BOOM!! (Already.)

The 4th of July is a full week away, but the people just down the street have been setting off fireworks already. (I think it's the same people who have the kid with the 4-wheeler.) While I can put up with regular city noises (traffic, sirens, etc.),the booming noises of fireworks are more difficult to tolerate. I think fireworks should be covered under a noise or nuissance ordinance, but I doubt that's the case since fireworks are actually legal within the city limits here (which I think is absolutely wrong!). If they keep going with the fireworks at the current rate, it's going to be a very long week and my nerves might be shot by the end of it....

Growing Like a Weed

Our little girl has grown so much already!! She's just over a month old now, and she's already grown up and changed so much!! She's gained 2 pounds, and she can hold her head up, creep and scoot around, and roll from her tummy to her back. She doesn't have a real 'schedule' yet, but she's been sleeping a solid 6-7 hours just about every night. (She's definitely a morning person; I'm not!) She's generally a happy baby, which is very, very good....

A Little Stowaway

Jimmy was working at a camp this past week, and he returned home for the weekend before heading back to work at camp for another week. He left this morning, but it was a good thing I checked his bags before he left....

Tucker and the Sand Cricket

Tucker, our darling kitty (now technically a cat), is a mighty hunter of bugs. He stalks flies, spiders, crickets, and just about any other bug that manages to make its way into the house. Among his favorite bugs are sand crickets (a terrible mutant creature that's not really a cricket at all but looks like the worst possible cross between a large spider and a grasshopper). Anyway, a few days ago I found a sand cricket in my closet, and, using a bug-killing stratgey borrowed from my brother, I grabbed the dust-buster and vacuumed up the mutant creature. I set the dust-buster on the floor in the bathroom and promptly forgot about the whole episode. The next evening, I heard strange noises coming from the bathroom. When I went to check things out, I found Tucker pushing the dust-buster all around the bathroom floor, trying to figure out how to get to the still-alive sand cricket. When he decided that the cricket was stuck, he pulled back the area rug in front of the sink and attempted to hide the entire dust-buster under the rug. (Tucker has always stashed things under the little bathroom and kitchen rugs; it's not unusual for me to find coins, kitty treats, elastic hair ties,and bug parts under the little kitchen and bathroom rugs.) Anyway, he wasn't able to make the dust-buster disappear, but the whole thing was quite amusing....

Weather Warnings

With all of the crazy weather that we've been having in the Midwest this summer, this made me laugh....

Normal Pants and Stretch Marks

First, the good news: I'm back in my normal pants again. Actually, I've been back in normal pants for about a week and a half now. I can't quite fit into my "skinny jeans" yet, but most of my pants fit relatively well. I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy weight yet, but I'm getting closer -- less than 10 pounds away. Also, I have now regained feeling in all of my fingers. (The tips of the fingers in my right hand had been numb for most of the past month. It's really nice to be able to button clothes and address envelopes without any pain or difficulty again.)

And, the bad news: I now have stretch marks on my tummy. While this really shouldn't come as any surprise, it does. I didn't have any stretch marks on my baby belly while I was pregnant, but now that I'm back to a relatively normal size I have yucky looking stretch marks on my tummy. Something just seems wrong about this whole thing....