What is a cousin?

From a conversation in the backseat on the way home from church:

Cousine: (muffle snuffle wuffle)

Scott: No, we can't make friends, but we can make cousins.

Mr. M: Hey, Scott, what do you think a cousin is?

Scott: You know what a cousin is.

Mr. M: Yes, but I want YOU to tell me what a cousin is.

Scott: A cousin is a human you make friends with.

Vacation cuteness

We are on vacation! We flew to Wichita almost a week ago to stay with C, J, and their 4 kids. C and J have been wonderful hosts; they even gave up their own bedroom for us and the girls gave up their bunkbeds for the boys. (Before you think we're complete jerks, C and J are sleeping in the baby's room next door in a bed.)

I have been exploring my inner slug by taking daily naps, reading library books, raiding the garage freezer which is stocked with ice cream sandwiches, and enjoying all the food that C and J have prepared for us. Our boys have had such a great time here; besides the fun of playing with cousins the same age, they have loved being in a home with stairs, bikes, and a yard with a lake and mud. Good times!

We visited the zoo on Friday, which was quite possibly the best zoo I' ve even seen. It was nicely laid out, so the walking paths go around the animal exhibits on all sides. There were also numerous indoor air-conditioned spaces for animal observation. We saw a tiger feeding, elephant training, and ate our lunch in the gorilla tent, where Ethan had the thrill of learning through observation that gorillas urinate. It happened to be 99 degrees the day we were there, and it happened to be "Wet and Wild Day", which meant that a fire truck was present all afternoon, spraying its hose into the air and creating a huge muddy puddle for zoo-goers to splash and swim in. I think it was the best day of Scott's life!

Yesterday and today, we visited the YMCA. I have never seen a YMCA like this before! Besides the regular things you'd expect like weight machines and a lap pool, there is a climbing wall, and a family pool with fountains and a mini-waterslide, as well as an outdoor waterpark with a lazy river, two water slides, and a shallow pool for splashing and wading. Wow, wow, and wow!

Besides exploring my inner slug, I am beginning to get in touch with my more feminine side. Last night, when I came in from my walk, J was sitting at the table, surrounded by ribbons, buttons, cloth flowers, and plain barrettes. (C and J have 3 daughters.) J invited me to make a few hair clips, so I made some for BabyGirl and I even made two for me. It was surprisingly easy and quite fun. Maybe I will turn out to be more of a girlygirl than I had previously thought.

Speaking of girlygirls, Mr. M has one big toenail that seems to have a fungus. It has been this way for years and is not especially nice to look at, although it seems to be doing better in recent months. The 5 year old girl of the house, a tousled blond who loves carebears, cheerleading, and hugs, was standing by him and looked down at his sandaled feet. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "your sick toe is CUTE!"

Our baby is ....

a GIRL! We were stunned when the ultrasound tech showed us that it is definitely a girl. Mr. M immediately started thinking of the boys she would date that he wouldn't like, and I started thinking of bras, periods, hormones, and self-image. We are feeling more settled and more excited now that we' ve had a few days, and yes, we know most of our worries won't be relevant for at least a decade. Ethan and Scott are also looking forward to this new little woman joining our family. Scott talks about her every day and loves to look at the baby websites to see how big she is (about the size of an heirloom tomato - sounds delicious!). She is scheduled to arrive sometime around November 14th. We're planning a VBAC.

I suppose it will be time to see if all our pre-girl vows will hold: no bows glued on heads, no froofy headbands for non-existent hair, as little pink in the wardrobe as possible, and above all, no princesses! I suspect some of these may go by the wayside as Miss M expresses her own personality.

I've been feeling a bit of pressure from myself. Suddenly, I am the dominant role model for a child. She will base her ideas on womanhood and motherhood on me. Thank goodness, I still have 5 months to become perfect and go to bed at night, keep the kitchen clean, stay on top of laundry, overcome my critical nature, develop charity, and keep the fridge stocked with healthy snacks and ingredients for delicious meals. Oh yeah, and turn into a fun mom who doesn't lose her temper, is so positively motivating that her children love to tidy up the nursery and always put their shoes on the shoe shelf. Let's not forget memorizing hundreds of scriptures to quote to the children, singing fun songs in the car so no one quarrels, and doing projects on Saturdays like puddle-mucking, frog-catching, and gardening.

Sigh. I think it will take longer than 5 months.

It's probably coffee

The M family just returned from an extended M family gathering in Las Vegas for a wedding. We stayed in a huge Vegas-style house, rented for the occasion. It had a swimming pool with a waterfall, a sauna, a home-theatre with reclining leather seats and a projector, a pool table, so many fireplaces I didn't count them (who needs a fireplace in Vegas though? What's that about?)... We filled the house with aunts, uncles, cousins, children of cousins, siblings, and even a few grandmas and grandpas. It was really fun to be surrounded by family.

When we arrived the first night, it was pretty late. We stumbled off to our bedroom, dug out pajamas and toothbrushes, and headed to bed. Scott, our intrepid 4 year old, was crawling around the floor. "I found something gross under the bed!" he exclaimed, holding up a small foil package marked "Her Pleasure"; it was split open and had something inside it. "It's probably coffee," he added, as his dad took it in disgust, threw it away, and took Scott to wash his hands.

Thankfully, we found no other such packages during our visit. The wedding was lovely; the boys had a great time playing with my former roommate who generously took them to Pump It Up and then fed them pizza; we enjoyed catching up with far-away family members. It was a fun weekend.

Stay tuned for the sequel - "Return of the Inlaws"... coming soon.

Feeling groovy and liking bullet points

I enjoyed the freedom of bullet points in the previous post so I'm going with it again:

• Scott finished all 20 doses of his ubergross glue-flavored antibiotics. His hearing seems to have returned to normal, and we'll see what the doctor says next week at the follow up. My thoughtful visiting teacher brought him cookies as a reward for taking all his medicine.
  
  
• I'm showing enough that one of our tenants patted my belly. I HATE it when people pat my belly, but I smiled at her and said, "Yep, there's a baby in there." My friend Rachelle says she has a button which she will lend me (nudge, nudge) that says something to the effect of "Hands off the belly! Grr!"
  
  
• I got a call from my good friend Dorothea letting me know that her husband, Warren, just got set apart as the bishop of their new ward. Been down that road, and I'm so glad not to be on it right now. Warren will be a fabulous bishop, and Dorothea will be an equally fabulous bishop's wife.
  
  
• We're heading to Vegas this weekend for a wedding in a rented minivan and bringing back Mr. M's parents for a few days.
  
  
• I bought a Swiffer wet/dry sweeper, and I love it! My floors have never been so clean! I also splurged and bought generic facial wipes for me, AND I have flossed every day since my dentist appointment, even last Saturday when I went to bed at 1 am.
  
  
• We have five apartments vacating in June. FIVE! It's a new record for vacancies. I calculated last night that since we've been here (almost a year) there will have been a turnover of around 30%. That's what happens when the economy goes bad.