Squirrels

I wish I had taken my camera to the park with me today. After Kadon's afternoon siesta, I decided it was a great opportunity for the kids and I to get some of that quality time I keep vowing I'm going to give them before this baby comes. That in mind, I loaded the kids up into Mary's car (our van being in Cincinnati with Ammon) and set off for the bank. After depositing some money, we made one more pit stop at Wendy's for an afternoon snack of fries and lemonade, then made our way to our favorite park. We sat happily at one of the picnic tables eating our afternoon snack, and then the boys set out to run themselves ragged on the playground equipment. After about an hour of playing, I noticed a squirrel venturing unusually close to me underneath the picnic table. Suddenly, an idea struck! I quickly unearthed some uneaten french fries from the depths of the Wendy's bag and threw one on the ground. Just as the children approached, breathless from chasing each other around the playground, the wary squirrel snatched the proffered french fry from the ground, and proceeded to nibble at it in an entirely cute manner. As you can imagine, my children were fascinated with the prospect of feeding the omnipresent squirrels, and I had a great time trying to teach the kids the fine art of throwing the french fry 'just so', so that the squirrels would not be frightened by the approach, but instead enticed to pick it up and eat it. I'm sure my kids are going to move on to wanting to feed the squirrels in the yard next, an event that I will do my best to discourage. Feeding squirrels at the local park is one thing, teaching them to expect food from our home is entirely another.

In other news, Ammon has now completed his second full day at Ethicon Endo-Surgery. Yesterday he returned home fully an hour before I had thought to expect him, so our rush hour fears were pleasantly lifted. His boss, in viewing his necessary commute, has agreed to let Ammon take only a 30 minute lunch, allowing him to leave at 4:30 instead of the usual 5pm. This allowed Ammon to skip the worst of the Cincinnati traffic, and arrive here in very reasonable time. Tomorrow will be his last day of work this week, as we are headed to the hospital on Thursday to deliver Brooklyn. I plan to take one more belly shot to post in farewell tomorrow afternoon, along with finishing the last-minute details of bringing a life into this world. We finally have the bulk of preparation finished, having set up the bassinet this weekend, and mostly packing my hospital bag. The infant swing is set up in the living room, awaiting only the arrival of a tiny body to rock to sleep. The changing table sits waiting in the dining room, stocked with diapers, spare clothes, and bath supplies. It seems so strange to think that the age old tradition of having babies has been reduced to a surgical schedule, but I can't wait to meet our little girl in a mere 42 hours!