Friday, August 31, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Full
We had a very full weekend, which was just right. It didn't go by too quickly and we accomplished a lot.
I kind of went a little nuts wanting a change for the living room and so we went out to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up new slipcovers for the sofas, along with all new pillows. (I think I'm preferring BB&B to Linens and Things now.) I am completely in love with my living room again. The change wasn't inexpensive, but was much less costly than buying new couches, which was actually on my mind. Yesterday, C and Mom came over for dinner and I made a nice cranberry roast pork, mashed potatoes (which I still suck at, but they were alright - mashed potatoes seem to be the bane of my cooking existence), green beans and homemade brownie sundaes for dessert. P was supposed to come, too, but he ended up working all day since he's taking this week off to be with his kids before they return to school. Sunday was a good day.
I'm so done with the heat and humidity. I do not enjoy summer - never have, never will. Lately, though, I've been feeling as though I can do anything and it's a pretty great feeling. I'm just kind of enjoying being in this place now. I'm eager for the days to turn cooler and the nights to be longer.
Now, I just need to get cranking on Devin's baby quilt (D and his fiancee, R, have settled on Devin for the baby's name). And, I need to figure out how to get #2 to stop pulling #1's hair. Really, she's rather sadistic about it. Poor #1.
I kind of went a little nuts wanting a change for the living room and so we went out to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up new slipcovers for the sofas, along with all new pillows. (I think I'm preferring BB&B to Linens and Things now.) I am completely in love with my living room again. The change wasn't inexpensive, but was much less costly than buying new couches, which was actually on my mind. Yesterday, C and Mom came over for dinner and I made a nice cranberry roast pork, mashed potatoes (which I still suck at, but they were alright - mashed potatoes seem to be the bane of my cooking existence), green beans and homemade brownie sundaes for dessert. P was supposed to come, too, but he ended up working all day since he's taking this week off to be with his kids before they return to school. Sunday was a good day.
I'm so done with the heat and humidity. I do not enjoy summer - never have, never will. Lately, though, I've been feeling as though I can do anything and it's a pretty great feeling. I'm just kind of enjoying being in this place now. I'm eager for the days to turn cooler and the nights to be longer.
Now, I just need to get cranking on Devin's baby quilt (D and his fiancee, R, have settled on Devin for the baby's name). And, I need to figure out how to get #2 to stop pulling #1's hair. Really, she's rather sadistic about it. Poor #1.
Friday, August 24, 2007
What's Up, Doc?
Yesterday and Tuesday were medical days for the W household...
The Muffins had a check-up on Tuesday afternoon and it was...interesting, to say the least. Usually, our ped's office is pretty good about getting us right in once we've checked in at the reception desk. We were a bit early for the appointments, so I figured we'd have a bit of a wait. 15 minutes after our first appointment was scheduled to begin, I went to the secretary and politely told her that we'd been waiting for quite a while and was wondering if we'd be taken in anytime soon. She checked and we were taken back to the exam room about 8 minutes later. By this time, the kids had been in their stroller for quite a while and were eager to escape. However, #2 seems to have developed some doctor-office-induced PTSD since our last visit in early May. (We're blaming it on the excruciating blood draw that saw #2 vomiting on the phlebotomist and gave us pause for the slightest moment to consider not having any more children just so that we could avoid the hell that was the one-year blood draw.)
The second that the stroller was pushed over the threshold of the exam room door, the poor thing started screaming bloody hell. I kid you not. The very second. J and I went about the business of stripping the kids down, I answered the nurse's questions over #2's wailing, and we got measurements on the kids (which was a bit of a challenge with the screaming girl, but the nurse finally wrangled her enough to get the numbers down). #1 decided that something must be wrong if his sister was crying, so he decided to start crying, too. Fortunately, this didn't last terribly long. I know that the staff have dealt with screaming kids before, but still.
