Prebble Family Tales

Miracle League is officially off its July hiatus, which means we were back in Altoona on Saturday for a ball game.  Gare was thrilled to be back on the field.  I was thrilled to have an excuse to get a strawberry Julius at the mall.  Gare and I also got some video game time in on Sunday, playing a few songs in Rock Band and a few rounds as Darth Vader in Soul Calibur IV.

Things are back in action in other facets, as well.  Brandy has a hectic school schedule this week with various meetings going on.

I’m getting back on track with finishing the work in the basement that will allow my mom to move in with us for the remainder of the pregnancy.  I’m also meeting with somebody this week on BikeAble business, dropping off books for the AAUW, and trying to sell more crap (know somebody who wants to buy 300+ CDs in one shot?).

Speaking of rampant consumerism, I’m sure some of you are wondering how many of the new Clone Wars toys I’ve been buying.  The answer is: zero.  After having just packed up all my Star Wars toys, there’s no way I’m going to add to the collection now.  Forget it.  Not worth the hassle.  I’m a practical junkie.

Sure enough, Gareth got his second opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Spikes game. Being tight with Easter Seals sure has its advantages.

Gareth very nearly made it to the end of the game, but called it quits at the bottom of the last inning. He almost saw the fireworks. One of these days, he’ll stay awake long enough to see the end of a game.

Because of the special events, Gareth got two autographed Spikes baseballs. That makes three for his burgeoning collection. I think it’s pretty well decided now that he’s a baseball fanatic. I feel … so alone.

Gareth got the news yesterday that he will once again be throwing out the first pitch at a Spikes game.  He’ll be on the mound for his second round this Sunday night (July 27th).  If you’re attending to see Gare’s performance, get there early.  They do the first pitches well before the game actually begins.

Gare’s Grammy Anne has been helping us out a ton by coming over to the house in the afternoon to help Brandy unload our nearly 50 pound child. This has given Gare and Grammy plenty of chances to get to know each other better and do some special things together.

Like planting tomatoes.

We now have a mini Gareden (I just coined that - ain’t I clever?) in front of our porch. With any luck and a whole lotta plant love, Gare will be able to harvest (more puns!) a lot of enjoyment from their endivers (somebody stop me).

Keegan has also been stopping by to visit a lot more often. The hot days of Summer have brought out the garden hose for afternoon water sports, mainly consisting of being splashed by a Finding Nemo sprinkler.

This has served three purposes: it gives Keegan and Gare time to play together; it gives both boys a chance to cool down; it allows them to take baths in broad daylight by applying soap, rinsing in the spray, and repeating.

That last part is not a fabrication.

The first day they decided to do some rain dancing, Keegan had to borrow a pair of Gareth’s trunks.  Keegan is a 70 pound kid.  From what I understand, the fit was rather snug.  Having learned his lesson, Keegan brought his own trunks on subsequent days.

Brandy and I took a trip to Danville yesterday to see their prenatal team.  The trip was for two reasons: to get a second opinion on our situation and to build a rapport with the Geisinger team in anticipation of delivering there.

We sort of got the first and didn’t get the second at all.

Second opinion is that everything is going well.  Size and weight of Collin are perfectly normal.  Things seem to be developing appropriately.  He still has a penis.

The rapport thing?  Not so hot.  The doc didn’t seem at all familiar with our history with both Gareth and Danville.  He was unaware of the big ticket items that are causing both us and our local doctor concern.  He also seemed of the opinion that there was really no reason to deliver at Danville.

Oh, and he forgot we were there for about an hour and a half.  Literally forgot.  Being the quiet, non-confrontational people that we are, we sat in a freezing cold darkened room until somebody finally remembered we were in there.  In the meantime, I played with the chair and looked through all the cabinets.  Had to do something.

But at least the ice cream we had at Friendly’s afterwards was good.  And so was the news that all was well.

For those of you who didn’t already notice, the photos from the Spikes game are now available. I’ve included a small taste here so you can decide whether or not you really need to see more.

What’s really funny is that every time I take Brandy’s picture, she says, “That better not end up on the Internet.”  Well geez, that’s just about the best way to make sure that it absolutely will end up on the Internet.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

This might be of interest to baseball fans.  Gareth will be throwing out the first pitch tonight at the Spikes game!

Based on prior experiences, he’ll likely be one of many first pitchers for the night, but it’s still incredibly exciting for us and for him.  He went nuts when he found out what he would be doing.

So if you’re up for seeing a kid explode with joy, I’d highly recommend going to the game tonight.

Child 2 shall now be known as Collin Alexander.  You are correct, neither Collin nor Alexander were poll options.  That’s just how we roll.

So, upon his birth, we shall have one child with the initials GAP and one with CAP.  These are much more interesting than my TLP or Brandy’s BMP (though BMP is at least a popular graphics file format).

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been leaving my day job to then go hang out at RBR and soak up cycling information. I chat with customers, offer ideas for various problems, and, starting today, will be building bikes and trikes.

And I don’t get paid a dime.

That’s just the way I like it, actually. I’d rather this be something I do for fun and for my own pursuits rather than feel financially beholden to someone or feel obligated to do things because the “boss” asked me.

The downside, of course, is that I’m not getting home until 7PM, which means Gareth now sees me for about 5 minutes in the morning as I’m carrying him out to the car. Once school is back in session, we’ll be back to our normal schedule since I’ll be walking Gare to school in the morning. Until then, you can find me at RBR from about 4:30 to 6, Tuesdays through Fridays.

Speaking of bikes, we finally have a bike shed! Our three bikes are out of the house, which means no bikes in the den/nursery, no bikes in the basement, and no bikes in the kitchen. Yes, my newest bike was housed in the kitchen for a bit. All the bike accessories will go out there as well, saving me from tromping up and down the basement steps every time we want to go for a ride. Oh happy day!

Julian, Tarkin, Eli, Seth, and Max are outta here.  So is Quinn.  We did like that name, but my cousin Emily just gave birth and named her new son that.

We need to have a talk with that whole branch of the clan.  They’re the reason Gareth wasn’t named Alex and why we were never able to consider Emily as a name should we have discovered we were gestating a female.  And now they took Quinn.

Two more possibilities have reared their meddling heads: Rhys and Colin.  We’ve been warned that going with the traditional spelling on Rhys (versus “Reese”) will cause mass confusion, but honestly, the world somehow gets by with John Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Rhys Ifans, and Rhys Fulber in existence.  If you’re not a fan of Front Line Assembly, that last one probably doesn’t seem very relevant.  If you are a fan, please explain to me why you haven’t told me sooner.  That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of good Colins, but let’s face it - you either say it “Collin” or “Coelin”.  There’s not much variation.

The real problem here is that none of the names we’ve come across have had the same lightning strike that we had with Gareth.  Do we owe it to our second child to come up with a name that everybody can pronounce and spell?  Not really as that wouldn’t be fair to Garth Garrett Gary Gareth.