A growing boy needs his own car

Calvin is a growing boy.  He's gotten so big that we thought we'd better get him used to sleeping in the crib because we don't know how much longer he can stay in the bassinet in our room.  We made that decision even before our suspicions about his growth had been confirmed as they were during an impromptu visit to the doctor this afternoon.  Though he wasn't supposed to see the doctor again until mid August we were a little concerned about a rash on his neck and wanted it checked out.  The positive sides to the visit were the weigh in and measuring - 10lbs 4oz, 22.75inches - and the affirmation that the rash was nothing.  The negative side to the visit was having to see a different doctor who decided that we should be concerned about Calvin's level of jaundice, even though our usual pediatrician had already decided it was just a normal case of breastfeeding juandice and nothing to worry about.  The ensuing heel prick and blood letting for the bilirubin test was more upsetting to Cortney than to Calvin, but was stressful all around. 

Which is why we decided to treat ourselves to a nice evening out.  Since a rainstorm swept through just as Calvin was finishing at the doctor the air cooled down sufficiently for all of us to enjoy a stroll through the Ann Arbor Rolling Sculptures Car Show downtown.  We figured that this was an especially good choice for the evening since Calvin will soon be needing his own car.  Unfortunately they didn't have any Power Wheels for us to look at, but Jon was considering either the Chrysler Imperial or the Corvette.  Calvin thought both sounded good and was full of smiles when we got home - we were even able to catch one on camera!

An outpouring of love.

Our friends and family have been nothing but loving and supportive since we announced Raspberry's existence back in December.  We have received multitudes of hugs, cards, gifts, and tidbits of advice from everyone and it is clearer now than ever to us that we are well loved and that Raspberry will enjoy the same.  Last night was no different.  Cortney is a deacon at our church and last night we were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Raspberry, and the two of us, in a surprise shower event organized by Cortney's Quad leader and friend, Michelle, at the deacons' monthly meeting.  Before the meeting several of the deacons surprised Cortney with gift bags, including two wonderful lullaby CDs from the family of Jon's confirmand, and a wonderful hand stitched bib and amazingly beautiful, hand carved rattle from Sandy and her husband.  As if that wasn't surprising enough, at the end of the standard meeting a very unsuspecting, and somewhat embarrassed, Cortney was called to the front of the room and presented with a gift certificate and two very personal gifts:  the first was a quilt pieced together from squares signed by the other deacons in Cortney's quad and hand sewn by Michelle;  the second was a beautiful scrapbook, every page containing the advice, stories, prayers, etc., hand written by each of the 54 other deacons and put together by Michelle.  The amount of work put into making those two gifts is incredibly touching, as is their personal nature.  We will cherish them always, and they will forever remind us of how loved we really are.  We cannot wait for Raspberry to meet all the wonderful people who already care so much about him before he has even entered the world.

"Another big piece of metal on the track..."

We tried on our redneck shoes tonight and hooted and hollered at a real honest to goodness demolition derby.  We went to the Chelsea Community Fair with Curtis, Mitch and Allison to grab dinner and a little bit of entertainment. Besides being taunted by the typical carnival hawkers, we had good pizza, great hotdogs and tasty pretzels with various pops, but we had to hurry to grab our seats in the stands before the 7:30 start of the Figure Eight Demolition Derby.  I must say, this pastime is way more entertaining than it should be.  Even the skeptics among us were laughing raucously by the 5th round.  Yes, the 5th round.  In fact, there were eight rounds and one finale, all of which were entertaining enough to keep us in the uncomfortable aluminum bleachers until nearly 10:00.  We saw smoke, blown tires, sparks and, yes, even fire.  Every time a bumper, or some other conspicuous car part would fall off, the announcer would blare a siren and make the cars stop mid-race so that the referees (is that what they're called?) could run on and retrieve it… “Hold up, hold up!  Another big piece of metal on the track!”  On the way out we stopped to say hello to the cows (they were lowing), the goats (they were eating their pens) and the sheep (they are really noisy), and we’ll call it a considerably enjoyable night.  One question remains…are demolition derbies endangered because the new cars are all fiberglass? What will we demolish in derbies twenty years from now?!?!?

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

We went for a walk in the neighborhood tonight and finally met some neighbors. The people on the corner have lots of rescued animals. Hmmm, kind of like us. The people next to them have a brand new baby. We'd like to be a combination of the two. On the same walk we met lots of bunnies (they're eating our flowers more than anyone else's), ducks, and a muskrat in the nearby pond. Finally this year, our lawn is catching up with the others. Now if only our hot tub would do the same (read: we need to get one). It may not be summer down home on the farm, but it is friendly and full of wildlife.