Craigslist and a couple of other things.....

We had a fun day......my good friend Megan came over from Pearland and spent a few hours with Drew and me while Grant was at school. It was wonderful to catch up.....we haven't seen each other since Drew was a month old. Now that she's "retired" (her last day was on Friday, and she's having a baby in November!), hopefully I will get to see her more often during the days!

Also, I sold our sandbox (which the previous owners of our house left for us) and Drew's baby swing today! I am completely addicted to Craigslist right now.....it is fun! It's a great feeling to sell things that you don't use anymore, and actually get decent money for them....it makes me feel like I'm contributing to the family income! Except.....I usually turn right around and buy something with the money I just earned. These were only the third and fourth items we've sold, but now I feel like I'm constantly looking around our house trying to think of things I can pawn off for more cash! :)

Right now I'm looking for an antique dresser for our guest room, a new rocker/glider (Grant's is about to fall apart), and also some big boy furniture for Grant (although that is really no rush). I hear about people buying cars, washers/dryers, all kinds of things.....I've told Dean that anytime we are thinking about making a big purchase, we need to check Craigslist first! Okay, enough about Craigslist.....

After reading Sara's post a couple weeks back about carseat safety, I started researching carseats. Grant will need a new one when he reaches 40 pounds (he weighed 36 pounds at his two-year checkup, but now he's probably down to 33 or 34....the boy does not eat....but that's a different story). And Drew will be needing Grant's carseat in a few months anyway. So I did some research on the ones people commented on (in her post), and I decided on the Britax Frontier. From the reviews, it's a wonderful, extremely safe carseat and the last one your child will ever need (it has a 100-pound weight limit). We have the Britax Roundabout now and love it.....so that was another reason I wanted to stick with Britax.

ANYWAY, my point is that I looked on Amazon last night.....the price had been $279.99, but now it's on sale for $229.99. That's almost 20% off.....so I jumped on it and bought it. I also saw it on a couple other websites for the same price. Just a head's up for anyone who might be in the market for a carseat soon!!

My soap box for the week

Is it just me, or does all of this swine flu hysteria seem absolutely ridiculous??? Every time I watch the news, it's the first story they talk about- local or national. Yet today they said that the total number of swine flu cases in the U.S. is up to 250. Are you kidding me? 250?? That is less than one in every million people in the United States. I think there are probably almost 250 people who live on our street! Yet the way schools and churches are closing right and left, you'd think one in every 20 people have been infected. And worldwide, the "pandemic" has reached a whopping 1,000 confirmed cases.

Even more funny, they are now saying that it looks like this strain of the flu is less dangerous than the "normal" flu that comes around every winter. I heard the other day that 36,000 people (I'm assuming worldwide, but I'm not sure) die each year from these normal strains of the flu. Yet you don't see schools shutting down every January and February when students and teachers come down with these more common strains. Not that I am advocating that.....but it just seems to make no sense.

I am not a scientist, nor a person who is completely well-versed in swine flu. There may be an entirely appropriate reason for all of the hysteria, and I might be issuing huge apologies when people are dying left and right a few weeks from now! But to me, it seems like all of these "pandemics" that don't come to pass (bird flu, mad cow disease, now swine flu) could eventually lead to a crying wolf type of story. If people are told too many times, "it's becoming a pandemic....thousands could die".....on and on....and then nobody ever does, then what is going to happen eventually when there IS something really bad going around??

One more thing.....we just thought it was hilarious last night on the news.....they interviewed an ER doctor, and she was saying that hundreds of people have come in to get themselves checked for swine flu....except that most of them don't have ANY symptoms.....no fever, no aches, nothing!! So all of these people hear about this mysterious disease that's going around and immediately think they're going to die! My goodness......

Hermann Park and the Zoo

On Monday, I took Grant and Drew up to town to meet my parents at Hermann Park. Our original plan was to ride the train and play at the park, but we ended up going to the zoo also. I actually became a zoo member for a year. I'm thinking I won't be back much before September, though....I don't think I'd want to brave a zoo trip alone with the boys when it's 95 degrees and schools are out for the summer!

When we first got there, we walked into the Natural Science Museum so I could use the restroom. There were tons of school groups there, and as we walked past them, a lot of little boys noticed Grant's cars in his cup holder and commented on them. Grant had to bring his Lightning McQueens (2 of them), Doc Hudson, and Chick Hicks (plus one more generic racecar) with him.....and it was funny seeing all these little boys stare at Grant's cars with looks of envy (I assume kids in elementary school can't bring racecars to school anymore!).

He feels complete when he stuffs all of his cars into his cupholder like this:

Once we let Grant loose from the stroller, it was hard to corral him. He had fun looking at all of the ducks and birds in the water (this was standing water left over from all the rain we've gotten lately).
And he got to chase a squirrel....he loves to do this and says, "come here, squal!" Hopefully he won't ever get too close and be attacked or something.....
Grant and Grandma.....
Time for the train ride. If anyone reading this is familiar with Hermann Park but hasn't been in about a year, it has changed a lot! They've built an amazing train depot, and the paddleboat lake is so nice!!
Grant was quiet during the entire train ride.....he looked around a lot, but was a little wary and had this intense look on his face. I did not expect that! I think he'll loosen up a lot the next time we go.


Then we went to the zoo. We had to move Grant to the stroller permanently, because he wanted to get into everything when he had the freedom to walk. And he enjoyed some of the animals, but he wasn't overly thrilled with it at this age. For example, when we saw this amazing giraffe that came and stood right in front of us (see picture below), he noticed a plane flying behind it in the distance and said, "look, it's a big jet!"

Anniversary and pictures

Thursday was our fourth anniversary! We didn't get to taste our first anniversary cake; my parents were keeping it in their freezer, and they were out of town when they lost power and had to throw everything out. But.....we got the idea from some friends (Amanda and Elliott from our old singles' group) to order a cake topper every year for our anniversary. We love desserts, and especially wedding cake, so it's a perfect excuse! They're kind of expensive ($20, usually), but we consider it our gifts to each other.....this year we didn't even get each other cards (because each of us were just so busy and never got around to it!). Maybe I'm not like some girls, but I would much prefer a cake to flowers! This one was so pretty....and so good! I love The Cake Lady! When I was picking the cake up, I saw that they sell cupcakes for $1. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.....I think I will be going back before next April.....
A few more pictures from that day.....I fed Drew Gerber puffs for the first time. I don't think he's quite ready.....he doesn't have the "pincer grasp" quite down yet, and he thinks it feels pretty weird in his mouth. But he was concentrating so hard trying to pick them up!

Also, Grant decided he wanted to help mop the floor.....we have a Swiffer mop (he probably thought it was new.....that shows how much I actually mop our kitchen floor) and he thought it was fun to press the button that sprays out the cleaner. He actually did a very good job!
That afternoon after Dean got home from work, we played outside.....Drew's sitting on the grass while Dean is pushing Grant on the swing.
This is a good picture showing how Drew lights up when Grant comes near him. He starts to laugh and he braces himself to be attacked!

May Challenge

My friend Erin (see the Pitchers' blog) is writing on her blog every day in 2009. Now, I don't aspire to do that, but there are so many ideas running through my head about things I'd like to blog about. So a few days ago I was thinking that I'll just try to write one post every day in May. We'll see how I do! Tonight I was going to write about our anniversary (which was yesterday)....we got a really cute cake and I took some pictures, but they are still on my camera and I'm STILL trying to get Drew to go to sleep. And after he finally does, we have The Quantum of Solace waiting for us downstairs. So the uploading of pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. Wish me luck.....anybody is welcome to join me too!