"Donn can get away with transplanting in the fall.." I'm getting spoiled. I also moved from Ohio, the NE snow belt, but I moved from 5 to 7, and the luxury is dramatic. That said, I did quite a bit of fall planting and transplanting in NE Ohio. First frosts don't stop cool season perennials from growing, especially their roots. Even in zone 5, it takes a good bit of sustained, well below freezing weather to freeze the soil below the surface. A rule of thumb I use for fall planting is to avoid disturbing roots. If I can install a potted plant without having to tease, cut back or otherwise disturb the roots, I'll do it. If the plant is pretty root bound, I leave it in the pot, and bury the pot. Sometimes, the roots will grow out of the drainage holes and into the surrounding soil, but when I pull them in early spring, they are usually getting a haircut anyway, and a little root pruning just stimulates new root growth.

Norma, the Huntington has the original clone of the parryi 'truncata', collected by Gentry in Mexico: ISI 2004-8. Agave parryi var. truncata Gentry. This choicest of medium-sized agaves has a glaucous gray, artichoke-like rosette, with elegant bud imprints and contrasting black terminal spinesÂfeatures found to varying degrees in other varieties of A. parryi (and a few other species as well) though not with the same broad-leaved compactness. In addition, the bi-colored inflorescences are unusual among agaves, with orange buds opening yellow (see accompanying photos of a plant flowering in Jean RussomÂs La Canada, CA garden). The plant will offset, but too slowly to satisfy demand, and open-pollinated seedlings rarely share the best features of the parent. Thanks to the tissue culture lab of Rancho Soledad Nursery in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, we are able to offer plants of the genuine variety, supplemented by a few offsets dug here by Kirby Weise. HBG 23389, H. S. Gentry 10566, the clonotype, collected June 8, 1951, in oak-juniper woodland, ca. 22.5 km W of Sombrerete along Hwy. 45 in the Sierra Papanton, Durango (near the Zacatecas border), Mexico. San Marcos Growers is selling the same clone: This agave, native from Durango to Zacatecas Mexico, is very attractive in the succulent garden as a large specimen plant or in large pots. It is often noted to be smaller than Agave parryi var. huachucensis , but in our experience this is one of the larger of the Agave parryi varieties. It is quite notable for its stubby, almost flat-topped rosettes that are somewhat reminiscent of an artichoke. Our plants are from tissue culture of the Huntington Botanic Gardens plant (HBG 23389) that was collected by H. S. Gentry in 1951 in Durango near the Zacatecas border in Mexico. Brad

I bought a pack of 10 white bibs at Babies R Us. These were great because I could Oxy-clean them or use a little bleach. Same with white onesies. Also white cloth diapers for spit up, spills and everything else! I also liked: -travel high chair (I think it's by playskool) great for vacations or overnight trips where they may not have highchairs, also used it when the baby outgrew his high chair and wanted to sit at the table. I just took the tray off and pushed him up to the table. -The First Step catalogue has a lot of great products. -cheap umbrella stroller, very easy for shopping trips. -Jogging stroller for around the neighborhood and getting back in shape! -I used the Avent bottles and milk bags while breast feeding. My hubby was able to heat up the frozen milk easily when I went back to work. -I found I was always losing tiny baby socks, so I just bought a small pair of sock-slippers. They seemed to stay on better. -When baby gets older: cheap First Years sippy cups and spoons and forks. If they get lost or scummy, you just buy new ones. -Pack N Play -baby monitor (if you have a large-ish house or baby will be in another room). -baby first aid kit. I know there is more, I'll have to think about it! Also, one problem a lot of moms I know run into with baby showers and clothing gifts, sometimes the clothes are OFF SEASON. Make sure your daughter saves gift receipts and tags. Sometimes the cutest outfits are given for winter, in a size the baby will be in the summer.

Kristie, I don't think it's a matter of money. (How would you feel to think that you are sitting here today merely because some hotshot on Wall St. decided to give the economy a jump one year?) For rural families in farming and agriculture, it PAYS to have children. For families in the cities and suburbs, it COSTS. C'est la vie. You can't be led by your pocketbook. Otherwise, if finances stay tight, you and your husband may end your reproductive-potential years with your beloved children still backed up in time, unexpressed. But lest thou be overcome by schmaltz, there is another caution as well: is this h*ll of a tired old world something you want to bring them into? Wait a minute; that's schmaltz too. Well, to sanitize the philosophical discussion in a way that it does not provoke too many unstable emotions, I will couch it this way: The world contains 6,050,000 individuals. And there are enough problems with that sheer number as it is. The poorest of the poor (or the dirt flo' po', as they say in some locales) have many children. Sometimes because they don't know how to prevent conception, and other times because they simply want to have many children. In India the people believe in karma and reincarnation, and thus believe that by bringing many children into the world they are facilitating extra lives for souls who have in past times departed. This is a religious belief, of course. IMHO, after 9/11 it is just too late in the history of our nation to try to have a baby. Our nation is going to go through more h*ll. No, I don't believe what the administration says, those cocky Texas-accented remarks of "coming back stronger than before". And I don't believe that the Soviet Union really fell, either. It's just playing dead, and then they will suckerpunch us with some type of attack. However, before you call me a doom-'n'-gloomer and hit the back button, let me explain. Doom and gloom aren't the main point, just examples of things to take into consideration. When discussing the prospect of having children, balance is key. Balance practical logic, philosophy, and last of all, emotions. If you overdo practical logic, you will end up with dehumanizing, Communistic (I would have typed Naziesque but then I would have violated Godwin's Law), economic ways of thinking about people. If you overdo emotions (far more common), you will end up being led by your six/seven basic emotions to places totally irrational. Philosophy is the balance stick: your philosophy tells you where the right balance is between reason & emotions. Some disagree on where that balance is. Couples often "protect" unexpressed children by holding them back during times of economic adversity or other undesirable things. Others feel that "existence precedes essence", and that the privilege of life itself is more valuable than anything money can buy. After all, would YOU kill yourself because you got a small paycheck? (This line of thought states that only a position holding life itself in supremacy is a balanced position.) Others want to have them as early as possible regardless, because they want to know their children while still young, and share more years of their lives with them. A couple who have a child at age 20 get to share 20 more years of their lives with that child than they would if they had the child at age 40. Happy New Year, Kristie! And may the Year of the Dog be well filled with balance!