A Little Knowledge

It has been said that a little knowledge is a bad thing. This is certainly the case with Megan.

Megan entered into the world of language with flawless use of the word "kitty." But as time progressed Megan morphed the word and used it for anything that was particularly exciting, most specifically, all of her stuffed animals became "kitty" (none of them are actually cats) and pictures of babies (including herself) became "kitty." They were all things that were cute and cuddly, so we could kind of justify the useage. But now Megan is trying desperately to learn new words - "duckie" and "daddy" occasionally escape from her lips, particularly if we bait her with repetition: "look, Megan, it's a duckie...DUCK-IE," to which she will reply in jarbled tones,"dck-EE." These new words have only brought confusion, not clarity, to Megan's naming system. We catch her calling the cats "duckie;" Her ducks are frequently "kitty;" and often her jumbled thoughts come out in a run-on list of syllables: "da-da-da-kit-TEE-dck-EE."

We've had some laughs at Megan's expense. Playing flashcards goes something like this:
P: [cat] Megan, what's this?
M: Kitt-ee
P:[horse] Megan, what's this?
M: Kitt-ee
P: [dog] Megan, what's this?
M: Kitt-ee
P: [cow] Megan, what's this?
M: Kitt-ee

And so on and so on.

Megan also now knows that big spoons are for big people food and big people food is better than baby food, so she refuses her little spoon. We have to feed her baby food with the big spoons.

And Megan is now great at climbing the stairs. Her spatial awareness is even worse than her dad's, so we frequently have to catch her when she turns to sit or tries to come down.

So the one thing that Megan seems to have no idea about is "mommy." One day we were in the bath. When I asked Megan about the duckie, she grabbed the rubber duckie, when I asked Megan about the cat she looked to Zeus who sits next to the tub while we bathe, and when I asked about Mommy, Megan looked expectantly toward the door to see if there was a Mommy walking in.

A second time I was trying to get Megan to repeat after me.
P: [cough, cough, cough]
M: [cough, cough, cough] (Meg loves to imitate coughing)
P: Megan, it's Daddy
M: Dad-dy
P: Look, Megan, the kitty.
M: Kitt-ee
P: Look, Megan, it's Mommy.
M: Dad-dy

aaargh!

Stairmaster

Meg is quickly mastering climbing up the stairs. Down is a MUCH different ball game though.

ICE STORM 2005

Unfortunately, our ice storm was a minor event. Down here in Salem, away from the gorge effect, I fear we will get less snow than we got in Portland. It makes me sad. I did snapp a couple of pictures, however.

Fort Brecks

Pam inherited a green house from her parents when they moved into their active adult retirement community. It was sitting in the crawlspace in portland for six months before we moved. It was sitting in our garage for the last three months. But now it's the most well-protected green house I've ever seen. The chain link fence around it will be moved to the pasture in the future and serve as the new chicken run.

My face matches my shirt!

Today, Pam and I got an soft and squishy envelope from Oxy. In it was a letter congratulating us on our new "cub" and reminding us that there was a place in the freshman class 18 years from now for her. It was the first piece of mail, other than the class notes, that we've received from Oxy that hasn't asked for money. It was very refreshing.Note to self, no more squash for Megan!

Tired

"Are we there yet?"

Bottoms Up!

As mentioned before, Megan loves buttons and things that her little fingers can push. Light switches definitely fall into this category, especially our old fashioned rocker type light switches which make it easy for Megan to turn the lights off and on. (Aside: how sad is it that I am calling something from 1979 "old fashioned"? What does that make me??) Megan is particularly fond of her closet light switch, mostly because she can reach this one by herself from the changing table and because she can watch the lights go on and off.

This excitement with the light switch makes her incredibly difficult to change, because she won't lie still for even a few seconds. In fact, it is a down right pain in the butt (mine, not hers)!

The death of the autopsy

In 1975 there were 150 autopsies at Salem Hospital; this year there were 14. This precipitous decline is not unique to Salem; this drop-off is a national phenomenon.

Most of this is due to improvements in the medical armamentarium. With CT's and MRI's so commonplace, one no longer needs to open a body to find out what is ailing the patient. Additionally, laboratory testing is more sophisticated, employing techniques such as PCR, ELIZA, antibody testing, and cytogenetics in the diagnosis of human disease. And our knowledge about many diseases is increased. In summary, less people are dying of unknown causes.

