Theo's Birth Story

Here is my version of the story of our son's Oth birthday! I guess you'll have to check with Andy to see if it is accurate or not. :)

Theo's birth was everything we had hoped for and, I will be honest, the most challenging thing we have ever done. Sandy and Doug had taken this week off from work so they got to our house on Saturday night around 9pm. We all visited, made up some diaper wipe solution for the baby's wipes, and just hung out for a few hours. We finally went to bed at 12:30. Strangely, and completely unexpectedly, my water broke at 1:00am. I told Andy and we decided to go back to sleep. I had hourly contractions until we got out of bed at 6am. I was still having fairly regular contractions (10 min. apart and lasting 30-45 sec.) so we called Mom and Dad and told them to head up this way.
At 9am we finally called our midwife and told her what was happening. While we labored, we went to REI, went out for Thai food, and picked up a few last things at Target. Then we went home and I labored in the shower and tub until about 4:00. It was time to get to the birth center. My contractions were coming every 4 minutes and lasting about 2 minutes. They weren't unmanageable, but they were very painful and long. We walked to the birth center (much to the shock of our parents. Especially my Dad!) which is about 3/4 mile from our house. That really got things started. The contractions really picked up speed and I had to do all sorts of funny things like kneel down on the sidewalk and squat in peoples' yards. Luckily I was very focused on the labor and didn't notice if people saw us and really didn't care anyway!
We got to the birth center at 5:30pm and the midwife checked my dilation. I was disappointed to find out that I was only 3-4 cm, but I got in the tub and got back to work. For the next 3 hrs. I was almost completely silent in the tub. We took the Bradly Method childbirth class and Andy was completely prepared to coach me to relax during the contractions. I, strangely for a really talkative person like me, wanted everyone in the room to be as silent as possible. I did have a few "freak out" contractions when I kindof hollered out how much it hurt and how out of control I felt, but I realized those weren't any more productive and actually stressed me out a lot, so I went back to laying in the water like a dead body. At about 9:00 I had a huge urge to push and did. It hurt. Our midwife said she needed to check me before I pushed again. I didn't want her too since it hurts and I had been so little dilated at 5:30, but she had to. Luckily she said, "There's nothing there! Do whatever you want to!!" I was 1/2 thrilled and 1/2 terrified because that first push really felt out of control.
I pushed in the water for a few contractions, but they weren't very effective. They put a small, metal birth stool in the water with me and I pushed on it for a few contractions, but I couldn't get comfortable. The contractions at this point were shorter, but there still wasn't any length of time between them (maybe 30-45 sec at the longest). Finally she suggested I move to the bed (about 10 ft. away) and I practically ran there between contractions and got on my hands and knees. A few pushed later they could see Theo's head and encouraged me to keep pushing. I pushed all I could and looked down between my hands and knees to see a HUGE person fly out of me and flop onto the bed with a huge gush of water and very loud crying. We didn't know what he was and the gigantic cord was in the way, so I scooped him up and we both looked and saw that we had a son!
He latched on right away and nursed for about 45 minutes straight. It was incredible. Ann (our midwife) and Sharon (her assistant) gave me an ice pack and pulled the covers up around the 3 of us and then let all of our families come in and meet Theodore. There were cameras flashing everywhere and it felt the most like being a celebrity as I can imagine. After everyone left and we had some food to eat and lots of orange juice, they checked me out and saw that I had torn quite a bit when he was born because he had his left hand up over almost his entire face. Our midwife said she repairs 1st and 2nd degree tears herself, but I had a very mild 3rd degree tear and she wanted my body to heal the best it can, so would I mind going to the hospital for a quick stich-up before we headed home. I said of course. I was just so happy that our baby was so healthy and perfect.
Andy, Ann, Theo and I went to the hospital and a very sweet family practice Dr. stitched me up and listened to the whole story of Theo's birth. Ann told them that I was the quietest woman she had ever witnessed in labor and that it was especially strange because, as she put it, "Sarah is really not a quiet person." That's the understatement of a lifetime! The nurse commented that she hates it when women are quiet in labor because she loves to chat. I said a prayer of thanks to God that he led us to the right environment to have our baby in and to the right person to have attend our birth. I don't know how I would've survived the bright lights and beeping sounds of the hospital. After the stitched were in, Ann hugged us all and got us buckled into the car and we headed for home. We got home at 2:45 and after feeding the baby and brushing our teeth, we were all sleeping in our bed by 4:00.
He is a miracle and truly is a Gift of God. My stitches are still a little sore, but I feel better everyday and I would do it all and more again for him if I had to. Can't wait to do it all again in a couple of years. Andy bought me a little daily flip calendar for baby's first year for our 6th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. Today's sentiment really rang true (as I had just spent a large part of the night constantly nursing Theo and sleeping with my head against the wall).

