It's been a long time since I posted. A lot has happened. Beth, Alex and I just got back from Phoenix very early yesterday. We flew out there to visit my parents for Christmas. Overall we had a very nice visit but Alex was not a happy camper for most of it. We flew out on the 18th, a mere 2 days after I had a nasty bout of the stomach flu (puking all day, spewing both ends...that kind) and just 4 days after Beth had the same thing. I don't think Alex felt quite right at all. We drove down to Indy the night before, which turned out to be a good thing because he ralffed in the van on the way down, big time. I'm glad we didn't have to get on the plane with that all over him. The flight out was just as bad as I thought flying with a 9-month-old would be, except 1) he didn't puke again and 2) he didn't poop on the plane. We had very little space and he likes to move around. No nap, and he fussed and cried for the last couple hours of the flight. At least it didn't seem like his ears bothered him. He never slept well, often waking up 2, 3, or 4 times during the night. He came down with a mystery rash...all over him...that put us in the emergency room the day after Christmas. However, he didn't act sick, and it turned out to be just some kind of virus that is mostly harmless and was gone by the next day, so that was a big relief. I don't think he ever really adjusted to the time change. We had a good visit, but we were both glad to be getting him home. The flight back was much better...we got the front row in the plane, by the bulkhead, so we had some extra room for him to move around. He slept for a good hour and a half and played the rest of the time. Again, no problem with his ears. BUT...our luggage never got on our plane, so we were informed that it wouldn't be in Indy until midnight (we got in about 8 pm). That included our car seat, so we had to get a loaner from the airline to get on the road. There were some people from Warsaw with a baby on the plane (including a guy who works at Zimmer) and they lent us a blanket to keep Alex warm. We'd left the van parked at the motel while we were gone, and we got on the road BUT...the van wouldn't start when we stopped for gas a block from the motel. We had to get someone to give us a jump (good ol' Hoosier Hospitality). We got back in town without further incident at about 1 am, and our luggage finally was delivered to our home at about 6 pm Sunday.
But back to the visit. Nothing like Jeeping trips or a day trip to Lake Havasu City this time (see 1-6-2001), mostly a relaxing vacation. Mom and Dad just moved into their new house, which they built in the desert a long way from most things in Scottsdale. It takes something like 30 minutes just to get to Wal-Mart from their house. They have a nice view of Weaver's Needle and Four Peaks and *no* baby-proofing. We mostly stayed around town, shopping, going out to eat (I highly recommend Reatta Pass Restaurant), opening presents on Christmas (mostly for Alex). We did get a babysitter (Dad's boss's wife, an RN who raised 5 kids and a few grandkids) so we all could go see "LOTR: The Return of the King" on the biggest screen in Arizona...Awesome movie...gotta see it again. I got the 4-disc set of "LOTR: The Two Towers" among my presents. Beth, Alex, and I went for walks in the desert every day, often to visit the horses on the ranch next door (Alex likes horses). We spotted some coyotes on one of the walks. Overall it was a very nice visit but I'm glad to be home. I have another whole week off work (since I was sick the beginning part of the week we left, it's going to be three entire weeks off altogether).

I rented a digital camcorder for the week. I plan to get one sooner or later and was interested in seeing how one works and checking it out cheaper than buying one. I even got a firewire card for my computer so I can make some DVDs of the videos. The clerk seemed really taken aback when I returned it...was there a problem with it? Did you even use it? Why are you returning it? I get the feeling that most people keep the stuff they rent from there. BUT it was a $400 camcorder, and they wanted a cash-&-carry price of something like $920 for it, or if I rented it weekly until I owned it the sum of all payments was about $1800. Get real. There is a Sears next door that sells the same model a lot cheaper.

I've been off work all this week. We were going to do some things we'd never gotten around to this week, like check out Maple Lane Market (Amish furniture & foodstuffs) which turned out to be closed on Mondays when we got there. So, we went to browse at Warsaw Furniture Outlet, also closed on Monday. So, we headed up to Syracuse to find Gropp's Restaurant because we'd heard the fish there is very good. However, by the time we got there Beth was so carsick the very idea of eating anything, especially fish, was out of the question. We had to pull over at a McDonald's so she could get a Sprite and we could feed Alex until she recovered enough for us to drive home. Tuesday, we went back to Maple Lane and found out it had had a fire at some time Monday night. Go figure. So we never did get there. Wednesday we headed up to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with Beth's brother and his family. Beth's niece, her husband and daughter were in town as well. Avery just turned a year old this month. We spent Wednesday and Thursday night in one of Ted's apartments (he owns two houses in the Kalamazoo historic district, one of which is apartments). Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, as always when Jeanne cooks. We headed back to town Friday, and that night Alex had another milestone...his first throwing up at a restaurant. All over the table, the floor...the folks at China Palace were very understanding and helpful. Saturday Beth's sister Judy was passing through Fort Wayne on the way to Michigan so we went to have dinner together, and he did it again at Don Pablo's! Bleeeah. We think there is a link between cereal (specifically Rice Chex) and barfing, because he was having some both times. Both times, he started coughing and couldn't stop until he puked so I think Rice Chex is out for now. And he doesn't like Cheerios. Maybe we'll try Kix.

