Happy Halloween!

As you can see, Nathan decided to be a giraffe for his first* Halloween. Why a giraffe, you ask? Well, that's because the free costume in Nathan's size that Mommy found on freepeats just happened to be a giraffe costume. Once again, frugality makes the decision. He's a cute giraffe, though, don't you think? Sort of appropriate for his build, anyway.

You should know that he's been pointing to these pictures and saying "puppy." Not only does he think that all animals are puppies (we have known that for a while), he is fooled by his own costume and thinks this is a picture of an animal!

*Yes, I know that technically Nathan has already been alive for one Halloween. But this is his first to dress up... he was too young (and I too exhausted) to participate last year, so we're not counting it. This year won't include any "real" trick-or-treating either, but we will stop by the church and the Raleigh office for my company, and to see a few friends. And then Mark and I will eat the candy. (Don't judge. Nathan would rather have mandarin oranges anyway.)

First Haircut

Before:

After:

Thanks, Lois!

And now little Nathan looks like such a big boy!

I'm So Not Ready

This week I learned that I am not ready to parent two children. And maybe not even qualified to parent the one I have.

We had a visit this week from the Caskey family. They were in town for a couple of days so they stayed one night with us, which was super exciting mostly because I hadn't met their new daughter Sienna yet. I mean, yay for seeing college friends and everything but really -- bring on the cute babies (whom I get to hand back to the parents for fussiness and dirty diapers).

So anyway while Kelley and Jonathan were in meetings on Friday, they left their 2-year old, Kiran, with Nathan and me for the afternoon. (They took Sienna with them.) Now let me preface this by saying that Kiran is the most agreeable, sweet, gentle, obedient, easy 2-year old on the planet. (At least when you only have her for one afternoon, Kelley might tell a different story.) And even as easy as she was, I don't think I am ready to have two toddlers around.

They actually played relatively well together (fortunately for Kiran, Nathan -- or eefin as she called him -- was happy to play with whatever toys she told him to... and she definitely told him what to play with). They napped at the same time. And they ate at the same time. And they talked to each other (these are two chatterbox toddlers!) constantly. I could take them on a walk together, since Kiran was happy to actually walk next to the stroller (well, run) and she was very good about staying on the grass instead of in the street when I told her to. They both enjoyed seeing our neighbors' (Jim and Renee) new baby, Nick. Nathan called him baby and Kiran corrected him -- baby Jesus. Ummm, not so much. But it was cute.

They did fight over who got the armrest in the car (Kiran won). They argued about the dogs (when Nathan would ask "puppy?" - Kiran would say "stay outside"). Nathan spent the bulk of our time at BJ's (had to go stock up on mandarin oranges and allergy meds, don't you know) pulling Kiran's hair, while sweet agreeable Kiran (who has obviously been taught to be gentle with babies, apparently to the point of martyrdom) just cringed and asked me peez if I could get him to stop.

As you can see in the pictures (I promise I wasn't letting him pull her hair just for the sake of pictures; really I wanted them both to smile at me), Nathan has not yet learned the concept of empathy. He thought Kiran's displeasure was great fun. So, he got to ride in the back of the cart.... You know, the place that all the diagrams on the seat tell you not to put your baby. Yeah, I'm That Mom. (Notice I didn't take a picture of that scenario for posterity... haha, escaped you once again, DSS!)

I had some logistical issues getting them down for naps, before I figured out I needed to do the crib baby first, since he was used to his nap place (and being in the crib, he wasn't going anywhere anyway) and then Kiran in the big-girl bed. I was worried about her falling out (this is a stage I'm not used to yet, give me a break) so I stayed outside her door until she was good and asleep... she had some sad little whimpers for mommy and daddy and even eefin (yes, even after the hair pulling) before she settled down. But then when we went to wake her up, I apparently didn't manage two babies well at the same time, and Nathan fell off the bed (see? I told you I'm not good at the big-kid bed thing) and got another goose-egg, the second one courtesy of mommy.

And all this was on far less sleep than I am used to. Which is what happens when old friends come to town and you stay up late gabbing. But I shouldn't complain, since Kelley has a 4-month old and she got even less sleep than I did.

Anyway, all this is just to say that as enjoyable as Nathan and Kiran both are, and as much as I laughed hanging out with them all day, I just don't think I'm ready to handle more than one. They both survived, as did I, but not with flying colors (I gave them each a nutri-grain bar for their lunch appetizers since I didn't have anything ready by the time they were desperately hungry since I also forgot the morning snack... and Kiran had to remind me to put shoes on Nathan when we went for our walk... which I still didn't but whatever it wasn't that cold). And honestly, I felt torn between them all day. I don't think they minded as much as I did, and I know it's a valuable lesson to learn anyway, but still I felt bad when one of them had to wait while I took care of the other one. And holy cow I'm glad I didn't even try to work... if I hadn't taken the afternoon off I think I would have been one big ball of stress. Seeing as I'm not ready to give up on my job (especially since they let me work only part-time, and from home), this was a good thing for me to learn today.

So no one (that's mostly you, grandparents) ask me about a sibling for Nathan for at least three more years... then he'll be old enough to be in kindergarten once the gestation period/adoption process is over!

Simon and Nathan

Why have all human children or all canine children, when you can have some of each and they are remarkaly alike anyway?Nathan has spent the last few months about like this... in front of the window, staring outside, usually with Simon alongside.
I love my babies, human and canine alike.

State Fair

One of the best things about living in Raleigh in the fall is the state fair. I don't think I ever noticed the state fair much when I lived in other parts of North Carolina, but around here, the state fair is a Big Deal. It's apparently one of the biggest in the country. In addition to the awards for livestock produce and recipes and such, they also bring in a string of big-name acts to do concerts and entertainment, and of course there is a big carnival-style "fest" with lots of rides and sideshow exhibits and such.

We went this weekend with our neighbors Amy and Drew for the afternoon. We rode the ferris wheel (I don't know why I continue to get on those things, I always get up there and I'm terrified) which was cold for Nathan but did give us some great views of the fairgrounds.

Mark and Amy and Drew all competed in the turkey shoot (none of them won a turkey this year though). We ate ham biscuits, fried snickers, onion blossoms, fried mac & cheese, and drank sweet tea (you would think the fair would have better tea... it was sort of sorry, actually). Though some of them looked good, we abstained from the myriad of other offerings: hushpuppies, free nc milk, london broil, elephant ears, giant turkey legs, funnel cakes, corn dogs, fried oreos (and reese's and coke and and cheeseburgers and pecan pie and anything else you can fry), homemade ice cream, gyros, homemade donuts, pizza, footlong hot dogs, wisconsin cheese (I just realized that's a little odd for the nc state fair), candy and caramel apples, frozen bananas, roasted corn, apple dumplings, sweet potato pie, fried carolina tilapia, banana pudding, cotton candy, sausage sandwiches, ostrich burgers, and I think that's it. That's all I can think of right now anyway.

Does anyone go to the fair to do anything besides eat? My annual fried snickers is totally worth the wait. (And ferris wheel stress.)

For more pictures of us at the fair, click here.

How to Lose a Stroller

Losing a stroller isn't easy. In order to lose a whole stroller out in public, you need to cart your child back to the car in the stroller, unload said child (and all accompanying paraphernalia) from the stroller, and then back your car out and drive away without hitting it. Or even noticing that it's still in the parking lot.

Despite several calls to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, and convincing the little old lady (well she sounds that way anyway) who works at the gatehouse to go back to the parking lot where you think you left it and check for it, no one will ever see the stroller again.

I can't think of anywhere else I could have left it, and that was definitely the last time I saw it. If you find my stroller, strolling itself through your neighborhood in a somber and lonely way, please do let me know.

But Don't Call Him "Pumpkin"

Nathan and I spent the day in the greater Greensboro area, hanging out with my longtime friend Jenny and her daughter Katie. Little Katie is getting around like a champ - seven months younger than Nathan and already crawling and cruising... yes, you remembered correctly that those are both new skills for Nathan, who just started cruising last week. Not that I am comparing. You're not supposed to do that. And I always do what I'm supposed to do, of course.

Nathan and Katie, deep in conversation.

The two of them were so much more interactive than last time we had them together. They grabbed toys from each other, climbed all over each other, and Nathan sat on Katie more than once (or twice). I think he was even showing off for her a little bit... jabbering on and on like he does. And it was working, too -- she seemed more interested in looking at him than looking at the camera! Not that Nathan made things any easier... he, of course, felt the need to point and yell "truck!" every single time a car went by. When, when you're outside at a farmers market, is pretty often. Oh, well. I guess it's better than the incessant "what's that?" of last week.... maybe.

"Truck!"

So we took them to the farmers market to let them play in this pumpkin house we spotted last year (when Nathan was too young and Jenny to knocked up to play in it). They had fun crawling around, touching the pumpkins, playing them like drums (ok that was just Nathan), and putting their faces into the cardboard fall-themed cutouts (ok that was mostly the parents pimping them for cute pictures).

Pumpkin... drum... whatever.

And since we were at the farmers market and there were so many fresh goodies right there, I had to shop a little. I got some homemade blackberry preserves (seedless) for Mark. I'm sure they won't be as good as the ones my Grandma B used to make, but they'll be better than smuckers, I can just about guarantee that. And some homemade whole wheat fig newtons for Nathan, made with apple and cinnamon instead of regular fig. (He ate some on the spot. He was a fan.) And some dark-chocolate covered peanuts and homemade mocha mix for me.

So being around all these pumpkins this afternoon I keep thinking about how my dad would apparently cringe if anyone called me "pumpkin" when I was a baby. I guess the whole jaundice thing ruined that nickname. And the song Yellow Rose of Texas, too. (That's where I was born, it's not that random that people would have tried to sing it to me.) Anyway I guess somehow that parental cringe got passed onto me, too. Or maybe Nathan's newborn jaundice would have caused it on its own. At any rate, I can't stand to hear people call him pumpkin. No one did, all day, but I was constantly worried that someone would. Weird, huh? (Thanks dad.)

Our bright-eyed (not pumpkinlike at all) baby Nathan.

Anyway we had a super day with the Calhouns, and it was fun to be outside enjoying the fresh fall air. And here's one more picture, since Nathan looks so happy (and old!) enjoying his farmers market day! To see even more Nathan-Katie-Pumpkin pictures, click here.

"What's That?"

This video will give you a glimpse of how we spend our time every day. As you can see, Nathan asks "what's that?" even before he points to anything. So I think this phase is more about being conversational than true curiosity. He just wants us to answer him, and he has learned that this question works. In the video below, you can also hear him say "puppy" and "truck." So turn your volume up and immerse yourself in the world of toddlerhood. For one minute and seventeen seconds anyway.


But wait! In case one minute of this wasn't enough for you (in which case, God is calling you to parent a toddler), there's more! Here's another (short... 25 seconds) video. This is this blog's first exposure to Nathan's fake laugh. Yes, he has a fake laugh. He uses it when other people are laughing but he doesn't really know why. Like if your boss tells a joke and you don't get it. Do other babies have fake laughs, or just my son? In some ways, it's funnier than his real laugh. I hope this doesn't mean he's destined to be a politician.

To see more videos of Nathan over the last fifteen months, click here.

Cruising with Nathan

Last week on our way to homecoming, we stopped and had dinner at my dad's house. Nathan hit two milestones there... the first was a trumping of his Dutch half by his Southern half, when he downed a stack of pulled pork barbecue with coleslaw, baked beans, and hushpuppies alongside. Not that Dutch people don't like barbecue (the ones I know do anyway!) but the way he was shoveling it in proves that he is truly southern. If coleslaw is the only "vegetable" you eat willingly... you might be a Carolinian. Am I right?

The second milestone was some legitimate cruising. Since he's been pulling up with more regularity (and on furniture, not just our hands), we knew this moment was coming. Turns out the perfect circumstance presented itself in the form of a coffee table at just the right height, and a Grandpa happy to bang on it with Nathan, causing a huge ruckus, lots of headbanging (rocker-style, not stressful-style) and some big belly laughs. Nathan was inching slowly towards his Grandpa the longer they played... he probably made it one foot in ten minutes. But apparently that was enough to plant the next seed of mobility, because he has taken off since then.

If you turn the volume up enough, you'll also get to hear him ask his favorite question... "What's that?" Which he asks at least five hundred times a day. I am not exaggerating.



That boy is a cruisin' fool.

(I just said that with a southern accent, a la Forrest Gump, in case you were curious. You know you were.)

Gymboree

Last week we finished out a second session at Gymboree in Cary. We did a session in January that he really enjoyed, but we didn't re-enroll in the spring since my work schedule is so hectic in April, May and June. (Plus, it's expensive to constantly be enrolled in stuff like that.) But they had a good special again in late summer, so we re-enrolled Nathan for a play class and a music class, both of which he loved. Here are some of Nathan's favorite things about Gymboree:

1.) The big drum in the middle of the room at the start of every music class. Nathan is That Baby who played the drum with his feet.

2.) Crawling through tunnels and barrels. He doesn't like to go in one end and out the other... he goes in, crawls to the other end, turns around and crawls back, to exit the same end he started with. When he can talk better I will definitely ask him about this.
3.) Singing "shake and shake and shake and shake and STOP" but then not actually stopping the shaker when he's supposed to freeze. What can I say, he's meant to be a soloist.

4.) Sliding on the slide. He likes to go down on fake bearskin mats.... head first, feet first, on belly or bottom, he loves it all. He even likes to try and go UP the slide. 5.) Singing "Noble Duke of York" and going upside-down at the end.

6.) Getting hugs and kisses from Gymbo the Clown.

7.) Any song that involves clapping or someone saying his name. Even better if the song has both... like "clap clap clap hello, clap hello to Nathan" (to the tune of "row row your boat"... yes you're very welcome for getting that stuck in your head; welcome to my world).

8.) Crawling while being chased around the play floor. Or crawling to chase someone else around the play floor. (This happens most on Daddy Gymboree days.) Nathan's pretty good at it since he can get in and under the equipment better than a grownup can.

9.) A tube ride.

10.) The parachute. I have seen a lot of kids through all our Gymboree classes, and let me tell you that no one has exhibited such joy over the parachute as Nathan does. He knows where they keep it, and he would crawl up to it and try to get into it, even before it was actually parachute time. I'm pretty sure he mastered his expert run-crawl at Gymboree, when he saw the parachute come out and he was on the other side of the room. Man, the boy can book it when it's time to play on the parachute. He likes the bubbles, he likes to grab it and shake it around, he likes to smack it to pop the bubbles, he likes to make a house out of it and crawl around inside, and he loves loves loves to lie on the floor kicking his feet in pure joy while the grownups raise and lower the chute over the mat. We're thinking we might ask Santa for one for Christmas, but we're not sure if the effect would be the same at home.

To see more pictures of Nathan at Gymboree, click here.

No More Bowden?

Brace yourself... this is a post about sports. Mostly. Sort of. Ok, not really. You can un-brace now.

Well, Tommy Bowden stepped down today as football coach at Clemson. It isn't much of a surprise, since they have been having a terrible season (especially considering how good they were supposed to be) and he was apparently about to get fired anyway. So Clemson football is kind of a big deal around here (not for me, clearly... just Mark... and therefore me after all, based on his moods), Mark's phone has been ringing off the hook with people needing to discuss every detail of what happened, and why it should or shouldn't have happened, and what might happen next. [sigh.]

So as Mark yammers away on his cell phone (I swear, when it comes to Clemson football, he is an outright chatterbox... you don't have to beleieve me but I promise it's true), I am contemplating bigger problems. Namely, our dog.

Our precious baby girl pup is named after Tommy Bowden. It's sort of a strange name for a girl dog anyway (yes, to me there is a difference in a girl dog and boy dog, even after they've each been fixed), but it's even stranger when the namesake is no longer affiliated with Mark's school.

Mark and (canine) Bowden, Christmas 2004

Therefore, I ask you: should we start calling her something else? I don't really want to... as strange a name as it is, it's her name and calling her something else would feel unnatural. When someone says Bowden, I think of my dog before the coach anyway. Also, my understanding is that Tommy Bowden left Clemson as graciously as everyone would expect from him, and Mark thinks that once all the hullabaloo settles down, people will remember him as a decent coach during his tenure (which he was). And I'm ok having my dog named after someone like that, even without the ACC title.

Plus, the next-best option is Mark's pet name for her (yes, our pet has a pet name)... B-Diddy. Hmmm.

Furman Homecoming

This weekend Mark and I (and the pups, as far as Huntersville) journeyed to Greenville, SC, to the home of my alma mater.

That's right folks, I am finally old enough that they were holding a legitimate reunion (albeit just five years) for my graduating class, during homecoming weekend. We didn't do much of the "official" homecoming stuff, though -- it's not really my scene, if I'm being honest. And we skipped the homecoming game itself since we had to get back for church this morning (plus, that's really not my scene). But we did get to see some people and places that we really loved (still love!) from my college days.

Yes, I dressed my baby in a purple onesie and plopped him in front of the fountain to take the requisite "child of a Furman grad" picture. Don't judge me.

We got to shop at the outlets in Gaffney on our way into town. We stopped there to kill some time until my friend Ryan had his lunch break down in Spartanburg, but we didn't time it right and missed him anyway. But at least we got some good shopping in. You would be frightened to know the damage I could do in a Carter's outlet if I had the time and money. Instead we dropped the most cash (plastic, really... we want the miles you know) at the Nike outlet (no word on what we got, since those people might or might not read this blog) and Bath & Body Works (for me).

We stayed at the Phoenix Inn, which is where we had our wedding reception. We hadn't been there since our wedding, and it was really funny how the smell and feel of the place bought back a rush of memories from that day.

We ate dinner at the Rice Bowl on Friday night. We used to get food delivered from there all the time when I was a student. The delivery drivers didn't seem to understand the speakerphone system in our dorm buildings, so after they dialed our room, they would always yell (YELL), Rice Bowl!!! instead of just speaking into the box like a normal phone. I'm telling you, you can't mention to any Furman people that you ate food from Rice Bowl without them yelling Rice Bowl!!! back at you. Good times, good times.

Anyway it looks kind of like a dump, but I promise the food is good. And Nathan even had his first lo mein. It was a little tricky getting the noodles in his mouth, but he had fun trying. And we also learned that the delicious (homemade, in this case) duck sauce they serve at Chinese restaurants (you know, the pink stuff that comes in a packet that's so yummy when squirted on egg rolls? you do that, too, right?) is really just applesauce mixed with the red sweet & sour sauce. Seriously. Who knew it was that simple? And after we learned what it was, we couldn't believe we hadn't figured out that taste combination before. So much for some elaborate secret recipe or something. Well, unless you count the sweet & sour sauce. Which I guess we should, actually.

Then I met up with Sarah, one of my favorite Furman friends, and we walked the Furman mall to see the floats and people, same as we did when we were students. Except this time with decidedly less alcohol. And decidedly more exclamations (from Sarah, not me) about how unsafe the kids climbing all over the floats were being. And, now that I think about it, significantly more referring to the students as "kids" too. Man, we're getting old. I was not one of the alumna with a baby out there, though (you'd be amazed how many strollers and snuglies were out and about on the mall at 11pm)... Mark was a super husband as always and stayed with Nathan at the hotel so I could have some grownup time. And it was fun to see a bunch of people from my graduating class, especially my freshman hall and brother hall.

We also got to eat breakfast at Stax -- sort of a Greenville institution for cheap good southern food. And make a brief appearance at a class of 2003 tailgate. And go to an engagement cookout celebrating the engagement of Katie and Noah, where we got to meet up with even more old friends.

To see all the pictures of our weekend in and around The Bubble, click on Nathan and me, below.

by mgoetts

Nathan the (Non)cuddler

[Ed. note: I almost titled this post "Rockabye Nathan" before I remembered how much the song "Rockabye Baby" stresses me out. Who wants to think of a baby crashing down from a tree? Yikes.]

Those of you who have babies who love to cuddle in your arms, and sleep there frequently, might not understand the rare joy Mark and I have experienced this week. But since I have a baby who rarely (meaning never) wants to relax in my arms, when it finally happened over the last few days I was sort of thrilled.

Nathan has always been more interested in the world around him than the world in a parent's arms. Even as a newborn, he spent a lot of effort holding his head up to look around the room. As soon as he could use his arms, he would use them to push his body away from our chests, to see out (see example: here). He spent his first train ride, if you recall, surprising me by riding awake the whole time instead of dozing off in my arms. That was one of the first clues that no only would I miss the "warm fuzzies" of a baby asleep in my arms, I would also miss the user-friendliness of a child who will sleep anywhere.

You can see in this picture that even when he was only a few months old, and exhausted (that's what the thumb sucking means), he was constantly straining to hold his head up instead of relaxing it on our shoulders. One of the last times I remember Nathan cuddling in our arms is when he did it with Mark on Christmas morning (five months old)... and even then, it was noteworthy enough that I took a picture! Anyway, he's just always been a little too social for cuddling.

Until this week.

First, he fell asleep in the car and Mark (being a master at such things) managed to get him out of the car seat and into his room, without waking him. For a few precious minutes, Nathan was happily snuggled into Daddy's chest, napping. I don't know who looked more content -- you be the judge.

Then, he woke up twice in the middle of the night this week. That's highly unusual for Nathan. I do hate that his sleep was interrupted, but I was relieved (and secretly more than relieved... ecstatic) that rocking with me seemed to comfort him. The feel of his little head on my shoulder and the weight of him in my arms is so perfect. I was kind of scared to even kiss or caress him, though, since I didn't want to risk waking him and ruining the moment. I did doze off with him in his room, but I eventually put him back in his crib, even though it sort of pained me to do it.

(All you moms whose babies will only sleep in your arms can stop cursing me now for enjoying this so much. Believe me, as much as I love this I am not foolish enough to wish for it constantly.)

World Communion Sunday

Today we celebrated World Communion Sunday at church. If your church doesn't participate in this, have your pastor get on board! It's a great week where we focus on peacemaking around the world, and to remember all the people and cultures we're connected with as God's kingdom.

For the first time, our new(ish) director of music, Karl, encouraged the choirs to abandon robes (yaaay) and wear clothing traditional to our heritage, or any other country we choose. Well, seeing as I don't know much about my biological heritage beyond farming in Wilkes County (my family has been there forever), and overalls aren't too appropriate for church, I chose to wear Indian clothing. Partly to honor the Shefferman family (bloggy friends currently serving there) and the Caskey family (Furman friends who used to serve there), and partly because I just like India and they have good food and interesting jewelry and beautiful colorful clothing.

Anyway it was really neat to see all the different nationalities represented (including Hawaii... or something... is that a nationality, Karl? nope but I guess it's a heritage), and to have a day to think of all God's people all around the world, worshipping at the same time we are.

For more pictures of some of my choir buddies and their outfits, click here. Yes, Nathan fans, there are shots of him, too.

