are things complicated yet?

Now that I'm looking at it, I probably should have put some lip gloss on first. (Accent Vlog)

The Accent Vlog has been making the rounds. First I saw Raven's and then Christina's and then I must have been high because I thought, "Hey! I should do that too!"

After watching this, I feel that I should do two things immediately: get a haircut and wax my brows. But, you know what? I had a baby 4 months ago so....I should still get a haircut and wax my brows.

For some reason I call it a vee-log and not a vlog (like blog). I don't know why I do that. It's just how my brain reads it.

What do you think? Accent or no?

(Also? YouTube? That is a TERRIBLE screen grab. TERRIBLE!)

Claire's first day of preschool

Claire's first day of preschool was today. I feel kind of stupid using that phrase, "first day of preschool," as she has been in a combination of day care and Montessori daycare/preschool since January of 2009 but, whatever. I resigned from my cubicle job, I am a SAHM now, I signed her up for preschool. She needs the interaction with kids her own age, I'm kind of anti-social anyway and I'm terrible at making mom friends just for the sake of making mom friends. (Feels so FAKEY FAKE.)

Also, I am reading this book about how to handle a three-year-old monster child and there is a part of the book that says something like, 

"Our best advice is to hire someone else to deal with the three-year-old for a few hours a day or week. This sounds like a cop-out. And yet, it remains our best advice."

A whole series of books on child development and the authors can reduce three-year-old managing advice to, "Take her somewhere else and leave her." OKAY! Sounds like a good plan to me, as yesterday she made me angrier than she'd ever been able to before. (If I was strong enough, I think my hand would have actually gone through that drywall in the hallway when I slammed my palm into it.) So, yes, I will GLADLY ship her off to someone else for a few hours and then have a lovely morning with the child that doesn't talk back to me.

It's two days a week, four hours a day. Really, to a lady that is used to up to 12 hours per day of child care? Four hours, two days a week really isn't all that much. I am kind of annoyed that it ends at 1p and not something more reasonable like 3p.

Long way to get to the idea that today was her first day. She was very excited. New lunchbox, new backpack, expectations of friends and a playground and a teacher. It was all very cute. School! We got to the parking lot, I put her backpack on and we started walking towards the classroom. I was thinking about how she really did look cute and like such a big girl and her curly, crazy hair was even clipped up neatly. I resolved to take a picture of her next to her classroom. First day of "school" and all.

That's the moment she located the only 1'x1' patch of mud in the entire parking lot and slipped on it. She managed to end up covered in mud from her ankles to her elbows. Mud on her bottom, on her legs, on her dress. Mud caked on her pink Converse shoes.

SIGH.

I had a change of clothes with me, THANKFULLY. We trooped into the church with another family behind us and the little boy said something like, "Mommy! She has poop all over her!" I said something like, "Oh, no she doesn't! She fell in mud!" but I am not sure the other mom heard me. (She definitely heard the part about the poop.) We found a restroom. I changed her clothes and cleaned her up. The entire time she was talking about how she "has a lot of poop on me!" I had visions of her telling the teachers about how she had poop all over her legs. I kept telling her, "No, honey, it was mud, you fell in some MUD." I was really hoping the MUD part would stick in her head and not the POOP part. I did a pretty good job with the cleanup but her shoes were soaking wet after I'd rinsed off the mud. 

I delivered my child to her teacher, in socks, ten minutes late and in quite the fluster about all the "poooooop!" on her legs. 

We did not take a picture.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of pictures up here from last weekend and leave it at that

In case you were wondering, the best car seats for the back of a 1965 Mooney are two Britax Roundabouts.

You're welcome.

After we took off, we went over interstate 35 and woooooo was it backed up with cars. I always get to feeling really smug when I'm flying over a lot of traffic. But then I remember that they can pack whatever they want in their cars and they have air conditioning so maybe it's not SUCH a smug feeling.

Here I am with my bangs that I cut for myself.

On approach to College Station, looking at campus from the north.

About to land.

While the rest of the family was at the football game, I went shopping in Houston with my mother in law. I happened to drive through Magnolia, which is where one of the largest wildfires was in the past few weeks. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed. The city was obviously still in recovery mode and visible fire damage and burns were right on the highway. It was pretty awful.

