We have reached a happy consensus about the ultrasound. Sometimes we can be so incredibly stinking diplomatic it makes me sick, but I must admit that is one thing I love about our marriage. After a month or so of me nagging about the ultrasound (which is, as everyone knows, a very necessary component of diplomacy) we finally settled on an agreement over lunch today. We have decided that we will NOT find out the sex (I have been informed by a fellow editor that "gender" is not the appropriate word to use here, as it has some cultural connotations...not sure what that means, but will take their word for it). So I won. :) HOWEVER. We will do so on one condition, and that is that I make a strong effort to not call Furoshiki only "she" as I have been doing so for 4-5 months now. This will be difficult for me, as I am still convinced that he/she is of the female persuasion, but I am willing to at least give the double pronoun thing a shot. I am apparently allowed to slip up once, maybe twice before 11/3 (U-day), and must make a valiant effort to maintain the double pronoun usage until 3/21 (D-day) or thereabouts. So for those of you who wanted to start shopping in the 'pink section', you'll just have to wait. I promise you will survive. :)

On a completely different note, I must tell you a few dirty tales. Tonight when we were shopping at Wegman's (our favorite store ever), I started to smell something. Not surprising, as it had been a while since we left the house. However, while I managed to snag the birthday present, get dressed nicely, and grab Isaiah's backpack stocked with several diapers when we went to his first birthday party ever (more about that later), I forgot to take it to Wegman's. (yes, that's correct, I didn't need the diapers at the birthday party). Anyway, as you all know, a smell is something that can be indicative of something, and it was pretty clear what that was. However, without any diapers, we just decided to do our shopping anyway and hope for the best. At one point Isaiah wanted to be picked up, and as Dan hefted him out of the grocery cart, I could see leakage coming through his pants. We quickly grabbed some paper towels (we were in the produce section) and stuffed them between Isaiah's rear and Dan's arm so that not everything would get contaminated, grabbed some wipes and diapers from the baby section, and Dan headed out to the van while I paid for the rest of the groceries. That is the better story, and luckily the van will have ample time to air out before we need to use it again. The other story occurred a few weeks ago, when Isaiah would not fall asleep. We put him down at the usual time, and although he seemed quite content and happy, he kept waking up and talking--to himself, to us, to Jerry and Lammy (his two crib stuffed animals--Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations), and this went on until we went to bed around 11:30. When I went in to tuck him in, he pulled out his pacifier (nuk), beamed at me, and declared, "Akkun!" (nuk). I wasn't sure what to think, but he kept waking up every hour or so throughout the rest of the night. Dan got his nuk for him, gave him a hug, gave him a glass of water, tried to give the beaming toddler a stern warning (yeah, right), but the kid WOULD NOT SLEEP. The next morning, we all staggered downstairs for breakfast, groggy from the previous night's events. Dan had to leave for school early that day, so Isaiah was making oatmeal with me. I picked him up and smelled something (common theme with him), and as I shifted him in my arms, I also felt something. I turned off the stove (best decision I made that day), and headed back up to the changing table to get him into dry clothes. I unzipped him and was horrified to see chunks all down one of his legs, even into the toes/foot of his sleeper. Apologizing profusely, I tried to undo his onesie so that I wouldn't smear it all over him. At this point I thought it had just leaked out of one side. I carefully and oh-so-gently removed the onesie, thinking that only his legs were dirty, but as he sat up, I was horrified once more to see chunks on his back and up to his neck. In a similar manner to how most men would die from labor pains, I think most men would have thrown up to see this. (I was actually very happy that I was over morning sickness at the time). I attempted to take his diaper off, but could not do so without it getting everywhere. Isaiah was beaming this whole time, by the way. Not sure why. After removing all of the chunky clothing off, I decided that a bath was in order, so I set him down on the floor so that we could head to the bathroom. I was still trying to wipe my hands off and not get too many chunks all over the place, when Isaiah took off with glee and headed to our bedroom, squealing "Again???" (translation: "please hurl me through the air onto the feather top mattress as it is my favorite thing to do 'again' and 'again'") and trying to climb up on our beautiful quilt bedspread that Dan's Mom made us several years ago. That was my third and most horrifying moment of the morning. I grabbed the soiled child and took him into the bathtub where I spent the next few minutes hosing him down. ...then we made oatmeal. I'd rather not repeat that kind of a waking up experience. We're still not sure how we completely missed the fact that he might need a diaper change all of the times he kept waking up that night. So much for our 'parents of the year' award. Maybe next year. (ha)

Well, it's Saturday night, and I'm done with work, and we have a few more minutes of awake and alert time, so I think we're going to hang out for a bit. Dan has just informed me that "I am trying to be patient" and is poking me now, so I am going to close. Good night.