Beth and I went to see "The Matrix Revolutions" Friday on date night. My review is a weak thumbs up. I liked it better than the second one but not as much as the first. Saturday, we bought a minivan. We found a '98 Pontiac Trans Sport Montana at the same place we bought the F-150 last spring and traded in the F-150. We got a good deal on the minivan plus they gave us a full payoff on the truck, so at the end of the day we're scot free on the truck and have lower monthly payments than before. Beth is very happy with the minivan; surprisingly, since when we first started looking she was totally against the idea of owning one. But it is SO much easier to get Alex in and out of the thing than the Geo or the truck. Power sliding side door and all. So, now I'm driving the Geo full time again and we'll get something else to tow the camper with next spring. The first rehearsal for the Christmas play at church was today (auditions were last week). I'm assistant directing again (third year running). Of course, we will be lucky to make it to Christmas unscathed because I may strangle some of the kids before then. My group today contained most of the unruly ones. There was a lot of yelling "settle down" or "quiet" or "shut up" or "hey! shut it!" before we were done. Someone picked "It Runs in the Family" for movie night tonight, which totally failed to hold my attention.

It was a busy weekend. Beth and Alex and I went to Fort Wayne Friday after I got out of work to get me some new jeans, which I've needed for quite a while, since both pair I own have massive holes in the knee now. We wound up getting me 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of slacks, and 3 shirts, Beth a winter coat, gloves, and a headband, and Alex 2 thermal outfits and slippers at Old Navy. We also found a very nice Italian restaurant (Puccini's) at Jefferson Pointe. Saturday, we worked on clearing leaves from the yard. I finally admitted we need a leaf blower and was on the way to the hardware store to get one when I saw my boss blowing leaves from the yard at the apartment building just down the road a bit. It turns out his father-in-law owns the building. Anyway, after I got ourselves a nice little Toro and got back home, he came over with one of those big honkin supersize industrial leaf blowers from a rental shop, which he let us use for the rest of the day. I must say it was one impressive machine. It cleared our entire backyard fairly easily, even though the pile was so big it was hard to move it towards the back of the backyard. We also bowled Saturday, which was not as good for either of us as last time. I got 105-166-137 which wasn't bad, but not 200 either. By Sunday, it was depressing how many more leaves there were on the lawn, so I cleared them again before returning the machine. The leaf vac/shred feature on the Toro is very handy, too. Sunday afternoon was auditions for the church Christmas play, which I'm assistant directing again this year (even though I won't be in town for the show.) "The Matrix Reloaded" was the movie night feature, to refresh things before going to see "The Matrix Revolutions" next week on date night. Alex had swim class again today; he still loves to swim.
The big news...Beth is again pregnant. We are going to have babies 17 months apart. Are we insane???

I'm working on winterizing the camper this weekend. We've only camped in it once; I'm so disgusted with us. It's been sitting on the curb in front of the house since June, unused. We've promised ourselves to camp more next year. Today was also bowling. And I reached a milestone I had thought I might never reach...a 200 game. I was pretty good the first game (141), on fire for the second game (171) and unconscious for the third (211). My best series ever. Even the 171 is in my top 5 games ever.

Today Beth and I worked in the yard for essentially the first time since she got that awful poison ivy last summer. There had been a big pile of small stones on a tarp in the patch of lawn where the big stump was since July; we finally got them all moved to where they are supposed to be. They seem to be a much smaller pile when they're supposed to cover strip along the entire length of the wall. I also dug up the tomatoes (it was a good year...no deer) and got rid of the ridiculous deer shield that was covering them. Movie night tonight was "Daddy Day Care" which was, I thought, very funny. A very good rent.

The World Series looked so promising a week or so ago...Cubs-Red Sox could have been one of the best ever...now we've got the series nobody cares about. I'm not even going to watch it.

Everyone else gets Columbus Day off...not me. Anyway, we spent the weekend in Michigan. Beth's sister was home from Alabama and having a birthday party at her brother's house. Our niece Amy was also in town with her daughter, whom we had never met (she's about 11 months old). Ric took some pictures of all the kids while we were there. It seemed strange that Alex was in the picture with the other grandchildren, who are all in their late 20's, and not with the great-grandchildren, who are more his age. We stayed in a Motel 6 (cheep!) Saturday night because Beth can not sleep on her mother's sofa sleeper anymore (it's the worst sleeper ever made). Ted had room for us but we didn't know until too late. Friday night was date night here; we left Alex at the church and went to dinner, but there wasn't a movie playing that we wanted to see so we picked him up early. We are so lame, all we did after dinner was go to Big Lots and Wal-Mart.

If the weather is changing (and it is), that means I'm getting sick. I left work at 2 today not feeling well. I just hope Alex doesn't catch it from me this time. He's still teething (got 6 teeth now) so there's a lot of snot as it is. I think this is going to be a homebound weekend.

