And in this corner....

Denise joined this mothers of multiples (MOM) group, and it has been a great way for her to network, get advice, and find incredible bargains at semi-annual garage sales. While she is a member of the Bay Area Mothers of Multiples group, it turns out that the other MOM groups interchangeably allow the other groups to get priority attendance and sell at these garage sales. Last month Denise and my mom got a lot of clothes for our daughter, practically new stuff that was 80-90% off what you'd pay at a store. After this and our first baby shower, we organized our nursery closet and realized our daughter would pretty much be stylin' in her hip threads and our son....well...he'd have diapers. Which leads me into this morning's adventure...

This morning we got up early and headed to a joint Bellaire/Fort Bend MOM garage sale. Denise prudently recommended we arrive early, as the MOM members were able to start shopping at 7:30am and it opened to the general public at 8:00. We arrived at 7:20 with a modest group of a dozen or so in front of us, and in the ensuing few minutes there were about another dozen behind us. So far, nothing unusual...the doors open to the gym-converted-to-shopping-outlet at 7:30 and we're off.

So we find a bunch of nice clothes for our son, some of which belonged to a lady we met in a shopping aisle. She was both a buyer and a seller and told us "yeah, that was my son's outfit...really nice but once they outgrow them you just want to get it out of the house". I imagine we'll be there in not too long. At around 7:50 we've mostly taken care of business, and I start hearing a good bit of noise. Curious about the rumble, I look toward the spot where we entered. Lo and behold, there is a bulging sea of humanity befitting a rock concert, pulsing against the poor ladies that are guarding the entrance. At 8:00 am the dam burst and a flood of bargain hunters descended upon us. I have attached a picture of the chaos. Fortunately by 8:10 it was "mission accomplished" and -- Denise not being in a particular mood for contact sports -- we got the heck out of Dodge.

Please disperse....nothing to see here.

After that, we did a "trial drive" to the hospital to ensure we knew exactly how to get to the valet parking and to the delivery area. It was a good idea to go because there are skads (1 skad = 2.32 times "a lot") of construction activity going on at the medical center, and the path to the valet parking wasn't fully intuitive (at least for me). We also -- unexpectedly -- got a private tour of the operating area from Denise's friend Paige, who works in the delivery area. We had taken a hospital tour before, but the refresher was very helpful, as was the personal touch. Thanks Paige!