Here's what Magnolia looks like where it hasn't burned:

Here's a section that did burn. Just really, really terrible.

On the way home, Claire held Charlotte's hand so she "wouldn't be scared" even though Claire is usually the one that demands I hold her hand. 

Just for kicks, here's a picture of Charlotte without hot pink headphones on. I hope you're all having a lovely September because duuuude. I'm too busy to post much of anything else around here.

 

Things we did today

1. Charlotte started off the day in grand fashion by sleeping through the night for the first time. Well, okay, a VARIANT of sleeping through the night. Maybe we should call it, "sleeping through the night as defined by people who don't sleep for more than four hours," okay?

She slept from 10p to 5a with a short, ten-minute wakeup at midnight that Chris went upstairs to handle. Oh yes, did you catch that? She's sleeping upstairs in her own crib and not in the pack and play in our room. At her 4-month well baby visit Dr H said that it was time for her to drop the 2 am feed (I could not agree more, Dr H!) and that it would probably go over better if we shifted her sleeping space at the same time. New room, new rules. (Or, something like that in baby language.)

The rolling over situation has vanished, inexplicably. She just...stopped rolling over while swaddled. So, whatever. We're cool with that. 

(Edited to say that the baby just rolled over in her crib. How do they know what you say on the internet the moment it publishes? HOW? Do babies these days come with internet in their brains already?)

2. The girls and I went to the YMCA. They were dropped off in the room with child care and I ran on the treadmill and felt very athletic compared to the elderly man next to me walking at a 1.5. Claire didn't pitch a fit when I left her there today, which was nice. I had a good run and listened to Pandora and finally put the Thumbs Down on Katy Perry's California Girl. Just...no. I am done with that song.

3. After the Y we went to Starbucks and I undid all of my hard work with a tall salted caramel mocha. It was DELICIOUS. We sat outside. Claire had a donut (which I helped her with) and an apple juice box (sure hope there wasn't arsenic in it). Charlotte spaced out in her carseat.

4. We trucked up to Walmart and got groceries for the week. 

5. Took groceries home. Unpacked them. Fed baby. Fed preschool-age child. Fed self. Baby napped. I showered and put on non-gym clothes.

6. Baby wakes up. Go to Costco. Claire sees the yard-art light-up snowman and declares that is what she wants for her birthday. I tell her to talk to her father about it tonight.

7. On the way home we make a stop at my least favorite store, Babies R Us, because we need a new car seat (long story) and I have a lot of gift cards for BRU and this is an excellent way to spend them. Of course, they do not have the car seat I want and the one they have that is comparable is $50 more than what Amazon sells it for. Aghhh. Leave BRU. Hate this place.

8. On the way home stop to get gas and get the car washed. Mail a package of baby clothes to a friend.

9. My day seems to be getting lamer the later it gets.

10. Have in-depth IM conversation with Elizabeth about The Blathering finances and whether we think enough people will come to the Saturday night dinner to meet the room minimum.

11. While having in-depth finance conversation, recieve email from preschool saying that a spot has opened for Claire. WOO HOO! I WIN AT TODAY! (Not sure when she starts. But, still! A spot!)

12. At some point I put the baby down for a nap and she wakes up at some other point. Chris comes home. He brings in the mail which has: 2 bills, 1 Pottery Barn Catalog and 4 things I throw away. I hate the mail, it's just so worthless.

13. We all go in the backyard and clean up the summer toys and put them away. I get out some bleach to clean the water table and I splosh a whole bunch of it on my only pair of shorts that fit decently. Then, I swat at a mosquito on my leg only to discover that he has already feasted on me. I declare that it is time to go inside.

14. Heat up frozen chicken rissoto for dinner and steam green beans. Make Claire a mini pizza (upon her specific request) only to have her turn up her nose and say, "I no like this." Well, kid, that's what's for dinner.

15. Oh! There is a package at the front door! Oh. It is a gift for someone else that I forgot I ordered.

16. Claire gets a bath. Both children go to bed. I clean up the kitchen. I do not clean up the toys. 

17. 10p: The baby wakes up. I hit publish and hope there aren't too many typos.

My parenting problems, let me bring them to you for solving

Oh, you are all very wise about The Threes. I bought a book and I was really enjoying reading it and learning how to corral Three but then it disappeared. Literally, the book has vanished. I can only assume that Claire knew what it was about and destroyed it to protect herself.