Alex had another milestone last night: his first fit in a restaurant. We went to Fort Wayne last night to do some shopping, including buying his first high chair at Babies R Us. Alex also spotted his new favorite toy there; I was looking at the rattles and things and showed him some to see if he liked any. One in particular he reached for, then cried when I put it back on the shelf. So I got that one, and eventually had to open the package and give it to him right in the store. Before we were done shopping, he cried when he dropped it twice. He also cried when he dropped it in the car. He's never done that for a toy before, so I guess it's his new favorite. After that, we were going to go to the mall because I need some new jeans, but first we went to dinner. At the restaurant he became inconsolable so we ate quickly and went home. Lesson learned: if we go to Fort Wayne, go on a weekend because going after I get out of work means he's up too late. We also had bowling today; all of us did much better than last time.

Today we took Alex to the zoo for the first time. Fort Wayne has a very nice children's zoo, complete with African veldt, Indonesian rainforest, and Hoosier farm. He seemed to like the fish best, though. I don't think he was paying much attention to most other animals. The goats on the farm really liked him. After the zoo we test drove a new Hyundai Santa Fe. Beth had seen them and liked the look and I've read some good things about them. Apparently Hyundai has improved their quality considerably of late. Beth liked it well enough to consider it her next car, but I'm not sure about it yet. Anyway, a new car is months away. The first day of bowling season was last week, and it seems we have forgotten how to bowl. The first game, Steve bowled a 102 and he had the high score on the team. I bowled a 96 in the first game. It's been a long time since I couldn't break 100. We were a little better in the next two games but not up to where we were last year. Beth was...well, awful, but we chalk that up to not being used to bowling while she's not pregnant. She got better the more pregnant she got last season. Speaking of that, Alex rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time the other night. He's been going from back to tummy for quite a while now.

I got back from Kansas City yesterday. I went on a business trip to do a factory acceptance on a machine Zimmer had to send back to the vendor for a rebuild. I was glad I got back yesterday so I didn't have to fly on 9/11. I was by myself, and didn't have the vendor pay for all sorts of food, drinks, and Lakers tickets like the trip to L.A. in May, but the guys at the plant told me that the Royals had a promo going on with Krispy Kreme where if the Royals get 12 hits in a game, all the ticket holders get a free dozen donuts. So, I went to a Royals game. It was less than memorable, as I already have forgotten nearly everything about the game except they lost to Cleveland and got 11 hits. I also never got to any of those famous Kansas City steakhouses (if there are any...I just assumed) because I didn't feel like extending the effort to find one by myself. I ate at Ruby Tuesday twice.

Today was tox-away day in Fort Wayne, where you could haul any toxic household chemicals that you don't know how to get rid of to a collection site and for a nominal fee, get rid of them. There were a few cans of roofing cement and oil-based paint in the garage when I bought the house so I got rid of them for $5. They will not, alas, take latex paint or shingles, so the back of the truck is still full of those. Alex was fussy-to-mad nearly the entire time in the truck today. He hasn't been riding well lately, I don't know why. His two front upper teeth have now broken through so the snot has reduced greatly but the drool is still there big time.

Laura just left us after visiting since the middle of last week. She came for a Tastefully Simple party that Beth hosted and was given by her high school friend Lynn, then stayed for the long weekend. Saturday (nice and sunny) we went to the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, where Beth and I found something we'd been looking for for nearly a year: an engraved wooden plaque that says "The Knights, Warsaw In" for us to hang on our trailer when we go camping. We also sampled...I am not making this up...a deep-fried Twinkie. Yes, there are apparently those who believe that a Twinkie is not fattening enough as is, so they came up with deep-frying it. However, I must say it was REALLY GOOD. Sunday we went to Chicago and spent the night. We did the Museum of Science and Industry but only had about 2 hours before it closed, so we hit the highlights of the new exhibits...trains and planes, mostly...before getting to the Omnimax show about helicopters, which startled Alex quite a bit. He watched the show but the loud noises bothered him, so I watched it holding him in the rear of the theater and took him out when it was too much. We all stayed in a hotel room about a block from the Hancock tower, at the Raphael Hotel, a room I got for $50 on Priceline.com. I think a regular price room like we got would be closer to $150. Of course, the entire time we spent in Chicago was cold, overcast, and drizzly.

So much for the repeat. My softball team lost again last night, 10-0, to the eventual champions of the tournament. I was 1-2, bringing the season total to 21-40 (.525). We just could not get anything going. It was a scoreless tie until the 5th when they got 4, then 6 in the 6th, and a 10-run lead after 6 innings invokes the mercy rule. Oh well, if softball's over that means bowling starts soon. And also on the plus side, the cherry tomato plants we planted outside the door this year have started producing very nicely and haven't been raided by deer. I built a ridiculous looking barrier out of some 2x4s and chicken wire, and it seems to be working. So far.

