8.2 ounces. She is a little chow hound and is doing her best to help her mommy slim down. Apparently there is no exercise program quite like the breast-feeding plan. Eat as much as you want and still lose weight. Michelle has lost most of the weight she gained during pregnancy and is looking very good for being 2 weeks removed from delivery. Harriet is doing her best to eat, poop, and sleep. Now if only the rest of us could get some sleep.

Drumlin Farm

Over the last 2+ weeks that I have been at home helping with the new baby I have been able to do a few fun things with Grace. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been very nice over that period. But we were able to take advantage of one nice day and have a fun daddy-daughter trip to Drumlin Farm. Grace loves Drumlin Farm and especially this time of year when all the baby farm animals are being born. This year there are new chicks, piglets, calves, lambs, and goats. Besides the new animals, Grace goes to Drumlin farm for the hay rides. Sometimes it is with horses, but this day a tractor was pulling the wagon. Grace had a lot of fun and I had to do some smooth talking to convince her that there was more to Drumlin Farm then tractor hay rides. Besides the domestic farm animals, they also have a few wild animals. One of the new animals is a "black" red fox. Grace is fond of foxes since Shadow trapped a little fox in our yard last year. We still have foxes in our neighborhood (we saw one when we were on our dog walk last week) and so Grace and I enjoyed looking at the "black" red fox and we were pretty entertained by it. Of course it wouldn't be complete without being able to pet some of the domestic animals. All and all a fun day for dad and daughter. Too bad it took me so long to post about our adventure.

Tag, I'm It I guess!

I better get this out of the way so that I won't be hassled by my wife or Jared. BTW-have you been hassled by Capital One lately. For a "no-hassle" card I must get hassled twice a week. Anyway, onto the tag...

Four jobs I've had: (Michelle says I have only ever had 1 real job)
1. Technical Staff-MIT Lincoln Laboratory
2. Graduate Student at the University of Utah (hey, I was cheap (slave) labor for 5 1/2 years. I think that should count!)
3. Undergraduate research assistant at MIRL
4. Gofer at Salt Lake Valve and Fitting

Four movies I never get sick of: (not necessarily my favorites)
1. Braveheart
2. The Matrix
3. The Wedding Singer (come on you have to love the 80's music--classic)
4. Babe (hey there is a talking pig)

Four places I have lived:
1. Stow, Massachusetts
2. South Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Murray, Utah (was unincorporated when I lived there)
5. Brazil--shouldn't count, but since Jared did it.

Four TV shows I can't miss: (but would if it weren't for the DVR)
1. Alias (Jennifer Garner--need I say more?)
2. 24 (Michelle keeps saying every season she won't watch it with me, but she keeps coming back)
3. Commander in Chief
4. Whose Line Is It (Wayne Brady is hilarious)

Four favorite foods:
1. Black bean chicken aspargus enchiladas
2. Kung Pao chicken (New Dragon Diner in SLC is still the best)
3. Yanni's Special (the greek seasoning on the chicken is to die for)
4. Popcorn

Four sites I visit daily
1. Fantasy Baseball
2. The Salt Lake Tribune
3. Yahoo News
4. Craigslist (I've got to find a kayak)

Four people I'm tagging:
1. Honestly, do we really need to keep this up?
2. Although if you are reading this Jeff, get online and get a blog going!

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. On my bike going up to Big Mountain
2. On my bike anywhere
3. Outside (too much rain and ticks right now)
4. At work (I'm banned right now. We always want what we can't have!) Not really! I would rather be in a kayak on the Assabet river.

Were there any surprises to people out there?

I've been banned!

Yesterday I decided to go into work for a few hours. Michelle and Harriet were both doing reasonably well and I felt like I had things to get done. I was planning on working in the mornings and coming home after lunch this week as Harriet and Michelle are recuperating. However, when I showed my face in my group office at work, my group leader saw me and asked,

"Why are you here? Are your priorities really that out of whack that you came into work when your family needs you?" Needless to say I was flabbergasted. I had already taken 3 days off plus the weekend so I was expecting to get some work done. And honestly, it was nice to have a little "me time". Anyway, he told me that he didn't want to see my face for a week maybe two. Then he set me up with a laptop so that I can do some work and check email from home.