Whenever the book turns up, we'll revisit that topic because I have things (so many things) to keep saying on that one.

Me = Fascinated!

You = We already talked about that, A'Dell

***

Sometimes (okay, OFTEN) Charlotte will do something that leaves me perplexed on how to respond or what to do and I kind of look at her waiting for inspiration to strike. Since I already have an older child, when inspiration about what to do is conspicuously absent, there is always this sense of "Aren't I supposed to know the answer to that? I have done this before."

Most of the time, I don't have a flipping clue. I either have a very poor memory or my children look the same but behave very differently. Charlotte does stuff ALL THE TIME that makes me think, "I just really do not think we had this problem with Claire," or, "I don't remember Claire doing this but it sure is cute." I probably DO have a spotty memory but it's likely more of an issue that children are different and they are little, individual people and they all do their very own things at their own pace and in accordance with thier personality, which all seems so "no shit" but truly, I am gobsmacked by this realization every damn day.

Kids are different. WOW. (I am like, the smartest person on the internet for coming up with that gem.)

For example, Charlotte makes raspberry sounds all the time. It is very cute, this constant "Thhhhhbbbbbttttt! Thhhhbt! TTTHHHHBBBBBBTTTTTTT!" I don't remember Claire ever doing that.

She also rolls over, in her sleep, while swaddled. Double swaddled.  I really don't remember Claire doing this. Once she rolls over she's got a problem because she can't roll back so this elicits crying and then I have to stop whatever I'm doing and go rescue her. This would not be a big deal if she did not do it every twenty minutes, around the clock, FTLOG. With her arms pinned in that swaddle she's just a really sad, upside down, baby burrito of despair.

Here's my problem du jour: How to get her to sleep out of the swaddle so that when she does roll over she's fine on her tummy? I have tried the gradual weaning with one arm out and she just can't handle it. Arm flailing, in her face, hitting herself, yanking that paci out, not being able to get it back in her mouth....It is basically everything hilarious about babies and their lack of motor skills, except for the part about how there is no sleeping going on until I stick that arm back in her blanket. If I do that? Eyes shut, instantly. (It is a funny experiment at 2pm but not so much at 4am.)

This makes me wonder if she's simply not ready to give up the swaddle except she's rolling over so it's kind of a problem that needs solving and that makes me think that even if she's not ready, her motor skills demand that she be ready so that we do not end up with the baby suffocating because she can't use her arms to prop up. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman! but I am not going to edit it because it is Friday and I am lazy. LAZY WRITER!)

Also, she's going to be giving her up 2am feed next week but she doesn't know it yet. It's sort of Step One in sleep training and getting her to learn how to go back to sleep on her own and I seem to remember (vaguely?) that Claire ditched the swaddle by now. But maybe not. I CANNOT REMEMBER.

The worst part is that you are all going to want to leave me a variety of helpful comments about infant sleep training and swaddling and not swaddling and what you did in your house and it will all be so different and conflicting because babies are different (lesson of the day, folks!). This is going to be very kind and make for interesting reading and I will totally copy one of you, I am sure, but what I would really like is for some kind of baby expert to come visit my house and just tell me what the freak to do to get the highest chance of success at sleeping more than four hours HOLY CRAP I AM TIRED.

Here. Look at the baby.

 

The Swim Lesson and the Almost-Three-Year-Old

Claire has been very excited about the swim lessons I signed her up for. Her friend Emory takes swim lessons and while were were in California Emory was showing off all of her swimmy skills and Claire was quite impressed. Also, the best part about swim lessons is that you get to go swimming twice a week. In her eyes? SOLD.

Today was the first lesson. She said to me, several times this morning,

"I SO EXCITED about my swim lesson, Mommy!"

"I need my swimsuit! Where my swimsuit!? I have my swim lesson today!"

"Is it time to go yet, Mommy? I don't want to be late for my swim lesson."

"Where are my goggles!? I DON'T WANT TO FORGET THEM!"

So, you know, it was totally expected that when we got there and met her teacher (Sam) that Claire ran away and did not want to set a pinkie toe in that water. There are only two kids in her class and the other little boy wasn't having any of it either and Sam said that this happens every time. (As I suspected.) Claire is pretty adventurous in the water. She's been jumping in and putting her head under, blowing bubbles and kicking all summer, so I knew it was just getting-to-know-her shyness and that she'd warm up at some point.

