On a cheerier note...

We seem to have strayed from the formula a bit with my last post. Lois wasn't (directly) the focus, there were no pictures, and it wasn't quite light hearted. But it was cathartic for me and I just needed to get it off my chest. So sue me!

Let's return to the formula and see what the butter bean has been up to in the past week.

On Thanksgiving day, I continued my quest to get a photo of Lois to use as a Christmas card. Our new house is a little better than the basement in regards to available light - but not much. So since we were hanging out at Aunt Marpa's for the day - where good light is in abundance - I thought the stars would align and I would get my Christmas shot. But I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

This one was a strong contender, but it bugs me you can't see the top of the Santa hat - so it just looks like her head is encased in white fur. And what is she doing with the tip of that tongue?

I knew if I spent a little time in photoshop with this one and darkened up the background a bit it would be a possibility. But look at her face! It's moments like this we tell Lois her extra chromosome is hanging out.

Now keep in mind, she's my kid so I can say things like that. I know that extra chromosome is no big deal. But you people aren't allowed to talk like that. I wouldn't want you to notice a kid with DS in the grocery store and tell them #47 is hanging out. It's funny when I do it, but you've got to be a resident of Holland to use language like that. Trust me.

In the end, we got a pretty good family photo of the three of us which will soon be arriving in your mailboxes. I'm disappointed that Lois isn't the focus of the picture. In fact, all I see when I look at it is my big mug staring back from center square. I thinking 10 years from now this photo will be cringe worthy.....

Two days after Thanksgiving, Jay and Lois and I packed up the car and made the 3 hour trip to Roanoke to see Lois's other grandparents. I dread a 3 hour car trip when I'm the only one in the car. Imagine how I feel about it when I've got the butter bean to entertain in the back seat. Thankfully, we're so in tune to the kid that we knew when we should hit the road when she would be most likely to sleep. And so she slept most of the way to the Cracker Barrel in Troutville where we met Jay's Mom.

Here they are indulging me with a photo shoot. That's Jay's Mom and her friend R who is a big Tech fan. During our lunch, the Virgina Tech/UVA football game was on. For my blog readers who are not Virginia residents, that game is a very big deal. The two schools share a bitter rivalry. And when I say bitter, I mean bitter. Tech (where Pops and I went to school) is in the southwestern part of the state. It's rural. There is a dairy science program at Tech. So yes. We have our fair share of bovine friends who share part of the campus. On the other hand, UVA (where Jay, Aunt Marpa, and my grandmother - the original Lois went) is in the center of the state and is rather......umm.....snooty? Can I say that? Having been to games in both stadiums, I'll describe the difference for you like this. UVA football games smell like bourbon and cigar smoke. Tech football games smell like cheap beer and cigarettes. Frankly, I myself am much more comfortable with the cheap beer crowd, but that's just me.


I remember going to a VT/UVA game in Blacksburg with my parents while I was still in high school. The UVA pep band formed an outline of the state of Virginia on the field and then gave the spectators directions to Tech from Charlottesville. "Go west till you smell it - and south till you step in it." That's a cow reference, people. Not very nice. Not very nice at all.


Two years ago the big game was in Charlottesville and the night before, someone snuck out onto the field and painted a big "T" onto the big "V" in the center of the UVA field. I thought it was funny. Jay thought it was disrespectful. (I'm still laughing.)

You'll be surprised to hear that this game doesn't cause any marital disharmony. Jay is SUCH a diehard fan of his team, and frankly, UVA has been the underdog in this game for MANY years - that I find it hard to root against the cavaliers. But Jay's Mom and her friend R? Well, this game is big 'doins - as they say down south. So our lengthy lunch together was punctuated by numerous game checks. I was frankly more concerned with my chicken and dumplins and the fact that Lois was shoveling buttered biscuit and carrots into her mouth at a breakneck pace.

We had a lovely visit, Tech pulled out a win in the last quarter, and we left extremely well fed!

So it was on to the outskirts of Roanoke County - almost into Franklin County - to see Jay's Dad. He lives in the mountains and it reminded me of how much I miss those mountains. There were 10 deer grazing in his backyard. The only thing grazing in our backyard is two fat dogs and a bunch of squirrels.

We sat with Jay's Dad and talked for a long time, and for the majority of that time Lois just happily sat in her Grandad's lap and looked around. It was nearing 5:00pm at this point and Lois had been up at 5am that morning. She had skipped her afternoon nap entirely but still had plenty of smiles for her Grandad.

My pregnant self, who had also missed her afternoon nap, wasn't feeling quite so chipper.

We hit the road back to Richmond with Lois sound asleep and me not far behind.

It's a shame we don't get to see Jay's side of the family more often. Traveling with Lois is a drag, and I imagine 5 months from now things are going to be even worse. We sure hope they will come visit us in Richmond soon. Don't forget....we've got plenty of room here and our door is always open. In fact, that goes for all of you.

Just give me a little advance notice so I can sweep up the dog hair and change out of my pjs.