However, part of the decline in autopsies is financially motivated. There is no charge for an autopsy; the hospital eats the cost. In an era of budget cuts and HMO's, there is little incentive for hospitals to perform autopsies. And while families are often comforted knowing the cause of a loved one's death, an autopsy can sometimes provide ammunition for a law suit.

Most pathologists do not mind this decline, in fact many are downright thrilled by it. An autopsy is labor intensive, both in the time and physical effort required. They are messy and frequently unsatisfying as even an autopsy can fail to uncover the cause of death. There is little compensation for the task. And with increasing cancer rates, pathologists have plenty else to do to keep them busy.

But for the purist, the decline in autopsies is unsettling. Most of our knowledge about disease originates from autopsy findings. An autopsy provides an opportunity to admire human anatomy and get back to "hands on" medicine (and make a bloody mess all in the name of science!). And despite all of the improvements in medical technology, there are still many cases where the cause of death is only discovered at the time of autopsy.

I don't expect hospital autopsies to ever pick up again. In fact, I suspect that they will die out all together with occasional hospital cases being sent off to the medical examiners. However, I don't expect that the truth in this pathology cartoon will ever be completely gone:

Megan-ator

Over the past two weeks we've become convinced that Megan has said her first word. The word is no surprise, because she of course has chosen something very near and very dear to be the first comprehensible utterance to spill from her lips, a word to make her mother proud. That's right, Megan's first word is "kitty." Megan happily announces when a kitty gets anywhere near her.

Megan understands several other words, too. She gets that "Dante," "Zeus," "cat," and "gato" all refer to those loveable furry beasts, though I don't think she knows which cat goes with each name. I am not certain Megan can differentiate between "mommy" and "daddy" but she does know we are talking about one of those big people who live with her when we say either. But she can locate "baby" and "Megan" with complete accurracy in the mirror.

She is now at a stage where those little cogs are working non-stop to try to figure out the world. Megan is infatuated with things with buttons, because she knows toys with buttons make some kind of funny noise when you push them. She's always trying to get her hands on the phone, the remotes, and the computer to see what all those buttons do.

Megan also like doors, particularly closing them. She has fun opening and closing cupboards, but isn't too interested in the contents.

Megan understands dressing and will help with her arms, both to get her clothes on and off. She'll even sometimes raise her arms up (to take off her shirt) as soon as she hears the bath water running. She hasn't figured out, though, that she is supposed to lie still while getting her diaper changed!

Swing

With all of the sunny weather, Megan has been getting a lot of use out of her new swing. We got the swing a couple of weeks ago after seeing how much fun Megan had on other people's swings, but then the weather instantly turned bad and the swing sat unused for a while. But this week we've been bundling her up and putting her in the swing. She'll stay out there as long as you'll keep pushing!

Jeans

Sooner or later I knew I'd be dressed like an old "fuddy-duddy" while my kid sported the latest trends. I just didn't realize this would happen before she even turned one!

Stocking

Mac's parents met us in Vagas to see Megan (and purportedly us too). They took care of Megan Saturday night while we were at the wedding of one of Mac's college friends. Megan also got an early Christmas.

Mac's mom made Megan a beautiful stocking. It's almost big enough to be her sleeping bag! But just like she did with the stocking she made me, she immediately took it back. We only get to appreciate her handiwork when we visit her!

Vegas, Baby

Last weekend we traveled to Las Vegas. We were fortunate in that the plane was quite empty, so Megan even got her own seat. She did great on the plane, but I guess that is to be expected from such a seasoned traveler: this was Megan's fourth round-trip flight in six months! Though changing altitude didn't seem to bother her at all, we did notice she is getting harder to travel with. She is no longer content to sleep the flight away; she'd much rather make friends with all the strangers around her (whether they like it or not). At one point she was playing peek-a-boo through the seat crack with the people behind us.

On the way home we were lucky to have Jackie, the most precocious three year old I have ever met, on the plane. She had Megan (and several surrounding passengers as well) in hysterics with her very animated stories about her week-long stay in Vegas. It made the flight pass by much more quickly!

"Can I get more peanuts?"

