snow #2

Snow #2 was topped off with ice later, so it has an inch of snow covered in about 2 inches of ice. More in the forecast - travel safe out there!

Dr. Jones

Just an update from Brian: I was supposed to have a checkup around September... but you know we've been a little busy. Finally got around to setting up an appointment with a provider here, and went in today. /\ This is Dr. Jones /\
He was wearing a bow tie today too, so I guess that's his thing. Nice guy - his son may be a student in our program next year...so it would be interesting if I was his advisor! Today was just filling out all the registration forms, vitals, trying to remember my recent medical history and relay it to Dr. Jones, and scheduling a few more things (CT scan next week, follow up with Dr. in December). He noticed one of my lymph nodes was a little swollen but said it's probably nothing - and could only feel it because I was thin. Nevertheless he wants to keep an eye on it because of my history, of course. I did tell him that my nodes (in my neck) have been through a lot this year. Remember my finger? I had the same thing in my ear a few weeks ago, at the end of the conference I attended in Chicago. Urgent Care swabbed it and tests came back MRSA. Scary for a while there, but it went away with strong antibiotics. Oh, I didn't post about that? Sorry - no pics on that one! I looked like a boxer with a huge cauliflower ear or somthing and couldn't sleep on that side for about a week. Was more concerned for Carrie and Corrie, but docs said not to worry if we were careful.

Funny story about the clinic here: they made me take off my shoes and measure for height. Turns out I'm only 5'10" or 5'11". Of course their wall scale thingy is a bit off! :) They said they already have an ongoing debate about it - but I told them it was definately at least 2" off. I'm about 6'1.5" They drew blood for tumor markers and I was on my way with my Spongebob bandaid.

Stinks (see below)

Well... the Olympics are over so I thought I would post a post about the latest and greatest here at the Powell apartment. Sometimes, if the wind blows a certain way, Lafayette stinks. There are lots of factories and industry in Lafayette and today is one of those days where the wind is blowing just right that we can smell... something awful. Honestly it's an indescribable smell (think sweet burnt plastic), one of the worst I've smelled. Makes me miss the dog food smell of Bowling Green. (yes, it's that bad it makes the dog food smell comparably better...)

Playing in the rain the other day...



This morning Corrie came to show me a picture she doodled on her magnetic thing, wish I had gotten a picture of it. She said it was dad and mom and it actually had two circle-y heads with little eyes. She has been asking me to draw things on it too. Her favorites are Corrie, Mommy, Daddy, Johnnie and Sarah (she says, "sassy" still, smile). Also she proudly showed us a drawn "o" yesterday. She loves letters, any letters... bathtub letters, letters on signs, letters on tv... they're everywhere! Another favorite thing for her to do is at meal times to ask, "Mommy, do you like _______ (water?, fish?, muffins? etc.)" She gets this very serious, "asking" face, it's kind of funny. Corrie's song repertoire includes Row, Row, Row Your Boat and the Barney song. And going on the potty just isn't what it used to be... After some puddles around the house she's wearing pull-ups mostly. She'll still go sometimes but seems to be busy and interested in doing other things.

I also wanted to put up a few more pictures of the baby sister. Hopefully you can see them a little bit. She's riding a little low but she's out there, that's for sure!

Corrie snippets

She has two new molars coming in on the bottom! No wonder she had a fever and other stuff recently...

We took her to the playground last night after driving around looking at houses. I put her in the top of this tube slide (and it was 9pm, starting to get dark..so it was even darker in this blue tube). Well, it did 1.5 loops before she could even see mom at the bottom--and she wasn't 'sliding' because of her exposed skin (wearing a jean skirt). Long story short(er), she was stuck in the middle...crying. Mom climbed halfway up (pregnant) while dad was headfirst into the tube from the top literally hanging on by his toes (I didn't want to get stuck either - it was a kiddie tunnel slide and I'm tall). Eventually, we got her down far enough so mom could get her :)

These days she likes painting outside on our little patio.
She still really likes sitting in the recliner and watching Barney, Elmo, or Calliou (how do you spell that one?) I think Calliou is where she gets her whiney voice :(
After her shower at night she's on crack, running around naked and squealing and jumping.
Maybe we'll get some more pics and videos for ya this weekend; grandparents Powell are in town - stay tuned.

Corrie on the merry-go-round

Corrie's favorite part of the park is the merry-go-round. Thank goodness it has some kind of safety brake on it..but she stays in the middle anyway. As you can tell, it takes 3 or 4 kids to get it to spin just a few times--but she likes it. This is at Columbian Park in Lafayette, which has the biggest collection of playgrounds I've ever seen (one for each stage of life? From two to teens. Even bench swings for old people!) The park also has a 'zoo', a train, lake, waterpark, gazebos, baseball stadium, frozen custard stand....