For all the Tech fans, especially Uncle Clay and Granddad:.

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE WIN!!!  

It seems that our son is definitely "a boy".  He has a few favorite articles of clothing:  a basketball shirt, a soccer shirt, two pairs of "basketball shorts", a green and grey outfit from Gap, and his VT outfit.  If any of these articles of clothing are clean, Michael refuses to wear anything else.  He can't stand his church clothes.  (Can't stand them! )  The funny thing is that Josh was complaining at the beginning of the summer that Michael's wardrobe was "too preppy" and that he needed more t-shirts and more "gym/basketball" shorts, of course I disagreed.   I happen to like the $3.49 shirts from Target, thank you very much!  It turns out that Josh knew exactly what Michael was missing because Josh picked out all of the favorite outfits, except for the VT garb!  (Guess I need some lessons on picking out clothes for little boys.)

Our weekend was quite uneventful.  We spent a large amount of time at home, getting ready for this baby and staying COOL.  The three of us cleaned out the garage yesterday, which was an absolute mess!  And, we had a "family movie night" last evening.  Michael loves "family movie nights"!  The four (including Duncan as one of the 4) of us lay down in the living room, eat popcorn, and watch a family movie.  Josh and I are amazed that Michael is now able to sit through a whole movie.  

Last evening I noticed that the ice maker stopped making ice, and I literally flipped out.  I REALLY NEED ice! AT ALL TIMES!  (Lots and LOTS of ice!)  After mass and breakfast with Michael and Mary Jane, I called Sears and scheduled an appointment for someone to come out here to check out the ice maker.  (Wish I was kidding, but I'm not...) Josh fussed at me for calling because I didn't even give him the chance to troubleshoot.  He took the phone from me because he knew that the next person on my list to call was our friend, Jason.  Unfortunately, Jason was in PA last evening and got back today.   It turns out that Josh fixed the problem in less than an hour.  I definitely overreacted a bit, but like I said...I really, really need ICE these days.  (It's like, right up there with the air conditioning.)  And, I do realize that are such things as TRAYS for ice, but I just really cherish the ice maker.  (I don't have to wait for the ice to freeze. And, I'm lazy! )

More to come tomorrow:  37 week appointment update!!!

Good to be home.

It sure does feel good to be home. We all slept so well last evening, I don't even think I got up to pee in the middle of the night. (That rarely happens anymore these days!) Michael has been so content to play with his toys and Duncan all morning long. He was up bright and early this morning, ready to play cars! I was hoping to sleep in just a little bit, but Michael was way too happy to stay in bed this morning.

Tomorrow we are going to begin the "back to school" routine. Which, basically means that Michael is going back to the sitter's house a couple of days during the work week. Josh and I vascilated on sending him to a preschool versus the sitter's house all summer long, and we both just decided to stick with our beloved sitter. Michael adores her, and she runs her daycare just like a preschool. He's very happy, he seems to be learning quite a bit, and it just seems to be the right fit for right now. Maybe we'll change our minds when he's four, and is getting ready for kindergarten.

Michael seems very eager to see his friends and to learn at Ms. Peggy's tomorrow. He has shown a TREMENDOUS interest in writing over the past two weeks. It's totally developmentally normal, I'm sure, but very exciting, nonetheless. We've been working on his name all week at the beach and he's come a long way. The whole time that we've been working on his name, I'm thinking; should we start with his name or should we start at the beginning of the alphabet with a lower case and upper case A? Right now I'm just following his lead. I do think I am going to hit up the teacher's store in our town for ideas on one of his daycare/school days this week. Josh has been nagging me to go there all summer. He wants THAT BOY TO LEARN! : ) (He's such a sweet dad! Michael is so blessed.)

I want to go to college.

One more funny Michael story for the day....

Yesterday while we were swimming in the pool, I saw a young woman who goes to VT, Jill.  It's been quite some time since we've seen one another so we chatted a little in the pool. 

Michael, of course, was curious about this girl.  So, I explained that her brother went to high school with his Uncle Clay and that they were on the same soccer team together.  I then told him that Jill goes to VT, just like Uncle Clay.  We also talked about the fact that her brother also goes to college. I explained to him that Jill's brother, Bobby, goes to Elon.   Michael then mentioned something about VT and Uncle Clay, and I replied that VT is an excellent college.  Michael then told me in a declarative voice, "I'm going to college one day, Mom.  I'm going to college, too."  

We sure do hope you do, Michael!  Wherever you want, your dad and I will be cheering you on every step of the way.  And, hopefully on to graduate school, little guy....

Reporter, Attornery, Interrogator...

I never knew that one child could ask so many QUESTIONS in the course of a day.

Welcome to the three's! Right? : )

Josh and I are exhausted.

"Why? Why? Why?," says Michael. "Why are you tired, Mommy?," says Michael.

Phew... Thank goodness it's time for bed!

(You can tell that he's asking a question in this picture, can't you?)

Quirky

He's a quirky little thing!  

This morning, when I got home from mass, I walked into the playroom and saw this:

Immediately, I asked Josh if he helped Michael create this line.  He said no, apparently Michael came up with this configuration on his own accord.  If you notice, Michael lined up his trucks and cars from biggest to smallest. To top this off, he added a frog to each truck or car.  (Before our San Antonio trip last summer, I bought Michael a set of frogs and butterflies from Target.  He forgot about these guys until this weekend.) You might need to click on the picture above of the cars and trucks to see the frogs, it's so funny!

All day he has been creating all sorts of configurations and lines with the frogs and cars.  It's quite hilarious.  I think what catches my eye the most is that he lines his toys with such care and perfection.

Maybe all this lining and organizing means that he'll do well with patterns in math.  That would make me happy.  : ) Tomorrow I'm going to work on creating a few albums for the blog.  I've got some wonderful pictures of this little guy to share.  And, thank you to everyone for the get well wishes!  I'm feeling 100% better.  Thank goodness we didn't have school on Friday.  All the rest (and, no running!) has helped me bounce back quickly.  (Yay!)