Rob's family

from Tracey When I was still pregnant, a mom of 2 told me that the first time she went out with 2 kids by herself was a huge ordeal, but that you just have to do it. Kim can probably relate as well. Well, today it is sunny and 40 degrees, beautiful day, so I decided to take my chances and take my girls (?!) to the mall. Let me just say we have a ways to go on the efficiency scale! Melinda woke up at 7:05 (I was already feeding Gretchen), and we didn't leave until 10:00. I'm not exactly sure where the bottleneck occurred, perhaps with the 2-year-old who wanted to make a game out of getting dressed, or perhaps with the baby who, when I was THIS close to being ready at 9:15, decided she had to eat immediately. I have also discovered that 2-year-olds (at least mine) just have no concept of time. I have told Melinda that when it's cold out, we need to move QUICKLY getting into the car so we don't freeze. Our definitions of "quickly" are no where near the same. So I

From Tracey Susan, know what you mean about the lack of email, but as one of the perpetrators I can only sigh. I think Rob mentioned a while back how smoothly things were going so far with Gretchen around, and we were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, last Friday, we heard a thud. Not literally, of course. Gretchen's too young to fall out of her crib and Melinda does just fine in her twin bed. No, more like a cough, as in Rob coming down with the flu -- the fever, chills, coughing kind. A little scary with a 2-week-old baby in the house, but not bad, I just took care of everybody all weekend. Fine (except poor Rob, who at least had the common sense to get sick on the weekend, he thought) until Sunday night, when I developed a sore throat and fever. Fortunately Rob was better by then, so he took over Gretchen's care. Monday morning, Melinda woke up with a fever. Let's just say, she's not easily fooled by bubble gum flavor -- Rob had to force the Tylenol down her

Was fourty weeks really this long last time? I don't think so. Well, I've started my nesting, so it can't be long now. This weekend, while Tracey guarded the dependents, I attacked the leaves in our yard. They put up a good fight, but were no match. Afterwards, Tracey told me that next year, merely mowing and bagging will not be sufficient - next year, we've got to rake so the children (Tracey) can jump in the leaves. I also had opportunity to make a safe home for our cars (cleaned out the garage). And freed up some space in the office for more crap to accumulate. Overall, a very profitable weekend. Saturday, Melinda and I had swimming. She's ready to swim the English Channel. If only the swimming instructor would quit singing, "Wheels on the bus" - she'd be better able to concentrate. She does love to swim. Give her something to hold her above water and she'll paddle wildly. When she gets an opportunity to wear a life jacket, she's completely

from Tracey Melinda had her first "beauty salon" haircut today. (She has been to a quick cuts place a couple times, and I have trimmed her bangs, but this was her first "salon" visit.) Kind of spur-of-the-moment... we were strolling in a strip mall and passed the salon I used to go to. I pointed out that this is where mommy used to get her hair cut, and Melinda said "Muh-muh (Melinda) hair cut" and got all excited. Melinda has been looking kind of shaggy as of late, and the salon was empty, so I thought "why not?" Wasn't sure how it was going to go at first. The stylist turned on her hair dryer to blow some hair off the chair, and Melinda's eyes filled with tears, she clutched at me and said "no dry my hair!" for about 5 minutes, even after the stylist put her hair dryer in a back room. (I think Melinda is in a noise-phobia stage right now -- she doesn't like the vacuum cleaner or lawn mower either.) But the rest of it went

How exciting that Elise is moving more on her own! You're right that this is the end of the "plunk the baby down - she can't get too far". But so much fun to watch them start to walk. Be prepared for bumps and bruises! And Happy 1st Birthday to Elise this weekend! Doing anything special? Welcome to the minivan club. They really are handy for hauling baby gear and other stuff. I have heard good things about the Toyota Sienna. A friend from mom/tot classes is planning to trade in her car for either a minivan or SUV -- can't quite see herself in a minivan yet. I did make Rob drive ours for the first 6 months until Melinda was born, but now I feel like a mom. Thought we were making progress with Melinda's "big girl" bed today. She looked pretty cozy up there reading stories with me befoe her nap, so I left her up there and left the room. Turned on the monitor and heard a little rustling, but no fussing. So I peeked in -- and found her pulling socks and b