The Virgin Birth

This is a picture of Mam's bird, Pip. Back Seat Baby is in love with him, so Mam took a picture of him and we have him on our fridge. The picture has gotten some water splashed on it because it spends a lot of time in Back Seat Baby's hands. Do you see that splotch to the left of Pip there, on the branch? Back Seat Baby walked up to the picture this morning, pointed to that splotch, and said "Baby Pip". I'm thinking that Mam and Pap have a miracle on their hands. 

How do they know?

Driver is on a business trip for a couple of days. No big deal...except that the creepy crawlies seem to know he's gone. I don't know if they can sense the level of testosterone has suddenly dropped off or what.

Last night I had an end of the year choir party to go to, so I dropped Back Seat Baby off at our good friend's house so she could get some shut eye while I was gone. We didn't get back home until a little after ten. I got Back Seat Baby down and tucked in and went around doing my nightly 'house check'. I went downstairs to make sure the basement door was locked, and when I got to the bottom of the steps I stopped dead in my tracks. The first thing my eyes settled on upon scanning the room was a frickin' tarantula. Seriously, this thing was huge. I had a hard time remembering if I was still in the midwest or if I had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the Amazon somehow. It was black, and it was disgusting. I usually don't have a problem killing spiders, but this creature was beyond squishing with a kleenex, beyond squishing with a shoe, even. He was on the wall, above the futon, very near some shelving. Of course not an easy place to get to him to kill him. I looked around for weapons and saw a pair of running tights Driver's brother left behind after doing laundry at our house before he left for greener pastures. I figured I could try to smack him with it. The problem was that I couldn't get very close to the wall with the futon and shelves in the way. So, after several deep breaths and silent pep talks to myself, I took a swing......and missed. He slunk away behind some pictures that were leaning up against the wall. I went around to look down the wall to see if I could see him, but he had disappeared. How something of that size could vanish, I have no idea, but he did.

My next move was to call Driver to make him feel guilty for leaving. I told him about the tarantula and how I can go months without seeing a spider but the second he leaves, our basement has a hairy man-eating spider in it. As we were talking I went back downstairs (very cautiously) to take out the garbage. I turned the corner, and there above the cat box next to a window was my all-time least favorite thing in the whole world---a centipede. Not just any centipede, a champion, a papa, the grandfather of all centipedes. There, in our basement. No way could I kill it. Those suckers are fast, and he was up on the wall over my head. I had to force myelf to go to the door...I really, REALLY hate those things. And can I just say that we've lived in this house for over 3 and a half years, and I've seen one other centipede in all of that time. Guess what--Driver was gone then, too.

So, here I am today...Back Seat Baby has a huge playroom down there, and it's going to rain any minute. I really don't want to go play down there. I will be looking over my shoulders the whole time. Of course, if Back Seat Baby finds either one of them first she'll probably just try to pull the legs off of them or something. Maybe I should just let her loose down there.

The worst part? The second Driver gets home, they will have disappeared. We'll never see them again.

Lost! Finale

WTF!


Guess it's time to wait for Fall.

/Brookings Local TV is no good
http://ksfy.com

The Big Event!

Well, we've been talking about it for months now...and today we finally did. Back Seat Baby got bangs cut. So, here is the before shot. Now, usually she has pretties in her hair, but to get the full effect I took it this morning before I brushed her hair so you can all see how long her hair was.
Here she is at "Kid's Hair", in the big chair with the cape and everything. We're deciding where her bang line should be. This is where I started to get nervous.
Here she is actually getting her hair cut. She never whined or cried, but her facial expressions were hilarious. She looked very serious. When the lady started cutting her hair, she said "Whoa!" in that Back Seat Baby way. She also got her hair blow-dried, so it was very professional.
And here is the after shot. How cute is she? At first I was all sad I did it. She looks so much older! Especially if I put pretties in her hair and the sides get held back. But then I remembered how I had to get buggers out of it every morning and after naps when she has a cold, and how I'm constantly trying to keep food out of it, even if she has pretties in her hair. This will be much easier and more sanitary. But still, I'm a little sad.

