a new tool i found...

I just discovered the Map My Run tool online. Evelyn & Floyd are trying to exercise more regularly together in the evenings with RM in the stroller. Right now we're just walking, but hopefully (if i can choose a good jogging stroller) we will step it up a notch and start jogging some routes. Anyway - I've just started logging and saving my routes - so far i have a hilly one mile loop and a more relaxed three mile loop in our neighborhood. So go and create a free login, and start checking the distances of your favorite neighborhood walks/runs/strolls to know what you're doing for your health!

PS - any good reviews of jogging strollers? Send 'em my way! :)

pictures from The Springs trip...

Finally uploading some pictures from Sister week - Cousin Mania 2008 earlier this month. In no particular order, we have:


progress of the cabinet painting project,


RM bathing in Aunt Tootie's sink,


cousins on a couch,


4 sisters,


popsicles on the slide,


tootie & todd's date nite,


D-heavy "THE MANIAC" on wheels,


sweet baby E with me, and


RM with his aunt Shin

New Photos...

Look at pictures of RM! Password is our last name... so if you know that, you're in. We love this little butterbean. He's crawling everywhere now!

72 hours of silenced thumbs...

I am posting this picture because of the irony contained in the image.

This photo was taken two weeks ago at our fabulous friends' wedding. Please notice the expression on Evelyn's face, and the item of interest in Evelyn's hand. Anyone with any knowledge of me knows that there is a slight obsession with said crackberry. Anyone with such knowledge also knows that to detatch said crackberry from Evelyn for more than an hour or two could result in panic attacks, shortness of breath, etc. Hence the reason said crackberry is even in a picture at a wedding reception. YES, I am embarrased. It's like I brought an uninvited guest to the party.

Fast forward two weeks to a staff meeting out at the lake. I assure you we did get excellent planning/work done. But we also took a brief hiatus to dip our toes in the water. During said hiatus, the crackberry suffered an awful demise. Said crackberry managed to fall out of my shoe, bounce on the dock, and into the water, down to the depths below. I would like to think it is because i am such a loyal employee, and because i cannot leave it a safe distance from the water, that it suffered this fatal blow. So now, the fish are all laughing at me, while playing brick breaker from the bottom of Lake Murray.

If you need to contact me in the mean time, feel free to leave a comment below.

now at a music box near you...

I am proud to share the news that together with Old Man Records, Floyd has released his debut album, "My Fellow Sophisticates". You can buy it at a number of online vendors including Amazon, itunes, OMR website, etc. etc. So for those of you who have asked, what is his music like? You can now listen to it, or read a review, to see and hear for yourself.

bleary eyed bewilderment

i got no fun pics downloaded yet for you loyal readers (HAH!) but you can check out the Counts spot or Nanni Pan's new blog for some good ones. Like they have mentioned in their posts - we have 4 sisters, 8 kiddos - 7 in diapers - and not a spare corner of the house untouched. Just because we're not insane enough, yes, the kitchen got torn to pieces so that the 1968 ugly cabinets could get a 40 year old facelift. And they look pretty darn good if you ask me.

Highlights and Lowlights thus far?

Did I mention we tore apart the kitchen with eight babies?

The proposition that we all get our tubes tied during the next Sister Week. (I'm not saying who suggested this... but I will say that we all took the thought seriously for at least a moment...)

my experience with the airline call center

Soooo, this is fun. Here's a very short synopsis of a phone call i just made.

BACKGROUND: RM & Evelyn are joining Nancy, Big-O, and G-Lou to venture across the country tomorrow and visit Tootie & Boonie in CO tomorrow. (If you can't discipher that lingo, lemme know, and I can hopefully give you the background on our inter-family codes.) Basically, it's gonna be a Baker Sister reunion, which is sure to provide some juicy photo and video updates on the various blogs.

PHONE CALL DETAILS: I am trying to be a very wise and thoughtful mommy-traveler, which means i even went so far as to e-mail the airline today (over 24hrs in advance of our flight) to tell them that Nancy & Evelyn will each have an infant in their lap. I thought that this would be a relatively simple process to execute with the online services. IT WAS NOT. Customer Care online isn't what it could be my friends. I got a nice e-mail back from the "online specialist" telling me to call the toll-free line and speak to a representative. Okay, i says... this should still be relatively simple, right?

"Hello, yes, my name is such-and-such, and my record locator number is such-and-such, and I am calling to notify the-powers-that-be that Passengers A and B will be carrying infants under the age of 2 in their laps."

[Thick Indian Accent] "OOOOkaaaaay, I am happy to assist you. Could you give me the record locator number again? And your name was? And can you speak up please? And you are carrying an infant? And the name of the infant? Okaaaaaay, Was that R as in Raaaaandy, E as in Edwaaard, D as in Delta? Okaaaaay, and the infant's date of birth? I'm sorry, can you speak up please? So Nancy is carrying the infant with the name of Red?"

"No, I am not Nancy, I am Evelyn, and I am carrying Red. Nancy is carrying G-lou, another infant, with the same last name as her. Red and I go together (notice the matching last names?)."

----This process repeats, with me giving her G-lou's stats, etc. etc. etc.----

[Thick, almost indiscernable accent again] "Sooooo, Stetson Fisher is carrying G-lou and Nancy is carrying Red?"

----SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY? Am I speaking in a foreign langauge? No, i cannot speak up, I am speaking directly into the receiver, but i am at work, and I can't yell above all my co-workers at you. Are you kidding me? Who'd like to see the two and a half year old O-man carrying G-lou onboard our flight? And I'll make Nancy carry RM, and I'll just sit pretty reading the gossip magazines or shopping the onboard flight catalog. ----------