"When a baby first looks at you...when it laughs that deep, unselfconscious gurgle; or when it cries and you pick it up and it clings sobbing to you...then you are, happy is not the precise word, filled.
~ Marilyn French

Time to change...

...his diaper. I have this baby laying on me in a baby holder and he is quiet and peaceful, but he is starting to smell. This tells me that he is probably wet (or poopy if I'm lucky). I've gotta go take care of him.
This was me changing him yesterday, what fun!

Unbelievable!

It really worked!

This is what we are doing this morning

In God's Time

I have been thinking today about a story I read (probably in Guideposts magazine) about a couple who desperately wanted to be married and, for some reason, couldn't get married when they wanted to. They were both very distraught and wondered why things had happened they way they had. I think they were both in different countries and the paperwork didn't go through for many years or something unavoidable like that. As a gift and to remind her of his committment, the man had a ring inscribed for her. It said 2 = 1 IGT. It was to remind her that the 2 of them would become 1, but only if they were patient for God's timing. Two equal one in God's time. Today I have been working on some Thank You cards while Andy takes a nap (very unusual for him. I'm glad he's taking a break) and I've had some nice quiet time to myself to pray and think about the upcoming birth and actually being a parent. It's very easy for me to become anxious these last days and to lose sight of how long we have waited in comparison to how much time is left. I will mentally inscribe a note to myself across my forehead; 2 = 3 IGT. God knows what is happening inside my body and I have to learn to trust His plan.

Next to last day of work for me

I have to visit 3 of my clients today. Tomorrow I will only visit 1 and that will be my last day of work until the baby comes. That means today will be a little bit busy, but tomorrow will be easy and then there's nothing left to do! It's been nice to feel so well and be able to stay so active all the way up until the end. According to our ultrasound, the baby was due today, so I guess I really have felt well all the way until the final week. Well, I need to get in the shower and hit the road.

Projects

Today was Andy's first day off from the moving company. It was so nice to have him home. We rode our bikes to an appt. with Ann this morning and everything seems to be growing well. No, I don't know if I'm dilated or effaced at all. Knowing that information doesn't really change anything, so I opted not to find out. Some women are dilated 3 or 4 cm and 50% effaced or more for several days or weeks before they actually go into labor. This way, I figure, I will know I'm in labor when it really happens and I won't be thinking it's coming when it isn't. I guess the impatience will probably increase with each passing day whether I know anything or not. After the appt. we went and visited Donna at the nursing home and went out for lunch at Diamond Jim's. We'd never been there for lunch before, but we've been there for breakfast several times. After lunch we came home and......surprise, surprise....I took a nap. We did finish 2 small projects today though. We hung up the animal quilt in the baby's room and we put up a coat rack we bought today at the consignment shop for $2! I hope you like the pictures. Everything in the room looks really cute. Well, we have childbirth class in an hour, so I'd better start getting dinner ready to go!

