Yikes, time is flying by as we weave through the last trimester! The other non-womb-bound members of the family are currently out fixing the EGR valve on the car. I hate to seem so ignorant about car stuff (I'm normally not bad--ask me about my psychic transmission malfunction detection sense), but as far as I can tell, the express purpose of the EGR valve is to fail and therefore cause the check engine light to come on. We went with the "if we ignore it, it will go away," cure for a while, and were considering the Car Talk "electrical tape" cure, but finally decided to do the grown-up thing and actually fix our still-relatively-new car.

We all enjoyed visits from Auntie Jenn and Grandma and Grampa W. ("Dubbidu") last week. Unfortunately we did NOT capture photographic evidence of the grandparents lounging in the "red blood drop" ball pit at the Sciencenter, nor of Auntie Jenn's multiple athletic renditions of "Do, a Deer."

It is normal for older siblings to go through a period of adjustment to the new baby, and the toddler is already working on this. She has been pretending to be the new baby for a while, has a doll which she calls the new baby, etc. The newest trick, however, is to try on the new baby's clothes. Though she is over three feet tall and weighs 28 pounds, she can actually fit into some of them. The effect is that of a toddler-age Britney Spears, belly and all. She is still pushing for "Woody or Jesse" for a name, though Calliope (another one of the muses) may be deemed acceptable by Her Majesty. She is also "studying" for school, and learning to count: "eleven, twelve, sixteen, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!" Thirty is known as "twenty-ten."

The new small person is already a vivid presence in our lives. She spilled a cup of water which was resting on the belly. When her big sister talks to her, the baby stops moving, "listening" to her. Then she bursts into a flurry of Morse Code kicks once the talking stops. I am envisioning a future where they happily entertain one another for hours while I sip lattes and surf the internet. HA!