Mommy Cheapskate

Mommy Cheapskate Event #1 - an outing to BJ's Wholesale Club. Mark and I were temporary members of BJ's this summer, when they mailed us a coupon for a free 60-day trial. We learned during this trial that we don't need to buy in bulk, and that most things on their shelves are pretty much the same price at Wal-Mart or Big Lots anyway (but without the members fee), so we decided not to extend the membership. However, before our summer trial expired, we did stock up on cases of baby food and Zyrtec (remember my hives?), two things that are substantially cheaper at BJ's than anywhere else we've found. Little did we know (back then, when we were naively optimistic about the whole hive situation) we still had months and months and many many doses of Zyrtec in my future. (Do you know how expensive that stuff is? If you don't, count your blessings.) So when we got a BJ's one-day membership pass and a $5 Zyrtec coupon in the mail, I jumped at the opportunity to get back into the bulk-buying mindset. Except by the time I got around to going to BJ's (yesterday) and redeeming said coupon, BJ's had stopped doing the one-day membership thing. Even though my coupon had expired (not their fault), and even though I wasn't a member with them, they graciously offered to set me up with another 60-day trial (I promise I told them I had just done it over the summer but they insisted it was ok), so I took it. The bad news (besides a slight lingering guilt over the second free trial that I feel relatively sure I won't end up purchasing) is that it's still cheaper to buy Nathan's diapers in smaller packs (with a $1.50 coupon per) from Wal-Mart, and submit each receipt for a $1 rebate from the Caregivers Marketplace (again, only on the small packs) than to buy in bulk from BJ's (that $1.50 coupon doesn't lower the per-diaper cost very much when you're applying it to 200 diapers instead of 40). The good news is that we did stock up on Zyrtec and Tylenol, and we still have 60 days to pray for BJ's diaper coupons, which (word on the street says) are worth $5 instead of just $1.50.

But this whole issue brings up a question: Am I the only one out there who doesn't like the idea of paying a membership fee to save money? I don't even like paying for insurance; this whole mindset sort of escapes me (pay money now, in case you have to pay more later.... whaaaaat?) ... even when I crunch the numbers, we only save if we shop there and nowhere else. Which seems to help the store more than it helps me.

Mommy Cheapskate Event #2 - yard sale rummaging. One designated Saturday in every spring and fall, our neighborhood (snobbier than it deserves to be, let me assure you) allows yard sales, and all the streets are filled with cheap secondhand goods, and the middle-aged women (since it's Raleigh, they're all Claymates; let's just call a spade a spade) who weave their cars in and around (blocking traffic in most cases) to shop for said secondhand goods. Normally I spend these weekends inside my house with my hands clamped over my ears, curled into the fetal position, humming loudly. But today I ventured out there with the Claymates and did some negotiating. I actually did my shopping on the way home from Gymboree, in the last hour of the sale, when I figured people would rather sell me their stuff at a fraction of the original yard-sale (already cheap) price than haul it back into their houses. Boy, was I right. Yes, I did miss out on the early morning prime goods, but since I needed mostly baby stuff (of which there is an abundance in the yard-sale market), that was ok with me. Here's what I scored:

1.) A small statue of half a football (complete with tiger paw) sunk into a pedestal. How can Mark's sports room be complete without this? (Really my nice old lady neighbor came to the house yesterday to give me first dibs on the sale, so I couldn't not buy it.) $4.
2.) A push toy for Nathan. He needed one oh-so-badly and I know we're bad parents for not providing him one yet. We were very specific with what we wanted (tall enough for him to actually hold, no bar he had to straddle when pushing, etc.) The one I found today was originally caked in dirt and old garage-dust, which took some bleach, water (don't tell the draught authorities, mmmkay?) and elbow grease to remove, but now that it's all cleaned up, I am reassured it was definitely a steal. $1.
3.) A collared shirt for Nathan, size 18 months, that buttons under the diaper (read: stays tucked into pants), onesie-style. Do you know how hard it is to find church clothes for a toddler, especially ones that will stay presentable for more than ten minutes? Score! 25c¢.
4.) A stack of books including one by the supernanny, what-to-expect (toddler years), and several plastic bath books and board books for Nathan. $2.
5.) A plastic rocking horse. No, it's not as cool as Wonder, who still lives at my mom's and is now entertaining his second generation of children. But it's small, and therefore a little more manageable for Nathan at this age. He loves sitting on anything with handles, and rocking himself back and forth (yes, this includes grocery carts... I'm sure people are staring as we shop). And anything that results in a happy (and busy!) toddler is money well spent. $5.