Sure enough, about twenty minutes into the lesson Claire decided that she'd like to leap into the water and go fetch a noodle that had floated away. It was all her idea and she told Sam that she wanted her to catch her and they'd go get the noodle together. At that moment, when she just jumped in with no fear and a world of joy and happy on her face? Oh, I was proud of her. I was so thrilled for her. My big girl, doing something on her own and with someone she just met, learning new things and being, well, such a big girl.

(Charlotte and I enjoyed the part where we did not have to get wet.)

Since she had spent 20 minutes of the 35 minute lesson pouting and deciding if she'd like to get in the pool at all, once she warmed up there wasn't much time left to play. I warned her several times that it would almost be time to go and we had talked in advance, a lot, about how when the teacher says the lesson is over it is time to dry off and we will be back the next time. Many times! But, since she is almost-three she totally lost her shit when the lesson was over.

She ran away, she cried, she laughed at me. Repeatedly. Her baby sister was crying in her carseat and I had to run after her, down the length of the 25-yard pool. It was like she had switched her ears off: she wasn't listening to a single word I said. She crumpled onto the floor when I finally got to her, refused to walk and did that aggravating noddle leg thing and she laughed at me the entire time. It was...mortifying. Here I had one child screaming in her carseat and one child running away from me and laughing in my face about it. LAUGHING!

And you know what? It's the worst when this happens after I have done something fun, FOR HER. Like, we would not even be in this awkward discipline situation if I wasn't such a fun mom and signed you up for swim lessons in the first place. WHERE IS MY THANK YOU? Perhaps we will just stay home and never do fun things! HOW ABOUT THAT!? [More laughing.]

After a few low-toned Serious Discussions about what I expected from her as we were leaving, plus a handful of threats and privileges taken away, I ended up having to put her over my shoulder, wet, and carry her to the car. I carried an almost-three-year-old to the car. I should not have to do that and I never HAVE had to do that with her. Claire is normally a pretty obedient child and in the rare event she does not listen or follow directions I can still get the behavior I want and need if she is properly incented with a reward or something taken away from her.

But, not today. (And really, not for the past week.) I hear Three is like this. Three doesn't listen. Three laughs at you. Sometimes, Three acts like an untethered zoo animal. We came directly home and I sent her to her room for the mother of all Time Outs. She ended up taking a nap while sequestered. (GOOD.)

So, um, parents who have gone before me? How do we manage Three? What does Three want? How do we contain Three and still go out in public and not end every day with half a bottle of wine? 

She is not even actually three and there are seven swim lessons left and I still need to go places like Walmart during the day and...look I just do not want to be laughed at when I make reasonable requests, okay? The laughing is the worst.

Is that too much to ask? It's too much to ask, isn't it? Shit.

Nobody has the flu but for some reason it's already causing drama in my house this year

We spent almost two hours at the pediatrician's office today for Charlotte's 4-month well-baby visit. TWO HOURS. This is (obviously) way, way, way beyond the realm of reasonable for ten minutes of actual work and attention. 

While there I inquired about getting a flu shot for Claire (also a patient at the practice) and was told that they'd have to bill for a nurse visit to give her the shot and I'm pretty sure my (crappy) insurance would pass that straight on to me so $100 for a flu shot didn't sound like all that attractive of an idea. I understand why they'd bill for a visit -- it's some administrative work to process the whole thing and that takes a person's time. This is also why you can get a flu shot for only $20 at CVS. No insurance to wrangle or file? OH, HO! The cost suddenly goes down to only what the product actually costs. INCREDIBLE! (And also? Makes total sense.)

As I write this, I am just now realizing that they forgot to give Charlotte HER flu shot, even though I asked for one since we were already there for her (covered) well-baby visit and it would be free. (Well, "free.") If I want one at this point I'll have to pay for that extra office visit because the doctor and the nurse weren't paying attention and because I had been there for TWO HOURS with TWO SMALL CHILDREN I wasn't either and...yeah. This sucks.

There is so much wrong with health care and it all leads to sick people and suffering and wasted resources and it makes me so mad. So. Damn. Mad. It is the single most important topic to me in the 2012 election (and 2011, for that matter). In my house, all policy roads lead back to health care and I am honestly at a point where I will absolutely compromise on other (very important) issues to get representation that understands and agrees with me on this.

