A few days ago, Marc mentioned the eternal debate -- if you matched up two superheroes who would win? This morning in the car, when The Boy once again expressed his disappointment in Superman's not being able to do absolutely everything and stated his belief that Spiderman was really the more interesting character, I asked him -- "If Spiderman and Superman got in a fight, who would win?"

Without missing a beat, he told me, "Superman would win, but they'd never get in a fight. First of all, they are both good guys. Second, they can't fight each other because one is DC and one is Marvel."

We went to the library this morning. Normal people make a trip to the library, find a few books and go home. We never seem to manage this.

We left home at 11 and returned at 1:30. Lunch was not eaten in the interim.

On the way there, I experienced true cacophony. One child hummed "Joyful, Joyful" at full volume. Another, inspired by the loudness, started singing REM's "I am Superman" and the third joined in with Queen's "We Will Rock You." I wondered how long it would take my head to explode.

Things quieted down after we got to the library. We watched the Friday morning marionette show, where the older two sat quietly and the youngest gave me a running narration of everything on stage. "OH PWINCESS! FROGGIE! PWINCESS GO BYE-BYE. BE RIGHT BACK!" Every time the princess marionette left stage, The Toddler Girl speculated rather loudly that maybe she had gone to the potty.

The puppet show lasted about twenty minutes. Afterwards, The Boy suggested to the puppeteers, who know us pretty well fortunately, that they should consider writing a puppet show about Michelangelo. Especially about The Boy's favorite statue -- Moses. One thing is for sure -- no one is going to mistake them for normal children.

We spent over an hour gathering up books. We wound up with so many that I had to break out all four library cards that I had on me. And one can check out up to twenty-five items per card, so that should give you some idea of the number of books I had to tote to the car.

When I was checking out books, I noticed that a movie I had returned after closing on its due date but before the library opened the following day had been placed as a fine on my card. Considering that videos accrue a $2 per day fine, I didn't want to pay the money. I usually have no difficulties when I point this out the people at the desk, but in this case, the lady working called in her supervisor who then treated me as being a highly suspicious character and told me that she really found it hard to believe that it had been turned in on time, because the video hadn't been checked in until afternoon. My suggestion that perhaps they were slow about checking things in from the book drop was treated as crazy talk, but in the end they did remove the fine. I hate being treated like a criminal or liar.

Naturally, towards the end of the library trip, The Toddler Girl fell asleep. Now she thinks she's had her nap for the day. This means I don't get a nap. I hope I don't get too cranky.

Since I'm too tired to come up with anything to say all on my own, I thought I would include this helpful list of marriage tips that my husband recently sent to a friend.

"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Ephesians 4:26

"Affection begets (something that rhymes with T-Rex), and vice versa."

"Pajamas were not made for the married."

"Nothing should come between husband and wife, except the bathroom door." Helpful advice my husband learned from Opus the Penguin.

When we first got married, my new brother-in-law advised, "Shower with a friend."

What other simple advice do you like to give to those young, or not so young, folks taking the plunge into wedded bliss?

Let's see...

(1) I never seem to get any sleep any more. I'm thinking about doping myself with Benedryl, as suggested by my OB.

(2) The Middle Girl turned four today. I'll try to mention more about that at a later date, but let's just say her grandparents spoil her.

(3) We've had a house guest since Monday. I'm so tired of having people in the house. I guess I must hide that relatively well, because they all keep arriving. I think I'll turn out the lights and hide if anyone else tells me they are coming to stay, because nice as my relatives can be, I now officially do not want to see any of them for a while.

(4) I had my first internal check on Tuesday. I have less than a month to go at this point and am three centimeters dilated and 75% effaced. I was more impressed with those numbers during my first pregnancy. I always seem to go straight to that exact stage and then sit there for several weeks. Naturally, if I have any chance of going into labor early though, it will be on the day next week that my husband has to be out of town and we have a dinner to go to.

So there you are. That's pretty much all the news around here.

Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated the twelfth anniversary of our first date. We generally aren't a couple that remembers every date on which we do everything, but for some reason September 24 has always stuck in our minds.

So how did we meet? Let's hop in the Wayback Machine and find out.

Lest all my readers think my children only are getting exposure to pop music, we just finished studying Beethoven -- The Boy really likes Für Elise -- and I'm introducing them to Mozart. Not that the kids have gotten to their respective ages without hearing many great composers already, but up to this point we just listened and didn't learn much about the men behind the music.

