Vignettes

Monday was cool and rainy and we hung out as a family doing not much. Tuesday it rained so I dressed Sylvia in a jacket and then sent her out into the unexpectedly hot, humid morning. That day was ridiculously hot--so hot Paul slept for six hours straight and I turned the hose on Sylvia and I to cool off.

Wednesday some ladies from the ward threw a shower for Paul. One of the women (who I met for the first time on Sunday) brought a package of diapers and something pink and ruffly as a gift. Apparently using Sylvia's baby blankets confuses people as to Paul's gender. Given how often Sylvia was mistaken for a boy, I somewhat enjoy the symmetry of Paul being mistaken for a girl. Sylvia's been having a blast using the size 1 diapers on her baby, explaining they "fit so well."

Thursday was another hot day, so after some quiet time (Sylvia pretty much refused to nap when it was so hot) we packed up and headed to the beach with some friends. Shortly after we arrived Junior (the dad--and yes, he is large of stature just to add a little more irony to the name) mentioned the power was out to our neighbourhood. Soon after I overheard someone's emergency radio talking about a power outage affecting much of San Diego. As it turned out, basically everything from Yuma, AZ west was without power down into Baja and up into Orange county. Fun, fun. Fortunately for us, the power went out around 4 and Sylvia, Paul and I stayed at the beach until 6-ish so by the time we were driving home most of the bad traffic (which Derrick biked through since he couldn't really do much at school any more) had cleared. Sylvia fell asleep on the way home and slept pretty much all night, except for the few minutes we woke her to clean her up a bit and put on pull-ups for bed. The only thing we really needed (besides dinner, grr) was the emergency flashlight-radio combo Derrick picked up this summer after the tornadoes in Alabama. Glad we were that prepared!

That night was amazingly quiet. I hadn't realised how noisy the local air traffic was. The loudest noises that night came from children playing--outdoors--late into the evening.

Derrick stayed home Friday and we went to the zoo. Derrick managed to get a picture of me looking old and wrinkly. Sylvia, as always, had a lot of fun.

For some reason I was sure Saturday was the 11th. Derrick worked on the kitchen he's building for Sylvia while I stayed inside with the kids. Fun, fun. Great way to avoid all the hubub surrounding the 11th, except that it was really the 10th.

Sunday I found out a friend, who would make a great mother, had the adoption she's been hoping for fall through. I hope she finds comfort and wish I knew how to help her.