Water

If you were paying attention to the national news last week you were probably aware of the heavy amounts of rainfall that soaked the western U.S; The Weather Channel called it - Western Wallop. In the close to 10 years I have lived in Phoenix I don't think we've had 5 straight days of rain nor seen the forecast with a full week of rain predicted; it was certainly odd. Having grown up in Louisiana where you get inches of rain by the hour, I giggle every time we have rain here. It is always a HUGE news story and last week was the most coverage I have ever seen here.

This "storm" was a big one and it was actually 3 systems that moved through dumping a lot of rain and snow in Arizona. I use the word "storm" lightly because there was not any thunder or lightning, but there was a lot of wind. The tragedy of that much rain here is that our ground is just not prepared for it so it collects quickly and we have flash floods in many of the washes right in the middle of town. We only had one night of strong wind and thankfully no damage was incurred at our house. The gardens and grass got a good soaking and we are finally drying out; yesterday was one of the prettiest days we have had here in Arizona in a long time.

The biggest problem we have is that our kids are very used to being able to go outside whenever they want but this kept them house bound for a whole week. Even on Saturday when it wasn't raining, there was complaints that everything is still wet. Oh, if they only knew what we dealt with when we were growing up in the south . . . no wonder we watched so much TV.

In other water-related news, Pickle started swim school last week! She is a true fish but has no idea that she can't swim. Her pool style is to just walk right in from any edge and wait for someone to retrieve her off the bottom. She always comes up with a huge smile on her face, but we'd really like to get her to a safer status before this next summer. JP took her for their first class last week and she enjoyed the "up and down," splashing, and kicking; but at the point of back floating she became pretty upset. This also happened to be when I showed up and I think she was a bit distracted. Pickle and Daddy have been practicing back floating on the floor so we'll see what happens this week.

As for the other little girl floating in water . . . "Flora" as we are now calling her is doing fine. She is moving a lot and growing steadily. Flora was the Roman Goddess of flowers and spring. Her festival which was celebrated in early May to celebrate the cycle of life is marked by dancing, drinking, and flowers. It is a perfect name for this little Goddess who could easily be born on May Day! Please note: this is just her "in-utero name" and will not be her true name once she is born. We have previously had a Thor and a Zeus.

Life is becoming more uncomfortable but I keep reminding myself it is just for a few more months. Pickle has finally noticed the growing belly and understands there is a baby in there. She likes to lift up my shirt and say "see baby."