Milo's first wedding...

Mike's cousin Lindsey got married this weekend. We did the flowers, and I say we because many hands made far too much work very reasonable. Thanks to Steph and Larry, Karen and Bill, Kristi and Jason, Aunt Carol and Uncle Larry, Aunt Laura and Uncle Craig, and Mike, Lindsey's wedding was quite literally covered in flowers. We put things together that I've never done before, mostly because the flower shop I worked for never even offered them; they're fairly time intensive and not very cost-effective. Larry and Craig say they are going to teach me how to price things appropriately, but really with family, that's next to impossible. What's the good in having a florist in the family if they don't give you a great deal on your wedding flowers?

Milo was terribly handsome. He inherited some great seersucker pants from either one of the Rohl boys or Jake, I don't know from whom exactly. Mike and I found this button-down shirt on a clearance rack at Macy's, and I rummaged up a remnant tie out of the tie-bag days, cut it short, and stitched it up. I'm afraid to say he might have stolen the show, at

least in my eyes, but don't tell Lindsey. He is my first kid though, and I am a little biased, so hopefully she'd understand.

We also got to spend some great family time with the Schroeder gang. Kristi and Jason flew out from VA, and Karen's new beau, Bill, came up from Iowa to take on meeting the entire extended family, bless his heart. We all crashed at Larry and Steph's, filling all beds and floor space. And it was a blast! Lots of bossing nice people around with flower stuff, and plenty of loving by experienced and capable hands for the little man, so mom could neglect him for orchids, hydrangeas, and kermit poms. Good thing I have 3 weeks left of leave to stay at home and stare at him :)

Not much to say...

Not much to report on these days, so I figure pictures will satiate the blog-fiends :) I think Milo is almost laughing though, not quite, but almost. These are a few of the pictures our friend Ryan Torma took when Milo was about 10 days old. Click here to see the rest of them...

Six weeks old...

The whole McGrail family, minus one Scott...

Kate, James, Finn, Henry, Milo, and I roadtripped to Indiana last week to hang with the McGrail crew. Mike, Mandy, and Jake flew in on Friday night to join all of us, Mom, Dad, and Heather. Only missing Mandy's Scott :( We were reminiscing that this is the first time the four of us girls have been all together in two and a half years, pre-Jake, pre-Henry, and obviously pre-Milo. And then Saturday afternoon, Grandma Sue, Grandpa Gary, and Aunt Barb and Marv came over from Iowa. A little crowded, but loads of laughs, love, card-playing, mess-making, food, and most importantly, family.

We decided to commemorate the event and take some family pictures. And I think they came

out pretty good, some definitely frame-worthy. When Kate and James and the boys were here, we all went to a Saints baseball game. And though Kate and I look ridiculously alike, people wondered whether it was Mike and James that were brothers. I don't know, I think all us girls look too much like family for there to be a mistake!

A few of my favorite things...

The sounds he makes when he sleeps...

The way he holds my hand, even though I know it's a reflex...

Little Feet...

The way he focuses when he can, especially on this cute lion from Auntie Kristi

Snuggling after snacking...

As promised...

Hello faithful followers. Figure we should get a few more pictures up before someone harasses me, ahem Kayla :) Not going to write a whole lot right now though. Our desktop computer is in the process of potentially crashing, and Mike's been taking the laptop to school, so now it's late at night, and this new mom is looking forward to some sleep.

Smiling at dad...

No worries my Leche League-loving friends, that's mom's best; just let's dad get in on the process

And that might be all you get, google's giving me an error message and I don't have the patience to wait it out. We had our first check ups post-hospital, and everyone's looking good. Apparently Milo's only down a couple of ounces off his birth weight, which is great. They typically want to see him back up to his birth weight at 14 days, so for him to be almost there at 10 days is perfectly healthy. And everything else looks good, says the doctor, color, ears, eyes, reflexes, strength, belly button, all those important things :) Thanks for the many calls and check-ups, and all you who stopped in to say hello, bring meals, and oogle the little man. We are a well-loved family. Hey, Mike and I are officially a family now, not just a couple!