After reading some biographies of Mozart, I pulled out my photo album from my semester studying in Europe and showed the kids pictures of Salzburg. They thought the pictures of the house where Mozart was born, his wife's grave and of the castle on the hill that had been drawn in our biography were interesting, and I'm glad I had personal photos of those to show them.

The lesson did lose a little bit in flipping through the pages of the photo album though. They thought the photos of me at age 19 and my picture of the Salzburg McDonald's sign were much more interesting.

It started innocently enough. "Mom, what do they mean, 'It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!'?"

I explained that when Superman flies through the air people would look up and try to figure out what they were seeing, before figuring out that Superman was once again on the job.

"But, I guess since he is Superman, he could actually become a bird or a plane if he wanted to."

"Superman can catch bullets and turn back time, but he isn't a shape-shifter, Son."

"But he has to be. The song says, 'I am Superman and I can do anything.' If he can do anything, he can change his shape, right?"

"No, it doesn't work that way."

"That doesn't make sense. He's not so great then. I like Spiderman much better."

And thus a superhero falls from grace.

Blair tagged me for this set of questions, which I think were written for the sixteen year old MySpace set, but I'll do them anyway.

Were you born before the end of the first Gulf war?
Yes. I may be a lot younger than some of you, but I was in high school during the first war.

Childhood nickname?
George. A family friend decided Jordana was too hard to say and started calling me George. Much to my chagrin as a little girl, it stuck.

And no, no one in my immediate family was named after me, despite this coincidence. In fact, it never occurred to me at the time.

Historical person you have the biggest crush on?
I really don't have any historical crushes that I can think of.

How about admire?
I can't come up with anyone I'm even in great admiration of at the moment.

Favorite type of candy?
Dark chocolate, black liquorice and anything gummy.

Favorite foreign country(ies)?
England. At one time, I would have said Germany, but I think a bit less favorably of them at the moment.

Fish or chicken?
It depends. I love a perfectly cooked piece of salmon or tuna.

Do you have your own perfume line?
I never touch the stuff.

Have you ever written a children's book?
No, but I always think it would be fun to try.

Have you been in a movie based on a book?
No, neither have I been in any other sort of movie.

Ever posed nude for a photo?
Yes, but not after the age of about 4.

Guiltiest pleasure?
The occasional indulgence in bad romance novel reading.

Your best nonguilty pleasure, then?
I do like a hot bath and a cup of tea.

What are you allergic to?
Penicillin, maybe.

Worst pickup line you've heard?
I suppose I lived a sheltered life, because I haven't had any used on me.

Were you bar mitzvahed?
No, nor even bat mitzvahed.

Have you ever cried during a TV interview?
Nope.

If they made a movie of your life, who would play you?
I have one of those faces that looks like about a million other people, so I think they'd have no trouble finding some starving actress out there to play me. I did notice recently that Claire Danes and I have the same boring, straight hair, so if they want to go high budget they can cast her.

Pet peeve?
I've mentioned the dropping of "-ly" endings and the use of "real" when one should say "really." People who refer to God as "Dad" when leading a prayer. I'm also not too fond of Legos being left all over the floor. I think I could make a long list of things that bug me at the moment, but that's probably the 9th month of pregnancy hormones talking.

If you weren't doing what you do, what job would you like to have?
I would love to be an artist, but I don't have the business drive to ever make something like that a going concern.

Place you will never be found?
Skydiving and/or bungee jumping

Why did you participate in this tagging?
Because Blair asked, and she's gotten so much brighter since the time when she used to date my brother.

I decided to take a homeschooling day off. I got a fairly good night's sleep, but I woke up tired of everything. Unloading the dishwasher felt like too much work. So we took a day off from school and instead I started trying to get a few of the other things I never seem to have time to do crossed off my list.

We got the cars inspected and I went and picked up our new license plates. I guess I'm clueless, because I hadn't even noticed that Tennessee had changed its standard plate this year. I went to a grocery store I don't frequent too often so that I could buy steel cut oats in bulk. They are much cheaper that way than buying the little tins they come in at all the other stores. I have started cleaning out my closet (a mighty undertaking, to say the least) and I packed a bag to take to the hospital.

Taking a day off from my regular plans has been the best thing I could have done today. The kids are busy playing time traveler with a box that we got yesterday, and I'm feeling a whole lot less tired of everything than I was when I woke up.