But, you know, Things I Can't Change With A Blog Post. The baby is healthy and weighs fifteen pounds, five ounces, which is in the 86th percentile, which basically means she is busting out of all her clothes. I have retired Newborn and 0-3 months. 3-6 months will not be around for much longer.

And that's what we did today. We went to the doctor and then I took us all to Yogurtland and I had a giant bowl of Devil's Food Cupcake Batter, Red Velvet Cupcake Batter and NY Cheesecake frozen yogurt and Claire had a small bowl too and it cost $4.34.

That's another thing: anyone I vote for had better be pro fro-yo. DIY fro-yo is my new favorite thing about America. 

The Picture Wall: In Progress

Remember my big empty wall and my grand plans for it? Well, I've been collecting things for several months and I figured it was probably time to lay them on the floor and see how they're starting to shape up, as a group. (Also, Holly finished her picture wall and now I am feeling very, very behind.)

So! HUGE CAVEAT on this floor arrangement: I am going to swap mat colors (all white), the shadow boxes just have things kind of tossed in there and not arranged and the photos are placeholder as well. I also have five more of the skinny frames in various sizes on backorder plus I have about six of the fat frames already (also various sizes) so I have lots of stuff to play around with in terms of how it all fits and which photos go where. Mostly, I was trying to get a feel for how my items and frames looked together.

Even after looking at (and admiring!) tons of other walls with this kind of picture thing going on, I have to admit that for weeks now I've been really scared that this is going to end up looking jumbly and cluttery. In fact, for a while I had scrapped the whole idea in favor of a grid of nine 14"x14" gallery wraps of the girls' baby photos. I think I will still do that (maybe in our bedroom) but for now I am back on board with the collage look.

I tried some casual snapshots in some of these and they just didn't look right. The photos in here are all professional shots and while they're not from the same shoot they definitely have similar palettes, which I like to think contributes to a non-junky feel. 

The shadowboxes will contain Claire's Sophie the Giraffe with a photo of her as a baby with Sophie. As much as I like the idea of saving Sophie (she was a big part of our lives at one point) I am not sure that Sophie belongs in my living room. I might move Sophie to Claire's room or the hallway between her room and Charlotte's, but for now Sophie is fine until I find something else.

The other one has my great-grandfather's flight logs, which run all the way back to 1941 and include several trips into post World War II Paris with blood plasma for injured soldiers. They're such a treasure.

I also have a wedding invitation up there, unframed at the moment, that I'd like to include.

I purchased these prints, but I'm not sure if they'll go on this wall or some other wall. )Don't want to get too Texas-y all in one place.) (Even though I do have a HUGE thing for Texas-y prints from Etsy.)

Howdy Print

Source: etsy.com via A'Dell on Pinterest

 

And that's about it. A lot of thinking going on. At some point I'm just going to have to tell Chris to hang it all up and if we need to move things or I decide I hate it then we'll deal. (If that happens  I will also die inside because holy crap that is a ton of holes in the wall. THE HOLES!)

A few things going on these days

Right now my entire family is at the Texas A&M/SMU game and I am at home with the baby. Someone else could have stayed home with the baby but that would have meant I'd have to pump. Or, I could have skipped pumping and opened a can of formula but Charlotte's never had that before and what if she refused it? That would suck for her baby sitter. Screaming baby for six hours? Oh, she'd never baby sit again. And then there's the problem where because I am such a lazy mother I have only given Charlotte two bottles in her entire four months of life and I know that's a HUGE HUGE mistake that is going to land me in breastfeeding jail (wait! already there!) but...whatever. I am a lazy mom.

Plus, it is hot at football games and I kind of didn't want to go in the first place.

***

Anyway. Things going on these days. I've been at home since mid-April and I am definitely having a few personal issues with walking away (temporarily) from my career. I just...kind of miss some parts of it. There are a lot of parts I don't miss but there are some parts I do. I am working on finding filler projects and carving out a different, new, better professional path. But just as much I am also enjoying the freedom from schedules, deadlines, deliverables and having to nod my head and smile at ideas I think are terrifically terrible.

