Cups.

Any guesses?

Let me preface by saying that I kind of hate water. But I do recognize it as necessary for life.

During my pregnancy with the triplets, my water broke with our son Caleb at 12 weeks. Contrary to what you are told when you are full-term and your water breaks, I managed to stay pregnant, and at an incredibly high risk for all kinds of complications, for 3 more months. In those next 13 weeks, it was strongly suggested that I drink a lot of water.

Water swallowed by yours truly, would naturally help to replenish what was lost when my water bag broke. Except that it would also continue to gush out, as that fragile little bag surrounding unborn babies does not heal. Well, not when you've ripped a gigantic hole in it.

So, in addition to practically drowning myself with tap water every day....while I lounged on a Lazyboy for 14 hours straight...I began taking a large glass of water to bed every night. Somewhat necessary, as I would wake up to strong contractions, without fail, every night, somewhere around 2:00 a.m.

The only thing that would stop them was water.

However. I would also go straight into labor with a full bladder. I really couldn't win.

Old habits die hard, apparently. Because ever since the Fall/Winter of 2004, I have carried a cup of water to bed. Even if I'm not thirsty. Even if I hate water and would prefer to take a Diet Coke (but realize that would be perceived as horribly unhealthy and that, potentially, I would get no sleep).

This is the current state of my nightstand. Yup, probably 2-3 weeks worth of cups. Now it's kind of a fun game to see where I'll place my next cup, and yet still be able to see the time on the alarm clock. Also pretty proud that there hasn't been a spill!

Perhaps now you'll believe me when I say that I am not a clean person by nature.

Also, I thought you'd like to see an update on the planters we planted earlier in the summer:

For a closer look, see below. Yup! That is a D-E-A-D plant. Please don't miss the matching dead plant in the pink pot above, OR, the dead plants in the plastic six-pack (on the right edge of the picture), which died before they were ever actually given the chance to thrive.

Knowing me, that looks about right.