The Boy: I like They Might Be Giants because they write funny songs and their music is really good.

The Middle Girl: Yeah, they sing good songs, but I like The Lemonheads better.

The Boy, on architecture: Dad, you know how you said that modern architects and builders have no taste and build ugly buildings? What about the new symphony hall? It's pretty.

And he's right. We're looking forward to getting our first peek inside when the children's symphony series starts next month.

Between pregnancy insomnia -- I woke up at 2:30 on Saturday night and 1:30 last night -- and the fact that I think we've had house guests every weekend since the beginning of August, I'm exhausted, the house is a wreck and I've gotten almost nothing done to get ready for the baby that is supposed to be arriving in about a month.

I think I'll lock myself in a closet and cry now. Well, I would except that wouldn't really get anything accomplished, so I guess I'd better fold laundry instead.

Speedo swimsuits on men are pretty much universally awful. My three year old wanted to know why a man was only wearing women's underwear to swim in. I think that says enough.

If, despite contempt and ridicule even from the mouths of short little blonde girls, a man persists upon wanting to wear this disgusting form of swimwear, please make sure that you can at least fill it out. Leaving nothing to the imagination in a Speedo is bad enough. If you are too small to fit in a tight fitting lycra suit (before getting in the cool water) I really, really don't need to know about it.

This time the Toddler Girl didn't actually make it all the way to bare skin, but as I was unloading items from the Target cart at the checkout counter, I looked over to find her racing around the cart wearing neither shoes nor overalls anymore. This, after she spent most of the trip, yelling "Unweewear" at top volume, simply because we'd walked past the undergarment section on our way to the back of the store.

What can I say? I'm a one woman-three child roving circus. Look for us playing in stores, YMCAs and other locations near you (if, of course, you live near me).

Finally, the Thursday Three has returned from summer vacation.

1) What are three new books that you’ve read recently?

Hmmm...can I count my new cookbook as something I'm reading? I just got Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. It's got some yummy recipes in it.

I'm reading House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live too. It sounded interesting when I heard the author on a recent NPR show and so far I'm enjoying it.

I'm also trying to slog through G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, which my husband insists I need to read. I think making a nine month pregnant woman read even lightweight philosophy is rather cruel. I'm on page 20 and although Chesterton is witty and has already had some great lines, I'm not sure that the other 80 pages of the book won't kill what little brain I have left.

2) What three new products have you tried lately and what were your experiences?

I can't think of anything too new and different that we've started using in the Adams' household. I guess we're relatively slow adopters around here.

3) What are three new movies or shows or plays or whatever that you have seen lately, or would like to go see soon?

Movies? What are those? I think I've been to about three movies in the theater since my son was born 6 1/2 years ago. Clearly, I don't get out much. I don't even know what's coming out soon. Then again, I suspect my ability to get out is soon to be hampered even more, so it is a good thing I'm not pinning my hopes on getting to see any new releases any time in the near future.

The Middle Girl and I just finished the final reading lesson in Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It seems like we started forever ago, but we're done.

Now we just have to keep reading every day with her and to her and see if she turns into the voracious bookworm her brother is.

The Boy is, at times, a sensitive soul -- not, of course where oppressing and harrassing little sisters is concerned, but he worries about many other questions of life, death and all that. We've been reading some saint stories this week and let's just say he's not very happy with the outcome for Joan of Arc.

Oddly enough though, he asked if we could study killer whales for our animal of the week this week. It seemed a bit out of character, but I went ahead and checked out several books and we started reading up on them. I've always thought they were truly beautiful creatures, especially after we got to see some on our ferry ride down from Alaska.

After reading about their abilities, social qualities and size, we came to the section on their hunting habits. The Boy was appalled to find out that they eat seals and other mammals. I had to ask, "What did you expect a killler whale to do?"

He wasn't really sure.

I expect our next animal to be something sweet, soft and fuzzy. I guess I'd better not let him find out that bunnies sometimes eat their own babies, huh?

I knew yesterday would be a strange fashion day when I caught the almost two year old streaking happily through the house, followed by the Middle Girl, who had squeezed her (admittedly petite) self into her little sister's clothes. I nipped that mad dash in the bud before any body fluids leaked from the un-potty-trained.

This morning, I went up to get the Toddler Girl out of bed and found when opening the door that she had again stripped down to a state of nature, wet her bed and was sitting happily in that bed "reading" a book.

