Sad Day on E Street

Longtime and founding E Street Band member Danny Federici (keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel) died yesterday of skin cancer. He'd been off the tour for several months, but Ali and I did get to see him with Bruce and the rest of the band when they came through D.C. last fall. He'd been playing with Bruce for over 40 years, both getting their start along the Jersey shore. More info can be found over at Backstreets and on Springsteen's page. There's a fund for melanoma research that you can contribute towards. God bless, Danny!

Helping the Economy

On Saturday, we went shopping. We used to go shopping together until Sarah was old enough to not have to be in the shopping cart. David decided then it was much easier and less stressful (at least for him) if Alison did most of the shopping - especially groceries - during the weekday. Alison has afternoons off, and the kids are in day care, which definitely help! We first went to Target and then to Sports Authority - the main purchase there was a new softball scorebook. Then to PetSmart for some litter and then to Kohl's for clothes (mostly for David). His underwear supply was vastly dwindling, as Alison would throw out anything that was wearing out. After that, we were hungry and tired, and decided to delay our last stop until late that evening. We went to Lowe's for some garden supplies and mulch.

On Sunday, David spent most of the day working on the yard. The new plants in the backyard seemed to have survived the drought and the winter, but a few weeds were starting to come up, so we put down some tarps and covered with new mulch. David was a little sore, but was convinced he wouldn't have made it through the day if we hadn't started going to the gym. We also found time to go the Girl Scout Hike & Bike day. We fit Sarah's bike in the trunk of the Prius, and drove to the starting point. Sarah rode her bike, and we walked next to her pushing Nicholas in the stroller. At one point, Sarah wanted to get off and walk, so David jumped on her bike and rode off with Sarah laughing and chasing him.

By Sunday night, Nicholas was starting to feel warm, so we kept him home from day care and took him to the doc on Monday night. He didn't have many symptoms other than a fever and sounding just a little congested. But, sure enough, he has strep throat. He also stayed home on Tuesday, but went on Wednesday morning. You really can't tell he is or was sick, as he's just as happy as always (assuming he's fed).

Parents Night Out

When we joined the gym, we didn't just sign ourselves up, we also signed up Sarah and Nicholas. True, Nicholas won't be doing free weight curls any time soon, but there are plenty of kids activity classes for Sarah. But best of all - the kids membership includes babysitting. Now, we have no excuse to not go to the gym. Several times already, the whole family has gone to the gym, with Sarah and Nicholas in the babysitting. Plus - one night a month, the gym does "Parents Night Out", which gives us 3 hours of babysitting (no extra cost). Last Saturday night, we went to a steakhouse in Annapolis and had a really great time out. We made it back to pick up the kids at 8:59:59! We even made it back to the gym the next afternoon to work some of it all back off.

Last night, we went to Chick-Fil-A with one of Sarah's friends from school (and her mom and younger sister). The girls got to play in the indoor playsets and got some (free) face painting. Sarah's friend Fiona lives the other direction from school and kinda far away, and going out to C-F-A seemed like a good compromise between our houses. But somehow Fiona thought Sarah was going out to eat and then going to play at her house. It was all she talked about with David the last few days when he was picking up or dropping off Sarah. Fiona was so sad when her mom finally got it across to her that the moms took out their calendars to find another date for the girls to play.

Back to busy

Sarah's much better now - the Tamiflu really shortened the length of her illness. She went back to school on Tuesday (and Daisy Girl Scouts that evening). Thankfully, the other 3 of us haven't gotten it, although Nicholas is still waking up in the middle of the night. Unlike when he was younger, simply picking him up and gently rocking him hasn't stopped the crying. We're thinking he's either hungry or teething or becoming a very light sleeper. With all the food he eats at night (and the rest of day), we don't think it is likely that he is hungry - plus he does fall asleep usually after ~10 minutes of screaming. Alison's theory is that he sees the bathroom night light on or hears one of us stir and then wants to be awake (while still very tired/rubbing his eyes). Last night, we tried closing his door and leaving him in his crib, and he fell asleep right away. We'll try it again tonight; hope it works!

David had his first softball practice on Tuesday night; he only stayed to take some BP because Sarah had Scouts. As they are on the same night, Alison will be taking Heather (Nicholas's day care provider's daughter) as a "helper" to watch Nicholas at the Scout meeting until the meetings are done for the year. Tonight, Alison had her monthly Scouts service unit meeting - David, Sarah, and Nicholas watched the Capitals on TV fight for a playoff spot.