This would not happen in the industrial world. You just have to love the MIT environment. So while I have been banned I guess that I will still have plenty of work to do around home. Now back to the dishes and diapers.

tag, you're it!

Hey Jared, I'll take you up on your little game. After all, I'm stuck inside the house with a newborn (I should add, that I'm grateful to be at home with my newborn) and this will make my day a little more fun...

Four jobs I've had:
1. desk job at an insurance company for 15 some-odd years
2. veterinary technician for a small animal hospital
3. high school chemistry teacher
4. my current and most favorite job - riding instructor at a horse barn

Four movies I never get sick of:
1. Singles
2. Office Space
3. The Black Stallion
4. Napoleon Dynamite
(Ferris Beuler should be in the mix too.)

Four places I have lived:
1. Stow, Massachusetts
2. South Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Lander, Wyoming

Four TV shows I can't miss: (I would miss every single one if I didn't have a DVR)
1. Alias
2. 24 (if you watch one episode, you have to watch the whole season, although I vow to stop watching it after this season is over!)
3. Oprah (it's my quiet time in the afternoon after too much kids PBS programming)
4. Desperate Housewives

Four favorite foods:
1. chocolate - alone, with carmel, on top of anything...
2. anything Mexican in a flour tortilla
3. lobster bisque at Scupper Jack's restaraunt
4. crab and cream cheese wontons or rangoons from just about any Chinese place

Four sites I visit daily
1. Boston Globe
2. honestly, I don't surf the web much, so that's my only daily site
3.
4.

Four people I'm tagging:
1. David (he says he'll do one)
2. Melissa
3. the only other blogs I read have all been tagged by Jared, however, I'd love to see what they all have to say for themselves...
4.


Four places I'd rather be right now
1. I am right where I want to be - at home with my baby
2. if I could choose a second place to go, it would be to Salt Lake to be with family
3. at my barn riding a horse
4. San Diego sounds fabulous as I sit inside on a rainy New England day

David just informed me that everyone else who's been tagged has done their lists in some sort of chronological or preference order. I have no particular order to my lists for the most part. Does there really need to be order to a list of 4 things? I guess I'm just use to things being out of order lately...

Harriet Marie Chapman

The Chapmans finally have some big news to share. After about 350 years, the Chapman clan has returned to its roots in Massachussets. On April 26, at 3:55 PM our little Boston baked bean, Harriet Marie Chapman finally decided to join our family.

After our experience Friday night at Emerson Hospital we knew that Harriet was going to be joining us soon. When Michelle subsequently saw the doctor on Tuesday they scheduled an inducement for May 2. However, Harriet had other designs. At 4:30 Tuesday afternoon Michelle called me and said that I needed to get home as she had been contracting regularly for several hours. I rushed home and things continued into the night. She called her doctor's office, but the physician on call was from another practice and did not know Michelle's history. She told Michelle to wait until the morning when her doctor would be on call and they could make a decision.

The contractions eased up for some of the night, but at 3:00 AM they started again. At 7:30 AM Michelle called and spoke with her doctor who told her to come in. We arranged for Grace to go over to our neighbors and off we went to the hospital. Things went slowly until about 3 PM. Harriet was being a stubborn Chapman and was still going to come on her time schedule that day not ours. Michelle was starting to get a little impatient as Grace start to finish once at the hospital was only 6 hours. However, at 3 PM the contractions starting picking up. Hard labor was very short, but intense. Michelle went from a 6 to giving birth in 30 minutes. With only 15 minutes of pushing. Harriet was resisting with her little arm up against her face making things more difficult, but finally she relented.

