Oskar is a Problem Solver

Umm, there needs to be a button on the remote that changes the commercials if you are pregnant (or just sick, I suppose). "I constantly feel like I'm going to throw up, please don't show me commercials with talking toe fungus, thank you."

There was one night Oskar just kept talking after we had story time and song time before bed.
He had said "one more book" but he will say anything to keep you in there with him.
He crawled down, got a bear and a book and crawled back up. We were hearing him read the story to his bear.
He is at the end of his bed because that is where the light from the hallway shines in.

Oskar had a pretty special moment a while back.
"Oskar! Did you put your toothbrush in the toilet?!?"
"Noooooo." Pauses and starts smiling. "I did it!" Beaming with pride.
No, we weren't mad. You should have seen his face- there has never been a toddler more proud of his ingenuity. Measures were taken to prevent this from happening again. These measures are now null and void since Oskar can open doors with round knobs now.

Larry Bird's estate is for sale. 

Last weekend I went to French Lick, Indiana. I ate at Larry Bird's restaurant TWICE. We went for a handbell retreat and while I was going with some people I know quite well from the Twin Cities, I was travelling with people that I did not know at all from the Sioux Falls area. They were all extremely good to me and didn't seem annoyed with my troubles so I'm very happy about that. We went to French Lick because the clinician was supposed to be amazing (which he totally was) and he lives in Paris so it's not like he's at a lot of stuff over here. One member of our party was also able to get us free housing, so the whole event only cost us each $65 (this is a very good deal).

Health-wise, the weekend went well. I think I was able to eat more because I didn't need to worry about finding the energy to cook anything. It helps to get out and about sometimes, but other times I almost pass out at Costco, so it's kind of a crap shoot. I'm glad I was able to not be too terrible on the trip though.

Hi! I promise, sometimes we try to comb his hair. It is not worth the effort.

Before Larry Bird, French Lick was made famous by its mineral springs. Let me tell you a little bit about mineral springs. They smell really, really bad. Like sulfur mixed with sewage. Makes me gag a bit just remembering it. People used to drink this stuff for its "healing powers," and apparently it was quite the laxative. The practice was stopped in the early 70s after lithium was discovered in the water. Good job humans. "This water smells really weird- let's drink it!" "Oh my goodness, I got really sick after drinking it! Let's sell it!" It sold for over 50 years, That there IS the American Dream.

Tomato juice was also invented in French Lick. Apparently the chef ran out of oranges to make orange juice so he made juice from tomatoes. How he thought  this was an acceptable substitution is beyond me.

We were ridiculously close to Kentucky for Derby weekend. As we were packing up on Saturday there was a line with about 200 people in it waiting to get into the derby party- hats and all. I'm not really a derby girl. Correction: I am NOT a derby girl. I don't mind the hats as long as they are not just ugly for the sake of being big. I think I'm bothered because the owner of the horse seems to get the most credit- sure the jockey and trainer are up there too, but it's not their 10 year old weeping tears of entitled joy. I don't mean to offend any derby fans, I really don't know much about it, but all day coverage for a 2 minute race? Really? At least it's not dressage. Do not get me started on dressage.

My birthday was on the third and I spent all day (14 hours) in the car. There were 5 drivers so we all took a turn. We were lucky to be travelling in in a brand new Honda Odyssey. If you are looking to buy a van I seriously recommend checking one of these out. It was a very good car. The car we had was also a dealer car, so technically none of us owned it. The drive was completely uneventful until my turn (of course). We knew the weather was going to turn, but someone still made the decision to go through southern Minnesota instead of Iowa which would have avoided our doom. In Albert Lea we ran into a massive storm. Honestly I'm glad I was driving because I would have been freaking out otherwise. The car dealer's wife knew someone who was working at the dealership in Albert Lea so we got the car pulled in for protection against possible hail and had some old popcorn and cookies. It was pretty spectacular. I also learned that I'm too tall to own a Corvette, which is good because that will save us, like, $70,000. I'd like to say that the ride from Albert Lea was quick and painless, but we apparently had to stop at 2 rest stops (really?) AND the most giant coyote ran about 40 feet in front of our car. Great. At the end of the day, the car was returned damage free and pretty clean thanks to nature's power wash in Albert Lea.

Oskar missed me. We were on opposite ends of the couch. I said "Oskar, you're such a sweet boy."
He then crawled over to me and ended up here. I would like to remind you that he weighs 33 pounds, but who needs to breath?
He also farted probably 15 times while sitting here, but who doesn't love baby snuggles.

6.57 months/28.15 weeks/198 days until my final baby is due. Things aren't going great, but I'm still able to work (from my couch) and I try to help out around the house when I can, but it's not enough. This place is a hole. I thought I had turned a corner after French Lick, but I really haven't. This was made clear by my almost passing out at our concert yesterday. Luckily, my bass buddy provided me an emergency stool so I could sit and play. I was able to make it off stage after our first song- the other choir was playing at this point- but there was definite tunnel vision with the last 8 steps or so and I had to lay down immediately. Someone brought me a cold wet paper towel and I was able to cool down enough and get enough blood back in my head to go up for our 2 pieces before intermission. I was so warm that moisture condensed on the inside of my glasses. That was new.

At intermission I was able to force down a cracker with cheese and 2 fruit snacks. This was enough to get me through the remaining 3 songs. Luckily these were the ones with the heavy lifting and I was feeling well enough to get through them without embarrassing myself too badly. I posted on Facebook that my bass buddy and I manage 29 bass bells and chimes together. For those of you who don't know, most bell ringers have 4-ish bells and 4-ish chimes. Maybe more if they are doing the octaves on top. We were plenty busy down at the bottom, I'll leave it at that. I have since learned that around this time (12 weeks pregnant) blood flow increases to the baby which slows the return of blood to me. This means lower blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the brain. Splendid. In a normal person this would be annoying, in me it's downright terrifying.

The most swollen. I could see my pulse in
the white-ish part of it
when I tried to straighten it.

The itchiest.

Holy moly I almost forgot to tell you that I got stung! I was selfishly using a handrail to help myself down some steps in French Lick and the wasp was just primed and ready to stick me. And he did. It has been some time since I have been stung. It REALLY hurts. And then you think it's fine. And then it REALLY itches and it REALLY hurts. It took a week, but I am now fully recovered.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!