A bit of a delayed post — We traveled “back East” for labor day weekend to visit with all our parents and other family and friends. It was our last trip back before the baby comes, and it ended up being a great opportunity to see lots of people.

I had not had the opportunity to see my extended family in years. For some it had been more than four years. There were four “babies” (who are no longer babies) for me to meet. So I am so grateful to all who made the trip to Batesville and spent part of their holiday weekend with us. I so appreciated the time for many of us to be together — those who couldn’t join us, know that you were missed!

My parents threw such a GREAT party — complete with, yes, a bouncy house. I now think that every party should have a bouncy house. I want them to rent it next time I’m there so I can actually jump in it. [No pregnant girls allowed in the bouncy house. :( ] Dad grilled all day, and mom exhausted herself in the kitchen — they were so busy I didn’t get any pictures of them all day!

Sunday we had a Cincy baby shower for a few folks, mostly family on Mike’s side. Rosie and Laura also threw a great party, and went above and beyond on all the details. Everyone was super-generous, and we were overwhelmed with all the nice things we walked away with from the entire weekend — this is one spoiled baby. I don’t know how these little things always end up with so many presents! I guess that’s what being small and cute will get ya.

Pictures from our fun weekend:

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I’m no stranger to public restrooms these days. I could probably write an entire blog post about my complicated relationship with those tissuey toilet seat covers. I had a particularly interesting visit to a public toilet before a flight last week.

There’s a new airport satellite garage we’ve been using. It’s pretty sweet for a parking garage, they really try to make it a high end experience. In a parking garage. Anyway, this time I tested out the toilets — you never know how long you’re going to be in airport security and I can’t make it very long while standing these days.

It’s a beautiful restroom, as if it were in a fancy restaurant. But it’s… weird. First of all, there are three waist-high hooks outside the women’s restroom door. Why? I do not know. Then, you walk through the doorway, next to which is a narrower doorway. (As if there’s supposed to be a door and a window next to it, but it’s not there yet.) Your instincts tell you that one of these openings is glass, so you put your hand through the space, just to make sure…

So, the thing I had to photograph was this stall door. The purse hook is at the top. The location of my hand is as far as I can reach. The hook was about 8 feet high. This, by the way, is the handicapped stall. Wha?

So, I do my thing (which includes the usual fight with the damn toilet seat cover). Time to wash up, and I use the official looking soap dispenser. Nope! Not soap. Mouthwash. Yes, there were tiny cups, I realized. But this was the appropriate looking soap dispenser, not the little store-bought container. Shockingly, the restroom “designers” did not install soap dispensers in this restroom. I do appreciate the thoughtful addition of the mouthwash…

Not surprisingly, I had to stop in again on our return trip. (This time I let Mike hold my purse.) This dispenser now has a little label that says “MOUTHWASH.” Hilarious! I look forward to my next visit to this perplexing toilet. I may discover something else unusual. That being said, they are super nice and super clean. I’ve been seeing all kinds lately.

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So, it’s a boy. We’re going to call him Elliott. (Most likely. You never know if he’ll come out looking like a Steve or a John or something…) We wanted to give our child a Seattle name, and it doesn’t get much more Seattley than Elliott Bay. (Our girl’s name was super awesome, but I’ll just have to save it and hope I can use it next time.)

Aside from finding out the sex of the baby, there hasn’t been a lot of news on the pregnancy front. It pretty much goes like this:

• First Trimester: Sick. :p
• Second Trimester: Unhappy. :(

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