can't sleep

It's 1:00am and I can't sleep. This seems to happen to me about every other night. Last night I had wonderful sleep and only woke up to use the bathroom once. Tonight I could hardly fall asleep at 10:30 and then I was up at 11:30 and 12:30 to go pee. Go figure. I think I'll try resting on the couch for a while and reading a book. Usually I'm ready to go back to bed within a couple of hours and I sleep the rest of the night just fine. The baby is awake too and kicking much more than it has all day. Maybe this is preparation for walking the floor at night and trying my hardest not to wake up Andy! I know it will all be worth it when the baby get here. I just want to make sure I sleep enough each night to keep myself healthy and to have enough energy for when labor does start. I would not label myself "impatient" just yet, but it is a little frustrating that everyone keeps asking me why the baby isn't here yet when we aren't technically due until a week from Wednesday! I know it is just because people care about us and are excited for this new member of our family to arrive! It just makes me feel like I am already overdue when we're not even due yet. I just worry that the baby will come a couple of weeks late and then these last 2 weeks + those 2 weeks will really feel like forever! Luckily I still feel very good most of the time and have no complaints aside from the lack of sleep. Well, I should at least lie down and attempt to get some rest. Any wisdom about how to get back to sleep when your body is huge and your mind is running 3,000 mph?

Monday, Monday

Well, It's 7:45 and Andy just left for work. I need to leave in the next 1/2 hr. We both have pretty busy days planned for today. I don't have any reason to assume this, but wouldn't Murphy's Law say that you will have your baby on a day that is already packed extremely full? No contractions, backache, or anything else obvious. I did start losing my mucous plug on Saturday and I have a little bit of light spotting this morning. Those are all indicators that something will happen at some point, but I knew that already, right? This morning I need to go clean Donna's refrigerator (she'll be in the nursing home recupperating from her fall for about 3 months, so she won't need anything in the fridge), visit Hazel in the morning and afternoon, and visit Leona. I should be finished with all of my work by 2:00. I want to make sure I get a nap since I have a Children's Committee meeting this evening and then we go to small group. Andy is busy too, but his day only consists of 1 thing: moving. Tomorrow is his last day working for the summer and then he has a whole week off before meetings start at BCS. We did a lot of small projects around the house this weekend, so I'm feeling good about our preparedness for the baby's arrival. Of course I still need to vacuum and dust and put away a few more things, but we are about 95% cleaned up and ready. If I did happen to go into labor, I'm sure we could finish up everything in an hour because of all of the adrenaline!!!! We'll keep you posted!

Saturday

Andy has today off from the moving company, so we went garage saleing this morning. It was really fun. We bought a shower squeegee (very exciting, right?), a shelf, a door knocker (which may or may not actually work on our door, but it was $1), a sewing machine case, and a baby sleep sack (at the consignment store). Now we just have to figure out what to have for lunch and what we're doing with the rest of our day. We're taking a meal to a woman from church who just had a baby, so I guess we'd better decide what we're making. I think we're making some type of pasta (she has 4 other kids, so I want to make sure the food is simple and filling. Well, I need to go eat something or I might go nuts, so I'll write more later if we end up doing anything thrilling. We are having french dips for dinner, so that's pretty exciting.

Let's Hip Hop this baby out of here!

I did something last night that some of you might think was a little crazy, but it was actually incredibly energizing and really fun. I went and took Heidi's Hip Hop class at the studio while Andy was at worship team practice. It was so fun! I've always wanted to come to class, but I know that I don't really look "hip hop" when I dance, so I was always a little bit nervous and embarrassed. I know, I know....those are the feelings I always tell the kids in my classes to get over and just enjoy the dancing. It's a lot harder to do that when you're an adult AND when you teach at the studio. I just assume people are watching and thinking, "She teaches dance?" Well, I figured people make all types of allowances for you when you're pregnant, so what better time to try it out and have some fun? It was great. I was a little too flowy and graceful looking, but I really liked it and actually thought it was very, very similar to modern in some ways. The best part is that I hadn't been sleeping very well the past few days, but last night I slept the whole night with only 1 bathroom break. Not bad. I guess I'll have to start exercising in the evening as often as I have the chance. Well, I am starting on the last few of my organizing (or agonizing as Andy would probably call it!) projects today, so I'd better get started. Happy Friday! Maybe today will be the last Friday before the baby comes? (of course....maybe not, too, but I'm trying to only think positively!)

