Nerd alert

We have a new hobby her in Casa de Bennet - geocaching. Basically you use your computer, GPS or phone to navigate to these places to find little "caches" that have been left behind by other treasure hunters. They're pretty well hidden usually and in all sorts of various containers. It's been a fun activity to use the phone GPSs to navigate as a family to various spots and find treasures. Inside the boxes are at least a little list to sign your name that you were there (bring a pencil) and often, if it's a little bigger, there are little trinkets. Bjorn wants his calling card to be little Swedish flags. So far, my trinket has been whatever little plastic toy happens to be laying around the car. It's pretty cool, as Miley Cyrus would say.

Also new in the past two weeks are our kittens! I am embarrassed that I don't have pictures posted yet, but right now we're just dating. They sort of come out briefly, sniff us and dance around the living room. They're warming up quite a bit, but I haven't been able to get any good new pictures. On my list of toys for myself has been to get a fancy new camera, all the better to take fancy pictures with, but that was before the washing machine started spewing water on the floor of the laundry room. Lovely husband is at Sears as we speak trying to find a replacement. I mostly want energy efficiency. The one that came with the house for $50 was probably manufactured in 1989 so it has lasted a good long time. I imagine the newer ones are tons better.

Nice

Well, hello there, Internets. Meet my new friend, Damn You Auto correct.

(Thanks, Frances!)

Yay!

In honor of Meg's birthday, I bought myself a laptop. It's nothing fancy, just a computer I can put on my lap so I can do important thinks, like post updates here and on Facebook, from the living room or bedroom. Bjorn rocks for making it happen and setting up the network. That guy's a sweetheart!

Merry Christmas

In cleaning out Andy's closet, I came across a Santa hat that I believe was Bjorn's growing up. My mother-in-law found a box a couple of years ago when she was moving full of 40-year-old baby stuff and, being the pack rat that I am, I have been trying to salvage whatever of it I can, including this hat. Andy put it on a few nights ago and proceeded to dance around the room. I have some hi-larious video to upload later when Blogger speeds up a bit of him dancing to his own song as he prances around the room. More blackmail material it's so cute.

What I like about this picture is he's naked except for his diaper, his Santa hat and all the spaghetti sauce all over his face (it was right after dinner and just before bath time). Well, that and he's just got a great smile that makes me smile looking at it.

BGB seems to be cooking along nicely. I swear she can kick me in the hip and in the boob at the same time, making me think she's 20 inches and 10 pounds already. The movement is cool and always reassuring, but there are some times (like when I'm trying to get comfortable in bed) that I want her to pipe down in there. I'm also really started to feel like a whale, having trouble getting in and out of bed, and dropping stuff constantly. It scares me to think that I have 10-12 more weeks of this when I'll just get bigger and more uncomfortable.

At this point, it's sort of a toss up. I know having a newborn is going to be tough, especially with an active (and often cranky) three-year-old in tow. But the backaches, muscle aches, leg cramps, weird dreams, water retention, clumsiness and enormous belly are all making me anxious to get to the next phase.

Whirlwind

Wow. It's been an action-packed week here in Texas and we're not done yet. Tuesday my mom and I flew out to Odessa to go visit family in Pecos - 90 miles west of Odessa. I'm used to west Texas feeling abandoned - after the oil bust of the late 1980s, the towns out that way have been sad and defeated. Business has lagged, jobs have been scarce and all construction had stopped. Now with the most recent oil boom, things have perked up immensely. Jobs are plentiful, housing is scarce and excitement is in the air. It's so nice to see optimism again. Pecos is building new houses on lots that sell for $1,000 to $3,000 (less than parking goes for in D.C.) They're also building a new apartment building. These are the first new construction in 20 years. People clearly have a lot to be excited about and it is great. Even better, my cousin that we went to visit is doing much better which makes everything that much nicer.

Andy has been having a blast playing with my niece, Megan. They are at an age where they really mimic each other. My sister even kept him overnight last night (his first overnight without either of us, I was definitely more nervous than Andy was!) so Bjorn and I could get our for a romantic date. The dinner was great, but the makers of Spider Man 3 should be ashamed of themselves. I haven't seen a movie that bad since Mall Rats. Not only is the movie bad, the nonsense "plot" goes on for almost 2 1/2 hours and never does make sense.

Today we headed to the Dallas Aquarium World, which was cool. We got there in time to see the sea otters feeding. There were lots of birds, fish, turtles, snakes and even penguins. The kids weren't quite old enough to get it, but it was fun for the rest of us. Well, until the kids got really tired and didn't want to sit still any longer. Tonight we're headed to the pool to celebrate my birthday and unwind. Andy was afraid of the water last year, but now he's ready to jump in the big pool - alone. What a difference a year makes.

We head home tomorrow. It's hard to believe the week is over. When we left, it seemed like the week was endless and now on the eve of our departure, it's clear I was wrong.

(Meanwhile, check out the high-larious card Betsy sent me. Genius!)

Let the games begin

We're here in Dallas. The flight was fine, the passengers were fine, the toddlers ears were fine. Our luggage even arrived lickety split. Granted, we were the last ones off the plane, but I love that baggage handling at DFW is about thirty minutes faster than at either Dulles or Reagan National. The only downside to the whole flight was we were back by the engine - so far back that we could only see the engine and not outside the plane. I had no idea how claustrophobic I would be having no idea where the clouds and ground were for three hours. Andy didn't care though - we had Thomas on DVD. What a lifesaver.

We've been having fun. Andy has so far caught his first fish, "driven" a golf cart, played on a seesaw, hung out with his grandparents, been taken down in a loving choker hold by his cousin Megan who is 2 1/2 months older, gone swimming, played in a bounce house, ridden on a train and eaten a lot of cupcakes and ice cream. Needless to say, he's having a very good time. I, however, am tired.

DC Blogs

Hey, I got a nice shout-out on DC Blogs today. Let my 11 seconds of fame begin.

Thanks to Jamie over at Cockblog for cluing me in.

Non-book reading book club

So I've been talking to some of my soccer friends about how we can get out to games, but set a social event and we can't figure out how to do it, usually because our spouses aren't as supportive of happy hour as they are a scheduled event. So my sister recommended we have a book club that doesn't actually read books. Rather, we'll get together and talk about how we'd like to read books over wine and snacks. Our husbands can't argue because hey, who lobbies against reading. My friends are totally down with the idea and have even suggested we pick really hard books like Ulysses so at least we'll be a very literate non-book reading book club. We will also discuss trashy magazines we would like to read if we had time. I'm rather looking forward to it.

In less fun news, my temper-tantrum throwing child is still in residence. I've decided the antibiotics must be finally taking a tool on his tummy making him uber cranky. I've half-decided to cut the dose for the weekend and see if he doesn't start to improve. He's been on it a week now so I think it's done most of it's damage and at this point, another cold would be an improvement over this misery.

Fun

It's a fact - throwing diapers all over one's naked body and all over the floor in the span of about three minutes is about the most fun a 23 1/2 month old can have. Kudos, my friend, for ignoring the wealth of new toys Santa brought you and heading right for the Luvs.

Bjorn and I are both better today, but neither is close to 100 percent so at 8 p.m., we're both thinking about going to bed. In talking to folks, it seems just about everyone we know has someone in their family who has a stomach bug this week. Considering how similar Bjorn and my symptoms are, I'm wondering now if I had a stomach thing and not a reaction to the antibiotics. Either way, my stomach is still mushy. In theory, it should be making me us thinner, but we're both too bloated to see any measurable difference. Damnit. At least that would be one positive out of this whole mess.