Aside from the doctor declaring, upon entering the room, that he'd called a priest for an exorcism, all went well and the kids are in great shape. #1 is above the 50th percentile for height, slightly below on weight and his noggin is big, as always (hovering in the 75th percentile range). #2 is 50th for height and weight and just slightly above for head circumference. #2 even decided that El Doctor wasn't so bad and determined that he clearly wasn't the mousy, pasty-faced woman who had tortured her so mercilessly a few months ago and she started trying to get him to pay attention to her. That is, until it was time for him to examine her. Then it was time to scream again. The screaming continued during the shots...and the redressing...through the lobby - where every head turned as J walked out with the kids, each parent silently thanking God that those weren't their children - and out into the parking lot. I had to stay behind to make our next appointment. And that was that.
Yesterday was the big day for me as we were hoping to get some final word on what the hell happened to me in late January/early February. The short history is that I had my first ever migraine(s) combined with an episode of total-kick-you-in-the-ass vertigo. The migraines went away, but the vertigo lasted for a very long time. Months. I ended up being hospitalized and having a head CT, an MRI and a MRA of the brain, but nothing showed up. Always a good thing. For good measure, I went to physical therapy throughout March to try and kick the vertigo, but nothing doing. There's a family history of Meniere's disease and migraine, so it was assumed that I presented with some weird combo of both and have been being treated for Meniere's since May. So...I was referred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (it was there or Boston, and I chose the route with less traffic). I've been feeling pretty good for the past couple of months, but kept the appointments (had to see another physical therapist, get my hearing checked and then be seen by an ENT - and, holy hell, is it ever hard to get into that place!).
The vertigo finally went away competely by early July (I thought it had gone away by mid-May, but I had a smaller attack in mid-June that lasted until just before July...I've been vertigo-free since then). The specialist declared that it was not Meniere's, but that my symptoms are "all over the place" and he wasn't comfortable nailing down one diagnosis for me. His best guess is that it was some sort of migraine-related vertigo, perhaps crossed over with benign positional vertigo, but the main culprit, he thinks, was vestibular neuronitis, an inflammation of the vestibular nerve (the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain). I think, though, that it sounds more like this. I have a follow-up in November, so hopefully I'll keep feeling well from here on out. In the meantime, the ruling out of Meniere's means we can progress with the baby making discussions for this fall (apparently, Meniere's can get very bad during the first trimester and J was a little nervous about the prospect of me being out of commission for 3 months - or more). Bonus!
The Muffins had a check-up on Tuesday afternoon and it was...interesting, to say the least. Usually, our ped's office is pretty good about getting us right in once we've checked in at the reception desk. We were a bit early for the appointments, so I figured we'd have a bit of a wait. 15 minutes after our first appointment was scheduled to begin, I went to the secretary and politely told her that we'd been waiting for quite a while and was wondering if we'd be taken in anytime soon. She checked and we were taken back to the exam room about 8 minutes later. By this time, the kids had been in their stroller for quite a while and were eager to escape. However, #2 seems to have developed some doctor-office-induced PTSD since our last visit in early May. (We're blaming it on the excruciating blood draw that saw #2 vomiting on the phlebotomist and gave us pause for the slightest moment to consider not having any more children just so that we could avoid the hell that was the one-year blood draw.)
The second that the stroller was pushed over the threshold of the exam room door, the poor thing started screaming bloody hell. I kid you not. The very second. J and I went about the business of stripping the kids down, I answered the nurse's questions over #2's wailing, and we got measurements on the kids (which was a bit of a challenge with the screaming girl, but the nurse finally wrangled her enough to get the numbers down). #1 decided that something must be wrong if his sister was crying, so he decided to start crying, too. Fortunately, this didn't last terribly long. I know that the staff have dealt with screaming kids before, but still.
Aside from the doctor declaring, upon entering the room, that he'd called a priest for an exorcism, all went well and the kids are in great shape. #1 is above the 50th percentile for height, slightly below on weight and his noggin is big, as always (hovering in the 75th percentile range). #2 is 50th for height and weight and just slightly above for head circumference. #2 even decided that El Doctor wasn't so bad and determined that he clearly wasn't the mousy, pasty-faced woman who had tortured her so mercilessly a few months ago and she started trying to get him to pay attention to her. That is, until it was time for him to examine her. Then it was time to scream again. The screaming continued during the shots...and the redressing...through the lobby - where every head turned as J walked out with the kids, each parent silently thanking God that those weren't their children - and out into the parking lot. I had to stay behind to make our next appointment. And that was that.