12 or 7 days left

Depending on which due date you're going by (LMP (8/30) or 12-week ultrasound (8/24), we have 12 or 7 days left before our due date. There are still so many things I would like to accomplish before then, but I know it's all really no big deal. We have the basics ready and we are both feeling really positive about the labor and birth. A strange thing has been happening though. A few times a day, the baby moves in my belly and it feels like it's vibrating or doing that infant startle reflex thing. Very weird feeling. It did it yesterday while Ann (the midwife) was using her fetostethoscope on that exact spot and it made the whole thing jiggle in her hand. We both commented on how weird it was. Today I am making cookies to take to a family at church who have a 1-week old boy named Sway. I am excited to see them and meet him and ask about his name. Pretty unusual. The only Sway I've ever know was a VJ on MTV a few years ago. I also have all of my regular work to do today and we haven't done the dishes or much housecleaning in the past week, so I have a lot to accomplish today and tomorrow. I guess that means I'd better get off of the computer! Hope you're all having a good day.

Midwife's Appt.

** I must love all of you a lot because this picture obviously shows my stretch marks which I don't often show to people. :) I guess I should be proud of them. They are proof that we will have another member of our family soon and that that little person really was made inside of me and will come out of me too. It's just so weird to see your body change so much over such a short period of time.

We had an appt. with Ann, our midwife, today. Andy didn't have to work today, so it was nice to have him go with me. He's only had to miss 2 or 3 of the appts. during the whole pregnancy. It is great to really feel like this is "our" pregnancy and not just "my" thing. We still have a couple of weeks left, but Ann said the baby is growing well and in a good position for birth (technically called left occiput anterior, but who wants to get technical, right?). I was concerned that the baby wasn't dropping down into my pelvis, but she said that it is pretty far down already and it's also stretching it's legs up under my ribs which makes it look high, too! Very strange. We're supposed to do lots of walking (about 2 hours today and we still have to walk to childbirth class later) and also do "it" often too. She said that's all we can do to encourage labor at this point. As she put it, midwives have other "tricks" up their sleeve for labor induction, but it's much too early to do anything too drastic at this point. Mostly we have to practice patience. I thought we had already learned that lesson while we waited to get pregnant, but I guess it's a lifelong lesson that we never fully learn.

I got to go see this yesterday!

Yeah, it was even cooler to be there... because it was loud!

16 days left (supposedly)

We are back home from vacation and getting back into our routine. Andy had to be at work this morning at 8:15 (of course) and we had an exam with our life insurance provider here at the house at 7am. I guess the old addage of "no rest for the wicked" must really be true and we must really be bad! I have a fairly busy day with 3 client visits and 1 interpreting appt. in Mt. Vernon, but they're all at very convenient times and I'll be able to do them back-to-back and then come home for the afternoon. Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Eugene, OR last week for a few days and then visited our families for a couple of days before coming home on Sunday. It was a wonderful vacation and a very fun time to be together. Last night, Andy took my out to dinner at a new restaurant in Fairhaven called Coppa Meditteranean. The food was incredible and it had my favorite type of flavor (you know...the ones you wish you could make at home, but you can't even really figure out what's in it). After dinner, we walked down the hill for some fresh gelato. Have you ever had gelato? We never had. It's like very light, sortof sorbet-ish ice cream. They had lots of flavors and served it in these really cute little cups which we brought home to reuse. I plan on collecting a whole set. Well, I'd better get going with my plan for the day. I am still feeling great and am very excited that the baby will be arriving within the next month. We have the cloth diapers we bought in Oregon all washed and ready in the baby's room and now all we need is the baby!

No more driving

Well, we drove a lot and had a great time. This is just a post to write something, more details will be provided with pictures as evidence at a later time. For now I'll go with this picture from earlier today. It was a beautiful day for eating outside and that's what we got to do!
Sarah is now asleep on the couch. I have tried to get her to go to the actual bed, but she just keeps on sleeping. I guess I'll have to actually pull her up off the couch... that usually does the trick. Don't worry, I'll be gentle!

