More Conversations with now 3-year-old

Cast of Characters:
I-minion, E-minion, Mom and Dad
Setting: At the supper table
[Half way through supper, a new topic of conversation is proposed]

Mom: What do you think about a baby coming to live at our house?
E-minion: [tilts head to the side and ponders for a moment] That's OK. I'm a big girl now. I have a big girl bed. The baby can sleep in my baby bed because I don't need it.
I-minion: [with a very serious look on his face] Mama, That is NOT funny.
Dad: Why?
I-minion: Well, babies cry all the time, and that hurts my ears.
Mom: [to Dad] Well, I guess we'll bring this up later.


Conversation Continued a few weeks later (after I-minion has learned it could be cool becoming a big brother and seeing that babies don't cry ALL the time)

E-minion: We could have a boy baby ...
I-minion: Or, a girl baby, OR [looks directly at our black labrador and thinks no, we won't have a puppy] a black baby.
Dad: Huh?
I-minion: We could have a boy baby, a girl baby or a black baby.
Mom: Oh, I don't think so.

Summer Hibernation

Based on the temperatures, cloudy skiesand the rain drops filtering through the atmosphere, it must mean that summer hibernation is officially over at Portrait of a Wannabe Domestic Goddess.

As good as my intentions are to blog consistently throughout the summer, it just isn't meant to be. This summer has been an unusual one in our little part of Iowa.

Let's name off the big news of the summer:

• My in laws who have claimed western Pennsylvania as home for the last 12 years continued the process of moving to Iowa. A lay off just before Christmas and new job in a neighboring town prompted my father-in-law to move here, live with us for six weeks, before buying a house. It's October now and my brother-in-law is here, and my mother-in-law is in the process of getting the house in PA ready for sale.
• With the excitement of the move and helping get everyone settled the garden was NOT planted this year. Rabbits have moved into the weedy area and have been feasting on the volunteer Marigolds and Dill I planted last year.
• We camped with Kelli and T and their superstar dog Lilly. That had a big impact on the kids as they frequently "go camping" in the yard or upstairs.
• We began discussing with the kids their thoughts on having a baby come live at our house. Thankfully they came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be so bad as there will be a baby arriving in February.
• E-minion and I-minion moved into their big girl and big boy beds without issue. Their former room has become the "baby's room."
• I've been knitting, a little, but more frequently ripping out since projects haven't been going my way.
• I've been cooking some, but not a lot -- as the early pregnancy ickies took hold firmly this time. They've passed and I've got some semblance of energy now.

Since it's fall, I am in the process of making Halloween costumes, preparing for the baby and for my husband to travel to China for work sometime in November.