Pretty stinkin' cute

Meg and Milo are snuggling in bed right now; both are recovering after a really crazy night last night. Milo was especially fussy, probably because we weren't feeding him enough to his liking. He has lost some weight (8%), but he has stabilized. We have started supplementing his feeds with formula, which helps reduces the fussiness and prolongs the sleepiness, both really good things. Also, we have started feeding him nakers, per the recommendation of the pediatrician. The problem of not eating enough was compounded by the fact he was falling asleep during feedings. Then, when we put him back in his bassinet, he begins to fuss again! Now he looks pretty pathetic shivering while eating, but at least he is staying awake enough to eat.

Also, on the bilirubin front for all the health-field people types...his serum bilirubin is low, despite his yellow skin. This is a good thing.

Sounds like both Meg and Milo will have many visitors tonight, as well as swirling rumors of McGrails en route. He met G'ma and G'pa Schroeder as well as Auntie Karen on Monday, as well as Great-Uncle Hans and Aunt Kersten yesterday. G'ma Schroeder was so excited, she came for an encore visit on Tuesday. Meg and Milo will probably be discharged tomorrow. Stay tuned.

And the name is...

Milo Patrick Schroeder! You can call him Miles or Milo...maybe Mack if he can beat up Jake later. (Highly unlikely...Jake is built like a tank). Can't wait to see the inter-cousins grudge matches - Battle of the Blondies! If you have any other creative names for the rumbles or wrestling matches when the cousins get together, leave them in the comment box!

Meg and Milo are doing well. Milo is still figuring out the breast feeding thing...he gets sleepy when attempting to eat. Also, his bilirubin is a little high (and he is a little yellow..."tan" Meg says), but nothing to fret about yet. Meg is a little sore still, but walking around nicely. Thanks for all the e-love and support.

Untitled #1

Hi everyone anxiously waiting baby pics! It's Mike, posting on behalf of Meg. We had a baby boy at 7:52am this morning. He is 7 lbs, 8 oz, and 21" long. He has blond hair and Meg's complexion. The pediatrician had the best quote: "He is definitely Caucasian."

We will post additional pics when they become available. In the meantime, let us know if you have an opinion on a name!

1. Milo Patrick

2. Emmett Jay (Jayce?) or Emmett Michael

3. Colby Ellis

What do you think?

8 hours post C-section

Hello World!

Just born!

New life...

So we're going to have a baby! Tomorrow! AHHHH!!! and YEAHHHH!!!! We found out about a week ago that the baby is breeched, head up, occasionally ramming me in the ribs, blessed soul. They tried to flip the baby, to no avail, so we're scheduled for a c-section first thing tomorrow morning. Nothing like planning your kid's birthday. Kinda weird, but kinda neat too. Mike and I have really been able to spend some great time just the two of us, and there's nothing like leaving work as neatly as you can, at least as much as possible within reason, and with no surprises. Been doing a lot of praying the past few days especially, maybe it's hormones, maybe it's the thought of being a mom so soon, even with nine months to prepare, maybe it's eminent major surgery, maybe it's the utter fear and excitement of meeting my child face-to-face after so many months belly-to-belly. Maybe it's putting all that together with a for-sure date and time; there's something oddly soothing about not knowing, and now that we know, it's all that much more serious, that much more intense, that much more, well, eminent. And not necessarily in a looming way, though in my weak moments of doubt, looming is probably not a bad word, but solid, for sure. This is really happening. Mike and I are really going to do this, we're really going to be parents. And I'm thrilled, and freaked out, and so excited, and a little panicky, and over-prepared, and under-prepared. But on this beautiful summer morning, the day before our son or daughter is born, I'm also so content. Our baby is healthy, we have a great doctor, I have the best husband on the planet, who's put up with everything I thrown at him in pregnancy, and in about an hour, we'll go, the three of us together and spend some time lovin' on the One who made all of us to be together. Thanks for your prayers, your love, and your support, what's been given, and what will be given in the next few days. Can't wait to show off our kid!