Water baby

Today, Meg and I took the plunge. We attended our first "parent-baby swim class" at the Salem Family YMCA. Meg had a great time and only swallowed a tiny amount of water. She laughed and splashed and kicked the ball around while Daddy overcame his fear of classroom participation. We sang, "I'm a little Pancake" (while babies float on their back), "Little Red Caboose," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Hokie-Pokie," and some frog song that I can't remember the name of. The last time we went to a class was the story time at the LO (you blow) library. I hated it because I didn't know any of the stupid songs we were expected to sing and noone said a word to me. Today was much different and we'll definitely be going back. Pictures to come, but they're kind of difficult to manage with a wet baby and an electronic camera.

Test Free Future

After and agonizing six weeks and one day, my test results arrived. Let's just say it is all I can do right now to keep from running around the house singing, "I PASSED, I PASSED, I PASSED..."

And best yet all of my certifications are for life, so I should be done for good!

Progress

The nice thing about an empty house is that you get to buy new furniture.
Yesterday our new dining room table and game table were delivered.

Of course the cats had to check out the new stuff.

Other recent additions include a new couch and recliner and a spiffy new chair for Mac's spiffy new office. And don't forget the super-screen! Let us know when you want to come over for dinner and a movie!

I like these home improvement projects where you can just slap down a credit card and be done with it - it definitely beats painting, which we have been doing a lot of (ok, which Mac has been doing a lot of). And the best thing is, after five weeks of work, I finally got my first paycheck. Now we can actually pay for this furniture!

The house still has lots of things that need to get done and I still feel very unsettled, but slowly we are making progress. Even Megan is helping out. Just look how she is testing paint colors for us!

Halloween

Megan was very excited about her Halloween pumpkin shirt.

She also liked her clown costume OK, but she DID NOT like that wig. Maybe despite her parenting, the girl has some fashion sense! Or maybe she was just scared of her Dad!

Nine months

Ooops! I wrote this last week but never got around to posting it; I guess it still seemed unfinished. Anyway, this should have been last Saturday's post:

Megan is nine months old today; she has now been out longer than she was in.

Megan is great at scooting, but still isn't crawling - maybe she'll be in that 10% that never crawls but just up and walks one day. She can also get to sitting position whenever she wants, which is usually when we are trying to change her diaper.

Megan has also mastered waving, though she is sometimes shy to perform. Then again there are other times when she is waving up and down the aisles of Home Depot like a beauty queen. Megs has also started giving kisses. This is really sweet...if you like tongue.

And Megan is a great eater. When we first started feeding Megan our pediatrician warned us that it can be quite a wasteful process, since you end up throwing so much out. So far we have thrown out exactly two half jars of food and one of those was because a friend's dog slobbered all over it! Megan will make a great vegetarian - she even eats the nasty ones like creamed spinach.

The three B's

What better way to relax after a hard day at work than with a beer, bath and a baby.. all at once.

I know Megan was very relaxed - No more beer for her!

Um, scratch that

Megan had a tough day with the cats today. She loves being with the cats, but Megan doesn't always express her love in a kind and gentle way. Until now, the cats have been very tolerant, but today Zeus took a swipe a Megan and got her across the face. Fortunately, it was only a tiny scratch by the eye.

Later in the day, Dante ate all of Megan's Cheerios off the floor. Megan has forgiven them both.

Work wrap up

My first three weeks of work felt kind of like moving to England: the language is supposed to be the same but then all the sudden someone says "loo" or "lorrie" and you don't know what the heck they are talking about. And when you try to do something familiar like order a pizza you are shocked to find there is corn on it - something you have never even considered. I have been overwhelmed by the "culture shock" at work even though things aren't supposed to be that different from my residency.

I have met about a hundred new people and they have all mastered my name, but I seem to keep forgetting all of theirs. I didn't know the location of anything and so just to get a note across campus I had to ask where to get an envelope, to whom I needed to address the envelope and then where to drop it off. All the while the secretaries very politely answer my questions: "You put interdepartmental mail in this box here labeled "Interdepartmental Mail.'" One tech turned to me while I was doing a frozen section and asked, "Is this your first real job?" That obvious, huh?

The other big difference is the amount of support I have at work. There is someone to cut the specimens for me, to stain my slides for me, to clean up my frozen section mess, to put away the biopsy equipment - all the stuff I had to do as a resident. And the techs do this all while calling me "Dr. Smith" even though I repeatedly tell them to call me Pam. It is nice, but it also feels very weird.

