Blur!

Once again, life seems to have kept Daddy away from the computer for longer than he'd like to keep the blog updated. Things have been pretty busy around here, so the days are all blurred together here the past couple of weeks, but Daddy will try to remember what all's been going on... Wednesday last week we had 'Stanley Steemer' come and do our carpets. They were pretty bad, especially in the kitchen, what with two pre-schoolers in the house, and Mommy and Daddy were pretty skeptical that it would do any good. It was a bit on the expensive side, and we debated just putting the money towards new carpet, but in the end it was worth it. The only stains they couldn't get out was some 'washable' paint that Gavin had spilled in the play room last year. It was a two man crew, and they had a good system. They moved all the furniture and put it back. What a difference it made! Way better than we've ever done with a rental shampooer. The only downside was that it took nearly three days for things to dry out. Thursday we had our cleaning lady come to get the house in shape for our annual Final Four party. So with the floors scrubbed and the carpet clean, we were lucky to have a few days of warm weather so as to keep the kids out of the house for a few days. Also on Thursday, Darin had his one-month checkup. At this point neither Daddy nor Mommy remembers his numbers, but I think he was 10 lbs, 6 oz, and in the 80-ish percentile in height, and in the 60's somewhere for head circumference. He is growing normally, starting to make some facial expressions, and his cries are getting different enough for Mommy (and sometimes Daddy) to identify the problem. His umbilical stump fell off over the weekend, so he is ready for his first real bath this week sometime. Daddy took off Friday and spent most of the day with the older two while Mommy, Mam-Maw and Darin went to Harrisburg for a day of shopping. Friday evening and most of the day Saturday were spent preparing for the party, and then people started showing up around 3:30. Had a good crew here - 25 or so, the last of which left about 12:30 am Sunday. Then, up early on Sunday for Darin's baptism, and then we hosted lunch at the church for 40 or so family and friends afterwards. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, so we tried to all lie down for naps, but none of us got much of one. Early to bed Sunday night, and then back to the grind on Monday. Then Monday night the five of us met Nana and Pappy Tom and Dan and Grandma Jean at Hoss's to celebrate Nana's birthday, so that was another long night for the kids. Tuesday we thought we would get ahead of the game and put the kids to bed early...well, that didn't work out so well. We had everyone bathed and in their jammies by 6:30, and we don't know if it was the warm weather (75, despite the snow today!), them being out of their routine, or what, but neither of them got settled until after 9:00! Darin has been a real trooper through all of this, snoozing away and allowing Mommy and Daddy to deal with the other two! Here are a couple of pictures from the past week or so (CW from top right - A good snapshot of all 3 kids; Gavin practicing his 'washers' skills in the nice weather; Malin taking some time to 'smell the ... daffodils'; and Gavin helping Mommy with Darin: