This week ...

... we've had a good time being at home. I'm working on not planning all our time away -- something that takes a conscious effort given our culture and my perfectionist, planning ways. Cate has been really great about helping with Ben. She thinks feeding him is fun. And she tells me the instant he puts anything in his mouth during those moments that I turn my head slightly in the other direction for even a moment.

I've swept my floor more than usual this week, thanks to Ben's putting-stuff-in-his-mouth habit I just alluded to. Yep, anything and everything goes in his mouth. Just today I fished out a small hair rubberband, a plastic dime and a raisin from who knows when. Other recent rescues include a tiny, pink wooden bead, a mushy Cheerio that I didn't recognize at first and a carpet thread.

Yeah, so, I just didn't want you to think I sit around a read books, watch TV and take naps. Although, on that note, I did finish "The Help" this week. I highly recommend this fiction book that deals with race relations in Mississippi in the 1960s, but, more generally, it spoke to me about friendship and purpose and doing what's right despite what people think.
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... Greg and I celebrated eight years of marriage. We bought ourselves a bike trailer for Cate and to make family bike rides possible. Of course, we had that out of the box and on the road before Aug. 3. But to celebrate our actual anniversary, we went out to eat and to a movie while my mother-in-law hung out with my kids and made me chocolate chip cookies at my husband's request. Yep, Greg had his mom help make my day special. Hey, works for me. He also gave me eight new pens. Nerdy, I know. But I guess I stole a few too many from his office. He claims he didn't make the connection of buying two packages of four and the years we've been married.

We saw "Salt" when we went to the movies for the first time ... since I'm not sure when. I guess "The Blind Side" was the last theater feature for us. Anyway, I'm not a huge Angelina Jolie fan, although I do like her more than Tom Cruise these days, but she was good in her climb-up-walls-and-down-elevator-shaft role. And, really, I liked the CIA story line and admittedly hadn't exactly figured it all out before the credits rolled.
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... Ben met the sippy cup. Pardon his applesauce mess. I decided it might be a good time to at least introduce this new, soon-to-be-trusty friend because he is always wanting our drinks ... with straws, in bottles, in regular cups.

Mr. Sippy Cup also is acceptable to chew on, unlike the other items he tried this morning. It was brief, though, when he realized there was a greater purpose ...

Ah, yes. Good job, Ben.
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... a third tooth came through. In fact, the top left tooth must have come in overnight because I noticed it this morning when I rescued the yellow hair rubberband. [Yes, this mouth thing is becoming a theme ...] The neighboring top right took is peeking through as well and should be totally through any day.
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... has been hot. Unless you live on the other side of the world, like my sister, who I'm missing after knowing she was in the United States that last couple of months even when she wasn't actually with me, then you know it's hot. It's probably hot where you are too. I just don't remember this kind of hot, and I consider myself a lover of summer. When the high is triple digits and the humidity makes it feel like even higher triple digits, then it's hot. Really hot.

We went swimming yesterday and apparently Jennifer added some cold water not too long before because the water was rather pleasant, meaning it was cooler than the bath water-like temperatures I was expecting. Swimming was refreshing, and really the only possible outside entertainment.

I did have my stroller fitness class twice this week. On Monday, we ran more than I've run since I was in seventh-grade and Katie and I thought running track was a good idea. Then on Wednesday, when it was even hotter, we stretched and used exercise bands under a tree. Who knows what my new friend Cassandra has in store for us tomorrow.

It'll still be hot then.

But you know what else is possible when it's hot? Playing in front of the fan. Yes, that's Greg showing his daughter how to talk into the fan, thus distorting his voice.

Why were we in a place that required fans and not our nicely air-conditioned house, you ask? Well, Uncle Dwain wanted a catfish lunch with his family and car dealership employees, so that's what he go. It was in the service area, which is like the indoors with outdoor air. So the fans helped. And we enjoyed celebrating Uncle Dwain with catfish and strawberry cake.

Ben had another idea to pass the time ...

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... we learned more about the logistics of Cate's pre-school, which starts in less than two weeks. Yes, pre-school. Crazy, huh? I can still see her newborn picture and now I'm making a list of what I need to get her before she goes to "school." She'll go three half days (meaning 3 1/2 hours) each week to a pre-school program I've heard good things about at a local church. Next week, she'll meet her teachers and see her classroom and then the week after that she gets to go. She's excited about this thing called school I talk about, but she has absolutely no idea what it all means.

And, you know, I don't really either. I think I do, as I think about our new fall routine. [Can it be called "fall" when it's triple-digit temperatures outside and only mid-August when this new routine starts?] But, really, life is beautiful and filled with unexpected moments and seasons. And I have the feeling I'm entering one.

Maybe it will be cooler in this new season. Like in the 80s? I mean, I don't need snow or anything. Just a break in the humidity that makes me sweat when I walk down the driveway to get our afternoon paper.