Thursday night the office had a welcome dinner for me. I think this marked the end of my honeymoon period. Next week I have a full workload, same as everyone else, instead of the 3/4 load they have been easing me in with.

A Sinking Feeling

Two of Megan's favorite things: herself and a new object

Country Critters

We see all kinds of critters out here in the country. Two redtail hawks reside in the neighboring trees; several different cats come to frolic in our pasture; and we even had a blue heron in our pond last week. We even have a little snow imp in our house.

Big Brown Bathtub

Our brown bathtub may be ugly, but it sure is a lot of fun!

First Day of Work

Alright, one day down, twenty years to go!

Anyway my first day of work went well. Megan cooperated like a champ. She didn't wake up for her feeding until 6 am. Normally I feed her and then we all go back to our respective beds for another little snooze. This, morning, however, Megan went back to snoozing and I had to get ready for work. She was still sleeping when I left.

Commuting on country roads should be nice because there isn't any traffic, unless, of course, you get stuck behind a school bus that stops every block for three miles. Then it sucks.

When I got to work, my first orde of business was to go get my picture taken and get an ID badge. But it just so happened to be the first day for the woman in charge of this task as well. She didn't have keys to the door. When we finally found someone to open it, she didn't have a password to log on to the computer. I had to go back later.

Then I headed off to the orientation required of all employees. The first item of discussion was the need to have your ID badge displayed at all times. I crossed my arms so no one would know I was already breaking the rules. The we watched the Fish video about how you can make work fun and how you choose your attitude every day. Actually, this was the best part of the orientation.

And no hospital orientation would be complete without the dreded blood borne pathogen lecture. Someone actually demonstrated how to wash your hands during this portion. And I nearly jumped out of my seat when the instructor talked about "certain bacteria like malaria also infect the blood." Malaria is a protozoan you moron, but I kept my cool.

I was the only new physician orienting today and every speaker kept asking "Is there one doctor here?" I had to keep raising my hand to tell them who I was. This might have been avoided if I had had the proper name tag. After identifying myself the speaker would tell me how this or that wasn't relative to me (I am not actually a hospital employee, just contracted by the hospital). I kept wondering why I was wasting my time if none of this was relevant. Apparently, they finally clued in because my afternoon session was separate from everyone elses and I am completely excused from day two of orientation tomorrow.

Coincidentally, there was one other physician who started work today, but he had already completed the orientation. His name was James Proffitt - how bizzarre.

In the afternoon, I actually went to my work site. There I was welcomed with flowers in my spiffy new office.

I unpacked a few books, met a few people, choose a few passwords, looked at a grand total of two slides, and called it a day.

When I got home I had more flowers waiting for me.

Plus a little peach:

Megan isn't really that messy when she eats, Mac just thought it would be funny to put peaches on her nose for the camera.

Tomorrow the office is having a welcome cake party for me. Now if only work were flowers and cake every day!

Busy, busy, busy

Even though I've been off work all week - it has been very busy. I returned from Tampa on Friday; we enjoyed a wonderful Harvest Fest dinner on Saturday hosted by Craig and Lisa; my parents came to visit for three days starting on Sunday; Monday we headed off to the Salem cook's tour here in our neighborhood; Tuesday I went to say all my goodbyes at OHSU and had a great going away lunch with the hemepath crew; and the latter half of the week we spent working on the house. Whew! But unfortunately, my time off has come to an end. Tomorrow I start my new job. This is the real world now, folks: day one of my carreer starts at 7:30 Monday morning. I feel like the new kid on the first day of school. And it's not going to be easy to leave this every day:

Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3

After many long and painful hours of studying - my test is a thing of the past!! I spent a grueling 7 hours staring at the computer taking a test that included the dreaded k-type question - a list of four things followed by the answer choices:
a) 1, 2, and 3 are correct
b) 1 and 3 are correct
c) 2 and 4 are correct
d) only four is correct
e) all are correct.

Even the SAT abolished these as too cruel for use on a standardized test!

Anyway in a mere 4 to 6 weeks, I'll get my results. Keep your fingers crossed until then!

Freecycle Success

About a month ago I was so excited when I learned about Freecycle. In many ways it was much more appealing to me than even Craig's list and infinitely better than e-bay. I quickly signed up and started watching posts. People have all kinds of stuff they are giving away: couches and beds, scrap metal, plants, food, clothes, cats, dogs, and even sheep. And there are people out there eager to get their hands on this kind of stuff, especially for free.