Yesterday was the big day for me as we were hoping to get some final word on what the hell happened to me in late January/early February. The short history is that I had my first ever migraine(s) combined with an episode of total-kick-you-in-the-ass vertigo. The migraines went away, but the vertigo lasted for a very long time. Months. I ended up being hospitalized and having a head CT, an MRI and a MRA of the brain, but nothing showed up. Always a good thing. For good measure, I went to physical therapy throughout March to try and kick the vertigo, but nothing doing. There's a family history of Meniere's disease and migraine, so it was assumed that I presented with some weird combo of both and have been being treated for Meniere's since May. So...I was referred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (it was there or Boston, and I chose the route with less traffic). I've been feeling pretty good for the past couple of months, but kept the appointments (had to see another physical therapist, get my hearing checked and then be seen by an ENT - and, holy hell, is it ever hard to get into that place!).
The vertigo finally went away competely by early July (I thought it had gone away by mid-May, but I had a smaller attack in mid-June that lasted until just before July...I've been vertigo-free since then). The specialist declared that it was not Meniere's, but that my symptoms are "all over the place" and he wasn't comfortable nailing down one diagnosis for me. His best guess is that it was some sort of migraine-related vertigo, perhaps crossed over with benign positional vertigo, but the main culprit, he thinks, was vestibular neuronitis, an inflammation of the vestibular nerve (the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain). I think, though, that it sounds more like this. I have a follow-up in November, so hopefully I'll keep feeling well from here on out. In the meantime, the ruling out of Meniere's means we can progress with the baby making discussions for this fall (apparently, Meniere's can get very bad during the first trimester and J was a little nervous about the prospect of me being out of commission for 3 months - or more). Bonus!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Some Days Are Better Than Others...And Today Was Pretty Great
I feel super productive.
For the first time, the kids and I went to the grocery store alone. Don't give me any crap. Grocery shopping with two very curious and mobile toddlers is not high on my to-do list. I won't put them in one of those carriages with the TVs, and the other carriages - the ones that look like race cars - have a basket that would hold about half of what I'd need on any given shopping expedition and that just seems kind of pointless. (Plus, my kids are really amazing at reaching anything in sight. Seriously.) Anyway. On to today. I was planning on making lasagne for dinner and needed ground turkey for the sauce and the only way to get it was to go to the store. So off we went.
I saw one of those race car carts in the parking lot and though I'd give it a try (and it was parked at the faaaar end of the parking lot, but I didn't mind the walk). Well, when I approached it I saw that one of the play steering wheels was missing and there was just a big bolt or something potentially dangerous there (and, #1 would take great delight in trying to suck on it) so I ruled out the race car idea. I didn't want to repark and we were actually in a low-traffic part of the lot, so I plopped the kids in their double stroller and headed for the store. I only needed a few items, so I grabbed one of the handheld baskets and pushed the stroller through the store. I know about the push-the-stroller-pull-the-carriage trick and it works great at Target (a place I've been to several times by myself with the Muffins, thank you), but there just doesn't seem to be as much room to negotiate around the grocery store while employing said method. #2 loves loves loves to try and escape from the stroller and both kids are fantastic reachers, but I deftly maneuvered through the aisles, carefully selecting my few groceries with neither a complaint from the babes, nor a random item pulled from any of the shelves. I was thrilled.
Once home, I settled the kids in the living room and popped downstairs to do laundry. Yes, you read correctly. Now that I've cleaned the unfinished part of the basement, I'm actually motivated to do laundry. 3 loads today alone. Woohoo for me.
M stopped over for a quick bit, bringing with her the requisite price of admission (a large Diet Coke w/o ice from McDonalds, naturally - but, yes, I am still being very good about cutting back!). She played with the kids, I showed off the basement, I emptied the dishwasher, M left and I got the kids up for their nap. I started on the homemade sauce for the lasange, mixed up the cheese mixture and still managed to relax a bit before the kids woke up.
