For Nicole

I've been writing this post for my friend Nicole for a long time in my head now. See, Nicole is doing something both incredible and difficult at the same time. Nicole has decided to start running - and I am so excited for her. Although I've not had the pleasure of meeting Nicole in person, our stories are so similar that it is amazing our paths haven't ever crossed.

Her story has gotten me thinking back to when I first started running and how much hard work it was. So, as a little encouragement, I thought I would share the short version of my own running story here. So here it is!

I started running the summer after I graduated from high school. Previously, I was not not anywhere near athletic. I did not participate in sports and my motto was (I know someone else famously said this, I'm shamelessly stealing it) "Why run when you can walk, why walk when you can stand, why stand when you can sit, why sit when you can lay down, in fact why get up if you don't have to." To sum up, totally uninterested in athletics and not a participant in any way if I could help it at all.

I'm not sure why I started running the day after graduation. And really, using the word "running" is a stretch. In the beginning I struggled to run for any stretch over 1/4 of a mile. And honestly, that might be a stretch. But, I started and I kept it up even though I felt stupid chugging away on the streets in my neighborhood. In the fall, I started my freshman year of college.

Here I am with my fabulous roommate and best friend Jessica on the first day of school. (posted without permission from her). As a note, I am currently about 10 pounds heavier 9 months pregnant than I am in this picture*.

Throughout that year, I worked really hard and I achieved one of my first goals just before Halloween: I ran my first mile without stopping. It took me four months to accomplish, but I was so SO proud of myself when I finally did it. By May, Jessica and I registered and ran in a 5K run. In a little over a year, I went from being totally nonathletic to being able to run 3.2ish miles in a row without stopping. (Please note: still completely uninterested in sports)

Jessica and I post 5K run

It goes without saying that running increased my confidence in myself and pushed me to take on new challenges. It changed how I viewed my body and took care of it. It also really made me see how taking time for myself and only me made me a more giving and happy person. Taking up running was a monumental, life changing decision.


After my first year of college, I kept up the running, although my dedication came and went as my class schedule and other life commitments changed. I do want to point out that I've never been anywhere never the competitive level of running. I am neither graceful nor swift as I jog around the track. However, I've never run for anyone but me. And I'm proud of that. Running is hard. It requires work. I'm not naturally good at it and I do it anyways. While writing this post, I've also realized that I've now been a "runner" for over 10 years. That is a major accomplishment.

After William was born, I renewed my dedication and hit the track at our local Y hard. It was hard to start over. I had to work again to run that one mile without stopping. But I did it and grew stronger. I made it my goal to train and run another 5K. Again, so proud to have accomplished that goal. After NewBaby makes his/her appearance, I'm sure you'll find me back at the track again.

Ready to run 5K, March 2008

*Although I'm sure running helped, I also am an incredibly picky eater. So picky that I went on the all cereal diet part way through my freshman year. I gave up on the cafeteria food because I didn't like it and ate only cereal.

The Awww....didn't last

I have to tell you the rest of the story from our music class last week. Just because it shows you exactly what I've been dealing with over the last few weeks. We left music class without major incident and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about how cute our kid is. Before leaving any building lately, I require a pit stop. So, William and I went into the ladies locker room. I picked a stall and pulled William inside with me, quickly locking the door. William was instantly fascinated. I tried to distract him, but I was also reaching emergency stage of bathroom needs*. So, I proceeded...and I'm sure you can see where this is all going.

Yes, he figured out the lock within 1.212 seconds and yes there was both a swim class, cycle class and aerobics class filling the locker room at that very moment to view my very pregnant self. And, yes I had to go to the bathroom so badly that I just did my best to keep the door more than 50% shut while I took care of business.

*If you talk to my mother about this, she will laugh and tell you that I have more than earned this moment based on my own childhood behavior.

Our Boy

While I won't say he is perfect, William has been very very sweet and very very cute lately. Here is a serving of the sweet and cute for you:


1. Yesterday we went to our music class. Another boy in the class has a 4 month old baby sister who usually naps in her stroller during most of the class. However, yesterday she wasn't having it and her mom finally pulled her out of the stroller and brought her to sit in the circle with us. The teacher was got out some sandblocks for the kids to play with and all the kids (from 18-36 months) were pulling the sandblocks out of the bucket and returning to their adult to sit. William was walking back towards me when he noticed the little baby didn't have any blocks. So, he veered off and tried to give them to the baby. "Share!" is what he said and collectively an "Awwwww..." came up from the crowd.