About a week went by before I put up my own post:
OFFER: wood window blinds interwoven with tan/white/brown decorative yarn.

I also included all the dimensions. Immediately, someone contacted me for these very blinds. I was elated and quickly sent back a reply, but the woman didn't follow up. No biggie - I had a second taker, or so I thought. She didn't follow up either.

Ok so nobody wanted my blinds, but perhaps I could give to those requesting items. I finally found the perfect post - somebody wanting end tables and lamps. I just happened to have two extra end tables and three extra lamps - perfect for this 18 year old going off to college. But no response.

Maybe I'd have better luck if I tried to take something. I was definitely interested in the "tons of canning jars" in Independence. My inquiry got no response, not even a "sorry, they're spoken for," which is all I really expected. Now is that too much to ask.

So I had very low expectations when I replied to "Wanted: curtains" yesterday. But today I got a phone call - not an e-mail - an actual person! Not only was this great for coordinating, but I got her whole life story to boot. It turns out that Jessica needed the curtains for her dad's 1900's house because the windows are quite drafty in the winter time. Her dad is a "bachelor and is clueless about these kind of things." But she wants it taken care of because she is going to be moving in with her dad because she is expecting and due in November. She said she send her mom over right away to pick up the curtains. A little too much information, to be sure, but I was just so excited to finally be getting rid of something.

About an hour later a woman showed up. She said she'd be happy to take all of my unwanted curtains (even the ugly red striped ones!!) so I helped pile them into her car.

My faith was restored. One man's (woman's) trash was another man's treasure.
Time to offer up more of my junk, er, um, I mean treasures.

Jump for Joy!

Megan still loves her jolly jumper, especially now since it is the best seat in the house for watching ping pong. Plus, she can really get some air!

She's drooling with excitement! (well, that and her second tooth just broke through).

Wired Up

Megan obviously inherited my computer skills (or lack thereof)!

"Now where do all these wires go? And, more importantly, can I eat them?"
(BTW - check out my tooth!)

Mr. Mom

Mac has adjusted well to his roll as Mr. Mom and I think he is glad he didn't have to head back to school with the rest of the teachers this year.

Being a stay-at-home dad isn't always easy, though. A few days ago Mac related an encounter at the grocery store. An older woman passed him in the aisle and said, "I see somebody is babysitting today."

"Parenting!" Mac corrected as he pushed the cart on.

But spending time with Daddy is great for Megan. She loves all of his rough housing. Plus, Daddy sometimes does things differently than I do. Like this morning when I found Megan with her pants on her head after Daddy took her to get dressed. Mommy certainly doesn't do it like that!

Peek-a-boo

Yesterday, I was certain our reliable alarm clock had woken up way too early. The house was still pretty dark, but Megan was most definitely awake. A quick glance at the clock revealed that I was the one who was off. It was 7:03; Megan was still more faithful than Old Faithful itself. (Old Faithful eruption times vary between 45 and 90 minutes apart; Megan almost always awakens +/- 10 minutes of 7 o'clock).

A look out the window was all that was necessary to explain my confusion: our house was entombed in fog. (Of course, that didn't really explain why I was still tired like it was 5am...). We couldn't even see to the edge of our property.

No, my photography isn't that bad - we really couldn't see anything!

Today was a different story. There was still lots of dense fog only this time we were above it, our house basking in the morning sun. The fog blanketed the valley and only the distant mountains (which looked remarkably close over the fog) peeked above it.

Also, we've got one more thing peeking out in this house: Megan's first tooth! Ok, "tooth" is stretching it a bit as it has just barely broken the surface, but it is definitely coming along.

Dead End Job

Megan is getting close to crawling. She can get herself up onto her hands and knees and even propel herself...backwards. So far forwards just isn't happening. Sometimes you can get into a tight spot if you don't look where you are going:

Today Megan went from the middle of the kitchen to end up under this desk. She got pretty frustrated when she realized she had hit a dead end.

Cat and Mouse

Megan is mesmerized by our cats. She has become quite a little cat lover. How fortunate, then, when Zeus decided to sit down right by her today.