I do have to tell you about the place we had it done. It was in Edina. There is a board with a list of services, and I swear I saw the words "color" and "extensions" on it. There was a little boy there, I didn't get a good look so I don't know how old he was, but I'm guessing too little to go to school. His mom was there with him, talking to his 'stylist' about shampoos and conditioners for her daughter's hair. She was a typical Edina stay-at-home mom. She had her nice capris on, her hair was all done and she had makeup on. I, on the other hand, had taken a shower, but that's pretty much where my primping stopped. Oh, I did put on sunscreen. Anyway, it was a little bizarre. Back Seat Baby didn't want to leave. I should'nt be surprised, she does love all things girly. I asked her if she wanted to get her eyebrows waxed next, and she said "yea".

So, that's it, one more step away from baby-dom and into becoming a little girl. Good thing I'm pregnant or I'd be weeping into my ice cream bowl right now.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy...

The Station Wagon Family is up at the Lake Place. Pap, Driver, and I were out fishing tonight. I caught a fish that ate Driver's fish while they were in the live well together...Driver's fish didn't have a chance. Mainly because it was dwarfed by my whale of a walleye.

Mam got some great pictures of Back Seat Baby with some of the "Gooses" (they're actually loons) that are all over the condo here, so hopefully we'll get those posted. No, not real loons. They usually don't let rambunctious toddlers run up to them and put their arms around them.

Tour de France, it wasn’t

They other day we loaded up the wagon and met up with some friends for a bike ride. The plan was just an easy ride through the suburbs of Minneapolis but, like most of our plans, adventure wouldn’t be lacking. I was riding my new bike with Back Seat Baby towed behind in the Burley. Shotgun was there along with 5 others (whom I’ll eventually think of names for) and one more baby in a Burley.

The first half mile of the ride went great; sprits were high and everyone was enjoying the evening. Then, out of no where, disaster struck. My old trusty bike, being ridden by That-Trucks-Gotta-Compensate-For-Something-Guy, just gave up the ghost and the right side pedal crank sheered right off. Don’t worry, there’ll be an investigation, but that’s for another post. I couldn’t believe it. Now Compensate had a choice to make, continue on with one pedal or go back and wait for everyone to come home. Well, the guy went with the team and plowed through. It was an impressive sight to say the least.

The ride continued at a leisurely pace through a ritzy gated golf community. Shotgun and I were distracted by a snapping turtle on the side of the road (alive, and big). I was about to pick it up when the following conversation took place.

Me: reaching for the turtle
Shotgun: “don’t pick it up, you’ll get hurt”
Me: thinking to self “naah, I think I’ll be ok”
Shotgun: while telepathically sensing my thoughts “At least don’t teach Back Seat Baby that it’s ok to pit up snapping turtles”
Me: “Point taken, OK”

While we were distracted by the turtle, Compensate Guy was attacked by a vicious ankle biting dog. The dog cunningly waited until its prey was in the middle of the cul-de-sac and then went in for the kill. Remember, Compensate only had one pedal and I think the dog saw this. There was no escaping. After a brief skirmish, it looked like the beast was going to win. Compensate was saved when the animals handler (an elderly woman) came down from her porch rocking chair and called off the attack. At that team decided to turn around and head back. The choice was pretty easy since, as mentioned before, we were in a cul-de-sac.

On the way back the chain on my bike broke. Not fell off, broke! Yeah, I just bought it this spring. I was not happy and will be making a trip to the local bike shop. After several attempts at field repair by LanceWith2, we moved Back Seat Baby to Shotgun’s bike, then Compensate and I walked our bikes home. At this point, LanceWith2 separated from the peleton and rode back a time trial pace. He hopped in Compensate’s truck and picked us up on the side of the road.

While Compensate and I were waiting for LanceWith2, a pregnant Shotgun was pulling Back Seat Baby through the rolling terrain of the south west metro. What an Iron woman! It was a tremendous display of total bad assness. All were impressed and the feat was discussed over beers when we got back.