2. What could be sweeter than the first ice cream cone compliments of Grandma and Grandpa (photos courtesy of them as well)

3. He has been full of hugs and kisses lately. We are totally loving this as he was so stingy with handing them out before.

4. Yesterday we had a small thunderstorm blow through. I saw the lightening and while I waited for the thunder, I wondered about what his reaction would be. The thunder was loud and long when it came causing William to stand up and drop the cars he was playing with and come running to me. He burried his face into my neck and said "Wind? Scared? All done?" He then proceeded to sit in my lap for the rest of the 20 minute storm and snuggle in close every time it thundered.

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I also had my OB appointment this morning. We had a good appointment with the best news being that I've progressed from a 1cm to a 3cm. That is good news! However, the doctor (not my regular dr) was fairly confident that I will be back next week for my appointment because I am still posterior (don't google this unless you REALLY want to see something graphic).

I also had a contraction while the doctor was listening to the baby's heart beat. It was good to confirm that what I've been feeling were indeed contractions. However, they are not uncomfortable and they are exactly the same as what I've been feeling since about week 24. So, still probably Brackston Hicks. Fine by me at this point as they don't hurt!

T-Minus

Ten Days and counting....more or less.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

Well, it has been a long time and I'm just not in the mood to tell you exactly how I'm feeling. Not that you would want to hear it. I'm feeling very well for someone who is as pregnant as I am with a very active toddler. So, here are some pictures from Grandpa and Grandma's visit last weekend along with some house pictures. Sadly, I have not taken pictures of the clean baseboards in our closet to share with you. I know you are disappointed.

Window cornices John built and hung in New baby's room

It was a little too quiet the other night when we were making dinner and caught William doing this: trying to move cans from the pantry to the dining room area using the oven mitts. So proud of himself!
The finished effort
Playing at the park with Grandma and Grandpa

Helping Grandma put sprinkles on Mama's birthday cake

The laptop just barely fits on my lap anymore...also, we got new furniture!

And grandpa helped us hang some shelves! Here he is attempting to help us decorate as well. Grandpa is very talented.

We also finally put together William's wagon that he got for birthday/Christmas this year! He really liked being the helper.
Big boy helper
More helping...
Also exciting is this weekend William showed his first interest ever in stuffed animals. It was amazing - he played and played with them (no interest since then as luck would have it). My favorite part is he decided the large Elmo on his right was the Mama Elmo and the small Elmo on his left was the baby Elmo. Very cute!
Reading with Mama and and demonstrating one of the belly's great uses: a pillow.
We've been reading this book a lot (Arthur's New Baby Book). I don't know if it is doing us any good. He still looks at people like they are crazy when they ask him about a new baby at his house.
More fun with cans and oven mitts.
And last, a pregnant picture. I went to a baby shower for a girlfriend this weekend. I went with the black shirt because I have heard that it is slimming. I'm not sure it is working here...

Nothing to see Here

Same as always. Cleaning, purging and hanging out with the sweetness that is William.

Nothing New or Yes it REALLY is all about me

We had another doctor appointment today. Nothing has changed. The doctor is happy with where things are at. She again said that with the condition my body is in, labor could easily begin tonight or 3 weeks from now. Wonderful.

My parents were here this last weekend to celebrate a belated birthday weekend. I'll try to be back with pictures because we had a really good time. However, I am going to have to stop cleaning under couching and vacuuming baseboards in closets in order to do that. So, it might be awhile.

The other big thing on the list? I'm trying to squeeze in as much time with our sweet boy William before he isn't an only child anymore. Although it is tough with all the dusting of vents, light fixtures and blinds I have to do still.

Welcome to Mariella!

Our friend Jacob (okay, really Tom & Robyn) welcomed a baby girl on Tuesday! Hooray for baby girls!

Next I Will be Growing a Hump

I don't really have anything new to report, but since some of you knew I had an OB appointment, I thought I should update.

This was by far the shortest appointment I have ever been to in my life: my OB was actually on time (and I was late! Shock!).