T - 22

We're almost ready for bed. We're leaving on vacation tomorrow. I can't wait! We originally thought we'd bring the carseat with us (just in case the baby came early), but we decided that it takes up so much space in the trunk that we'll just buy another one in the (highly unlikely) event that the baby is born on vacation. We'll be gone on Wednesday (night), Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So, that means you won't get any updates from us for a few days. Tomorrow I need to get the groceries we need, clean the house, wash the dog, have a midwife's appt. with Ann (at our house! It will be so weird/cool to have her here for the appt.), go to a Deacon's committee meeting for church, go to VBS, go to childbirth class, and then......finally leave for vacation!!!! We'll be seeing Death Cab for Cutie and Mates of State at the Secret House Vineyard in Veneta, OR. It's right near Eugene, so we'll have some time to check into our hotel in the afternoon and then the doors open to the concert at 4:30, but it doesn't start until 6:30. Well, we have a few more things to do before we head for bed, so I'd better get off of the computer. Talk to you in a few days.

T - 23

We saw a beautiful moon tonight. It looks full, but the full moon isn't really happening until Wednesday the 9th. That's when we'll be leaving town to head toward Oregon for our mini-vacation/anniversary trip. I'm really getting excited. We'll leave town after childbirth class on Wednesday night and drive a couple or few hours toward Eugene. We'll campout (in the car) and then finish the rest of the 6 hour drive on Thursday morning. The concert we're going to isn't until Thursday evening, so we'll have the whole day to sightsee and hang out together. I can't believe we've been married for 6 years already. It has flown by so quickly. I also can't believe that the baby will be here so soon. I'd love to write more, but we had VBS tonight and I'm pretty worn out. We both have busy days tomorrow. Andy has to work and I have work and an appt. with a family physician who may be the baby's doctor as well as ours. I hope I get along with him alright. I've been trying to think of vital questions that I want to ask him at this consultation, but I can't really come up with anything. I just don't want to have a doctor who is too pushy or inflexible to new ideas. I guess I'll just have to meet him and see what I think. I wish Andy could be there to meet him too, but I know he has to work and I appreciate that he does, so I can't complain. Well, better hit the hay. I hope you like the moon pictures.

Mmmmm.... good!

These tomatoes are the first high quality produce from our very under-nurtured garden:
And yes, they taste even better than they look. They are sweet and juicy and firm and plump and delicious.

This is actually quite a strange thing for me to say since I spent most of my childhood avoiding tomatoes on a regular basis. I now reserve my food avoidance tactics for pickles, cauliflower, and beets.

On another note of strange reversals I am becoming quite impatient. On most occasions I am quite patient and able to enjoy the anticipation of a coming event. I love the time leading up to Christmas. I enjoy the expectation associated with a new school year. I look forward to breaks from school but am not so worn out I can't make it. However, this whole baby thing is a different story.

I talk to the baby (through the walls of Sarah's uterus) on a daily basis. I have let the baby know that any time is good for us, and more specifically, the sooner the better!

Part of this is motivated by the fact that school does start back up in exactly one month and I would like to have some time at home with our new kiddo before school is back in swing. Also, if they baby doesn't get here until school has already started then I have to write sub plans for every day that I'm gone. In case you don't know, I hate (and I am using that word very accurately) writing sub plans. It takes scads of time to write them, and even then I feel like they aren't exactly what I would have done in class.

Another motivating factor in my impatience is that I'm just plain excited and want to see our child on the outside. We have two sets of friends that have newborns (actually one of them is 2 months old and is getting pretty big for a baby) and with each of their births I have become more and more out of control excited. It's kind of like when I used to just shake people or push them when I realized that Christmas was going to be soon. (That probably happened to my brothers, Nathan, C.J., Shane, Seth, Sarah, and others) Actually it's a lot like the time I pushed John Keister at the SeaFair parade! I am so excited that I don't know what to do with myself. In that instance (at the SeaFair parade) I saw John Keister and ran up to him (he was in the parade) and I high-fived him (you should click on that... really). By that point I was so caught up in the moment that I pushed him and yelled, "John Keister! Yeah!!!" Interestingly enough I was not arrested, pushed in return, yelled at by anyone else, or given the boot by Sarah (this was actually early on when we were dating, so I guess if she saw me do that she knew what to expect :).