The softball team lost a heartbreaker last night. We blew a 7-3 lead in the last half of the 7th inning. If we only could have hung on, we'd be in the championship game next week. I was 2-2 but got picked off first after a line drive was caught. One more loss and the season is over. Next week we play the team we beat last week. If we win, we play the team that beat us last night. If we win that, we play another against them. If we win that, we're champs again. It's the same scenario as lat year.

We have a lot of nasty bugs around the house this summer for some reason. About a week ago I was killing a nest of baldfaced hornets under the eaves when I noticed several yellowjackets going in and out of a hole in the ground. Just as soon as I noticed it, one of them stung me on the leg. Now a week later, it still itches. I think I got the nest in the ground cleared out the other day, but now there are more of them behind the siding near the edge of the house.

Tonight the softball team won the opening game of the tournament. Two more wins and we're champs. I, however, am struggling mightily at the plate. 0-2 today with a strikeout. It was so bad that when we had a late-inning rally going on, I was thinking "please someone get the third out so I don't have to bat again." I sure hope I can break out of this slump before the season is over so I only have the slump to remember for the winter. Oh well, at least bowling starts up again soon.

We've had the new computer for a week now, and I can't even express how much better it is than the old one. I like finally having a CD burner. I'm still exploring it, but I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I had to buy a new joystick because the thing doesn't have a serial port, but it has 6 USB ports so I got a better joystick anyway. The game that was too much for the old computer to run is fun. My favorite cars (it's a racing game) so far are the Dodge Viper, the Jaguar and the '70 Chevelle. The Chevelle can dust 'em all. Beth and I finally got to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" tonight, which was extremely entertaining. Thumbs way up. On the way we gave a lift to a man and his 5-year-old son who were stranded on the freeway because their Jeep had actually been struck by lightning on the road. I bet it fried their alternator because it just died on them, and they were stuck in a downpour and nobody was stopping to help them. We gave them a lift to his brother-in-law's house a few miles away. Coincidentally, the boy's name was Alex. And our Alex has had another milestone; last week he sat in his exersaucer for the first time. He really likes it. He always seems to be trying to sit up lately but he can't, and I think he gets really frustrated at that. He likes to be held up or sat up and look around. But, he drools a lot when he does. Last weekend we all went to Indianapolis to visit PJ and Roma and Isabella, the little girl they just adopted. They were having a baby shower for Roma, since she hadn't had one before Isabella came to them.

Tonight the softball team began the defense of our title by winning the regular season title. We were actually tied with another team by record, but we beat them two out of three so we win. We won despite me being in a rotten batting slump (I played in 12 of the 14 games this year. In the first 6, I was 11-17 (.647); in the last 6 games, I'm 7-17( .412). Batting 18-34 overall (.529) is OK, but a bit light in this league. But it is better than last year, even though I had close to half as many at-bats.

A second milestone in less than a week (the first one was the teeth)...Alex rolled over (back to tummy) for the first time today. And then he did it again and again and again, crying whenever he did it because he doesn't like to be on his tummy and he can't roll back. And we ordered a new computer through Dell.com yesterday.

07-19-2003...Today was my 34th birthday. Beth and I got a babysitter and went out to dinner with the youth minister and his wife, as his birthday just happens to be the same as mine. We were going to go see "Pirates of the Caribbean" afterwards but were a little late getting to the theater so we skipped it and went shopping at Staples. I got a computer game but my computer is too slow to run it. I wonder if it's any good. The game, not the computer. We were supposed to go camping at Chain O' Lakes this weekend but Beth's poison ivy is still so bad we didn't think a week with no air conditioning was a good idea right now. She's had a terrible rash for a couple weeks now. Apparently she's not just topically allergic to poison ivy, it gets in her system and she breaks out all over. Badly. She's been to the doctor twice and been on prednisone for a couple weeks. This past week was VBS at church; I was one of the van drivers and ran the PowerPoint displays. It was a really successful week. We kept having to make two trips to town and back because kids kept bringing friends. The mission goal was to raise $500 in the whole week for Michiana Christian service Camp; the offerings the kids brought in (a lot of loose change) came to over $900. All the kids seemed to have a great time, all the grownups who volunteered to help out loved it. Alex was in the nursery all week in the evenings, which kind of messed up his schedule, but it would have anyway because he cut his first tooth on Thursday and the second one on Friday.

Today was date night at church. We were supposed to work it tonight but nobody actually told us, so we went out to see "Finding Nemo." However, we missed the start of the movie so we saw "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" instead, which was all right. It would have been a better rental.