The biggest news is I have gained an astronomical amount of weight since last week on Thursday. I am not happy about this, but after looking at my fingers and ankles, the doctor pronounced this as water retention and normal for pregnancy*. I would like to know exactly what my body think it is going to need this water for. I am sure someone else at the hospital will be boiling the water for me during the delivery and we've had plenty of rain lately. If I am inspired later I will take some pictures of my puffy toes, feet and ankles. I am sure you can't wait.

I find it very funny that my doctor suggests drinking more water to flush out my system and assure my body that more fluid will be available in the future. She also recommends resting with my feet up and getting some mild cardio exercise. Contradictory? Yes.


Please stop reading if you do not want to hear information about my cervix.

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I warned you - so no being mad. It would seem things are progressing, although slowly. My cervix is now about 60% thinned out and I am dialated to about 1 cm. All of this is good news because it indicates I may be able to breathe deeply or roll over on my own in bed someday sooner rather than later. However, it does not give any indication about when this might happen. So, we continue to wait. Patiently.



*Please note that a large weight gain can be a sign of trouble during pregnancy. However my blood pressure was very normal at 110/60ish and there wasn't anything else to cause concern.

Fluffy mail

We have been working working working. A few people have been admiring my insane nesting urges but I would like to clarify their precise origins as I feel that not all of my insane-ness is hormonal:

1) Our house has been "under construction" for close to two and a half years. Now hat the project is finally DONE, it is time to put things away and do a good job cleaning up the dust.

2) The flowers (crocuses?) are blooming in my backyard and it feels like it might be time to participate for the first time ever in the traditional "spring cleaning".

3) I am hormonal. Don't ask for more explanations than that. Just do it.

Two minor projects have been underway this last week. We are putting finishing touches on the nursery:

Stars & letters we painted for the nursery walls. I was dreaming about doing this before William was born, but I didn't have time because I was working full time.

John then drilled holes in each of the 56786168 stars and nailed them up on the walls to create a border. For the record, he did not complain once, try to talk me out of this or even roll his eyes at me during this whole process. He is a wonderful husband. We also hung curtains, curtain boxy things and the letters on the wall. I just didn't take pictures of those things.

The second project we've been working on is finding/acquiring baby gear to help us out with having two. Which, has resulted in a lot of shopping on my part. My life is so hard.

Fluffy mail! We got a whole new set of cloth diapers! After wearing his set for almost two years, William's are worn out! I'm excited we've ordered some new kinds of diapers as well as more diapers overall. These stacks of diapers should last us until potty training!

Our new double stroller! Notice Ernie is going for a ride. At first, William was very interested in climbing through the sun shades to get to the front seat and then climbing back again. This would not fly with a new baby. So, we put Ernie into the seat to help discourage him. It worked a little...

William and Ernie riding around. William is not happy here because Daddy had to stop pushing the stroller for me to take the picture!

36 Weeks=Baby No Name

Today we are 36 weeks pregnant and all of a sudden I'm starting to stress over names. I was really worried about this with William's pregnancy also and we ended up just pulling names out of a hat at the hospital. I was hoping we'd go in a little more prepared this time (and with double the names since this one is a surprise!). So, if you're waiting for me to tell you this name of this baby, you're just going to have to wait. We still don't know the name of this baby....

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well, it has happened. I turned 30 today and survived. It wasn't maybe the thirtieth birthday I was planning on having ten years ago, but it was still a very very nice day.

William slept in this morning a little bit - which is a great gift! I considered trying to teach him the "Happy Birthday" song again, but thought that might be weird. You know, to be singing Happy Birthday all by myself to myself. So, I didn't.

I had an OB appointment this morning (I party hard, you know?) in which I had my strep B culture taken, my first internal exam and then an ultrasound. The good news is that the baby is continuing to move further down and my belly size is getting a tiny bit smaller. Also good news is the baby is head down. Other than that, there is nothing exciting to report.

John came home early today and we spent a few minutes together until William woke up from his nap this afternoon and then we left William with the neighbor while we went out on a date. Together. Alone.

John took me to The Melting Pot for dinner. I've always wanted to try this restaurant, we just never had. It was wonderful and amazing - although it took a little longer than we had anticipated. We had wonderful food and it was great to hang out and chat with each other. However, there is strong evidence that we are getting Old as we spent most of the time discussing what projects we are going to try and tackle at home this weekend. Old and Boring here we come.

