A rock star the size of an English hothouse cucumber does karaoke

Hi folks! It's later in the week for me to send out a quick email than normal-- just catching my breath after some long days/nights working at the RESULTS conference. The conference provided a chance for the Rookie to experience lots of new things, including karaoke (I joked to one of our volunteers that he was safer than most because, while he can hear, it's a bit muted), the annual tradition of his vessel conducting the "Parade of Groups" (basically, a RESULTS pep rally punctuated with lots of bad jokes by me), and late nights preparing our folks to lobby over 300 congressional offices. Plus, lots of well wishes, advice and tummy pats/rubs from RESULTS volunteers. While I am still absolutely exhausted (the conference officially ended yesterday, and I spent most of today in a management retreat to help develop a fundraising strategic plan), I don't think I am more exhausted than normal-- it's a grueling schedule no matter what for me (though my back and knees ache a bit more than "normal"). But, this is always the time of my entire professional year that I am also the most inspired, even after almost a decade, about the work that RESULTS volunteers do back home and in DC.
Chris and I went over to visit with Charlie (who is over 10 lbs!) and family (Wes and Lea) yesterday, and he's doing great. It's helpful to get a glimpse into what our life will look in four months-- Charlie is 5.5 weeks now, so a similar age as the Rookie will be sometime around Thanksgiving. It was fun to pal around with him... I got over an hour of bouncing him around and checking out the crazy baby in the mirror. Plus, I was teaching him "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"-- you can never start too early!
We are all (hard for me not to take the Rookie with us) heading out for a brief trip to Seattle this weekend. Pat's cousin Eileen has a fast-moving form of ALS and we are going to see her before her condition gets worse. While I haven't gotten to spend too much time with Eileen, she's been so generous and loving, and joyful (I think of the pictures of her at karaoke the night before the BAP as she joined in for "Come On Eileen") that I want to make sure I spend a bit more time with such an amazing woman. Thanks to Heather for agreeing to host us, and for Jeff and Pat for helping us make the trip.
The Rookie is kicking up a storm these days-- I hope he'll be active when we go in for our ultrasound tomorrow! We'll perhaps know more about how big he is, and therefore if our due date will be October 20 or perhaps earlier-- I suspect we'll discuss it during our bi-weekly prenatal appointment next Thursday with our midwives.
Love to all!merrie, chris and the rookie