I had invited Mom for dinner and she arrived just as J was getting home from work. It was a lovely time; the kids enjoyed the double surprise of Nana and Daddy coming into the house at the same time and then A stopped in on her way home to Vermont. (She'd been in Seattle for the past week visiting friends and was driving home from the airport.) So many people to play with! I managed to tidy the house, make a great dinner (we ate at the table like civilized adults, always a plus!) and, later, J bathed the kids. All in all, we had a nice evening.
Tomorrow we go to the doctor for a check-up for the kids. Wednesday, we're off to Dartmouth for my head. Hopefuly, we'll have a better idea of where things stand so that we can progress with the future baby making discussions (I go to the OB/GYN on September 12th and I'd like to be able to tell her what are plans/thoughts are).
On a kind of sucky note, we've finally decided that we might want to go away for our anniversary (our 11th, thanks for asking) in October (read: we think we are in a place where we could leave the kids for more than a few hours). C's already put in for time at work so that she can watch the kids (that C, she's swell), but every place that I've looked into so far...already booked! We're still looking, but I'm a little bummed thus far.
For the first time, the kids and I went to the grocery store alone. Don't give me any crap. Grocery shopping with two very curious and mobile toddlers is not high on my to-do list. I won't put them in one of those carriages with the TVs, and the other carriages - the ones that look like race cars - have a basket that would hold about half of what I'd need on any given shopping expedition and that just seems kind of pointless. (Plus, my kids are really amazing at reaching anything in sight. Seriously.) Anyway. On to today. I was planning on making lasagne for dinner and needed ground turkey for the sauce and the only way to get it was to go to the store. So off we went.
I saw one of those race car carts in the parking lot and though I'd give it a try (and it was parked at the faaaar end of the parking lot, but I didn't mind the walk). Well, when I approached it I saw that one of the play steering wheels was missing and there was just a big bolt or something potentially dangerous there (and, #1 would take great delight in trying to suck on it) so I ruled out the race car idea. I didn't want to repark and we were actually in a low-traffic part of the lot, so I plopped the kids in their double stroller and headed for the store. I only needed a few items, so I grabbed one of the handheld baskets and pushed the stroller through the store. I know about the push-the-stroller-pull-the-carriage trick and it works great at Target (a place I've been to several times by myself with the Muffins, thank you), but there just doesn't seem to be as much room to negotiate around the grocery store while employing said method. #2 loves loves loves to try and escape from the stroller and both kids are fantastic reachers, but I deftly maneuvered through the aisles, carefully selecting my few groceries with neither a complaint from the babes, nor a random item pulled from any of the shelves. I was thrilled.
Once home, I settled the kids in the living room and popped downstairs to do laundry. Yes, you read correctly. Now that I've cleaned the unfinished part of the basement, I'm actually motivated to do laundry. 3 loads today alone. Woohoo for me.
M stopped over for a quick bit, bringing with her the requisite price of admission (a large Diet Coke w/o ice from McDonalds, naturally - but, yes, I am still being very good about cutting back!). She played with the kids, I showed off the basement, I emptied the dishwasher, M left and I got the kids up for their nap. I started on the homemade sauce for the lasange, mixed up the cheese mixture and still managed to relax a bit before the kids woke up.
I had invited Mom for dinner and she arrived just as J was getting home from work. It was a lovely time; the kids enjoyed the double surprise of Nana and Daddy coming into the house at the same time and then A stopped in on her way home to Vermont. (She'd been in Seattle for the past week visiting friends and was driving home from the airport.) So many people to play with! I managed to tidy the house, make a great dinner (we ate at the table like civilized adults, always a plus!) and, later, J bathed the kids. All in all, we had a nice evening.
Tomorrow we go to the doctor for a check-up for the kids. Wednesday, we're off to Dartmouth for my head. Hopefuly, we'll have a better idea of where things stand so that we can progress with the future baby making discussions (I go to the OB/GYN on September 12th and I'd like to be able to tell her what are plans/thoughts are).
