The cosmos work both ways.

So we need a new transmission. I kind of knew that, but it still wasn't easy to swallow and tell Mike the Mechanic to move forward. It's as if someone or something in the cosmos knew that I had just written a check to put into our baby savings account and Mike the Mechanic knew that amount + a rental car for a week would just about eat that up.

So I didn't deposit the check, but we will soon have a new transmission. Yippee.

David is almost more worried about it than I am, which is a delightful role reversal. Hey, I figure if the cosmos can know when I have savings and throw this kind of crap my way, the big guy upstairs will also know when we can't handle anymore financial stressors and cut us a break.

One random break was that someone came and picked up our burned out old water heater from the curbside early this week. That was $33 we didn't have to spend for a special permit for the trashmen to pick it up. Wahoo. Every little bit helps.

So we're fine. We'll be fine. It's just money, and there are many more important things to be concerned with right now. Like what you may ask?

On Tuesday, Baby Cute has another chance to flash us the goods. Yes, ladies and gents, on Tuesday the Great Gender Mystery of 2007 just may be solved! I told my co-workers at the baby store today that if Baby Cute doesn't show us the goods at this ultrasound, then we have another chance on July 16. If we STILL don't know, someone please schedule me an epidural and a C-section for October 10 because this baby has a mind of his/her OWN and labor/delivery is NOT going to go smoothly no matter just how much deep breathing, positioning, chanting or begging I do.

My first day back at the baby store in about a month was today. It was good, great even. People missed me--coworkers and guests alike--which is a nice boost. It was slow, but I saw three of my favorite couples, one of whom has a 16-month-old! They were one of the first couples I helped register, so that just shows you how fast time flies. There were also lots of very hot pregnant women coming in for tank tops and shorts and some coupon savvy folks cashing in on the one-day overlap of the Babies R Us and Toys R Us coupon book sales. Hey, if I didn't need a new transmission I may have indulged myself.

But instead of shopping we registered, adding the baby basic stuff like bottles and bathtubs and breastpumps when I got off at 4pm. David was much better at the big stuff--strollers, carseats, cribs--than he was at the little stuff. He just didn't understand why I couldn't decide between gauze or birdseye cloth diapers for in-the-house burp rags and why we had to register for cute patterned burp rags for being out-and-about. Some things are just unexplainable to my husband. He did personally select the diaper bag and found some Detroit Tigers pacifiers and "Barn Buddy" toys that he felt Baby Cute "needed," so it couldn't have been all bad for him.

Just when I thought David was going to have a meltdown if I didn't pick birdseye vs. gauze in less than 10 seconds Baby Cute got active and gave Daddy Cute's hand a nice kick. This baby is smart, all right. Chanting and deep breathing may just get us through labor after all.

So we're mostly done registering. There are still some boy vs. girl decisions to be made about blankets and a few other little things, but the bulk of stuff is done. It is pretty overwhelming, so I have much more sympathy for the befuddled-looking preggos who just stand and stare at the bottle wall. I was one of them today.

Overall, we had a nice weekend. We worked around the house Saturday morning before it got blazing hot and Dave worked a wedding from 3pm-1am. This gave me plenty of time to shop for some preggo khaki shorts, a bridal shower gift for next weekend and enough Hallmark cards to choke a large horse. I do love shopping, although I pushed it too hard and fell asleep so deeply when I got home that David's 10+ calls to my cell phone went unanswered so he had to bum a ride from the president of the Eagle's Aerie where he was working because I slept through his calls for a ride home. Ooops. At least I left the side door open...

Here is a pic of our hilarious little rental car, the Hyundai Accent. Ours is black. Giggle away--but we actually fit in it quite comfortably. It is zippy and fun to drive and good on gas. It sounds only remotely like a lawn mower. Plus, it goes down the road which is more than I can say for my Beloved Belinda the Bonneville.