Harriet Marie Chapman was born at 3:55 PM on April 26 weighing a healthy 7 pounds 9 ounces and coming in at 20 inches in length. Not too bad for a 37 week baby. Mom and baby are doing great as are dad and Grace. Check out Harriet's webpage for some more pictures (click on Harriet Marie Chapman up at the top).

Ask not what your country can do for you...

As if being pregnant and soon to have a breast-feeding newborn isn't enough, Michelle is now being asked to perform her civic duty. I have to admit that I only feel half sorry for her as I had jury duty 2 years ago and ended up being chosen to serve on a jury for a DUI case. Plus I missed my friends dissertation defense. Anyone else feeling sorry for her?

What were you doing at 3:40:10 EDT?

Last night we thought that Harriet would soon be joining us. At around 8:00 PM Michelle starting having contractions every 15 minutes. This lasted for 4 hours until they went to every 8-10 minutes. With Michelle's history, her doctor told her to go to the hospital after an hour at that frequency. So at 1:15 AM we woke up Grace and loaded up the car to go to the hospital in Concord. Long story short, after 3 hours at the hospital and a shot of Michelle's favorite drug, terbutylene (sp?) we ended being sent home at 4:30 AM. Harriet will have to wait for another day, although Michelle is getting to the point that she wishes it was over. At least Grace had a good time being a kangaroo and eating crackers and drinking apple juice. But, will she sleep tonight?

There is light at the end of the tunnel...

There is light at the end of the tunnel...

Literally, for Harriet, this is true! I went to the doctor yesterday for my last ultrasound. This little girl is ready to rock and roll. She's already 7 lbs 12 oz and there are still 4 weeks left to her due date. I didn't think that either David or I had the genes for such a big baby (Grace was 7 lbs 4 oz at birth and has hovered around the 10-25th percentile her whole life.) Harriet's current weight is in the 97th percentile! The only time we've ever seen the 97th percentile was on our grade school SAT scores. Apparently staying home all winter provided me lots of opportunity to eat very well. I'm 2 pounds shy of the weight I was when I delivered Grace, so I told Harriet that neither one of us is allowed to gain more than 2 pounds before she is born. I would prefer that she keep her gain to under a pound!

I think the 9th month of pregnancy was invented so that women would be willing to do anything (namely go through labor, delivery, and having a newborn) in order to stop being pregnant. That is the point I'm to. I can't imagine this belly getting much bigger or me getting much more uncomfortable and unable to do things.

Fortunately, my doctor is not going to make me wait 4 more weeks. If Harriet doesn't show up on her own by May 2nd, she will be forced to come out. So, the next time you see a picture of Harriet on our blog, it will be in full color and she will have clothes on!

On with the nesting...

Yea Gracie!!!

After talking to Jared the other night, I realized I should update everyone and tell Gracie's big news - that she has mastered the potty! After a few days of fighting with her to sit down and try and a very few accidents, she has now gone 10 days without an accident and has stayed dry all night in her pull-up. She still feels more secure when we leave the house if she has a pull-up on, but she always asks to go potty when she needs to or waits until she gets home. She is really awesome and I'm so proud of her.

Her Daddy did come through on his big treat. She wanted a big piece of "equipment" for her train set, namely Cranky the Crane. David ordered it and it was delivered and sat on top of our fridge for about a week while we waited for Grace to quit having accidents and to initiate sitting on the potty herself. She was finally rewarded with him last week and she hasn't put him down since. So, there's my little girl with her industrial toy that she loves as dearly as any other girl loves her dolly.

I do have to mention, though, that yesterday we went to Emerson Hospital so that Grace could have a tour of the maternity ward and learn about being a big sister. She was given some diapers and a warming hat to take home and "practice" on her own baby with. She came straight home and got out the Cabbage Patch baby that she got for Christmas 2 years ago and has never touched. She's been trying to be a good mommy to it and I think she will make a fabulous big sister. In spite of herself, she already really loves Harriet and really does want her to come to our house.

So, our big-girl days are finally here! She's also finally saying that she's a big girl. Up until a few days ago, she still wanted to be the baby, but she has realized that she's not a baby anymore and it's probably more fun that way.