Do they make strait jacket style pjs in an 18 month size?

By this point in most of my pregnancies, I'm swollen up like a water balloon and even my toes hurt from carrying extra fluid. This fourth time around, I've been much better and less swollen.

To make up for this boon from the pregnancy gods, I have instead developed the nasty tendancy to feel light headed and dizzy if I don't eat and drink just about every second of the day. Really. Since lying down for long periods of the day isn't a good option, I'm afraid I'm going to just have to eat all the time and instead of swelling up with water that will disappear three days after delivery, I'll just be packing on pounds that will take me at least nine months to lose, if they ever go away.

The summer's dinosaur obsession seems to be waning. We're back to all Legos, all the time. The Boy checked out The Ultimate Lego Book at the library again and has revised his Christmas list from all dinosaur stuff to half dinosaur and half Lego. I even got asked by The Boy if I could teach him Danish to give him a leg up on working as a Lego designer some day. In days gone by, boys dreamed of being policemen and firemen. My son informed me at an early age that those professions were "too dangerous." So far, he wants to be a paleontologist, Lego designer and animator for Pixar.

Although, the dinosaur obsession ended about the time he tried to convince me to take the bones of three chickens and convert them into a "dinosaur skeleton" (thank goodness that bullet got dodged), I almost miss the dinosaur phase and the endless stream of facts. The toys were limited to a few plastic dinosaurs generally set up in a scene somewhere around the house.

Legos are not so containable. Although I try to insist that they stay upstairs, the sharp little toys seem to migrate, and they never seem to all get cleaned up at once. Sigh. At least the girl's don't seem too interested in Legos, so perhaps I'll get a respite from their mess eventually.

"Reading is one of my pleasures in life."

--The Boy, yesterday, when given a new book

I wasn't feeling so good right before lunch. I let the kids watch PBS and I lay down next to them. You would think this would be a nice little break. I know I hoped it would be.

While the older two stopped destroying the house and got interested in the doings of Mr. Rogers, the youngest one had no particular desire to watch television.

Instead, and in rapid succession, she:

(1) Removed all the folded clothes from the laundry basket waiting to go upstairs and stuffed them in various places around my bedroom.

(2) Started pulling off all the thread from a spool in my sewing box that had had just a tiny bit sticking out from under the lid.

(3) Stuck a raisin up her nose.

Never a dull moment here!

I checked under the sofa cushions and the mattress, but only found a nickel, so I suppose I won't be able to buy one of my all time favorite houses in Nashville. Really its too far out in the suburbs any way...

With my first pregnancy, back when I was young and supposedly had supple skin, I got stretch marks everywhere. In all my following pregnancies, my skin faired much better. I might have had one more mark develop, but that is it. I hadn't seen anything new this time around and I'm less swollen than ever before.

The other day I got out of the shower, looked at my belly and was really surprised to see a new, shiny white stretch mark glowing there, but going oddly the opposite direction from all its predecessors. I was very disappointed. Then I realized it could be scrubbed off. It was actually left over paint from my bad habit of wiping my hands all over my work shirt instead of using a rag to wipe up. So no stretch marks, just fuzzy pregnancy brain and too much paint not on things I'm actually painting.

If only that were the only kind of stretch mark I'd ever gotten.

I really like my doctor a lot. He's delivered all three of my kids. He's funny. Every labor and delivery nurse I've ever talked to has nothing but high praise for him. As far as doctors go, he's great. In fact, other people must have noticed that too, because he's now head of Obstetrics at the hospital and medical school near my house. Which means he's never in the office.

I had a check-up today (and Meredith watched my kids, which was absolutely wonderful and sweet of her, considering she's in the midst of packing up and moving). My check-up was very straight-forward. Just measuring things, checking my blood pressure and weight and listening to the baby's heart beat. I've gained 36 pounds which I'm not particularly thrilled about, but not surprised by either.

The only difficulty in my appointment was scheduling the next one. I'm supposed to go back in two weeks, but my OB is only in the office for two days at the beginning of that week which is too early. And all the other doctors in the practice are equally busy. I couldn't get an appointment with anyone earlier than afternoon with anyone at all.

So I'll go back in about 2 1/2 weeks, seeing my doctor, and hope that he'll manage to be around and out of meetings about the time the kidlet is due to make an appearance.