On a kind of sucky note, we've finally decided that we might want to go away for our anniversary (our 11th, thanks for asking) in October (read: we think we are in a place where we could leave the kids for more than a few hours). C's already put in for time at work so that she can watch the kids (that C, she's swell), but every place that I've looked into so far...already booked! We're still looking, but I'm a little bummed thus far.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
All In A Day's Work...
I had my work cut out for me, big time...
This was the easiest part of all.
It was almost ridiculous how much crap I let pile up down there.
It took hours and hours, but the unfinished part of the basement is organized and tidy! I killed a gazillion spiders and sucked up cobwebs too numerous to count. I have a ton and a half of laundry to do (I set up 2 3-section laundry organizers and they are both full - seriously), but it's done.
The ultimate goal is to clear out the partially finished side of the basement so that we can strip the wallpaper, paint the walls, get new carpeting and install a third heat zone (hence why I call it "partially finished"...there's no heat down there and therefore we've let it become a storage area rather than utilize the space). So...we need the unfinished side of the basement cleaned and organized so that we can store the stuff from the finished side while we do the renovations. My vision is that the new finished side will primarily be a kid zone, but with an area for me to set up my quilting on a permanent basis. Also, J and I have been talking about getting a recumbent exercise bike, so that'd be there, too. I came up with this idea one night in bed when I couldn't fall asleep and it is a great idea, but God does it seem easier when I'm upstairs and only talking about my plan. For a while, I would get so overwhelmed whenever I would go downstairs and try to envision what I wanted (not to mention needed) to do. Now the ball is rolling, however, and I'm hoping that I can keep up the pace (I'd like to work downstairs on Saturdays and then have Sundays be for the four of us) and hopefully have everything done by the time snow flies. After today's success, I don't think that's too ambitious and I'm feeling less overwhelmed by the project.
The ultimate goal is to clear out the partially finished side of the basement so that we can strip the wallpaper, paint the walls, get new carpeting and install a third heat zone (hence why I call it "partially finished"...there's no heat down there and therefore we've let it become a storage area rather than utilize the space). So...we need the unfinished side of the basement cleaned and organized so that we can store the stuff from the finished side while we do the renovations. My vision is that the new finished side will primarily be a kid zone, but with an area for me to set up my quilting on a permanent basis. Also, J and I have been talking about getting a recumbent exercise bike, so that'd be there, too. I came up with this idea one night in bed when I couldn't fall asleep and it is a great idea, but God does it seem easier when I'm upstairs and only talking about my plan. For a while, I would get so overwhelmed whenever I would go downstairs and try to envision what I wanted (not to mention needed) to do. Now the ball is rolling, however, and I'm hoping that I can keep up the pace (I'd like to work downstairs on Saturdays and then have Sundays be for the four of us) and hopefully have everything done by the time snow flies. After today's success, I don't think that's too ambitious and I'm feeling less overwhelmed by the project.
Isn't it lovely now? (You know, for a basement...)
More storage!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
It's Friday Already?
This week has flown by in a whirl of bananas and sippy cups. No, actually, it's just kind of surprising that it's Friday already.
On Tuesday, Mom visited with P's youngest son. P and his wife are separated and Mom helps P out on the weeks when the kids are with him. P's two oldest children are teenagers and pretty much do what they please. His youngest, E, is 9 and therefore needs more adult companionship and he loves his Nana, so it's all working out. Mom and E came over a couple of weeks ago and it went really well. The Muffins love E and had a great time playing with him. E had a great time playing X Box once the Muffins went down for their nap. So Mom decided a repeat performance was in order. Well, the Muffins were thrilled to see E and he was thrilled to play X Box (although this time the kids were awake and wanted to help E play - it was really rather cute). In an attempt to get out of the house for a bit and play the role of Cool Aunt, I suggested an ice cream run. E was all for it. Off to ice cream we went. E was sitting in the back of the van, enjoying his Moose Tracks, when I decided to pick up a Diet Coke on the way home. Mom, convinced E doesn't eat enough, had me pick something up for E. Well...he was all for that, too, and pretty much discarded the ice cream upon receipt of usually taboo french fries.
