I know that person!

Michael teases me when I say I know someone. For some reason, I get very excited when I spot someone from afar that I am just sure I recognize. Most of the time, I just can't place the name, but I am so positive I know them from some mysterious time long ago. It's a long-running joke and I've learned to recognize the fact that half the time, I've tried to identify people who have turned out to be total strangers and only slightly resemble a guy from my English class in high school.

The girls and I went to Walmart this afternoon to buy a shredder and look for the last few elusive school supplies. Ansley and Hailey drooled over the plastic banks shaped like crayola markers. Emberly, her nap cut short, fussed in the stroller to the rhythm of a ticking time bomb.

I was walking up a main isle, looking for the sub-isle that contained construction paper, when I glanced up at the oncoming human traffic. There was a handsome man in his mid forties in a loose lime green linen button up and airy beach pants. I smiled and he smiled back, and I instinctively felt like I knew him.

My first thought was panic. He smiled at me as though he recognized me, too. Would he feel disappointed if I didn't greet him by name? If Michael was there, I would have whispered, hey, I know that guy! And Michael would have smiled knowingly (and then he would have pointed to where the construction paper was, because he is an expert at finding things, whereas I am not).

But this time I really did know him. It just took me a second to remember how. And as soon as I thought of it, I had to find him again and look at his face to make sure I was right. I spotted him from the other end of the organizational isle. He was looking thoughtfully at dry erase boards. And I was sure. It was Peter Walsh.

And just who is Peter Walsh? To me, he's like Tom Cruise. Or George Bush. Or Michael Jordan. But to most other people, he's just the organizational expert from the TLC show Clean Sweep (the Australian guy who helps people part with their beloved junk).



I used to watch Clean Sweep religiously. If you've seen the show, you'll recognize some of the methodology in my post about cleaning the playroom. I could say it changed my life, but really, it just gives life to philosophies I already had, and creates concrete shape for ideals I long to hold.

I didn't want to be one of those blubbering fans who can only think to say, "I love your show! Will you sign my..um...shredder box?" And Emberly's delayed nap time bomb was about to go off. So, with reluctance, I took my shredder, school erasers, and red pencils to the check out.

And then I saw a sign. In the main entry isle by the front door, a small printout on a metal stand read: Meet Peter Walsh Today. Organizational expert and tv personality. (this is also where I got the name; I'm terrible with names).

Aha! I am right! I love being right. Although I have to admit, it doesn't happen all that often, especially when spotting people I think I know. But when it does, I love to bask in it's glory.

I get comments that I should post with pictures. So here is a picture of Peter Walsh. (Although I'm sure those comments are made out of interest in seeing my adorable little girls and not so much a middle-aged australian tv personality).

Emberly's four month check up

She is growing so fast. It's hard to believe it's already been four months.

The statistics shouldn't surprise anybody who knows Emberly. She weighs 15 pounds, 11 ounces (although at home she's weighed as much as 16 pounds). She is 25 1/2 inches tall, and her head circumference is 16 and 3/4 inches. All three of these are in the 90% percentile for her age. She is almost too long for the 6-9 month carters sleepers (by the way, carters is so inaccurate with their size charts due to shrinkage in the wash), and we have to be careful about pants that are too small for her waist.

The doctor said she could eat as much breast milk as she needed. I was worried because she does eat so much, but he said spitting up was a sign of overeating, and since she does so little of that now, the quantity is just right for her body type. He said one of his patients used to drink 54 ounces a day, but then again, the mother was almost six foot and the father was a professional line backer (and the kid grew up to play football too).

The doctor also alleviated my fears about flat head syndrome. I never worried about it with my other two because they were held a lot more because of fussiness, wanted to sleep on their stomach after they learned to roll over, and didn't get that good-baby bald spot at the back of their head. But he said at four months, if she didn't already have signs of flattening then nothing would be happening now, and her head still looked nice and round. So no big white plastic helmet head for us. :)

Emberly has two teeth now! And probably more on the way. We are actually enduring some fussiness now from her due to teething; it mostly manifests itself as crankiness for an hour or two before she is due for a nap or bed time, and a little more tossing and turning at night. Still manageable.

First tooth

Michael discovered Emberly's first tooth last night. She was chewing on his finger, and it started to hurt, so he felt around, and sure enough, the bony ridge of her bottom front tooth had broken through the gum. Not enough to see unless you look right into her mouth, but you can definitely feel it. Michael said she must be a pretty good baby if she's been teething all this time and we didn't even know it.