I think we're in the clear.

Thanks for the anti-rain dances!

Two days makes a difference.

As of 8am this morning, Fay is looking to head more inland. Of course two more days could change things completely. Still crossing my fingers for no rain! And thank goodness for the folks in Florida that it wasn't a hurricane when it made landfall.

Fay is not invited to my vacation.

Several months ago we accepted a generous invitation from the Thornburgs to join them for a week in Myrtle Beach at the end of August. I've been saying all along, "I hope a hurricane doesn't hit. It is in the middle of hurricane season, you know." So now what's brewing?


Yep, Tropical Storm, soon to be Hurricane, Fay. If all goes as planned we should just be looking at a few days of rain, which is better than I can say for folks on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Still, if I have to be stuck in a 2-bedroom condo with 4 adults and 2 two-year olds for 4 days, I might lose my mind. Break out your anti-rain dance, please!

When I was pregnant with Lauren I didn't gain an exorbitant amount of weight, just around 30 lbs., which is well within the normal rane. Problem is, I carried all of that really low, which means I now have a lovely patterns of stretch marks all over my lower abdomen and thighs. Not quite sure why the thighs gained weight, but I'm blaming it on pregnancy. Anyways, I figured with #2 I wouldn't get anymore stretch marks...I already stretched once and can prove it, so why would I get new ones? Well, I now have new stretch marks. Found them last night, along with some freakishly visible veins all along the sides of my belly. Good thing I gave up on the bikini long ago.

In non-pregnancy news, we have more family in town this week. Chris' sister Brea took a quick side to trip to see us while visiting her in-laws in Illinois. It's been pretty low key, just hanging out and playing with Lauren. They ventured to the Columbus Zoo yesterday, which is quickly becoming a Wednesday ritual for us. (Hint: a great gift for Lauren's birthday or Christmas would be a family membership to the zoo.) Then we went on to Red Robin for dinner, which is by far one of the most kid-friendly restaurants around. Except for the carousel horses used as decoration. Try to explain to a 2 year-old that she can't "ride horse". Not so much fun. After dinner, it was on to the mall, where Brea bought Lauren the cutest giraffe print hat. Great for those trips to the zoo.

We're looking forward to our vacation that starts next week. I'll post later about that, but let's just say that a 2 year old + 12 hours in the car=frightening.

Planning for #2.

You'd think since we've done this baby thing once already, we'd be all set when it comes to supplies. Not quite the case. You see, the first time around we had to get so much stuff that we didn't get any "nice to haves." We got the basics, and added onto that as needed as Lauren got older. This time, we don't need to buy the swing, car seat, Baby Bjorn, crib mattress, etc., etc., so we can splurge a little bit. The new crib will also be paid for by Jardine and their crappy voucher program, so we don't need to shell out cash there, either. We also learned some things that we'd do a little bit differently the second time around, so now's our chance.

I've finally broken down and set up a registry at Babies R Us, just to keep track of it all. Right now there are only 6 items on it. I think back to Lauren's registry and I think there were about 100 times that many items listed. Expect to see that number go up if it turns out we're having a boy. I have crates and crates of girl clothes, but nothing for a boy. Secretly, I'm hoping for a boy just so I get to buy a bunch of cute little baby clothes.

We're also starting to figure out how to get the office/nursery in order. With only 3 bedrooms, the former office/guest room will now become the new nursery and the office will go...well, we haven't completely figured that out. Right now it's looking like the "office" will become a small desk with a computer on it at the top of the stairs. The guest room will no longer exist, unless you count the couch in the living room.

We finally turned the Willy Wonka door to our storage room into a real, adult-sized door over the weekend. Since our house has no basement, it has an 8'x10' storage room off of the 3rd bedroom. Great, except it also had a 24"x36" access door. Not exactly the most practical; we couldn't even fit our Rubbermaid crates through it. Thanks to some great handiwork by my cousin Aric , it now has a real door. No door handle and it's not completely painted, but the bulk of the work is done. We're also going to finish insulating the storage room since the builders only halfway did that for some reason. The goal is to have all the hard stuff done by the time we find out what we're having so then we just have to empty out the room, paint and set up the new furniture.

Final update: as of this morning I'm back up to the weight I was at when I found out I was prego. Definitely showing, although I can still hide it if I don't mind being uncomfortable for awhile.