Showered on by Gap friends...

Shower #1 was a fantastic success, regardless of my anxieties beforehand. Not that I really had any doubts. I didn't actually take any pictures with my camera, but I know a couple of gals have posted them on Facebook, so I'll go on for the first time in about 4 months and try and connect the dots so you can see them.

One of my favorite things about this shower, aside from the great people, and they really are great people. I know I gripe about a few of them, but some of them, I think I'll be friends with for life. And those ones, well, even Mike had a good time with them, which considering the fact that they're my people and he doesn't see them much, I consider that a great compliment to them. Anyways, so one of my other favorite things, this was an especially mixed group, co-ed, young people, moms, college students, working-types, etc. and the gals organizing this shindig decided that shower games might not be the best. One of them, my girl Polly, had been to another shower last year where they had everybody decorate a onsie for the new baby. And here are some of my favorites.

I guess a couple of these might need explaination. The "cute as a bug" one is from Marcia, who loves lady bugs. When I was in Hawaii with Mom, I found her these great little lady bug tumble glasses, and with Marcia, you just buy her those things because you always know that she'll just love them.

These two are front and back. My dear, sweet husband, from the very beginning of our little adventure of growing into parents, has insisted on calling my ever-growing belly "Cleatus the Fetus." I have this ridiculous paranoia that somehow this will follow our poor child far beyond his/her time of being an actually fetus, so I tried really hard to squelch this habit. But of course, my peeps at the Gap caught wind of this, and especially Polly likes to harass me with this. So her's is the one that says "Cleatus" which apparently means "illustrious" at which point she felt the need to justify this with "see mom, it's not so bad." Grrrrr....

And my guy Kory (who's 6'7" and also got us a onsie with a giraffe on it that says "vertically chanllenged" :) who shares a love and devotion to great or not-so-good '80's movies and music, painted the one that says "no one puts baby in a corner."

And though he's still designing his personal masterpiece, also of great note, my buddy Eric got us a onsie that has Bob Marley on it and says "B is for Bob." Totally perfect coming from Eric, and I must say, Mike and I both love it too. What can I say, our kid's going to be the coolest kid on the block.

A different take on a window box...

I stole an idea from a long-past TLC show, maybe "While You Were Out" or perhaps "Trading Spaces," and in our third floor apartment where bringing the outside in, especially in MN, it works quite well, if I do say so myself. Yes, those are test tubes, also especially appropriate for our househole, the bracket-thing is some kind of tool-holder from Menards or Home Depot, and I have them perched under a mirrored window frame that I think I inherited from Aunt Barb. And roses from the Flower Guys (Jim and Harold) at the Farmer's Market. Why is it that such little things make me so happy?

Showers...

Don't know about you all, but I find it very difficult to be the center of attention and completely out of control, all at the same time.  I have two baby showers rapidly approaching, and I scoff at the term "baby shower."  I know we're getting all the stuff for the baby, and I don't know how we'd afford or be able to pull everything together without these blessed events, but I'm the one who has to survive them!  And this is all me, by the way; I have confidence in all parties involved in organizing these that they will be great events, just my own psychosis, is that the right word?  I love to host parties or showers or dinners, but man, remove that control and make me have a roomful of people sit and stare at me, and I break out into a sweat just thinking about it.  

My hubby...

Taking a break from baby talk for a minute, 'cause pretty soon, that's probably all you'll be hearing about. This little snippet is a call out to my guy. I think I wrote something during his 1st or 2nd year about all the awards and stuff he had been winning, and though he's still doing that, I've had the opportunity to see him in action on his turf a little more in the past couple of weeks, and that's what I've been the most proud of. Sure he looks good on paper, and he now has a number of plaques on the wall above his desk, but the people around him, that spend the most time with him, they're saying some pretty great things about him.

I was able to go with Mike to a pretty big conference in San Antonio a few weeks ago, a national conference for professional and student pharmacists, and throughout the long weekend I was able to watch as students and faculty alike called out to Mike. We hung out with a few people that weekend, went mostly everywhere in a small herd, but it was to Mike, not the other students we were with, that so many people related and felt comfortable enough with to single out. I saw that 1st thru 4th years knew and respected him, from both the Duluth and the Twin Cities campuses.

Then, the day after we got back from Texas, I went along to the last formal meeting of his professional fraternity. This was a dinner meeting, an awards ceremony, and an overall recognition of the chapter as a whole, and Mike's last official meeting as regent, basically president of the chapter. We ate, Mike's mentor spoke, they gave out some "paper plate" awards to the graduating 4th years, and then awarded him "Brother of the Year" as voted on by the whole chapter. He tries to make this sound like it's just because he took on the responsibility of regent, but last year the regent was not given this honor. Then Mike stood up and talked about the success of the chapter as a whole, and then each individual on his executive board, and as only he can, he was sincere and awkward and sweet all at the same time, hugging all of them in turn. He even choked up a little at one point. His VP then stood and talked about Mike, and I teared up. What can I say, I'm proud, pregnant, hormonal, and overly-emotive. I was perched behind one of the faculty involved with the group, who I don't think knew I was there, and heard him say that "Yeah, Mike, he's a big man on campus." I kind of laughed, he turned and saw me, and with a smile he said, "no really, he's a big man on campus." As the official meeting broke up and people socialized and dispersed, I can't count how many people came up to me to tell how much they liked and respected my husband.

I think we always know how great our people are, but what is it about hearing such fine things out of the mouths of others that so impacts me? Thanks for making it so easy to be so proud of you, Mike. And happy late 30th, old man :) Big love!

Some old stuff...

Now that I'm trying to be back on the ol' blogging circuits again, thought I should catch up on some cool stuff. Here are the first pictures of the little bean. These are from our 12 week ultrasound, so back in December. We sort of had no idea when we got pregnant, so they had us go in early just so we could figure out how far along I was. It was a fairly traumatizing experience, doesn't help when one's hormones rage unchecked at any given moment, but I survived, baby survived, and Mike went to work that night so he wouldn't have to deal with me. Poor Mom, I called her on the way home and just cried. Duh, don't freak Mom out when really not that big of deal, just crazy mind and mood-altering chemicals raging thru bloodstream :) So I stopped for McDonald's on the way home, scarfed fries, nuggets, and a chocolate shake, and felt much better. We've had a couple of ultrasounds since this one, but the pictures are on the other computer. Plus there's a cute story involving a certain brother-in-law that will have to wait for another entry on another day...

News...

So I think I've told most of you this in person, and if I haven't, please don't take it personally! Mike and I are expecting our first little human!  I'm about 24 weeks along, definitely sporting a belly, in fact at work, I've just succumbed to "embracing the belly," ie. being okay with not wearing tent-like shirts to try and minimize enormity of how I feel.  

Mike's been really fun with all this; for a long time I was worried that he would always be okay with being the two of us, and I've felt like I've been ready to think about kids for a while.  He's always said that he wanted to be surprised when we started having kids, and I think he was!  When I first found out, I was in the midst of working a bunch of overnights at work, meaning I was working 9pm-6am or 6pm-3am, and he was in typical student mode, mostly days and into the evenings, so we literally didn't see each other for days on end.  The day I found out, he happened to wake up in the wee hours of the morning when I climbed into bed.  I asked him if he was awake, and he said sort of.  I said if I wasn't going to see him for the next three days I had something to tell him, and I told him I was pregnant.  He asked how sure I was, I said pretty sure, and then he went back to sleep.  I was a little worried that he would think it was a dream the next day or not even remember, but he called me in the afternoon before I went to work, and he proceeded to list off all the vitamins and supplements that he had gotten that I should be taking for me and for baby :)

I'm due June 30th, and I feel so lucky to be literally surrounded by knowledgeable and wise people who know what they're talking about when it comes to kids.  I'm reading my books and worrying that I'm not worrying enough, but mostly I feel supported, not prepared by any stretch of the imagination, but in that inevitable time when Mike and I won't know what to do, that we have countless people to call on for help and support.  And in that, I feel ready to have a baby, not in my abilities or how well I can prep, but in the village of people that have chosen to love and support both Mike and me.

Vote for...

This is a call out to all my creative, word-wise, world-wise, lyrical, poetic, realistic, honest people. Gap's doing this thing to get people hyped up about voting, I think it's pretty cool, so before anyone goes off on a tirade about marketing and whatever, please save it; you can talk to me about it another time. And if you want more info, go to www.gap.com/votefor, but I digress. So Gap's making these shirts and some pins, and doing this whole thing to get the word out to remember to vote this year. The nice plain, white t's (hey, that sounds like a band name, oh wait...) just say "Vote for__________." on them, and we as employees all get one to design with whatever we want on it, work appropriate of course, so leave your Polly, I mean potty mouth at home, but I'm having a problem coming up with the best idea, and I'm relying on all of you, my people, who know me, who know what I stand for, to help me think of something appropriate to put on my shirt by this Sunday night, when a bunch of us are getting together to decorate them. So send me your thoughts, quotes, lyrics, ideas, designs, symbols, whatever you think I should put on my shirt. Oh, yeah, and I do have to wear this at work, so don't embarrass me ;)

Like peeing your pants...

My friend Kory bestowed upon me a fantastic description of friendship the other day. He said that "friendship is like peeing your pants: everyone can see it, but only you can feel its true warmth." Just a little snippet of truth for you today, enjoy. Someday, if you're at my house, I'll show you the little caricature that he drew to go with this little bit of wisdom.

My list...

My friend Amy just posted a list of, shoot, I think it was 6, random facts about herself, and I really enjoyed recognizing and learning those things in her. So here's my list:

1. My number one paranoia is my scent; I buy prescription-strength deodorant, I wear body spray or perfume everyday, and I almost always have gum or mints with me.

2. I really don't like pecans or walnuts; I like pretty much every other kind of nuts, but these two can quickly ruin a perfectly good cookie, brownie, or chocolate for me. I don't know, I'd like to say it's just a texture thing, but I really don't like the taste either.

3. That being said, I learned as a kid from my very tactful and helpful-in-all-social-situations parents, to always eat what was put in front of you. And especially after spending time in a third-world country, I will always gratefully eat anything in front of me. Though I've started to learn to be honest with my dear husband who loves to experiment in the kitchen, I am unable to tell pretty much anyone else if I do not like what I am eating, please don't use this information against me...

4. Unlike my dear friend Amy, my favorite days are rainy, (ironic because I really don't like to be wet) giving me the excuse to stay inside, curl up with a cup of anything hot, and read a book or watch a movie; I find these days few and far between because of #5...

5. I recently learned about one of my sisters and have identified in myself that my main motivating factor/emotion in most situations is guilt. I don't like to clean or organize, but I feel guilty when Mike comes home to a messy home, thus I skip my rainy, snuggle day. I hate, yes, hate working out, but I feel guilty about what I eat and not using my perfectly good, healthy body, so I will go for a run-walk today; sorry, my gorgeous health coach, the real reason.

6. I sometimes envy my cats. I mean really, how great would it be to sleep 18 hours a day, have food and water miraculously appear, lay in the sun and bask with no obligations? Maybe play with a loofa every now and again... (Sally's favorite toy, I know, she's quirky.)

Not for the faint of heart...

