A quick report

So, since September 29 we've done a lot.

Mindy has grown a lot in the belly region. He's due in 5 weeks, but we're likely to see him in the next week or two.

The first mod ended and we went to NY for a few days. We had a great time. Driving the tank in NYC was not a lot of fun, nor was finding a place to park it. On the bright side, we got 19.5 mpg and met a really nice old lady at the farm where we picked up a motorcycle older that 90% of my classmates to haul into Queens for the boyfriend of a dear high school friend. While we were in NY the weather was great so we were able to do a lot of fun things outside. We went to Governors Island and rented bikes (for free on Fridays, so we didn't really rent them, but borrowing seems to imply that there is a personal relationship involved, which there was not). I was afraid they would take one look at Mindy and tell her there was no way they would let her ride a bike with a child seat on the back, but they didn't and the four of us had a wonderful time exploring the island. While we were waiting for the ferry to go back to Manhattan I got a call from JLG (you can look them up at jlg.com) and they offered me an internship for next summer. I have since accepted and am looking forward to spending next summer there. Tom and Kathryn came up on Saturday and all of us walked up to the new parks along the river between Atlantic Ave and the Brooklyn Bridge. Mom and Dad were very patient with the level of insanity and the volume we brought to the house and we had a great time with them. Abbey didn't handle it as well. She is probably still happy we're not there.


Cole has started going to preschool on Thursdays and Fridays. The bus picks him up at 7:10 and drops him off at 1. He loves school and his primary teacher says he is getting much better in class. We hope some of it has to do with him getting accustomed to the structure and holding still. I volunteered at his school one morning and had fun seeing him there. In his class is the neighbor's girl and two girls from the ward who also live in the complex. Parker was sad the first day when he woke up to find that Cole was gone. Now he really enjoys the alone time with Mindy and the chance to play as he pleases without having Cole tell him what to do.


About a week ago I finally got some clocks and artwork on the walls here. It makes a huge difference.

Also a few weeks ago I was out with Cole in the parking lot while he rode his big wheel. I distracted him at the wrong time and he drove into the trailer hitch of the truck. Off we went to the urgent care where the Indian doctor struggled to understand what a trailer hitch was and Cole left with two stictches just above his left eyebrow. Now both boys have scars above their left eyebrow - about 10 weeks apart.

Cole was healing up well until school the next week when the bus headed down a dirt road for the first time and the guy hit a pothole or something and Cole and the other kids on that side of the bus all banged their heads against the window. It wouldn't have been a problem except that Cole hit the cut and it came partially open. It has since healed up and I took the stitches out myself. Its no different than cutting the strings that hold a chicken together. I recommend everyone remove their own stitches. I also decided that an activity we need to do each time we move to a new place is a dry run to the Urgent Care to speed things up when one of the boys needs stitches.

It is now a couple of days later and I am out of school until after Thanksgiving. We spent a couple of hours at the hospital on Tuesday night. Mindy got another shot of horse tranquilizer to stop the contractions. She's taking it really easy until Sunday because if he decides to make his entrance into the world before then we'll be driving to Danville (80 miles east of here) to the NICU. After that, he'll be born here in State College.

We get a glimpse of winter every few weeks when the overnight lows drop to the low 20's. One of those morning Parker went out on the patio in his PJ's and, while standing in a cloud of his own breath, told me that it was warm outside because the sun was up. Poor child, he's thinks like a desert dweller. He'll figure out this winter that a beautiful clear sunny morning in the winter is usually the coldest.

That is about all. I'm headed to India for two weeks at the end of February for school. It should be a great experience. Mindy is glad her mom will be coming for that time.