Anyhow, I'm more excited about this baby than seeing John Keister in person! That's really excited, seriously.

T - 25

We're off to the Bellingham Bells game in a few minutes, but I wanted to tell you about our day. We spent the morning (after sleeping in until 8:30!) doing some organizing projects around the house. I can now say that the bathroom is completely ready for the baby's arrival. The rest of the house isn't quite there yet, but it was encouraging to get everything in the bathroom sorted, organized, and put in it's place. We rode our bikes to Bloedel Donovan Park (a few miles away) and watched the dance camp kids perform at Kids Fest (an annual kid-friendly business festival here in town). We even got some free lunch there. After we got home, we went to visit Hazel (one of my elderly clients) and then went to Target, Walmart, and Fred Meyer to return a few duplicate baby items. Some of the things couldn't be returned, but that's no big deal. Once again, we were dumbfounded by the amount of money we got on a gift card after only returning a few items. People's generosity is still almost too much to comprehend, but we are so thankful for all of the support we've been given as we've been growing our family. After all of our errand running, we went to our favorite restaurant (Taco Lobo) for dinner and now we're off to the game. Hope everyone is having a fun Saturday like we are!!

T - 26 (I guess I was counting wrong?!?)

The body is definitely in control of the mind (mostly). Neither Andy nor I got a very good night's sleep last night. It seems that the DOT thought it was a good idea to cute down some brush on I-5 in the early morning hours (i.e. 1:00-4:00am) with an extremely loud machine, guys talking on megaphones, and lots of bright, flashing lights. I just asked Andy what time he thought they were working. He said he would describe it as the time of night when you are usually getting your best sleep. We were both able to sleep through it (mostly), but obviously we didn't sleep well. We both made it through our day, but we have both been extraordinarily tired and are more than ready for bed even though it's only 9:00pm. The last day of dance camp was today. The kids were great! I wish they had known their dances better, but what do I expect....they learned about 6 dances in 5 days! The fact that they remembered the dances at all is a testament to the power of the young mind. I couldn't even remember what I had choreographed for them most of the time. They were so attentive and just plain sweet. I will miss teaching kids classes, but hopefully I'll have a chance to get back into it later. I will be teaching 2 classes at most and maybe just 1 if I don't have enough students in my modern class. I'll just have to see what happens. Well, we really need to get some sleep. The I-5 work is supposed to be finished, so we shouldn't have any extra noise to deal with tonight. Maybe this is just preparation for parenthood. Aaahhhh!

T - 28

I taught dance camp again today from 10am-4pm. It wasn't really too bad. When I woke up this morning I didn't feel very well, so I assumed it would be a tough or at least overly tiring day. It was actually lots of fun. The kids we have this year are incredibly attentive and very good listeners. During my lunch break, I met with Betty's (an old co-worker and friend from the D/HH program in Anacortes) daughter, Angelita, from Santa Cruz. She designed an Asian/Mei Tai style baby carrier for herself when her daughter was born 5 years ago and now she hand sews and sells them. I had seen them on her website and really wanted one. They are supposed to be much better for the mother's back and shoulders and they are supposed to support the baby's spine properly by keeping their legs either crossed under themselves or wrapped around the mother at a 90 degree angle (like they normally are when you hold a baby with your arms). You aren't supposed to carry them facing outward (as many baby carriers do) since it doesn't support their legs and puts lots of strain on their back. When they are older and more curious about the world, you can carry them on your back or hip with this carrier, too. Andy and I both practiced putting it on and it's actually very easy. I also like that there aren't any buttons or plastic clips to mess with. You just put it on by tying 2 knots. Go to Eden Baby Carrier if you're interested in seeing more photos. Here is a picture of me wearing it with a little baby-sized (sortof) teddy bear inside of it. I don't even notice I have it on, but this teddy bear is also pretty light, so I'm sure a real baby would feel different. Can't wait to actually have the baby and have the opportunity to answer that question for real!