So this story is a little gross, but really quite amusing so I can't help myself. Let me tell you a little bedtime story about our beloved cat, Hoover, er Roomba, er Charlie. Now I wasn't actually there to witness this, this is second hand thru Mike, though I have witnessed similar occurrences. This afternoon, after getting off work, Mike snuggled in for a nap. He started to hear the oh-so-familiar wretches of our cat chucking up a furball. I don't know what it is about our cats and vomiting, but they are boarder-line bulemic, I swear. They especially enjoy using this endearing characteristic as retaliation when we leave them for a few days; usually the puke-to-days-gone ratio is quite close to, if not higher than, 1. So Charlie is chucking, he vomits; Mike decides it's not worth getting out of bed, that he'll clean it up when he wakes from his nap. He then witnesses Charlie reingest his pile of puke, and sort of pull a nearby washcloth from a pile of laundry to cover his remnant indiscretion. I think he did this in manner of covering bowel movements with kitty litter in the box, but regardless, he did an excellent job masking his little regurgitation incident. Mike chuckled, and snoozed off. Later, Charlie also "clean up" a Sally indiscretion... Ew, but very handy in that we use lots less spot-shot.

Meg's Flowers in action...

So I'm pretty excited because my official debut as a professional florist on my own, I'd like to say, was a great success! One of the gals Mike goes to school with got married a couple of weeks ago and asked me to do her flowers; it was kinda cute actually, another girl in the class was getting married around the same time, and Alison, this bride, was like "I claim Meg!" Made me feel pretty good. She's just really great like that though, knows how to make you feel like you're the best person ever!

So Alison and Josh are high-school sweethearts, and the four of us have hung out together on a couple of different occasions, and we really like them as a couple, so this wedding was already going to be a lot of fun. Add to it, that the bridesmaids dresses may be the prettiest I've seen, and oh yeah, by the way, made by the mothers of the bride and groom! The cutest flower girl ever, plus Alison's got pretty good taste, so it was easy working with her. That all equals easy success as the flower lady, and just an enjoyable experience all around for me. The ceremony and reception were beautiful and loads of fun, and I might even have my first wedding booked for next summer!

The wedding was Saturday evening, so Mike helped me pick up the flowers Friday morning, he went to work that afternoon, and I just sat and played with flowers all day! I loved it because I just really took my time, enjoyed the process, and just had a great time doing it. Friends Alex and Sarah came to stay that night, so after a small break for pizza and Wii, Sarah helped me wrap hundreds of hyacinth to add into the bouquets and vase arrangements. Let me know what you think; any areas for improvement? Any blooms out of place?

Is this genetic too...?

I've got a little time, so we're going to try and upload a video. Can anybody guess who's kid this is? All I can say is like mother, like son! We have a video of Mandy doing almost this exact same move to one of Grandma and Grandpa's cats when she was little!!

These are for you, Mommy Mandy!

So we hear that movie clips, though appreciated, are tough to download on Afgahni internet, so Jake would like to say hi in a few still life's! We love you and Jakey Cakey is missing you, but he is overwhelmed with Auntie's! I've always been reserved on speaking for kids through pictures, but I think just this once, it'll fly...Seriously, green beans...? How about some of those mangoes you've been working on, or at least that beef, potatoes, and carrots pureed in a jar?
Lookit what I learned how to do! Flip my tongue! Isn't that genetic, paternal or maternal side? Yeah, I think I'll be a doctor some day too... I'm a smart one!Dad hasn't exactly mastered the art of thwarting my attempts at swatting my spoon, but that just makes it more fun! And my wardrobe changes with each meal: one night it's green beans, another night I wear pureed chicken, another night it's mixed berry yogurt! tasty and fashionable!
Leanin' in for a kiss, Momma! Miss you, so proud of you! Come home soon and safe!

My eldest sister...

Mandy, my oldest sister, has been deployed. She has warned us not to be too specific about where and how and when she goes, she's probably overly cautious, but I don't see anything wrong with that. A few weeks ago, she was in Texas, at Fort Hood, waiting with her battalion to go overseas. I decided to use a few days of my PTO and go and spend some time with her and Mom, attempting to distract her from the fact that she was away from Jake and Scott while still in the country.