The only bad news out of today is that when we got home, I was too full to eat any birthday cake. Which was chocolate cake with chocolate chips, chocolate frosting and strawberry filling. It smells wonderful! But, it will have to wait until tomorrow!

Mama and William
All of us (or the top half of us)
This is the face of a trouble maker
The cheese course with John's Yin &Yang drink.
Our entree course cooking up. Surprising? The broccoli was okay. I ate more than one piece - go me!
The dessert course - chocolate, chocolate. chocolate!

Look! We went out for dinner! Without one of our two kids (for the record, I considered leaving the youngest at home, but decided against it).

Only....

a few more minutes in my 20's....and I can't even think of anything wild and crazy to do. Must be a sign I'm getting old and ready to be 30?

John's Doctor Appointment

Time for another guest poster!

I had my follow-up doctor's appointment today. I went in and he had me make a fist, and he was very surprised. I guess people usually don't regain the range of motion in their injured finger as quickly as I have.

While there I asked him about the fingernail on my left ring finger as it has fallen off and now is kind of....odd appearing. He said that he wasn't surprised that it fell off, and that only time will tell how things will come back. He said he wouldn't be surprised if it came back. I asked him whether the bump on the nail bed would pose a problem (deformed fingernail), he said we'll have to wait (by waiting he means the 6 months it'll take for the fingernail to regrow. )

What is there right now? It's not a bare nail bed (thankfully!). It's stiffer than skin but softer than a normal nail. The doctor said that although the shiny part of the fingernail grows from back near the joint, the nail bed reinforces and adds to the nail. That's the stuff I have for a fingernail right now.

I also asked him about a bump I've had on the inside of my finger, at the joint near the pinky finger. It's hard and I think it can move, but he couldn't get it to move at the appointment. He figures it's either part of the bone, the bone callus (thing that forms to repair the bone) or perhaps a tendon sheath fluid bubble (although he was most skeptical of that possibility.) If it turns out to be bone and it's annoying, I may be back to get it taken care of. Again more waiting required.

He was exceptionally pleased with my healing and said that I'm free from any restrictions in use of the finger. Furthermore, no more checkups!

After that was a physical therapy appointment. The first thing the therapist did was check my range of motion. Like before I basically made a fist and she measured the angles my joints made. At my last appointment three weeks ago, the sum of all the angles my joints made was 205 degrees. After heat was applied for about 10 minutes, that sum was increased to about 218 degrees. Today, without any heat I was able to get to 255 degrees. Normal range is 260-265 degrees. So, that was good.

The next step, is to work on strengthening. I can really tell my grip is not what it used to be. The therapist measured my right hand grip strength to be about 125 lbs. My left hand came in around 50 lbs. So, she sent me home with some exercises and some stuff that reminds me of Silly Putty. Basically, I'll use the putty in different ways to improve the strength of my hand. More good news is I don't need to come back! She said I'm doing better than 99% of the people she's seen with this type of injury.

Overall, my left ring finger is much better. When I wake up it's pretty stiff and I need to work it a bit to get it to loosen up. It also gets pretty stiff in the cold, and it doesn't take much, a cold room will stiffen it up. The doctor and therapist said this should go away over time.

The fist. I think the middle joint of my ring finger is sort of over bending to compensate for the few degrees that my end joint is missing. Maybe with the strengthening those last couple degrees will free up.

Side view. Compare this with the day after pin removal and a week after pin removal.
Click here

Shot of the top of my fingers. You can see the scar on the middle finger. The ring finger is missing the nail - but the big scar on the middle finger really takes people's attention away. At trivia night, people were thinking my middle finger was the one that was partially severed one.

Another shot of the top of my hand. The bump on the ring finger I was talking about earlier is on the pinky finger side of the joint outermost joint. This is also where the scar is on this finger. The scar runs along the joint and then forward (toward the end of the finger) and runs into where the nail should be.

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Can I tell you how proud I am of my husband? I couldn't be more happy with his results from today's appointment! No more therapy and no more doctor appointments (for the hand anyway!). All of his hard work and dedication have really paid off - which is just in time for all of our hands to be on deck (pun intended!) for our new baby to arrive!