When we got back to the house, I had to round up Little Dog and tuck him away since Mom had to come in the house. While I was doing that, Mom let E out of the back of the van, P (who was in town and decided to meet us at my house to pick E up) got #1 out of his car seat, and Mom got #2. P, E and I visit for a while and Mom rushes off. Meanwhile, M calls and asks to come over. Welcome to my home. Also known as Grand Central Station. I tell M she can come over and she does. Eventually, P and E leave and J comes home from work. I whip up quiche and green beans for dinner and M takes her leave. J and I eat, feed the kids and hop in the van to go grocery shopping. At the stop sign at the end of the street I turn around to smile at #2 and see E's ice cream cone and dish and dirty napkins all over the back seat. Melted. Gooey. A mess. We turn around and J spends the next 20 minutes cleaning up the mess while I wipe up #2 who decided that she was a fountain and was spitting up (is it still spit up once they're not babies anymore?) every few minutes (and man did it reek). OK, mess cleaned up, baby periodically wiped down, groceries purchased. That was Tuesday.
M came over again on Wednesday and I took advantage of her visit to run some errands and get some packages off that I hadn't had time to send yet. I love you, UPS Store. I love that I don't need to package anything, that you'll measure and carefully pack and ship my items for a fee. The convenience is so worth it. I also did loads of baby laundry and realized that I could utilize the furniture in the guest room to store said baby laundry. (Because, you know, just shoving the baskets of folded - at least it's folded! - laundry in the room, while it did work for me, kind of led to a lack of available laundry baskets.) Wednesday was a rather productive day, all in all.
Yesterday was a long day, but I whipped up a great tofu casserole for dinner and, for a change of pace, I made cookies in the evening and called C up and had her come over to spend the night. The kids love it when C comes over. It was good visit and the cookies were yummy, as always. I had a difficult time falling asleep last night and then, just as I was dozing off, the power went out for more than two hours. I really couldn't get to sleep then. The ringing in my ears was louder than ever and the house was too quiet. J couldn't sleep either so we went downstairs and sat and waited. He finally gave in and went upstairs to wait it out. I relaxed on the couch and waited and waited. The power finally came back on about quarter to 4 and I was able to get some sleep. C slept peacefully, completely unaware of the power having gone out at all.
#1 learned a new trick today. In our living room, we have a four-shelf barrister bookcase. Having quickly explored the bottom two shelves by banging the doors incessantly and trying to push the books in, we removed the books and the doors to those shelves. He's working on the third shelf, too, and I think that'll most likely be gone by the end of the weekend. So tonight, relaxing in the living room, I hear a little hand slapping on wood and some heavy breathing and a little grunting. Being able to ascertain that no one was hiding in a corner discreetly pooping, I quickly figure out that #1 is somewhere near the bookcase. Well, I was mostly right. He was actually up in the second shelf. And he couldn't figure out how to get down. So we did what any good parent would do. I ran for the camera, and the battery died on me the moment I tried to snap a picture. I flipped open my cell phone only to be greeted with the message that my memory card if full. So J jumps up for the camcorder and records #1 in the bookcase as he tries to figure out a way out. He didn't. J helped him out and he proceeded to get up on the shelf four more times before the night was through.
My goal for tomorrow is to attack the unfinished part of the basement to clean it up and organize it with the ultimate goal of beginning work to clear out the finished part of the basement in the hopes of redoing it over the next few months. Sunday we're off to this and then out to dinner with P.
And then I'll be saying, it's Monday already?
