Reason # 837 I love my house.

Today, God was watching out for me. Given that I've been stuck in a tent for three days with all of the free MSU dairy store ice cream I or 10,000 of my closest farmer peeps could eat, life should have been looking good around 2:30pm when the show closes at 3pm. BUT--I could already tell it was going to happen again. People weren't going to leave the ice cream until we tore it from their cold, dead hands. Ugh. We were going to be stuck doing clean up FOREVER.


And then God showed up in the form of a delightfully short but very ferocious wind and rain storm that blew things around in the tent pretty hilariously, but more importantly made everyone feel like they needed to leave IMMEDIATELY. Yes, I could not have done it better myself. Add that small act of God to my foresight in selecting the DeWitt wrestling team as my afternoon volunteer group and tear-down was smooth and downright enjoyable.


So I was home in record time--before Dave had to leave for work even! Delightful. Ag Expo 2007 is OVER. Thank God.


The ferocious windstorm also knocked down a huge tree one street over from our house and blew away quite an assortment of branches from our tree-lined neighborhood. I came home to find my favorite neighborhood girls in my front yard, but I didn't think twice about it because they often hang out on my lawn for random reasons. I don't mind. So I walk in to see Dave and he tells me the CUTEST story, and reason #837 I love my house/neighborhood/life.


When the windstorm stopped, Dave heard a knock at the door. It was the two girlies from next door and one from two doors down (ages 7-9 perhaps). They asked Dave if they could pick the branches and sticks up from our yard. Um, the answer was yes. Apparently there was debris everywhere, and the girls diligently picked up every single piece--front and back. Dave gave them each $2 and some of the leftover Ag Expo prizes he had hauled home for me that afternoon. They were thrilled, and tried to give him $1 back. He told them he thought he paid a fair price and thanked them again. Right before Dave left for work, I was sitting on the couch and heard another knock at the door. They had come to tell me they were done. They were SO cute, I invited them in and gave them a rice krispy treat each.


Yes, I am THAT NEIGHBOR LADY who gives small children rice krispy treats. We live in the best neighborhood EVER.


Despite being exhausted I got quite a second wind and played in my yard, watered my lawn and tomato plants (effectively dousing myself with the sprinkler... I'm glad I was home alone), swept up the debris on my driveway, decluttered my house and made Dave a hefty to-do list for while he is on hiatus from Pearson. I'm thinking I should eat some dinner and find my way to my "mommy chair" to put my feet up and read parenting magazines or something equally maternal.


Here are the long-awaited and super exciting 28 week updates.

BabyCenter: By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures almost 15 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

BabyGaga: You know how you’ve been feeling a bit like a barn with legs? Well, that feeling won’t subside before… well, you know, when you finally give birth. For the time being, you’ve got yourself a baby in the business of collecting fat and lots of it! In spite of the dubious joys of being a human-barn, this baby fat business is very serious and you’ve got to put up with it because it’s going to keep your little porker warm and healthy after birth. Other good stuff from inside: their eyes are doing lots of blinking this week because they’re now able to respond to light and dark. Also, their industrious little bone marrow is now a major construction site for developing red blood cells, while their super-cute adrenal glands are actually producing androgen and estrogen—which will stimulate your hormones to begin milk production.