Back to School

Yesterday was Ben's first day at his new preschool. It's really nice for him to have something to do in the afternoons now that Lucy's here and life is a bit slower around our house. People have also been very generous to let him come over and play in the mornings before school. Ben did great at school and didn't have any problems heading into his classroom when it was time to say goodbye. I can't believe there's only one more year until he's in kindergarten. When did we all grow up??

As you can see, Ben has perfected the super-cheese grin. I wonder where he gets it? He was so excited yesterday because he got to be the "Helper Mouse" in his classroom, leading the other kids to/from the playground and holding the weather of the day chart. On a tangential note, I'm very happy that at this preschool they'll let him eat the snacks people bring if they don't conflict with his allergies. As many of you know, that was one of my pet peeves with his last preschool. He can feel more like the rest of the kids this way.

Little Lucy

Here is one of the few pictures I have of Lucy actually awake. She sleeps like a champ and I sometimes wonder if I should be doing more to keep her up between feedings, but maybe she's just catching up from being a week early. Lucy is a wonderful baby, very chill and doesn't cry unless she is hungry or needs something. I love her eyes and how they look when she's taking in everything around her.

She's here!

We're excited to announce that Lucy Jane Haws has joined our little family. She was born on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 8:17 p.m. after a long day of labor. I went in to be induced a week early, but it ended up taking a while for a variety of reasons. We ended up waiting around for much of the day. Andy watched golf and I dozed. The baby's heart rate was low and my blood pressure was low so the docs stopped the pitocin after a few hours then we had to wait while they made their decision whether she was okay and then to restart the pitocin. I got the epidural, but half of it wore off so I had to get another dose, leaving one leg totally dead for four hours after the delivery. All in all, things turned out well and we're glad to have her here.

We went in with this...

And came out with this. She weighed exactly 8 lbs. and was 22 inches long with a 13" head. Another big Haws noggin.

Tired baby and Daddy.

Ben's favorite part of the visit was coloring on the nurses' message board and watching the Golf Channel with Andy.

The Haws boys and little Lucy.

Of course my camera batteries died so I don't have many good pictures of her. They're all on Andy's Blackberry so I'll try and get those off soon and post more. Thanks to everyone for your concern and support, we came home this morning and look forward to this new chapter in our lives. We think Lucy might have her days and nights mixed up, so that could be quite an adventure. Any advice??

Golf Mania

Golf has officially become Ben's new passion. He and Andy have a weekly date to the driving range and now that I'm in the sedentary pregnancy stage I've taken him to putt and chip a few times while I sit on the side under a tree and read. He pores over Golf Digest and requests that we check out back issues when we go to the library.

Ben in action

A few weeks ago we got free tickets to the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational golf tournament, which was held at OSU's Scarlet golf course. It's an official PGA event, but a minor league one so we thought Ben would enjoy it. The action was a little too slow for both of us, but Andy had a great time and Ben was happy because we went on the day they were giving away free ice cream.

I never thought I'd say it, but I prefer watching golf on TV to watching live. It would probably be different if we were at a major tournament. We went to the Phoenix Open when we lived in AZ and that was fun to see all the big name players.

Watching an approach shot

Last weekend Andy participated in the Nationwide Open, his company's annual golf tournament. He ended up second place overall and took home a trophy, as well as a new driver that he won in the raffle. Ben loves looking at Andy's trophy and I think he has a newfound respect for his dad who is now is an official golf champion in his eyes. He also loved looking at the driver and was sad when Andy announced he wasn't keeping it since it wasn't the right type for his game. He kept taking the cover off and looking at it, then re-covering it.

Budding Picasso

Any suggestions on how to get ballpoint pen off our little artist's new canvas? The bleach pen didn't work and I'm hoping not to have to buy a new toilet seat. Perhaps a magic eraser...

Coupon Coup

This week I hit the jackpot with coupons and just couldn't resist sharing. I sailed right into the perfect storm of having tons of manufacturer's and in-store Meijer coupons combined with a big sale on General Mills cereal, granola bars, fruit snacks, yogurt, and peanut butter. It may seem a little over the top, but I live on cereal and Andy eats a granola bar (or four) every day. You might also be able to tell from the shopping list that I was making a particular dessert - mud pie, one of my favorites!