On Tuesday, Mom visited with P's youngest son. P and his wife are separated and Mom helps P out on the weeks when the kids are with him. P's two oldest children are teenagers and pretty much do what they please. His youngest, E, is 9 and therefore needs more adult companionship and he loves his Nana, so it's all working out. Mom and E came over a couple of weeks ago and it went really well. The Muffins love E and had a great time playing with him. E had a great time playing X Box once the Muffins went down for their nap. So Mom decided a repeat performance was in order. Well, the Muffins were thrilled to see E and he was thrilled to play X Box (although this time the kids were awake and wanted to help E play - it was really rather cute). In an attempt to get out of the house for a bit and play the role of Cool Aunt, I suggested an ice cream run. E was all for it. Off to ice cream we went. E was sitting in the back of the van, enjoying his Moose Tracks, when I decided to pick up a Diet Coke on the way home. Mom, convinced E doesn't eat enough, had me pick something up for E. Well...he was all for that, too, and pretty much discarded the ice cream upon receipt of usually taboo french fries.
When we got back to the house, I had to round up Little Dog and tuck him away since Mom had to come in the house. While I was doing that, Mom let E out of the back of the van, P (who was in town and decided to meet us at my house to pick E up) got #1 out of his car seat, and Mom got #2. P, E and I visit for a while and Mom rushes off. Meanwhile, M calls and asks to come over. Welcome to my home. Also known as Grand Central Station. I tell M she can come over and she does. Eventually, P and E leave and J comes home from work. I whip up quiche and green beans for dinner and M takes her leave. J and I eat, feed the kids and hop in the van to go grocery shopping. At the stop sign at the end of the street I turn around to smile at #2 and see E's ice cream cone and dish and dirty napkins all over the back seat. Melted. Gooey. A mess. We turn around and J spends the next 20 minutes cleaning up the mess while I wipe up #2 who decided that she was a fountain and was spitting up (is it still spit up once they're not babies anymore?) every few minutes (and man did it reek). OK, mess cleaned up, baby periodically wiped down, groceries purchased. That was Tuesday.
M came over again on Wednesday and I took advantage of her visit to run some errands and get some packages off that I hadn't had time to send yet. I love you, UPS Store. I love that I don't need to package anything, that you'll measure and carefully pack and ship my items for a fee. The convenience is so worth it. I also did loads of baby laundry and realized that I could utilize the furniture in the guest room to store said baby laundry. (Because, you know, just shoving the baskets of folded - at least it's folded! - laundry in the room, while it did work for me, kind of led to a lack of available laundry baskets.) Wednesday was a rather productive day, all in all.
Yesterday was a long day, but I whipped up a great tofu casserole for dinner and, for a change of pace, I made cookies in the evening and called C up and had her come over to spend the night. The kids love it when C comes over. It was good visit and the cookies were yummy, as always. I had a difficult time falling asleep last night and then, just as I was dozing off, the power went out for more than two hours. I really couldn't get to sleep then. The ringing in my ears was louder than ever and the house was too quiet. J couldn't sleep either so we went downstairs and sat and waited. He finally gave in and went upstairs to wait it out. I relaxed on the couch and waited and waited. The power finally came back on about quarter to 4 and I was able to get some sleep. C slept peacefully, completely unaware of the power having gone out at all.
#1 learned a new trick today. In our living room, we have a four-shelf barrister bookcase. Having quickly explored the bottom two shelves by banging the doors incessantly and trying to push the books in, we removed the books and the doors to those shelves. He's working on the third shelf, too, and I think that'll most likely be gone by the end of the weekend. So tonight, relaxing in the living room, I hear a little hand slapping on wood and some heavy breathing and a little grunting. Being able to ascertain that no one was hiding in a corner discreetly pooping, I quickly figure out that #1 is somewhere near the bookcase. Well, I was mostly right. He was actually up in the second shelf. And he couldn't figure out how to get down. So we did what any good parent would do. I ran for the camera, and the battery died on me the moment I tried to snap a picture. I flipped open my cell phone only to be greeted with the message that my memory card if full. So J jumps up for the camcorder and records #1 in the bookcase as he tries to figure out a way out. He didn't. J helped him out and he proceeded to get up on the shelf four more times before the night was through.
My goal for tomorrow is to attack the unfinished part of the basement to clean it up and organize it with the ultimate goal of beginning work to clear out the finished part of the basement in the hopes of redoing it over the next few months. Sunday we're off to this and then out to dinner with P.
And then I'll be saying, it's Monday already?
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