Trivia & OB

We had a busy weekend. Our (okay, my) to do list of Very Important Things is growing by the minute. I won't bore you with the details, but it is safe to assume that our house is cleaner now than it was before this weekend. However, it still isn't Clean Enough. More work needs to be done. Again, I won't bore you with the details - but it is safe to say that I/we have a lot of work to do. The general updates are these:

1. The OB visit on Friday was uneventful. I am proud to announce that I managed to not gain any weight in the last two weeks. The only other piece of interested news is that my belly measurement was smaller this week. My OB believes this is probably due to baby moving lower down into my pelvis. Based on the feeling of a large weight sitting on my hip bones and tailbones, I would have to agree. The doctor is confident in predicting that this baby is not going to wait for its due date. I say wait and see - I'm not buying it this time around (she said the same thing last time, but I went almost to the due date). Everything else was normal and unexciting. I go back on Thursday for my 36 week appointment which is also my birthday. In celebration of my 30th birthday, I will have an ultrasound to determine if the baby's head is facing down, an internal exam, and a strep B culture taken. Woo hoo!

2. We played on trivia teams twice this weekend with some friends. It was a lot of fun - although expensive once we paid the sitter, the table fees and bought ourselves some raffle tickets. But, it was a great way to spend one of our last weekends without a newborn in the house!

3. John sees the hand doctor again tomorrow. He promises an exciting update complete with pictures.

35 Weeks

Tomorrow we will reach the 35 week mark of this pregnancy. I'd like to offer you some sort of dialog to demonstrate how gracefully I am taking this late stage in the pregnancy, but I don't really have anything to say. I'm feeling huge. I caught a full length view of the belly while exiting the shower earlier in the week and was completely startled by the....the massiveness that is my stomach region. I'm up several times a night to go to the bathroom. I cannot roll over without assistance. My feet are unreachable (as well as a few other body parts I'll leave to your imagination). Bathing William, changing William, and finding room on my lap for William are all becoming very difficult.

However, I don't have time to dwell on all these things because I have a list as big as my belly that needs to be accomplished. I am unable to complete simple tasks anymore. Emptying two garbage cans today took over 45 minutes to complete because once emptied required bleaching, then scrubbing. The oven and refrigerator are clean. Under the oven is clean and our pantry is now sparkling and organized. The decorative items on top of the kitchen cabinets are calling to be cleaned. The tubs and showers have been scoured. The car seat cover is washed as is the bouncy seat cover and swing. The basement windows are clean (inside anyways). The baby quilt is finished as are almost all of my baby related projects. Several still loom, but will be tackled this weekend. Today alone I made 12 different lists of things that need to be accomplished. Soon.

It is safe to say that I am nesting, and full force.

One of the items on the list was to post here with a few details that need to be tied up.

1. Big Boy Bed: Sleeping is going well. We have been successfully sleeping in the big boy bed for all naps and overnights with very few problems for almost a month now. I confess I feared we would not ever reach this point, but after a very rough first few nights, we have had smooth sailing ever since.

2. Baby Arrival: Nothing is happening that would make me think this baby is going to arrive anytime soon. Although I'm uncomfortable, I'm more than happy to keep this one inside for awhile longer to enjoy sleeping, showering, and eating. I'm also working very hard to try and enjoy these last few weeks of this pregnancy. The kicks, the wiggles, the hiccups. Soon, enough those will be gone along with my ability to sleep through the night.

3. Announcing baby Arrival: We plan (please note plans sometimes do not work out) to take our laptop with us to the hospital with us again. There is a list of family members that will receive a phone call when the baby arrives. After those family members have been reached, we will post here on the website all the important information from the hospital.

I will keep you updated as things progress up to the due date, but probably will not be able to tell you when we leave for the hospital. My OB has made it clear that when labor starts I am to get myself to the hospital as quickly as possible. From start to finish, labor with William was 4 hours. Seeing as we prefer to deliver at the hospital, not enroute, I probably will not take the time to update you once things start.