Zeus seemed to have an uncanny awareness that Megan, despite her best effort, cannot move forward, only backwards. The cat didn't flinch as Megan flopped around beside him.

In just a few minutes Megan went from two inches away to two yards away.

Once she discovered the light, she didn't seem to mind.

To My Credit, II

My month without a credit card was completelt crippling. On a day to day basis, I almost never use cash. I usually keep a twenty-dollar bill with me (just in case...), but I rarely ever use it. Sometimes that twenty dollars will last a couple of months. Of course I spend, I just pay with plastic. Mostly this is for my own convenience: I never have to go to the ATM, I don't count or recieve change, I know I always have enough. A lot of places make it a lot easier on the credit-card carrying consumer as well: gas stations make you take your cash inside, but credit cards you can use without leaving your car; the self check-out lines are a lot faster with a credit card, and a credit card is the only way to shop on-line.

So my question: In this day of e-mail, e-commerce, telecommuting and virtual reality, do we really need printed money? Wouldn't virtual money suffice? The system could function just like a debit card, so credit would not be an issue. Cash is practically obsolete anyway, why not retire the mugs of George Washington, Abe Lincoln and Ben Franklin once and for all?

Of course, I'd still have to remember where I put my card...

To My Credit

Half way through our move I lost my credit card and driver's license; or better said, they were misplaced. I remembered most of the details about the day they went missing: for some reason I didn't take a purse that day and instead carried the cards in my pocket at work. After work, I went to our house in Portland to load up the truck with junk to take down to Salem. Not wanting to get my work clothes dirty, I changed into a pocketless shorts and T-shirt outfit. Then, being very responsible, I took the cards out to the truck and put them in the cup holder. I then loaded the truck and headed down to Salem. Mac unloaded the truck that night.

The next morning the cards were gone. A very thorough search of the truck was fruitless. I was pretty certain Mac had misplaced them while he unloaded our stuff. But after four weeks of unpacking boxes, the cards still hadn't materialized. This past weekend I got to the last box - still nothing. I had been watching our card account on-line and hadn't seen any aberrant activity, so I was pretty certain the cards weren't in the hands of evil-doers. Plus, that just didn't fit with my memory of the situation.

What I forgot to remember, until today, was that halfway down to Salem, I thought the cup holder was a pretty studid place to keep a driver's license and credit card so I put the cards in the pocket of my white doctor's coat, an item that was in the process of being moved that day. The coat got immediately unpacked into the laundry room closet, where it has been sitting for over a month.

As luck would have it, I was asked to go get my picture taken for my new job in Salem today. Oh, and by the way, could I bring my white coat along so that I would look professional in the picture. The last details of my cards' whereabouts came creeping back into my mind when the cards tumbled out of my pocket.

To celebrate, I decided to stop by Starbucks on my way home from work.

"I'll have a large green tea latte," I ordered.

Aside: I refuse to use the Starbucks size lingo. Yes, I know that "tall" is the small size, that "grande," which means "large," is a medium and that "venti," meaning "twenty," is the largest Starbucks offering at 20 ounces. But to me the system is retarded because all the names mean "big." Papa Murphy's pizzaria uses similar idiotic sizing system. I once tried to order two medium pizzas. "We don't have a medium. We have personal, large and extra large sizes." But if "large" is the middle size, isn't it a medium?? Wendy's offers large and Biggie fries, but of course, no small. Why is it so terrible to order something that is less than large, extra-large or super-dooper-kajooper large??

Ok, back to the story...

"I'll have a large green tea latte," I ordered.

"Do you mean a Chai tea latte?" the cashier asks, obviously sensing my Starbucks ignorance, particularly because I don't use the right size buzzwords.

"Ok, yeah," I stammer. "Wait! Is the Chai tea latte green?"

"No [you moron] it's brown."

The other waitress gets where I am going. "We have a green tea frappaccino; it's green."

"Yeah, that's it," I exclaim.

"One venti green tea frappaccino," the cashier says pointlessly to the second woman, who obviously knows what I want. The cashier probably does this just to use the word "venti", as if I don't feel small already, or is that tall already??

"That'll be $4.20," the cashier says.

I smack my credit card down on the counter.

"Will that be on your card?"

"Yes it will!"

Laundry

My mom is here taking care of Megan during the day while I study and Mac is off hunting. Yesterday they did the laundry; Megan was a big help, I am sure!