Beth and I just got back from a date. We left Alex with the Bells and went out to Bennigan's for dinner and then to see "Terminator 3." AWWWWWWWsome. The chase/crash sequence with the crane near the beginning is worth the price of admission by itself. I want to see it again. I'm off work tomorrow; we're going to a barbecue at a friend's but otherwise have no plans. We have finally sold the Saturn; it was on the Wilhite's front lawn and was spotted by some people who paid us $1700 in cash for it on movie night. Not exactly the $3000 I originally though we could get for it, or the subsequent markdowns to $2700, $2400, or $2000. Oh well, it's enough to pay it off and a few hundred besides. And canceling the insurance will save us about $30 a month too. We were watching "Adaptation" on movie night, which was...weird. The softball team hasn't lost again yet, and we're in sole possession of first place in our division at 8-3. I'm batting 15-26 (.577), been in kind of a slump lately. The game before last I struck out...twice...swinging at bad pitches and missing terribly. And Alex is sleeping through the night pretty consistently lately.

Mom left yesterday. She had a good visit with all of us. She misses Alex already, she said when she called from home. He is over the cold for the most part, still a little snot here and there but basically he's fine. We all went over to Fort Wayne the other day to shop at Babies R Us for a new car seat for Alex, 'cuz he's getting big. Mom paid for half, which was very nice.

It has been a rough week for the whole family. A week ago Saturday was our church summer kick-off carnival (a little fun for the kiddies) in which I took a 30-minute shift in the dunk tank. It probably wasn't really warm enough for there to be a dunk tank. (I wonder if spring is really going to happen sometime this year...it has been one cold, wet, miserable first half of the year so far) Anyway, by Saturday evening I felt like I was coming down with something, by Sunday morning I was good and sick. Missed church and missed Monday at work. By Tuesday morning Alex was also sick. I have felt so bad for the little guy. He had so much snot that he couldn't breathe when we lay him down so he had to sleep in his car seat for several nights. He wasn't sleeping well at all and he cried and cried. Beth and I didn't sleep well either. He's finally seeming to feel better now. I hope he's over it all. Now, add onto this that at the same carnival, Beth severely twisted her ankle stepping out of our camper. She's been lame all week. We bought a new water softener and an RO system last week, it's being installed Monday. Tuesday, my mom arrives for another visit with Alex. She's getting so excited already.

The rice cereal experiment has been a failure and has been terminated. Alex has been backed up so bad he's cried himself hoarse over the last couple of days. We're pretty sure the cereal is the culprit, so he's not getting any more of it for a while. Next up is the apple juice experiment. Gotta see if we can get his little system flowing again. Softball is back on the winning track after a 3-game losing streak. We are now 4-3 after winning last Tuesday. It's kind of frustrating sitting out half the games because we have too many players but at least everyone bats. I'm hitting 11-17 (.647) on the season, my best season at the plate so far.

Laura was in town to visit Alex this week. It was probably OK too that she got to see Beth and me for a few days. I didn't get to see her all that much with the work week still on and all but we still had a very nice visit. She got to go to one of our softball games, which was a pretty exciting affair we eventually lost 25-23. Said Laura to me as we went to the game, "I never thought you would grow up to be a jock." (Me either)

Our first camping experience with Alex was this past weekend. We and several other families from our church spent the long weekend at Chain O' Lakes State Park. Unfortunately, it was quite cold most of the weekend so the activities were a little more limited than last year. We kept Alex bundled up or in the camper most of the time. He also gave us the motivation to start him out on some rice cereal in his last bottle of the day, since camping out is all about sleeping late and he was up at midnight, 4:00, and 8:00 all 3 nights. We think he's ready. we know we're ready. Anyway, the camper worked great. The heater worked very well so we were warm enough all the time, and the water heater worked like a charm. The only problem is the gray water tank, which is pretty small compared to the fresh water tank. I had to empty it out on Saturday and Monday. Saturday I ran back to town with a couple other guys to pick up a tote tank to empty it out. I'll have to get one of my own if we're going to camp a lot, I think. Anyway, Alex had a lot of substitute grandmas over the weekend, which was nice for Beth and me if we wanted a break.

With memorial Day weekend closing in, my free time has been mostly taken with the camper. Last weekend I flushed out the water tanks and now still have bleach water sitting in the whole system to sanitize it. Beth did a lot of cleaning, including taking down the curtains and tie backs and washing them, which made new colors appear in them that we didn't know were there. We've also been vacuuming and duct taping an awful lot of black dog hair out of the cushions. And I scrubbed all the mildew out of the awning. Now it's mostly cleaned out, and the last system that isn't up and running is the water heater. I can't get the pilot lit. I had the trailer out for a few tows last weekend, including down to a local dumping station and a car wash, and it tows just fine, although I probably would want a bigger truck if I was going to be going very far or up a mountain. Friday we left Alex at home with a babysitter for the first time while Beth and I went to see "The Matrix Reloaded" with friends and out to eat. I liked it a lot, but not as much as the first one. I thought I kind of dragged during the first third (up until the fight with all the Agent Smiths)...and what the heck was up with that dancing/orgy scene? Sheesh. Anyway, we were gone about 5 hours and Jenny said Alex was grumpy the whole time. He was grumpy most of Saturday too. Hardly slept all day. And he was up with me from 2 am until about 4 am, also being grumpy. But Sunday he slept almost all day. Last Tuesday the softball team win streak came to an end at eight games. We lost something like 13-8. I was 3-for-3 but all 3 hits were pretty weak. One grounder I beat out, one blooper to right, and one blooper to left.
AND...we closed on the condo in Virginia on the 16th. I can't believe it is finally off our hands. The tenant managed to create one last headache for us by gouging the vinyl in the kitchen moving the fridge out and staining the carpet, but we're going to take it out of her security deposit.