T - 29

I am tired today. We have to leave for VBS in about 10 minutes and we have childbirth class after that. We'll be home around 9:45 or 10:00. Luckily, we got a great night of sleep last night and neither of us woke up until 8:30! That's pretty strange because we usually tend to wake up around 6:45, even on the weekends! I think I'll feel better once my dinner kicks in. We went out for a great breakfast at Diamond Jim's and ate way too much. We both had the pancakes which are about the size of a dinner plate. You may think that when spouses go out to breakfast that constitutes a date. Normally I would agree with you. Today though, we were having a breakfast meeting of sorts. We spent some time coming up with a birth plan in case we need to be transferred from the birth center to the hospital and we also looked over our VBS curriculum for tonight (we soooo plan in advance, don't we). The VBS stuff looks super easy and the birth plan wasn't too hard either. Luckily, we realized we instinctively agree on all of the really important points, so we didn't have to come to any difficult decisions or anything. Mostly, writing all of the details out just reminded me that the baby will be here soon. Not soon enough as far as Andy is concerned. He would really prefer that the baby came soon, so then he would have more time before he went back to teaching in the fall. Once again, we have to give up the control and let God do whatever he is doing. It doesn't hurt to pray though, right??

Is this embarrassing?

I only ask this because I hung out our laundry and spent a good portion of the time configuring it so that the underwear were not featured prominently. The fact that this even matters to me is utterly ridiculous! We all have underwear! Most people are wearing underwear right now. Why are we all so eager to make sure that no one ever actually sees our underwear? It's very odd, but I have apparently bought into it.

However, this picture just makes me happy because it means it's a nice summer day that allows my clothes to dry outside. The fact that I don't have to run the dryer pleases me to no end. The $3 we spent on clothesline and pins has paid off many times over.

It may seem odd that I'm able to sit here and write at 1:55 in the afternoon. This is only possible because today I took part in the 3rd easiest move I've done all summer. As an added bonus I was paid for 4 hours (the customer had to pay for a minimum of 4 hours) even though I was home 3 hours after I started work! So, I played soccer on the Dreamcast for that hour and won the International Cup as Japan. Pretty good was to spend an hour getting paid!

T - 30

I can't believe that today is August 1st. Most of summer has already flown by so quickly. We had our 1st night of VBS yesterday. We are in charge of the welcome, Bible story skits, and the archaeological digs for treasure (an object to help the kids remember the them for the day). Yesterday's theme was that God Knows You and we acted out the story of David's annointing as King by Samuel. I played the part of Jesse (David's dad) and really enjoyed pretending to be an old man. We had a really good time with the kids and are really looking forward to being parents. Here is a funny exchange that happened during the play:
Andy (Samuel): "Jesse, Do you have any other sons?"
Sarah (Jesse): "Yes. (walking over to a kid in the crowd named Isaac) Here is my son Abinadab.
Oscar (4 yr. old): "NO! His name is Isaac! His name is Isaac!"
Sarah: "Ok. Abinadab, come over here and let Samuel take a look at you.
Isaac (7 yr. old): "NO!"
Well, I then had to keep walking around the crowd asking kids to participate. I finally got lucky on the 4th try when I asked the Children's Director's oldest son (3rd or 4th grader) to help me out. He was willing and we got to finish the skit. Kids are so weird. As Andy said this morning, at least 80% of Oscar's life is spent "playing pretend", but of course he couldn't go along with our pretending! It went well and was really fun though. We were both already tired from our busy days, so we were starved when we got home, but it was good. Tonight we have an appt. with Ann and then we're going out to dinner with our Texas friends, John and Lesley at Speak Easy's (BBQ place here in town. Really good.). I'll try to post some pictures of the dance camp and dinner later. Here's to a pleasant, fun, and enjoyable day. Only 30 days left! (Supposedly!!)