Progress

Yay, we bought a house! Papers are signed, and inspections are starting. If nothing goofy happens, we should be moving the last weekend of September. More on that when we're actually in...

Otherwise, wedding season is finished for us. I can't possibly do justice to Greg and Katelyn's wedding in a few minutes, so I won't start. I'll just say that it was a really good time. Last weekend, though, we went to cousin Heidi's wedding, which had some of the best wedding food I've ever encountered. Annika danced until we left. The weirdest moment for me was being on the dance floor with my daughter, my aunt, and my mom while they were playing Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Jake went with too, of course, and in the span of his 5 month life, he attended 6 wedding showers and 3 actual weddings. That will probably not happen again.

Off to class!

Hunting Houses

But first - a couple days ago we hit the 1st anniversary of the purchase of our minivan. The same day, the odometer hit 18,000. Them's some crazy miles. We'd like to avoid doing that again, so...

We officially made an offer on a house today! We've already received a counter-offer, so negotiations are ongoing, but so far everything has been positive. I almost hesitate to write that, since we've had two houses the past couple weeks that we thought were going to be "the one", only to have them go down in flames (not literally). We're hopeful that the third time will be the charm and that we'll be moving by the end of September. We'll let you know, so you can help us move (bring boxes and any pool table levitation devices you may own).

Meanwhile, school starts for me tomorrow, and then Lisa and the girls start right after Labor Day. It's a busy and crazy time. And six days until college football!

Stories

Parenting Event 1:

Monday I was home with the girls and on the phone with someone from a potential mortgage company. Abby started wailing at one point, and I asked Annika to check on her. That went something like this:

"Abby, what's wrong?"

Pause, more crying.

Angrily: "Abby, what's WRONG?!!"

That didn't help. Eventually, I got her on my lap, still on the phone, and she started drawing letter A's on my paper. I continued talking, and then it happened: a disturbingly warm sensation in my lap. Now, if I'm on the phone with someone I know, I go into action immediately and try to do something, but I'm already embarrassed about dealing with a fussy kid while on the phone trying to have a serious financial conversation, so I don't, and - yes, indeed - Abby just pees all over both of us. I managed to finish the call a few minutes later, but had to endure the disgusting dampness for a few minutes. It was very, very gross.

Parenting Event 2, same day:

I'm in the basement while the girls are upstairs playing, and I come up to find them playing with water in the bathroom. That's mostly OK, but then I notice that Annika has my cellphone. I take it away from her with some words about how it's not a toy and water could ruin it, while she just looks guilty. That would have been the end of it, but she couldn't resist telling me "I was using it to take pictures." So, we check her photos - there's one of Abby washing her arms, and then one of the toilet in mid-flush. So, I ask "Did you flush the toilet just to take a picture of it?" Her answer: "No." Clicking to the next picture, taken immediately before the flush picture, and there it is: Annika's poop, with used toilet paper, in the bowl. That's number two for the day (get it?).

The same day, some cat yarfed in the basement, too.

On a non-bodily function note, Annika also used "air-quotes" while speaking that day too. I'd never seen that before.

Until the next one...

This Post Has Nothing To Do With Soybeans

A few more summer events...

Lisa and I had our 11th anniversary (so we've now been married half of Greg and Lizzy's lives) and actually managed to do dinner and a movie (with a stop in between to feed Jake). We saw the Bourne Ultimatum, which was excellent, and hit the Olive Garden. At this point, there's nothing more enjoyable than going out for dinner without kids.

Jake got his first ear infection, and we discovered his first allergy - after the doc prescribed Amoxicillin, Jake broke out in hives, so we ceased that medication immediately. Lisa's allergic, too, but neither of the girls are. So, we switched antibiotics and took care of it. Not soon after, though, Jake got what the doc described as some viral infection that made him break out all over. We thought it might be heat rash, since it's been so warm and he lays on his back so much. Obviously, the doc said otherwise, but it didn't prevent Lisa from going to Chicago with the kids and her mom, so I had three nights at home by myself (with three cats, and our friends' dog for one night). With the prime opportunity to watch some movies at appropriate volume levels without concern for sleeping children, I watched the entire Matrix trilogy. I almost went for The Lord of the Rings but opted for shorter movies.

Also, the online summer class I was teaching is over, so we have a week's worth of emptiness before Greg and Katelyn get married and then school starts to kick in. Lisa and the girls don't start until after Labor Day, though. Abby's going to start preschool, too, at the ripe age of 3 - she'll have two years of it that way, but she should do fine, for less than three hours, three days a week. Millbrook is already a very familiar place for her, too.

Meanwhile, there's been some . . . progress . . . made on selling our house, but I don't want to jinx anything so that's all I'll say.

Finally, some brilliant words of wisdom from the Matrix movies:

"Some things never change." Pause. "Some things do change."

Wow, what pure enlightenment. Let's blow something up!