I worked on getting the camper ready most of the afternoon today, mostly figuring out how to work the stove, oven, heater, and fridge (still not sure about the fridge, I couldn't get it to turn on). Also I flushed the water system to get the antifreeze out; my guess is I'll have to flush it again a few times before sanitizing it. Last night Beth and I went to see "X2" with another couple from church (it was date night; once a month our church has free child care for the entire evening so the parents can go out on a date. The rule is if you use the child care, you work a date night another time. We were going to go out to Ritter's for dessert but when we got outside, there was more lightning going on in the sky than I had ever seen, it had evidently downpoured recently, and before we got to the cars we heard a siren for a tornado warning. So, Ritter's was off, and we rushed back to the church. Alex had slept almost the entire time we were gone. We switched to a different formula yesterday, and ever since, he has eaten less and less frequently, been less fussy, spit up a lot less, and slept better. Woo hoo.

My softball team is now 3-0, an amazing feat given our regular season performance last year. We actually shut out one of the better teams in the league tonight, 12-0. I have never seen a shutout in this kind of league before. Someone always drops the popup, misses the cutoff man, overthows first base, lets one go through his legs, or something, and runs score. I couldn't believe it! I was 1-3 at the plate, but had a good night in the outfield including all 3 outs in the 3rd inning and the last out of the game.

Just got back yesterday from Los Angeles, where a co-worker and I went to do a factory acceptance test on a machine I'm buying for work. I was out of the office Tuesday through Friday. We got to LA Tuesday afternoon and decided to catch the Dodgers game that evening, and wound up seeing a pretty good game. LA beat Philly 6-2. We got to see some good pitching, 3 home runs, and defense that got 2 plays ( a backwards diving catch in deep left field and a diving stop near 2nd base by the shortstop with a flip up the second for the out) on ESPN's top 10 that night. Wednesday night, the VP of the company we were visiting took us out for lunch and dinner, and out to a jazz club in Glendale that night. Picked up the tab for everything. Doug got pretty hammered on martinis at the club (I don't do that anymore...not since Spain) and carried on with Tom (the VP) to another bar after I turned in at 1 am. The next morning we got a late start at the company, but we were surprised big time when Tom gave us tickets to the Lakers game that evening. We wrapped up work with the machine at about 3 pm and headed into LA to get the tickets at the ticket agent, then on to Staples Center. We had seats in the nosebleed section, but still I thought they were great seats. Good view of the court. We saw Jack (he had much better seats than we did), and Shaq and Kobe put on a real show. Especially Kobe in the second half; he was in a zone. And the Lakers finished off the Timberwolves 101-85 in game 6. I could get used to living in LA, I think. I kind of miss the big city. What I found really funny about LA was the way there are 3 lanes of slow-moving bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highways, and 1 carpool lane which is nearly empty. All you need is 2 people in the car and you can use the carpool lane. We had 2, so we used it. An we flew while the rest of LA crawled, alone, in their cars. Today, we got a new water heater for the camper. I spent a large part of the afternoon getting it installed. I hope I got it right.

Beth and I went to Elkhart yesterday to go to an RV parts place I'd heard about so I could get a new water heater. It closes at noon on Saturdays. We got there at 12:30.

The first softball game of the season was tonight. We started like we ended last season, winning 15-14 scoring 1 in the last inning (Jack slid home with the winning run again). I was 2-for-3 with 2 singles, 1 RBI, 1 run scored, no putouts. Beth was all excited about bringing Alex to the game, but it was SO COLD, you couldn't even tell there was a baby in the stroller. She didn't stay the whole time either because it was too cold for him. And apparently the guy in Indianapolis is not going to buy the Saturn because I have not heard from him since he left.

Tonight was the last day for bowling league. Beth and I haven't bowled in weeks and weeks, but we tried to get there today because it was fun night. Carry-in dinner, Xtreme bowling (they turn on black lights) and all. However, a guy from Indy came to look at the Saturn today and he arrived at precisely the wrong time for me to be able to go, so I stayed and Beth went with Alex. He slept through everything at the bowling alley, and the restaurant afterwards. The guy who came to look at the Saturn was coming from Chicago and Gary where he looked at two other cars, so he had to go home to make his decision. Also today I got a friend with an impact wrench and a torque wrench to put a trailer hitch on the truck, and I pulled the camper in a big circle around the back lawn. It works!

A guy who saw the Saturn on the website came all the way from Pontiac, Michigan to look at it today. He decided it wasn't what he wanted, so he went home. That's something like 9 hours in a car with his family for nothing.