Mommy Cheapskate Event #3 - timing a diaper sale just right. No, I'm not done talking about diapers. (Sorry.) I had a coupon valid for $5 off a $20 purchase at a drugstore nearby, valid yesterday and today. This same drugstore is scheduled to have diapers on sale starting tomorrow. I read somewhere online that that their sales, advertised to start on Sundays, actually go into effect once the signage is posted on Saturday evenings. So I went to check it out, and it was true. So I got to take advantage of the sale and the coupon. And I'm glad I went early, since I got the last two packs in Nathan's size (and also learned why they never have had his size in the past, when I show up on day three of the sale). Know what else? I didn't even really need the coupon, since a very nice man saw me loading up on diapers and gave me his coupon (they didn't have what he wanted anyway). Cheers to generous strangers, right?

Let the October Madness Cease

It's October 1. Know what that means? Only ten more days (here in North Carolina anyway) to get your voter registration completed. And know what that means? Only ten more days for me to be harassed, everywhere I go, by people desperate that I have registered.

It's really, really annoying.

Now, I live in a state which is normally solid red, which means we don't get much campaigning here (except for the local stuff). But this year, someone (read: Senator Obama) decided North Carolina is actually a swing state. Lo and behold... now we are. McCain and Obama are only three points apart in the polls here in NC, which is sort of unheard of.

What this means for Average Joe Voter is an onslaught of campaign ads, signs in every yard, stickers on every car, and the dreaded (no, loathed) volunteers in every corner of our lives, making sure we're going to register to vote.

They're at the grocery store. They're at gas stations (well, at least they'll catch a crowd that way). They're on street corners waiting for people to stop at red lights. They're outside the dry cleaners. They're most definitely at the library. And, most troubling to me, they're at my Starbucks.

One thing I have been loving about my Saturday mornings now that the weather has cooled off (kind of cooled off, anyway) is that on the way to Gymboree, I can stop for a nice yummy warm cup of chocolate and whipped cream with a little coffee thrown in. I enjoy this not so much for the caffeine (still got a nursing baby here, folks) but for the comfort of enjoying a favorite beverage and the lovely aroma it brings to my car. (Yes, seriously.)

But you know what can mess up a beautiful mocha moment? A couple of ladies wearing Obamamamma buttons disrupting my exit with harassment (yeah, I said it) about voter registration. Every week. Now, Obamamammaladies, this is a relatively low-trafficked Starbucks (from what I can tell). And you're only there on Saturday mornings. And you're there three Saturdays in a row. Do you think you're reaching new voters each week? You're not. You're just annoying the same people you have already spoken to, multiple times. haven't you noticed that everyone tells you they've registered already? I'm ok with you asking -- once -- if I have registered to vote... if it's at, say, the library or on other government- or city-owned grounds. I mean, I know there are probably people who wouldn't think about registering to vote until it was too late, and the reminder is helpful, and I, too, want as many people to vote as possible. I get what you're doing, and I respect the cause, I really do. But at Starbucks? The same Starbucks? Week after week at the same time?? I beg for an immediate cease fire, because my nerves are shot.

Which is exactly what I told the person who answered the phone at Starbucks on Saturday morning, when I called to tell them I pulled into their parking lot and right back out again when I saw the voterbamamamma ladies out there. I thought they should know why they just lost a sale. (I don't think they cared much, but they might should have. Word on the street is they can't afford to lose any coffee sales.)

(I hate to point fingers but I must say that these crusaders for voter registration, when they're wearing paraphernalia for a particular party or candidate -- and admittedly many are not -- are always Obama supporters. Every single time. You're not helping your cause, people. Not to mention, shouldn't voter registration be a bipartisan goal?)

Let me grocery shop in peace. Let me pick up my dry cleaning (ok, Mark's dry cleaning... you know I don't really even get dressed) in peace. Let me stop at a red light in toddler-babbling peace. Let me sip a hot decaffeinated chocolate and coffee beverage in peace. I say we stop the madness. Like, today. And if that can't happen, then I am counting down the next ten days to a new serenity in these parts.