Mommy's level-2 ultrasound was today to check on the new baby.
Pictures will be forthcoming but all indications are that little one
is doing quite well with a strong heartbeat and there are no indications
of any birth defects.
Now there is a question that has probably been bugging you Eagle-Eyed
BLOG readers...what is the gender?!?!?
We were initially scared that little one was going to pull the same
stunts Nicholas did when we did the level-2 on him when little one decided
to cross the legs in utero. But persistence and a bit of a holding
pattern allowed our sonar technician to nail the money shot at
the end of it...and let me tell you, there ain't no doubts what kind of
kid is in there.
Come next February (hopefully!), Nicholas will have a little brother
named Alexander James Williams.
Unfortunately, Mommy's quest for estrogen equality has been foiled once
again and I think she's resigned herself to a testosterone-laden home.
Not that it is a bad thing mind you...at least from where I sit,
anyway.
We're just happy that our newest baby is healthy and progressing well!
During the initial round of notifications, we found out that Grandma Carol's
house escaped damage from Frances but is without power and that's likely
to continue for the next week...or whatever Ivan decides to do, whichever
occurs first.
By the time we woke up, they were probably well south of here heading
back home. I did call Gramps' and once I forced my way through the
congested phone lines, the answering machine did pick up so at least the
house had power this morning. All of them live pretty close to the
city government facility and you can imagine they'd be very high on the
list to have power restored. We haven't heard from Carol yet to know how
she weathered the storm.
Gramps and Aunt Nadine arrive safely home in the evening to find that
neither of their houses were damaged (except for four shingles going
AWOL from Gramps' house) and that power was up which is a very valuable
commodity right now in Florida. Well, OK...there was other damage at
Gramps' house...it seems that hurricanes have a nasty effect upon the
citrus crops (i.e. all of the navel oranges from his tree are gone) and
pineapples aren't much better at weathering the storm. Guess we ought
to ring up Honolulu for some more for him... :)
Aunt Betty and Uncle Roger's house also seemed to weather the storm OK
so the only unknown at this time is Carol's house in Ormond Beach.
While the winds were blowing down in Florida, we enjoyed a wonderful
meal at Knightdale Seafood and Barbecue and then a good afternoon
of conversation and games.
Unfortunately, it was time for the visit to end as Gramps and Aunt Nadine
planned to leave on Monday for Florida to see what there is to see. We
wish them a safe trip to Florida and hopefully they'll be able to make
it to their homes and they'll have power. Surfing late tonight, a
significant portion of Volusia County was without power and the area was
subjected to hurricane force winds for an extended period of time due to
the slow movement of the storm (the eye was still east of Tampa when I
finally went to bed).
We did get a report from Aunt Betty and Uncle Roger that they experienced
strong winds and hard rain and we think a tree has their garage blocked.
It might have been lucky that the tree that clipped Aunt Nadine's house
during Charley came down then rather than with the full fury of Frances.
Today was a special treat with Gramps and Aunt Nadine getting to tour
the new house. We are especially grateful Aunt Nadine got to see the
place as the pictures really don't do the house justice. We think that
the house meets with their approval in terms of location and appointments
(we're rather biased so it's nice getting confirmation of what we've
felt all along!).
Then it was time to head to Triangle Towne Centre in North Raleigh for
a bit of shopping and to pick up a table and six chairs given to Nicholas
by Ms. Linda in Wisconsin. If the chairs are anything to judge, the
table is going to be an awesome addition to the rec room upstairs in the
new house. The table and chairs were loaded into Moby Dodge for delivery
to Zebulon...they weren't heavy, just bulky. :)
Then it was off to dinner at Macaroni Grill and then back for
sleep...well, at least for some of us.
I slept through most of Fran in 1996 waking up at 0500 and finding the
truck flooded. But after the waters receded a couple of hours later,
she started up just fine and other than having carpet and the torque
converter replaced has been fine ever since. Luckily for me, I was
living next to the EPA facility in the Research Triangle Park so we got
power back in twelve hours. I never lost power during Floyd in 1999 and
was up all night surfing because I couldn't sleep with the flapping
shingings right above the bedroom. So yeah, I can understand not being
able to sleep when you don't know what's going on with your house and
having even less control over the situation.
Grandma Carol and Aunt Betty/Uncle Roger are going to ride out the storm
approaching the Florida coast with Grandma Carol at the old VA facility
that is built like a fortress and has plenty of generators for power so
she and her patients should be OK).
That gives us a pleasant surprise in the form of Gramps and Aunt Nadine
who will be staying in North Raleigh to wait for the passage of the
storm. Now, we know the real reason Gramps (Mr I-Want-A-New-Roof)
evacuated well north of the storm...the insatiable need for a Nicholas
fix.
And even though we're homeless, we're happy to oblige! :)
So in the spirit of Grammy's refugees from their homeland motif
that seems to be the order of the week (first us, then them!), they came
round this evening to get a Nicholas fix straightaway.
Yep, as of 1100 hours today...the title to our house was transferred
to the new owners. They're a nice older couple moving closer to their
family from Carolina Beach and we know they'll enjoy the place.
One piece of good news...the mural in Nicholas' bedroom is apparently
going to stay so Mommy went round after closing to sign her work as the
artist. They can do whatever they want to the place...but that mural
will be so neat for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I'm
glad it's going to stay...it's a Julia Williams original, dontcha know?!?
So whilst we're officially homeless until we close on the new house, we
can be found (unofficially, of course) at Grammy's house in Zebulon.