We took Alex shopping in Fort Wayne today. And we learned that it is much easier and faster to change him at home than when out shopping in a different city. He had a really nasty dirty diaper as we got to Linens 'n Things, and another before we left. And he spit up all over both clean outfits we had with us, so we ran to Babies R Us to buy him something to wear home. We also took him to Build-A-Bear to cash in a gift certificate he got as a present, and built him a really cute stuffed black bear wearing a khaki fishing jacket, holding a fishing pole with a big salmon on the line.

Well, the NCAA tournament ended as poorly for me as it began well. I had 6 of the elite 8, but zero of the final four. Ah well, I wasn't in the pool anyway. My final score was 44-19, better than I usually do. Anyway, Beth and I have the house to ourselves again now, as of Sunday, after having a lot of company. My mom was visiting for about a week, Laura for a weekend, Beth's mom for almost 2 weeks, and my dad for another weekend. Everyone oohed and ahhed over Alex, as they should, since he is the cutest thing ever. Mom cried when she left. Alex is doing well, gaining weight, even though nursing is still an ongoing challenge for Beth. As is diapering for anyone who tries it. I'm pretty good at it now, but he's taken to pooping, peeing, AND spitting up when you get the diaper off. It is amazing how one little boy can cause so much laundry. He's been hungry a lot lately, but sleeping well, only getting us up once or twice at night. He already slept through the night once but the doctor told us not to let him do that yet. And we have posted the Saturn for sale on Autotrader.com.

One of the bidders for the condo has backed out. The higher bid, of course. So, we accepted the other one ($1500 lower) without any bargaining. Now, we just have to hope that everything goes smoothly and the tenant will get out promptly. O, how we would like to be rid of the thing.

News! The condo in Virginia has been on the market for about a week now, since the current lease is up at the end of the month. We already have TWO offers on it! And for enough to cover our costs! Maybe we'll have a bidding war!

So much has happened. At 12:11 pm on March 12, 2003, Alexander Clifton Knight was born by c-section. He weighed in at 7 lb, 6 oz, and was 19 3/4 inches long. Not bad for being 4 weeks early, but still he's just a little guy. He spent the first night in NICU so the doctors could observe his blood sugar and blood oxygenation, but all was well and he got to go up to Beth's hospital room the next afternoon. Already he has developed a penchant for peeing (and pooping) as soon as his diaper is off. At two days old, he managed to soil mother's just-made hospital bed two different ways at once. He continues to sprinkle at nearly every changing. I've hardly ever changed a wet diaper because he only pees once it's off. Today, he even got his pediatrician. I have gotten pretty good at changing diapers if I do say so myself despite the peeing. Beth is recuperating nicely, and Alex is eating well after a few false starts and a steep learning curve for both him and mommy. He looks a lot like my Dad. I've been off work since the day he was born, and it's going to be hard to get back into the swing of things Monday. I also missed the NCAA pool at work this year being gone, so of course thus far I've correctly picked 26 of 28 second-round teams with 4 games still in progress. I even called the Tulsa upset of Dayton and Central Michigan over Creighton. My final four: Florida, Texas, and Kentucky over Oklahoma in the final.

Beth had another appointment with the doctor in Fort Wayne today. After looking her over he decided he was having a Kenny Rogers moment...know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...and the long and short of it is he does not feel comfortable letting her pregnancy go any farther. So, we are going to have a baby tomorrow.

Beth had yet another doctor's appointment in Fort Wayne yesterday, and he told her that she was doing better than she had been on Monday enough so that he was going to try to let her go another week or two. He said that last Monday he was almost sure he would have delivered the baby yesterday but her blood pressure was down some so he changed his mind. Now he wants to see her again on Tuesday (he told us to bring our toothbrushes) and he'll judge from there. This morning I went out because I had gotten a flyer for a big sale at one of the local used car chains and wanted to see what kind of stuff they had. I wound up test driving a 1998 Ford F-150 XLT 3-door extend cab home to show Beth. We both really liked it a lot (and had had a feeling lately that maybe we were a little hasty buying the van last fall) and wound up trading in the van and taking the truck. So, now we have a towing vehicle that is 10 years newer with 90,000 miles fewer on it, and makes me feel a lot better about selling the Saturn, which we have also decided to do, because I don't want to have 3 cars. PJ and Roma visited today from Indy. We didn't do a whole lot because Beth is on bedrest.

Beth had another appointment today, this one with the doctor in Fort Wayne. I couldn't go with her so her friend Kate did. I wish I could have been there because we had a few surprises. For one, the doc didn't like the way her blood pressure was up and has decided that we will not be delivering the baby in Warsaw because he wants to be directly involved. Two, mostly due to concern over preeclampsia, he wants to deliver the baby this Friday, or if Beth's doing better then, no later than next Friday. Three, the baby is not a girl. Our child, in the doctor's words, has cojones. Of course, this news comes only two days after Beth's baby shower in which we got a lot of cute pink things because everyone knew it was a girl. This is the second time he's flip-flopped on us (see 11-18-02, 12-31-02) so maybe we should wait to see things when the baby's born before buying too many blue things with tractors on them.