One night, Mom and I "helped" her pack loads of interesting, mysterious, camouflaged parafenelia including a flack vest that weighed approximately 2.7 tons; amazing that Mandy, who probably weighs 115 lbs soaking wet, will wear something like that pretty much wherever she goes. But again, we're grateful for the precautions. A couple other fun little whatnots found in and amongst the canteens, gerbers, etc. were a couple of switchblades provided by Scott and Scott's Uncle Mike, one about 5 inches long, the other a little smaller. Obviously, these two men know how and what to arm her with whereas we inexperienced people trust that the army will fully outfit her. When we asked why they each gave her one, why she would need two such weapons, she merely stated without hesitation, "one for my belt, and one for my boot." Very strange, this world I just stumbled blindly into. Very foreign to the microcosm I live in. Amid all these preparations, we were able to laugh, donning "tattoos" and alter egos, which I think at least allowed Mandy to release some need seratonin.

Later that weekend, we visited Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary's little piece of paradise that Grandpa Gary affectionately calls "Lonesome Dove." It really is beautiful, regardless of what all of you think of the fried, desolate desert you think of as Texas. And Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary really know how to tap into the local beauty, the flowers and succulents that thrive there. We ate and talked, then ate again, did some dishes, ate again, played with some cute dogs. We laughed that basically when we finished eating, we immediately started preparations for the next meal. On Saturday, the day before Father's Day, Grandma Sue had promised to take balloons to the local nursing home to dress things up a bit in honor of the holiday. With two cars, Mom, Mandy, Grandma Sue and I headed to Walmart to have our balloons filled with helium and tied with ribbon, and they we would be off to deliver them to the nursing home. Grandma had bought just enough balloons, about 30, I think, for the 28 gentlemen in the home; we shopped around a bit, killing time while they filled them, then we started outside, to load them into our two cars. Before we even got to the car, at least two popped as soon as we got out of the air conditioned store and into the 90+ heat of the day. Yeah, the best laid plans. At one point, I've gotten into Grandma Sue's back seat in order to pull the dozen or so balloons in behind me; now I'm smoothered into a corner, the car is running and AC is blowing, but all I can see or feel is balloons, and my heart starts beating a little faster each second as I fully expect several of them to pop, giving me multiple heart attacks as I wait for Mandy and Grandma Sue to reappear out of Walmart where they have reentered in the hopes of getting a few extra balloons for the ones that have/will pop before we get them to the nursing home. I'm not really clausterphobic, but if I ever felt like the world was closing in on me, it was then. I ended up calling Mom on the cell phone in the next car over, slightly frantic and the soon-to-be-popping balloons now seemed to be sucking all the oxygen out of the car. Grandma Sue soon reappeared, and we started off with the first load. All ended well. The balloons were delivered, I lived to see another balloon-free day, and hopefully the residents were pleased with their Father's Day decorations.

Monday, we attended a deployment ceremony. From what I gathered, something more symbolic of maybe what it used to be. A high-ranking someone "inspects" the brigade, the colors of the various battalions are displayed and then wrapped, only to be unwrapped in Afghanistan. Canons are fired, people salute and are saluted. A couple of speeches are made.

We escape the base early in the day, and Mandy, using us as her excuse, leaves with us, and we drive just a little ways south to a little village-town called Saledo. I like Saledo; it's quaint and cute. There's a tea house that we don't quite make it to, several cute antique shops and what-not boutiques. In one fun little "mall," Mandy finds this great little purple, fuzzy puppet guy with three eyes and a long, curled nose, who we start calling Staney the Afghani; he will be Mandy's attention-getter for Jake when she skypes from Afghanistan.

I feel like I'm writing about all this trying to do the same thing I was doing while I was in Texas, trying to distract from the fact that my sister is far away. But there are only so many funny pictures to be taken, only so many silly stories to be told, only so many times you can sacrifice the color of your hair, so many times you can super-glue totally ridiculous tips on your fingernails, in the attempt to laugh or smile about something that you really want to cry about. I love my sister, all my sisters, and I want them home with me, on my commune, with their husbands and sons and cats. Instead, I am the only one of the four of us on the continental United States until Heather returns from Korea...