Grand total - Spent: $32.73
Saved (according to the receipts): $102.62

Here's what I got:
4 gallons of milk (3 free)
12 boxes of Nature Valley/Chex Mix granola bars
11 boxes of cereal (Trix, Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, and Mini Wheats)
8 jars of Skippy peanut butter
5- 4 packs of Fiber One yogurt
3 big boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
6 boxes of macaroni and cheese
4 lbs. fresh strawberries
Hamburger buns
1 package Oreos
1 gallon slow-churned ice cream
1 jar hot fudge

I do feel a little bad for the people behind me in line because I had to do three separate receipts since at this store they'll only double two coupons on identical items per transaction. The cashier was also a good sport, having to ring up 38 coupons. Thankfully Ben wasn't with me so there wasn't the normal rush to just get through the line and out the door. All in all, it made the weekly coupon search and ink spent to print off coupons (many of which don't ever get used) worth the time and effort.

Ohio State Fair

As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein musical sings, "Our state fair is a great state fair, don't miss it, don't even be late." Well this pretty much summed up Ben's opinion of the Ohio State Fair. I have to agree with him on the count that it didn't quite meet my expectations. Maybe we didn't get to the real fair experience because Ben's overly acute sense of smell and gag reflex prevented us from going into most of the livestock or farm-related exhibits. The above picture is of us at the petting zoo where Ben refused to walk in the woodchips or pet the animals and insisted on being carried the whole time. Andy took a picture of the belly before we left. From the stares I got, you'd have thought I was part of the walking curiosity show. I guess you don't see many 9 month pregnant women walking around state fairs these days. No joke though, they really had a "freak show" and an exhibit featuring the world's smallest woman. Our curiosity didn't get the better of us and we refrained from going in, but part of me wonders just what lurks inside those tents.

The famous butter sculptures - the highlight of the fair for me. Just a little slice of Americana. Fact: These sculptures were created with the equivalent of 7200 sticks of butter. Our friend Kevin came to the fair with us and was a great sport the whole time.

My idea of a state fair includes lots of dirt, animals, homemade foods and handicrafts. This was more of a giant carnival. Immediately upon walking in you step onto a huge concrete slab filled iwth carnival rides and food vendors. We had to walk a long time to actually get to any of the exhibit halls and even then they didn't feel very rural. Of course Ben wanted to play every game and ride all the crazy rides, but we gave him $2 and let him choose two rides. The first was a small roller coaster...

The second was this little pumpkin ferris wheel. Does anyone else harbor a deep seated (or is it seeded?) wariness of carnies?

The highlight of the fair for Ben.

Another of my favorite parts of a fair are the big marketplace exhibits where you get lots of free product samples. It's a smorgasboard of interesting products and services, some which I can't imagine people actually purchase, but apparently they do. Some classic items are the handmade belts and the stylized photos printed onto felt calendars, aprons, and whatnot. I always love to go to the jewelry cleaning booth and get my wedding ring cleaned while they hawk the tarnish remover. It really did turn out sparkling clean.

We sat down to watch a horse competition, something like barrel races. The riders start in a small square made of boards and PVC pipe, the horse shoots out and is timed as it goes around the cones and then returns to the enclosure. The participant is disqualified if the pipes or cones are knocked over. Horsemanship is much harder than it looks, we decided.

What would any fair (and particularly a Midwestern one) be without a plethora of fried foods? "Fair fare" as Andy calls it. This stand featured funnel cakes, fried dough (a.k.a. elephant ears), fried Twinkies, and fried Oreos. Other fair faves: The giant turkey leg, mega lemonade, gyros, and corn on the cob on a stick.

Kevin and Andy with their goodies. Do you have a favorite fair food?

All in all, it was fun to be outside because the weather was so beautiful and it's always fun to have an adventure. Next year we'll leave Ben behind and skip the rides to go straight to the exhibits (homemade aprons, jellies, and blue ribbons, oh my!) or just go to the county fair with its more down home feel. I heard this year there was a great bear and elephant show.

Say It Aint So!

Oh cruel, cruel world. The humanity of it all! Our microwave decided to go on the fritz last night and now there's no way to quickly heat water for my hot chocolate fix or to make oatmeal in the morning. Yes, I know that both can be done on the stove, but that just requires so much more effort. I'm talking instant gratification, people! We never realized that our microwave was the most used appliance in the house. Our oven was out of commission for a week last fall and we managed fine. Granted, we did still have the stovetop burners. Nevertheless, what does that say about my cooking?

Andy walked up to the microwave yesterday evening and it just started making crazy beeping sounds, so I think there is some sort of suspicious voodoo magic involved.

What's the most valuable appliance in your house?