Beth had another doctor's appointment today. This one was at the local hospital since the specialist in Fort Wayne is out of the office. They scheduled us for a baby on March 24th! One month from today we'll have a little girl!

I went to Kankakee IL yesterday on another company trip to look at some equipment. The last trip (to Phoenix, see 8-6-01) resulted in nothing so we'll have to wait and see if this thing is going to pan out. This time, it's inspection equipment. I took one of the techs with me, the one who'd be using the new machine all the time, and he really liked it and thought it would be a big help. So, I'd call it a long shot to get it, but at least there is a chance. We ate at Texas Road House for lunch and spent $40 of the comapny's money so the day wouldn't be a total loss anyway. And I drove my own car there and back so I can also claim 36 cents per mile.

The church had another skate night tonight. My girlfriend (Gretchen, age 5) wanted me to skate with her pretty much all night, holding her hand so she could let go of the handrail and not fall down. I must say I really enjoy roller skating, even if it's only going around in circles. I used to skate around campus a lot when I was at Michigan State but before the first skate night I don't think I'd had my roller blades on in 5 years at least.

The church youth group had a fundraiser with Hacienda restaurant today, Hacienda puts out a coupon with a code on it that if you bring it in on a certain night, 20% of your check is donated. I brought a couple guys from work there for lunch and saw several people I knew from church, then Beth and I went out with the Wilhites/Judds for dinner in the evening, and there were even more of us there. Altogether, the youth group must have raised at least a few hundred dollars for their missions trip to Mexico this summer. Beth had another ultrasound this afternoon in Fort Wayne. the baby is still doing really well. The doctor told us he'll do another ultrasound in 2 weeks, and amnio test in 3 weeks, and depending on the results of the amnio, we'll have a baby in 5-6 weeks. It still looks like sometime about March 25.

Another busy weekend. Friday night the church had the annual Valentine's Day banquet. I told Beth I hadn't bought her a card when I got home for work, which made her really mad at me before the banquet. I snuck out and ran to a nearby bookshop to get one while she thought I was in the bathroom at church and gave her the card at the banquet. Saved the day. Saturday we babysat the Bell kids all day, and I changed my first dirty diaper (on Sam). Today, we hung pictures on the upstairs walls. The house is nearly done with the decorating we've been planning for the last year. Tonight is the Agape feast at church, which is a carry-in meal honoring the new members who've joined in the past year.

Beth and I have been working on the house to get ready for the baby, who should be showing up in about 6 weeks now. I have mostly been working on getting the projects done that we need to get done now or we never will. I've replaced the light fixtures in the stairwell and the entryway, painted and put a border up in the master bedroom, painted the entire stairwell and hallway upstairs, and replaced the old receptacles and light switches around the house with new ones. This is all stuff that we've been meaning to get done for a long time. The baby's room is about ready. We've put the crib bedding on and gotten a bunch of little girl clothes. Judy bought us a mobile that is...get this...remote controlled.

Beth and I and the Bells went to Fort Wayne today to go shopping at the Babies R Us. On the way from the store to the mall we drove past a car lot with a huge U.S. flag at half-staff. It hadn't been at half-staff when we drove past it about two hours previously so we wondered if someone had died. Or there had been a terrorist attack. Or if we were at war and something had happened. We turned on the radio to find out if there was any news, and it didn't take long to find out. They kept talking about the space shuttle being "gone" or "disappeared" or that NASA had "lost" it.

The Super Bowl party was tonight, fortunately not at our house this year. Quite a domination by Tampa, I must say. The commercials were ok, I thought, with my favorites being the Budweiser horses doing instant replay, FedEx "Cast Away" spoof, Pepsi Twist Osbournes/Osmonds, and Bud Light with the guy in the upside down clown suit.

Tonight was the church Kid's Klub roller skating party at the skating rink, and since I drive the van for Kid's Klub, I thought I may as well stay for the skating. I hadn't had my roller blades out in about 5 years but it's like riding a bike. Today is also Beth's birthday. Being a Tuesday, we didn't have any better plans. We went out to eat in Fort Wayne last weekend instead (Outback) and shopping and Babies R Us and walking around on the mall. I got her the DVD of "Grease." And there's been something of a shakeup at work; I now have a different boss. My old boss is now a project manager and a guy from a disbanded team in IT is the new manufacturing manager. I'm the only engineer that reports to the new guy now, though, the others still report to Randy. Greg (the new boss) seems like a good guy, and I'm told I'll enjoy working for him.

Now the entire holiday season is officially over. Laura's been in and out of the house for the previous week going to and from interviews in Charleston, Morgantown, and Indy, but now those are over and she's gone back home. Back to work for a week now, with a boss that is an Ohio State fan all geeked up about the national championship thing.

The Komets beat Muskegon last night, 4-1. Hockey is a really fun sport to watch.