One Year in Massachusetts

One Year in Massachusetts

We are "celebrating" our first anniversary for our move to Massachusetts. One year ago this week-end, we closed on and moved into our house. Some things are much better now, some things are much worse. Maybe we'll do a little top 10 for the good and the bad...

Top 10 great things about our move and the last year (in no particular order):

1- David got his first "REAL" job and Michelle quit all her real jobs.
2- we bought a house that is big enough to raise a small family
3- we bought a very cute house that needed little work done to it and which we love calling home
4- we live in the country and love our surroundings and neighbors
5- we met Rita McConnon and Michelle now has her dream job and a new best friend
6- Michelle got pregnant with our second child (owing to the fact she was able to quit working full time and we have real health insurance again) which will mean a baby sister for Grace this spring
7- we are able to skip some of those pesky family functions that we really didn't want to go to without making up a fake excuse
8- we have made tons of new friends and have learned to rely on them in times of crisis
9- David has seen the Boston Red Sox play at Fenway park
10-Massachusetts is a hotbed for cycling activity and David is in heaven

Top 10 worst things about our move (aka what we miss about living in Utah)
1- the humidity here stinks
2- the bugs, in-particular the ticks and mosquitos, are horrible here
3- the dogs require much more maintenance and are much more expensive to care for here
4- we live much too far away from our family and miss them terribly and worry constantly that our kids will not have close relationships with their grandparents at such a distance
5- we have to think up something for dinner for 7 nights a week because we can't go to dinner at the Chapman's or the Mitchell's anymore (and still can't afford to eat out much)
6- driving and shopping here are a real chore
7- there are no mountains here and way too many trees
8- we spend a lot at the post office (and so does everyone we left in Utah)
9- we spend a lot of money on plane tickets to "exotic" places, like Utah
10-curb and gutter-what's that???

At the very least, we are grateful to be much better off at this time this year than at this time last year. We aren't finishing mountains of paper-work to buy a house, we aren't in the middle making big life-changing decisions, we aren't living with our parents anymore, we finally have everything put away from the move (at least everything important) and have finished furnishing the house and making it our own, we aren't wondering how it is all going to work out and wondering if we made the right decision. Now, even though it is sometimes hard, we know we made the right move and we know we've been extremely blessed this past year. We finally have a little bit of security to our lives and can enjoy what we have without so much worry about what is going to happen next year. Of course, every time you say something like that, you are given something to worry about, so scratch that last part...

Livin' in the country...

For as much complaining as I do about having to drive so far to shop for this or that, I really do love living in the "country." We really do live in a pretty rural setting. We live at the corner of 2 dirt roads across the street from a big river. We pass huge farms of all types whenever we drive anywhere. Fruit orchards, vegetable farms, horse barns, and sheep farms are all commonplace within walking distance or a 2 minute drive from our house. We can shop at farmstands to our hearts content and see just about any domestic animal you can think of.

Today, Grace and I vistited Pilot Grove Farm which is a very short drive from our house. It's a HUGE farm that was built in 1783 and has acres and acres of rolling green pastures around it. It's gorgeous. David and I want to take some really nice photographs of it when things get green and the weather gets nice. We don't know the owners, but a friend from our ward, and fellow riding instructor at Hybid farm boards her sheep there. She shows sheep in 4H competitions and raises lambs each spring. She invited Grace to come and see her lambies today.

Grace, of course, has a blast with any animal and loves farm animals in-particular. We can't wait until the weather warms up (and Harriet is born) so we can use our membership at Drumlin Farm and go see all the animals there on a regular basis.

We've been sort of keeping track of all the wild animals that are in our yard or in our immediate neighborhood - including the river which is literally a stone's throw away. So far, we've shared our breathing space with:
ducks, Canada geese, swan, woodpeckers, cardinals, all sorts of finches and other birds, frogs of several types, a turtle, a mother fox and her babies, a beaver, a blue heron, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.