Note: I know this was way too long; I’ll try to shorten up or break future posts into two parts.

Random Laundry Musings

Why can't washers and dryers take the same amount of time? Right now the dryer is going and so is the washer, but there's a pile of wet laundry waiting on the floor since the washer is so much faster than the dryer, and I'm too impatient to wait to start the next load while the dryer is slaving away.

I don' t know if anyone can own more underwear or socks than my husband.

I can not wait until the day I get a house where the laundry is on the main floor, so I don't have to haul everything up and down from the basement to Back Seat Baby's room or up yet another flight of stairs to our room. And our stairways are too narrow to fit the laundry basket sideways, so you have to awkwardly carry it the long way, and it's only going to get more awkward for me as the months progress.

Poor Me.

Who Needs a Bar Fight?

Back Seat Baby has run into the same wall 3 times in 16 hours. She was asleep for 11 of those hours. Guess which body part is always the first to hit? That's right-her face. And let's remember that we've lived in this house since she was born, and we haven't moved any walls lately.

I'm afraid the picture just doesn't do it justice, but you should see 3 bruises--forehead, next to eye, and under eye. Very nice.

Because That's What Your Here For...

A little more of Back Seat Baby.

To The Dirt Bag Who Stole My Weed Wacker;

What the hell! My weed wacker! And did you have to kick in my garage door just for a weed wacker. It wasn’t even a good one. I’m sure there are other weed wackers out there that would have fetched far more at the pawn shop. You didn’t take anything else, not the radio, bikes, other tools, old furniture, lawn mower, skis, golf clubs; nothing but the dam weed wacker. You son of a bitch!

Then to add insult to injury, they send some 22 year old Adonis of a cop out to investigate. I’m already feeling a little insecure that my house has been broken into by some stranger and now they send Fabio with a flat top and gun belt to investigate. I’m surprised Shotgun hasn’t had badge #79 out for a little follow up investigation.

It’s not like we live in a bad neighborhood. Sure, there are some shady characters around but, nothing criminal. Although, it was not fun talking to the police officer in the back alley while the neighbors of questionable immigration status and the creepy guy from the apartments were keeping an eye on me.

All this because some guy decided he didn’t need to pay for a weed wacker like the rest of society.

From the Driver's Side

Here's Driver's first post. Well, a first post with a picture of the cutest Back Seat Baby ever!

I upset The Driver

The Driver saw my post last night and he was upset. "This is supposed to be a family blog", he said. "Why is the profile all about you?" I told him that since we set it up in a hurry, I didn't have time to figure out how to put more users in and bla, bla...we might as well get this out in the open: I'm kind of computer illiterate. The Driver is very good with computers. I think he feels like I'm stepping into something that's "his area".

So, very soon you will see posts from The Driver, though I'm sure they won't be very frequent. I'll also try to get pictures up for all of you. And in less than a month we should know the sex of The Bean and have some good ultrasound pictures to put up. Then we can contemplate The Bean's new name. Not The Bean's REAL name--the one he/she will have when he/she comes out and joins the world, the one we'll call he/she while he's still swimming around in there enjoying life before the horrible tunnel into the bright lights and cold.

Back Seat Baby discovered worms tonight. We went outside after supper and a little walk, and I started obsessively compulsively pulling up crab grass (I could do it for a month in our lawn), and in the patch of dirt I uncovered we found 3 worms. At first she was all about touching them;she even held one for a bit. But then she realized they were kind of gross, so I had to hold it while she kissed and hugged it from a few inches away. The girl loves her backyard wildlife.

The very first one!!

So, I've been thinking of starting a blog for a little while now, when The Driver comes home from work tonight and suggests we start a family blog so our family and far-away friends can keep up with our little family. Just the inspiration I needed to actually stop thinking about it and start doing it.

This blog will be about me--Shotgun, my husband--The Driver, our 21 month old daughter--Back Seat Baby, and a soon to be addition to our family, we'll just call him/her The Bean until we get further information.

I would love to write more, but I really must be going as Grey's Anatomy is on and I have a slight addiction to that show.