Progression Of Evil

We had such a wonderful time in Minneapolis! But I have to say, I'm glad to be in good old GA right now, as it's in the 60's (I'm in a sleeveless shirt) and Rachel called me last night to share that the temp in MN today, with windchill, should hit -40. Yes, forty degrees below zero. The weather while we were there was great, however. Fun snow and winteriness at temperatures in the 30's.

Daddy had a last minute work crisis to deal with, so Andrew and I flew up by ourselves and met Phil later that evening. This was Andrew's first flight with his own seat. Beeden (his blanket), books, snacks and The Wonderpets (cartoon he loves) made the trip quite enjoyable.

Melvina's been pretty ticked at me lately as she has not been included on our last couple adventures. Trying to make up for it, I got her her own seat on the plane as well. She freaked out when we took off and tried to order a Bloody Mary from the drink cart to settle her nerves, but she forgot her ID (apparently she doesn't look 21) and didn't have any cash, so she had to settle for some fruit snacks and ginger ale.

She was so relieved to be on solid ground again that she flung herself headlong into a snow bank after we landed. (What the %*&! recruit?!)


Andrew and Weatherson* had a blast together. Here they are after major bath time fun.


They did lots of running and playing together. This "open and close the door" game was a favorite.

Sledding on the campus of Bethel University (where Wade teaches chemistry) was one of the highlights of the trip.

Back in the Neiwerts cozy cottage, we settled in for evenings of games and lots of laughing. Melvina took every opportunity to cozy up with Wade. She's got a thing for guys in REI jackets.

Rachel told me she had been talking with Wade before we arrived and shared with him that Nibblet was now kicking all about so even people on the outside could feel it. "I'm not going to have to touch it, am I?" Wade responded in horror. Well, that's all I needed to hear. If it's within my power to make my gracious host feel terribly uncomfortable, I just can't help myself.

Precious most certainly couldn't be bothered with silly things like naps on our first two days, but fell right asleep 45 minutes before we had to leave on Sunday. Oh how in pained me to wake this little guy!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Wade and Rachel! We'll never forget it!

Top Of The Muffin TO YOU!

Look how my sweet Nibblet has grown! The ultrasound on Tuesday was such tremendous fun, despite the long wait and the fact that we left Andrew's stroller in Johnsonville at Thanksgiving. I laugh at myself because I truly believe that, other than Andrew's, it's the most beautiful ultrasound photo I've ever seen. So unlike the millions of other ultrasound photos out there. (FYI - that long thing next to the hand is the umbilical cord, not a deformed leg/foot.) We got to see our baby move those little arms and legs all over the place, yawn, and were reassured that everything appears to be developing perfectly.

We're feeling extra secretive this time and have not only opted to wait until the big day in April to find out the gender (I use the universal "he" in conversation for convenience), but we're going to keep our name ideas to ourselves this time as well. I'm getting some pretty good suggestions, though. My favorite came in a recent e-mail from Crazy Aunt Sallie:

I wanted to tell you about the crazy dream I had last night. I dreamt that you had the baby through a big oozing sore in your stomach, and the doctors said that it was a girl. Everyone was talking about it, and then a few minutes later the doctors said, nope it's actually a boy, his parts just dropped. You and Phil took several days to decide on a name and finally picked Birmingham Warehouse Mobley. I kept trying to pretend that I liked that name, but I was actually horrified.

Perhaps that doesn't actually count as a name "suggestion," but we're throwing it in the mix anyway.

My Precious Scooter has been keeping busy. Here he is working hard on a finger painting we sent to Uncle Bradley for Christmas.



I'm an enormous wuss when it comes to cold weather, but we had a non-rainy day in the 50's so I decided to brave the outdoors so we could get some fresh air at the park. Andrew approved of this decision.


It's funny to me that he will act terrified if a stranger comes up to say hi to him in the grocery store, but no slide is too tall to give him pause. He was desperate to climb this big rope ladder thing, but I had to tell him it went too far over my head for me to help him. "Mommy it can try?" he requested, pitifully. This is his response to anything I tell him I can't do (not sure why he throws the "it" in there). He's so sweet it really makes me want to climb into his crib with him, or kiss the picture up on the wall, or whatever wacky thing he's asking me to do at the moment.



He's still totally obsessed with railroad crossings. Actually, it may be worse. There's a crossing on a street next to the park, and we sat on our bicks in the grass next to it for quite a while hoping a train would come by.


And then we waited some more.


And then waited a little longer. I was once again amazed by how patiently he sat there at stared at the unmoving crossing. I was getting cold and bored, but just look at that face!


Unfortunately the train never came by, but he handled the leaving much better than I thought he would. It was most likely because of Nina's suggestion that I search online for videos of train crossings being activated. I'm immensely grateful for the hundreds of freaks out there who devote their time to filming these things and posting them on YouTube.

Yesterday our playgroup met to ride the Pink Pig at Lennox Mall, a big Atlanta thing to do at Christmas. It was our first time going, and Andrew wore this same expression through the whole thing, which is his way with anything new and captivating. He really had a good time, though. All this morning I kept finding him walking around holding his tickets to the ride saying, "Andrew ride pink pigs!"

Tomorrow we leave for a big wintry adventure in Minneapolis! We're spending the weekend with our dear friends Wade, Rachel and Weatherson* in the coldest place in the universe. I'm going to bring lots of clothes, and seriously, I'm so excited to see the snow. I might even touch it once before running inside Rachel's adorable cottage for hot chocolate.