the beatles, the 1970s and veggie tales

At first glance, these three might not have much in common. I Want to Hold Your Hand, Proud Mary and God Is Greater Than the Boogeyman must have a certain je ne sais quoi, though, because Natalie rocks out to all of them.

The six spots on my car's CD changer are occupied by the following:
- Veggie Tales Silly Singalong v. 1
- Veggie Tales Silly Singalong v. 2
- Bob & Larry Sing the 70s
- Kidz Bop Sings The Beatles
- Playhouse Disney Music Playdate
- Sesame Street Platinum All-Time Favorites/Elmopalooza mix CD

Naturally, I welcome the kid-friendly remixes of actual songs ... like, that you'd hear on the radio. Because, well, one can only listen to the Bubble Guppies theme song so often before one starts humming it in one's sleep.

I've occasionally been able to listen to the radio, too, but there's too much crap mixed in between the good stuff to hold her interest. (And too many songs now have iffy lyrics... I find myself listening to the oldies stations more and more!) So until I get an iPod hookup installed in my car, we'll stick to whatever CDs cross my path at the library.

Luckily, Natalie's taste is pretty good ... so far. The song she requests most, though? The "hot dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. *sigh*

31 weeks

I completely forgot to post my 30 week picture! But here I am at 31 weeks!

I can't believe that in 9 weeks (and by "nine" I mean "please-God-make-it-less-than-nine") we'll be a family of four, and Natalie will be a big sister. I'm still trying to picture her in that role. Sometimes she seems so grown up, and sometimes she's still my little baby.

There are times I wish I could have her all to myself for a little while longer. With a face and personality like hers, who wouldn't? But I'm committed to finding ways to make her feel special, even while (especially while) the new baby needs constant attention.

The room is coming along slowly. The furniture is in, the paint is up. All I need is artwork. And, uh, a crib mattress :) Details, details.

garage salesmanship

I am preparing to host my first ever garage sale this Saturday. Having taken part in a few garage sales (and having been to even more), I thought I was pretty prepared for all the work involved. Man, it is a lot of work. Especially while trying make sure your toddler doesn't run full speed down the driveway into traffic.

Matt is against garage-saleing as a rule, but I think he is curious to see how it's going to go. He doesn't like to haggle with people, but since we're in "everything must go" mentality, there won't be much haggling going on. After all, we're adding a whole other person to our family in August, and babies have lots of stuff.

Our sale is a few days away, but we have almost everything set up. As we go, I am schooling Matt in basic garage salesmanship.

Rule #1 : Everything has to be clean. You can easily spend days on this if your stuff has been in storage for awhile. Fun times.

Rule #2 : Display display display. There was a library study done several years ago in which a librarian chose books of which the library owned two copies. One, she left on the shelf. The other, she displayed. Guess which one checked out more? My own personal library-gleaned rule is that books on the bottom shelves don't check out much, so put your boxes on tables to encourage more browsing. Also, signs make a huge difference for people who come looking for one thing. They want to get in and get out. They do not want to check out all your crap to find that one-in-a-million deal.

Rule #3 : Bargain hunters start early 'round these parts. We'll be setting up at 7 for an 8 a.m. sale time. I already posted our sale on Craigslist and (surprise surprise!) received a few emails asking about specific items. One person even asked if we'd be willing to open our garage to him for a "preview sale".

I told you they start early.

uh... what??

"We're going to assume it's MRSA."

How would you like to hear that coming from your child's pediatrician? What's that? No, I didn't think so. I didn't react too well to it either. I think much clutching and hugging of Natalie was involved. And a few tears.

That said, after some research, I discovered that MRSA is not quite the death sentence I imagined. After hearing about cases in the news, it's easy to assume the worst. Sure, it's more common now than it was, say, 10 years ago. And it is becoming increasingly resistant to more antibiotics. But for now, for my little girl, it's completely treatable.

We won't know if she actually has MRSA until this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest. For now, she's on treatment as if she does have it, and we're keeping a close eye on her temperature, temperament and infection site. For now, she seems to be responding well.

Thank God.

Natalie on the day of her 18 month pictures. She had just gotten three shots, and she already had what would turn out to be a staph infection. And she's still this darn cute.

18 months

Dear Natalie,

When you were born, I couldn't wait for your firsts. Your first smile, your first word, your first step. I remember thinking how nice it would be when you could hold your own bottle/cup, eat real food, walk on your own. Now we're there. Now you learn something every single day. Now time is moving too quickly. You're growing up too fast. I love the little girl you're growing into, but I am already nostalgic for the baby you've grown out of. I love you, angelface.

Love, Mommy

I guess that I can hold you one more time before you grow.

And tell you that I love you, so that you'll always know.

Please let me tie your shoe again. One day you'll tie your own.

And when you think back to this time. I hope it's love I've shown.

Tonight could I please wash your hair? And put toys in the bath?

Can I help you count your small ten toes before I teach you math?

Please let me help you up the hill. while you're still too small to climb.

And let me read you stories while you're young and have the time.

I know the day will come when you will do these things alone.

Will you recall the shoulder rides and all the balls we've thrown?

So will you let me carry you? One day you'll walk alone.

I cannot bear to miss one day from now until you've grown.

Original poem by Brad Anderson. Full text here.