Rainy Day Randomness

It's raining. Rain usually makes me feel quiet. It's especially welcome because it gives me a valid reason to not paint during Tiernan's naps.

This weekend we are going to Wichita, Kansas to visit Mark and Debra and their son Christopher, who is two months older than Tiernan. Technically, Mark is Robert's cousin, but he has been more like a brother to both of us. I am so excited. I absolutely love roadtrips. I love to travel, even if it is just to Kansas. (Sorry, Kansans, I've never been a particular fan.) I love all of it. I love the planning, the preparations, the packing. I love waking up at 3:00 in the morning to get an early start. And I love the open road, the rushing landscape, and the hours spent in close company with loved ones. I like to listen to audio books, or make up my own stories in my head. Or just sit and think.

I hope that Tiernan doesn't mind. It will be much less enjoyable if he is crying half the time. He generally does okay in the car, but we haven't done a long haul like this since he was 4 months, and he is significantly more active now. But I think he'll do okay.

The paint project is going quite well, although we will miss our goal of having it finished before our trip. We've gotten all of the first coat on, a good three quarters of the cutting in done, and have started on the second coat, so we hope to be able to knock out the rest with another good week of work. It is, in our opinion, looking good. I'm happy with the colors we picked. I feel like they are distinctive and unique enough to give personality without being an eyesore. We do need to sell eventually, but we're just not your basic-beige kind of people.

So, last weekend we bought Tiernan a little potty, with the idea of getting him used to it early. While I wouldn't go so far as to say he has peed in the potty, he has peed on it twice now...and the rest of the bathroom, as well. When I have to use the bathroom, I strip his diaper off and let him sit on it, and he looks pretty excited. Now to figure out how to get his parts aimed right so I don't have to mop the floor in front of it every time he goes.