We had a great week in Michigan last week, and are back in Happy Valley, where a strange, unseasonly storm hit last weekend (homecoming week). To the dismay of tens of thousands of tailgating and football fans, 9 inches of snow was dumped on the town overnight, and it still looks like the town is recovering from this. Today the weather is beautiful, but in front of most houses are piles of broken branches with nice green leaves on them that broke off the trees from the storm. Apparently a lot of the town lost electricity for a while as well. We are somewhat sorry to have missed all the excitement, but will get over it, especially when we remind ourselves that we were able to watch the PSU vs Minnesota game from a warm living room (with power) in Michigan.

We got to hit all the soccer games and one football game while we were in Michigan, which was a lot of fun (albeit cold). Karen graciously babysat Isaiah for us while we traipsed from field to field, and that made it a lot easier to watch the games and not Isaiah. Maybe next year he will have a better appreciation of his older niece and nephews in their physical prowess, but this year, all he wanted was the 'ball? ball? ball? ball? ball?' on the field, and was quite disappointed when he was denied it. That disappointment didn't last long, as there were many balls back at Dan's parents' house--a yoga ball (which was unfortunately deflated by a rose bush--oops), several tennis balls, and of course, the many soccer balls that made it in as well. Isaiah was in his element, and all day long the house was filled with squeals of glee as he and Gwaabwaa and Gwaamwaa hung out. It was a luxurious vacation for me, and I did absolutely no housework, which is terrible as a guest, but I will try to make up for it over Christmas. So will Dan.

Speaking of which, Dan has begun the arduous process of writing his thesis, and got a lot done this week on that. He has finished his first chapter (mostly--it probably needs a few more revisions) in record time, and is working on the second now. We're hoping and praying for continued diligence, motivation, and perseverance. His defense date is set for December 4, which is coming up soon. The 'carrot' in front of his nose right now is the fact that on December 7, we will be flying to Japan to spend Christmas with my folks for three weeks. We are very excited to see them, and to introduce Isaiah to Japan and all the good food and wonderful people there. After a week in Michigan with Shardas, his vocabulary list was lengthened significantly, especially in English, and I am curious to see how he fares in Japan.

I know I've mentioned this before, but while he understands both languages (although "come here" doesn't register in either language yet, as he runs away with glee--not sure that's a language issue, actually...), he is selective about which words he will say in each. A lot of times English wins out because the English word often has fewer syllables. He is doing well with up to 2 syllables, but hasn't quite gotten down the 3-syllable words. In English, he'll parrot back the last two syllables of a sentence, one of which was recently "Ree-ich." A lot of the words are still unintelligible to people other than Dan and me and sometimes we don't even know what he's getting at.

Still working on the potty-training, and it is a slow process. I am still hoping that by the time Furoshiki arrives he will be mostly out of diapers, but am not married to the idea, so I won't be too disappointed if he isn't.

Speaking of Furoshiki, he/she is growing well, and made some rapidfire kicks at the Doppler at a recent prenatal visit. Isaiah was never a real vigorous kicker, so I thought maybe the Doppler was having feedback issues, but apparently not. We don't know the sex yet, and I am strongly opting to wait until D-day for that, but Dan is not convinced. We have fairly well split Dan's family down the middle in terms of whose side they are taking on this issue, but I am proud to have Dan's Dad and Beth and Bob as strong supporters of my point of view. I will not mention names of opposers, as they will likely feel bad when they realize they are wrong. :) Suffice to say, it is not necessary to have another 5 months to shop in the 'pink section'--there will be plenty of time for that after March. Any comments about this issue are welcome, unless, of course, they go against the master plan (MINE). If Dan wants support, he should get his own blog. I have a few more weeks to drag him unwillingly over to my side, but if I can't by 11/3, I might just have to schedule another appointment and go alone. :)

Aside from those intense debates about ultrasounds amidst thesis writing adventures, we are doing well, and are thankfully remaining healthy even though many around us are struggling with the flu virus (swine or not), so we have a lot to be thankful for. Thanks for all your prayers for Dan's writing, all of our health, and for everything else going on in our lives. God IS good, and despite the hectic schedules and craziness of finishing up our lives as grad students, we are SO BLESSED.