Sometimes I shop the job boards and I see some really, really crappy jobs, jobs that I am far overqualified for at this point in my life, and I think, "Oh, WOW. I am so glad I do not have THAT job." And then sometimes (but not often) I see a really kick-ass job and I think, "Oh, WOW. I would so LOVE LOVE LOVE that job."

So, you know, am figuring all of that out. 

***

Claire is on a wait list for a new preschool that she'd attend three days a week. I confess, I have not researched the local preschool scene very much. Once I started, I figured out that I was so, so, so far behind everyone else and there was a wait list everywhere and, really, who wants beg someone to let you pay them money?

I put her on a list at the one closest to the house that looked kind of normal and it starts next week and they haven't called me yet. She is going to start swim lessons in two weeks and also a two-hour thing where the kids swim and play inside in some sort of combo child-wearing-out directed activity.

Claire has been swimming in pools all summer but she's never had a legit lesson. This is because I am only just now, four months after Charlotte was born, ready for scheduled activities in our life. I could have done it sooner, if I wanted to, but I just didn't want to. (See above, re: LAZY.) I figure this will be good...Something to schedule our days around and Claire can play and make some friends and learn a life skill. Perhaps I will like some of the mothers. We'll see.

We are also joining the local YMCA on Tuesday because they offer two hours of free child care while I work out. I have tried, really TRIED, to run on my treadmill while at home with the girls and it is flat-out impossible to get more than ten minutes in. Claire doesn't nap any more and the baby is wildly unpredictable. Plus, after two children and many years of bad late night ice cream habits I will be seeking professional help in the form of a trainer. I mean, at the age of 32 it is PAINFULLY CLEAR that I am not the kind of person who can kick my own ass into shape. I would like to be a Jennie or an Emily but I am just not. I have tried and I just cannot be trusted to work the right parts the right amount at the right time and this is a probably a personality flaw or a weakness or maybe it's just me being lazy again. But, yes. Am hiring it out. That's also going on.

***

Claire's third birthday is in early October and I am having issues with her party. Or, actually, lack of party. Last year I threw a very large party and we invited a whole bunch of people and it was just too much and I'm not going to do that ever again. I think people had fun but *I* did not have fun and I am not such a fan of throwing parties where I do not have a good time.

I like the idea of inviting some of her friends over and just doing something small and simple with Costco cake but then I remember that we are kind of anti-social people and I think Claire has exactly one friend that is actually her age and really, that's kind of sad, isn't it? One friend at a birthday party? What if the friend is busy that day? Or gets sick? Birthday party = ruined.

This is what happens when she's not in school and I don't know any mothers in my neighborhood and all of my other friends have kids either just a little bit older or just a little bit younger. So, it's my fault and I feel a small amount of guilt over this. (Small.) The other option is to invite the kids she does know (and they are kids that we all like, very much), in an age range of 1-8. Then we get into a Crazy Birthday Party Situation where the older kids dominate everything and the younger kids get walked all over (as happens with children 1-8, hopped up on sugar) and the parents need to supervise extra amounts because of all the ruckus and...that does not sound like fun for me.

I have also considered a Family Party and keeping it super small and super low key. But, that does not sound like any fun for Claire. I don't know. I'm going to ignore it for another week or two.

***

Semi-related to the birthday party conundrum, I test drove a cupcake recipe last week. It's the Strawberry Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Annie's Eats. They're pretty, aren't they?

They were also a GIGANTIC PAIN IN THE ASS to make. Swiss Meringue Buttercream? Takes forever. Dirties a million dishes. Three sticks of butter. No three-year-old will appreciate THAT. (You guys, she asked me to SCRAPE THE FROSTING OFF.) (!!!!!!!!!!)

Look at this mess. I was not even finished at this point! I dirtied MORE DISHES, which is impossible to understand as I am not sure how I OWN more dishes than I already had out of the cabinets. There are even dishes out of frame that you can't see, plus the dishwasher is full and had already been run once.

(PS Yes I still have that gas stove top and yes, more than a year after moving in I still dislike it.)

(Also, do you see that small hand, grabbing a cupcake? She thought she was being sneaky.)

***

So, that's what's going on around here. The end of summer doesn't mean much to us and nobody is starting school and we're just sort of figuring out how to be a family with a mom that stays at home. I think we're doing pretty okay at it. Room for improvement, but pretty okay.