My favorite thing to do in the morning is open my south-facing window shades to see what is swimming on the river. The part of the river that is just across from us looks almost like a pond. It is wide and often looks very smooth and we see the swan and geese several times a week. We also see the wake of the beaver a couple of times a day. We can't see him, but we can see the wide V he makes in the water as he swims up and down the river and David and the dogs hear his big flat tail splashing the water when they go for their evening walk.

Potty Time!

It's time to party again at our house. Grace's 3rd birthday was a great party, but so was today! She actually used her potty chair today for the use it was intended for the very first time. David and I really began to wonder if it would ever happen. I bought the potty chair almost a year ago, just after we moved in and got settled. I thought 2 years old was a great time to start, but I wanted to wait until she felt secure and comfortable again after months of uncertainty and moving around. The potty chair has graced our bathroom for the past year being used mostly as a step-stool. In hind-sight, it was a good thing I bought the one that matched the bathroom and that also could be used for something else, because it has been in there much much longer than I ever planned.

Grace, for all her intelligence and physical abilities, has absolutely, completely resisted anything to do with the potty. We have tried every trick from threats to massive bribery to pretty panties to "waiting for her to be ready on her own." Nothing has made a difference to her. Every article and book I read on the subject emphasizes "DON'T FORCE THEM!!" So, I've backed off each time she's resisted. The only difference to me now, is that I'm desperate! I have a baby coming in less than 2 months and I really really don't want to buy 2 sizes of diapers and change a large child next to my tiny infant for the next year. I know that once Harriet arrives, I will be too busy and Grace will have too much adjusting to do for either of us to have what it takes to do the task. So, I made an executive decision today. With 4 diapers left and a half package of pull-ups, I resisted the temptation to buy the size 4 diapers that were conveniently on sale at the pharmacy. Instead I bought a package of newborn diapers for Harriet and came home and just put panties on my little darling.

To Grace's credit, she has come a long way in the last few weeks on her quest to become a big girl. She's been working really hard at just sitting down on the potty (something she would throw tantrums over before) and she has risen to the occasion of sleeping in her new big-girl bed and giving up her toddler crib.

David made a pretty big promise to her if she learned to use the potty. Immediatly after her victory in the bathroom today, she asked when he was going to come through on it. He really meant that he would treat her when the potty training was all done, but to her, today was a big enough day to deserve it. So, he's coming through with his treat in the hopes that she will continue her trend this week and be absolutely diaper free very soon.

If nothing else, we are learning to be less judgemental of the parenting skills of others. David and I use to cringe at people who were still changing the diapers of their 3 year-old kids and vowed to never have anything like that happen in our family. Yet, here we are with our 3-year-old. We realize we still have lots to do to finish the potty party, but we are definitely basking in Grace's golden moment of the day for now.

Yay Grace!!!! Go Gracie, go Gracie!!!!

My own personal hell

Between all the revelation and grey hairs my friends write about, it is a wonder I even bother to blog. But every once in a while, events occur which force my hand. This last Saturday was one such event.

Saturdays are precious. Indeed, Saturdays may just be sacred. More than any other day I value my Saturdays. It is the one day I have where I can do things at my own leisure, and I hate when Saturdays are wasted. This last Saturday Michelle, Grace, and I drove to Framingham to the nearest REI to buy an item. Unfortunately, we ended up getting lost. We have now lived here for almost 1 year and there is a reason we don't often head south of our place. Framingham and Natick are like the Sandy of Salt Lake City. Crazy roads that are nearly impossible to navigate and very easy to lose one's way even with the help of a GPS. We shun the communities to the south, not so much for snobbery but for sanity.

Too make a long story short, what should have been a 20-25 minute drive turned into a 90 minute drive. To add insult to injury, the item we wanted was not in stock at the store. Add in the return trip (thankfully we didn't get lost) and it turned into a 3 hour misadventure. This whole adventure started with me wanting to save $8 dollars on shipping. But I have come to the conclusion that life is too short to waste time driving in Framingham over a mere $8. From now on it is www.rei.com!