Numbers

I remember dates and anniversaries of events to the point that people think I obsess over those things. (I don't...really!) Dave always has this look of "oh dear...here we go again" when I will randomly say "Do you know what today marks?" or "Do you know what happened __ years ago?". It is true that I could probably cure cancer or something like that if you cleared my head of all the useless trivia, lyrics to dozens of musicals, and memories of events from my head. :)

And it is rather ironic (and more than a little amusing) that for all of my issues with math...I seem to remember numbers and love working with them. So here are some numbers that we've been dealing with lately.

May 1st marked 5 years that we have lived in Virginia. I still cannot believe this. July 3rd of this year will mark 4 years that we have lived in our current house (yay for our lease being renewed and not having to move right before Oggie is born!!). 1954 was the date our house was built which means that the clog and pipes Dave was dealing with in our bathroom (in the picture below) were probably almost 60 years old. And "Dave Bob" is missing his 1 partner in plumbing joy..."Jeff Bob" (my dad).

Of course...he just had to start this foray into the horrors of old plumbing at 10:00pm. When all was said and done....his hands and a good portion of his arms....not to mention the sink, toilet, and floor...were completely covered in black. Yuck!!!! But...he was successful (thanks to the use of a snake...and no...not the Spike kind). But does it count as a real plumbing job since he didn't have to visit Home Depot even 1 time?!!!! :)

Moving on....this past Easter marked my 10 year anniversary of becoming Catholic!! I am really floored by this number. I have grown so much and learned so much over the past 10 years. But as the adage says (to paraphrase), "You can take the girl out of the Methodist church but you can't take the Methodist Church out of the girl". Charles Wesley was a genius hymn writer and while I am thankful I still get to sing some of his great songs ("Jesus Christ is Risen Today" anyone?!)...I still miss other great songs that I sang as a Methodist....like "Shall We Gather at the River" and "Amazing Grace" and others. But on the flip side....the "Salve Regina" is going to be the first thing I attempt to sing to my son when he is born. I have sung that 1 song is the midst of terrible sorrow and it is my dream to sing it in the midst of unbelievable joy!

May 18th marked our 9 year wedding anniversary which also means that we've been together for 11.5 years. I think it is so sad when people say that 9 years feels like 90...and you can tell they mean that it feels like a life-sentence. We have the comfort level of being together for 90 years but it still feels like we've only been married for a few years. I feel very blessed that this is the case.

This past weekend marked Oggie's 1st trip on a train. :) Even if he was in-utero. :) He squirmed the whole time....as did Dave who had trouble sleeping the night before, he was so excited about the impending train trip.

We took the train (which departed Richmond at 6am -- yawn!!) to D.C. for a long day trip to celebrate our anniversary.

A current exhibit at the Library of Congress which was recently written about in our local newspaper prompted the trip. The exhibit is a collection of ambrotype and tintype photographs of both Confederate and Union soldiers from the Civil War. Click here for the link to the LOC's website. There were 350 Union pictures and 52 Confederate pictures and the exhibit alone was worth the trip to D.C.

Normally, we keep a blistering pace when we visit D.C. as there is so much to see and do. But when 1 of the party is 32 weeks pregnant....the pace slows down considerably. :) And we limited ourselves to the top portion of the Mall. Still...we managed to see a lot! After the Library of Congress, we visited the Art Museum so Dave could visit his favorite Italian Renaissance paintings and I could visit my favorite French Impressionist paintings. Lunch and a little rest in a quiet spot of the museum rounded out our visit. :) Our next stop was the Natural History Museum where we got to see the new setting for the Hope Diamond (quite stunning) and a few of the animals....some of which I both resemble and feel like. :)
I am still feeling great and really have no major complaints but I am having more and more days where I just feel like a beached whale....maybe something similar to this whale above my head. :)

Our 4th and final stop for the day (before enjoying an amazing and well deserved burger and shake at Johnny Rocket's right before we caught our train home) was the Botanical Gardens....

where Dave was in Orchid Heaven. :)
I planted myself on a bench and told him to wander the museum on his own. After about 3 or 4 miles of walking...I had faded....but it was a fantastic day!!!! (Note of interest: if you want the security guards at the Museums to be incredibly friendly...be pregnant! No kidding!!!)

Some final numbers are:

4 - the number of Confident Childbirth Classes we took and LOVED! Ready or not! :)

6 to 7 weeks - how long we (hopefully) have until Oggie comes. Where have these months gone?!!!!

300A - the color (Whisper Yellow) we will be painting the nursery this week!!

5 - the number of times in the past week that Rusty has broken out of his crate. It was like the 12 Dancing Princesses fairy tale story. Every night, we'd put him to bed in his crate and make sure the door was secured...and every morning, we would enter the kitchen to find the door to the crate off and him sleeping in front of the fridge. Here he is after 1 of his escapes.
We have since solved the mystery but it gave us a good laugh...and scratching of the head...for a while!!! :) Who says an 11 year old dog can't learn new tricks?!!!! :)

Those are the numbers we've been dealing with recently. Coming up....the countdown to Oggie's arrival. :)