4. Medical Updates: John sees the hand doctor again next Tuesday. He continues to progress with with physical therapy and we are seeing huge improvements. Over the weekend, the fingernail fell off, which has left some question about whether or not he will be able to regrow a fingernail again. Good thing I wasn't in our relationship for the fingernails. I see my OB tomorrow. William had a recheck for ear infection on Tuesday and the ear infection has cleared up. However, we found he now has a virus - which of course needs to just work itself out.


The end

Made for you with love!

We had a pretty low key day here (as usual for us). I thought I would just share some of the Valentine's craftiness William has made for us (and you!) this year!

William made Mama this heart while he was hanging out with our friends on Friday.
What a cute bear!
It has a hug for you!
And as tradition calls for, John created a wonderful fondue for our dinner! Yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

More from the old Video Files

William loves to dance. Especially with his Daddy!

Daddy's shoes are hard to fill...

And learning to jump!

Old Videos...

Here are two videos from a few months ago. William is loving letters; especially his letter puzzle. We do this puzzle together at least 2-3 times a day. Of course, that doesn't especially apply when the camera is on. Enjoy!

Caught on Video

Updated: I forgot to put this in the origional post. Grandma is the only one caught on tape, but I know that both daddy and Grandpa were both guilty of the same just before Grandma came up the steps.....





Here is Grandma caught on tape....giving away cookies right before lunch!

Night Swimming

I've been sitting on these pictures and video for awhile now. They've been hard for me to look at and deal with - although there is nothing outwardly upsetting about them (although they are terrible quality). Less than 24 hours from when these pictures were taken, we would be in a car accident that would turn us upside down in many ways. These pictures are one of the last times John would hold William for more than a month and are the last picture of his hands fully intact without injury. And that bothers me. We had no idea what was to come (although, in all fairness, who does know exactly what is coming?).

But, I had been planning on blogging these pictures and our evening swimming when we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house that evening. So, I'm still going to do that.

In December it felt like we were a whirlwind of activity with getting ready for the holidays, attending holiday parties and getting ready to move William to his Big Boy Room soon after we returned from the holidays. During our whirlwind, wrangling William was a full time job. He required a great deal of energy and creativity to keep busy during our frequent errands and tasks. Every night we had something going on and we were tired by December 19th. Tired of dragging William (and ourselves) around. So, we decided to take William to the pool at the community center for some swimming time with daddy. Mama doesn't have a swimming suit that fits, so she went with to take video/pictures and work on a Christmas gift she was sewing. We thought the pool area would be pretty quiet on a weekend so close to the holiday. We couldn't have been more wrong! The parking lot was PACKED and there were kids all over in the pool area.

Turns out the community center had set up their video projector in the pool area and was getting ready to show the movie, Elf! What a fun idea! They also had out all the floaty toys and inner tubes so kids could float around with their friends and watch the movie!

Here is the video screen set up on the left side of the picture. The lights were low so most of my photo quality is poor.
William kicking with Daddy
Hugs for Daddy in the pool.

A Helper

William loves to be a "helper" whenever the need arises. Here he is being a big helper to Grandpa!

Also, we're not sure where the "door shut"/"door open" comes from, but in the middle of a temper tantrum it tends to be the primary complaint. Even when there are not doors to open/shut around us and clearly not involved in the set off of the tantrum.

Birthday Party Video

The Big (not baby) news

Lots of little things going on around here and one biggish thing. We are finally calling our basement project complete! Hurray! When we started working on our basement it looked like this:

One big cement box. Four cement walls and wooden rafters overhead. We officially started working on our basement in July/August of 2006. I thought we would have it finished before William was born (this goal was completely unrealistic, like most of my home improvement timelines).

Two days ago it looked like this. Still cement-y, but a lot more homey.
And this




Now it looks like this:

And this

The big change? Carpet. Beautiful carpet all over the floor and professionally installed. Which means we are ready for furniture, toys, and decorating (but probably won't be happening until this spring when the finances are in better order)! YAY!


I am so proud of us for finishing this HUGE project. We have almost doubled the square footage of our home and did almost all the work ourselves. From the cement box to livable space has been a very big undertaking - but I'm proud we completed it!

A big THANK YOU goes out to my dad (and mom) who have helped us tirelessly during every single visit over the last two (plus) years without much complaining. I think the next time you come to visit you'll find your feet will be a little warmer and we can go out and DO something (or we can work on my next project if you would rather!).