Perhaps TODAY IS THE DAY! that the sickness leaves me entirely. Boy, I sure hope so. I won't get into the ugly specifics, but I can tell you that it's working its way through the system. (A Porta-John on the job site today may be necessary after all.) New theories posited are that it was this year's version of the flu, and though some of us got the shot, we got it in that two week timeframe where the vaccine doesn't work if you fall ill. So can I get my twenty bucks back? Anyway, I just hope the kids don't get it.

The new little digger is three weeks old today, and he's already gained a pound and an inch or so (of attitude)! Sleeping schedules have yet to be ordained, if you're wondering, so life here on Eastview remains challenged. The Ditchman Formerly Known As Little is benefitting from it all with more available TV time and the remaining Halloween candy (which we dole out in scanty portions.) She doesn't seem to understand that Halloween is gone, buried and interred (mostly) for another year and it's kind of sad to have to explain it to her. We always end with, "but Christmas is coming!" which she doesn't remember from a year ago, but she knows the drill all the same, "with Santa and presents and Christmas trees..."

Little Keaton has been receiving mail, which is an odd thing. I remember the same when the Little Ditchman was born -you come home from the hospital with this new baby and it's only a day or two before letters addressed to this new person arrive in your mailbox. It's kind of jarring, really, to see it in official print, at your address, not typed by you -but fun all the same. If you want to know, it's the insurance companies that have the kid's name and numbers, and they don't waste a second: Welcome to the world, two-day-old! BALANCE DUE... etc. With baby #1 we got a letter from the governor, thanking us for increasing the numbers of his constituency, but with baby #2 Arnold has sent us nothing as of yet. Budget cuts, no doubt.

Thanks again to all the well-wishers and local moms who made us dinner for the past couple weeks! It was seriously awesome of you, and though I'm sure we could have managed without, it made my couple weeks off a lot more relaxing, if not energizing. I was sad for a moment to think about how first-time moms aren't in any moms groups ('cause they have no kids) so they don't reap the benefits of the support chain, but then it occurred to me how much more work it is when you already have a child or two, and the sympathies of commiserating moms are that much greater. Thanks again. I don't know all of you personally, but I appreciate you all the same.

Eighty handmade baby announcements have been mailed! If you didn't receive yours, it's because you are most likely one of my countless Google stalkers who would prefer that I didn't have your current address. Or we could chalk it up to patent family oversight. My apologies. Email us your address and a beautiful photo of the most precious child of the season is yours. Suitable for framing, or better: the refrigerator door!

It's been a happy time, outside of the illness, and thanks again to everyone who has been so kind and tolerant of this growing clan. Have a good James A. Garfield's Birthday (1831).


(And thank you, Arnold. I will feed them "nourishing foods".)


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