[Guest Blogger (Mostly)] Alana's hairdos: A Retrospective (and other Wilson updates)

It's on our list for me to do a quick training session, perhaps with a bit of documentation, so that Julie can, when the mood strikes her, post to this blog directly. For now, though, I'll pass along one of her updates.

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Hello! In an attempt to get NO laundry folded this week, I have spent the last hour or so pulling together a new album of pictures to share. This album was inspired by a friend in Austin who commented on wanting to see pictures so she can keep up with Alana's hairdos. So, for those of you with a fashion sense or a slight curiosity about Alana's hair, check out the new album on shutterfly: http://secondtree.shutterfly.com/?a=1

We have been living in our new house almost a full month. The adjustment to Ohio has gone well so far, with the boys seemingly enjoying school, Alana LOVING the nearby zoo, and all of us taking in the neat bike trails that criss-cross the neighborhood. The adjustment to having Tim work from home was an easy one that I took no time getting used to. (That, of course, is my take - Tim may have another story to tell.) In fact, it is the adjustment to his being in Austin for this week that is the big adjustment. With Tim working from home, I quickly got into the pattern of letting Alana and Carson sleep in while I took Benton to the bus stop or leaving Molly with the run of the house while we were outside playing. With Tim not working from home this week, I am missing those conveniences, not to mention missing him. But, for our one week a month that he is gone, we will get him with no commute the rest of the month, so it is a worthwhile trade-off.

To make sure I would adequately miss Tim this week, the following has dotted my week

• Day 1 - I was reminded to put the grass-clippings out for the garbage truck when I saw the garbage truck drive away. Molly peed on the white carpeting at the foot of my bed within the 5 minute span it took for me to walk with Carson and Alana to the bus, which he missed. I burnt the rice at dinner and got finished with the bedtime routine 54 minutes later than usual. We had plenty of fun in between, but these were the "telling" moments of the day. (Did I mention that I ran out of the odor remover to clean the carpet?)


• Day 2 - Alana refused to nap due to the overstimuation of going to the zoo in the morning. She kept jumping in her bed saying things like "I saw a monkey peeing in the tree!" and "The koala had a baby on his back!" Of course the term "saying" should actually read "yelling at the top of her lungs". To recover, she had an early dinner and she passed out shortly afterwards when her body got within the confines of her crib. One good thing about the lack of nap is that I was able to run an errand to the store with Alana to get more carpet cleaner before the boys got off the bus!


• Day 3 - I think we are finally in the groove with no major incidents except that one of the garage door openers stopped working today. I'd fix it, but heck - Tim will be back in 2 days.....

Hopefully Alana will nap tomorrow so that the lawn can get mowed, otherwise, Tim is likely to dread his return home from Austin with laundry folding, mowing and repairs awaiting.

We seem to be have the ideal weather forecasted for the rest of this week- cool mornings and pleasant afternoons. So, expect that Thursday afternoon, we will be outside getting more lessons from Benton on the rules for 2 square. (I clearly remember the game but am new to the "no shoe shine, hot potato allowed - but not on the serve, electric lines" lingo.) It's a good thing the weather is supposed to be nice, as we need daily lessons for all the new rules he learns on the playground. I have no idea what he is learning in class, as conversation beyond what is happening on the playground or on the bus is not so easy to come by.

Take care!

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For my part, I seem to be averaging ~50% less sleep per night in Austin than I was getting in Ohio. And I have yet to make it to the hotel gym! Long days at the office combined with various evening commitments, has seen me rolling into the hotel late and then getting online for a bit before hitting the rack. Yesterday, en route to a departmental happy hour (I didn't say these were particularly onerous evening commitments), I stopped off at Ray Hennig's Music to see if I could get a funky little nut for my Peavey amplifier. We can't blame its disappearance on the move, as the amp doesn't get much of its intended use, while the knobs and dials have provided periodic fine motor skills exercises for Alana. As it turned out, Ray Hennig himself wound up helping me out, and we found ourselves rooting through little drawers of random parts. Ultimately, we were successful, and, when I asked what I owed him, he just waved me off. I was a little disappointed, actually, because Ray Hennig is a local legend of sorts, and I'd just about convinced myself to work up the nerve to ask him to autograph my receipt!