I think this baby is trying to bust her way out through my abdomen, somewhere just below my belly button. I would swear I was delivering her tonight if there was any way for her to emerge like an alien, just clawing her way out of my midsection, avoiding that whole cervix thing entirely.
Obviously, Neko has been coaching her on the sly on how to be over-the-top active and in your face for every minute that you are not totally unconscious.
I am in so much trouble.
I carry a small camera in my diaper bag at all times. Every now and then a great picture appears before me, and I want to capture the moment, and then I get the camera out, and then the moment is usally gone.
I forget about the small camera, and suddenly it has all these photos on it.
So there’s no story here, except that I finally downloaded the pix off the small camera.
It’s no great secret that Chris takes great pictures, and for that reason, he’s usually behind the camera and not in front of it. But some of us know that even without his trusty Canon in his hands, he actively hides from the camera. And then years down the road he complains that there are no photos of him.
So when I discovered this cache of photos hidden on my small camera, I decided I should bring them to the attention of the public. I can only assume that Neko took them, since Chris would never mug for either Tom or I this way.
And, Chris, don’t even think of trying to hack into my account and take these down. In 2017 I will be able to point these and say, “See, we took at least four photos of you.”
This has been quite a week. It has reminded me how ridiculously dependent I am on technology and just how stupid one week can get.
It started on Monday. I had an OB appointment, so since I was already in the Big City, I decided to head south and get Neko’s birthday party scheduled, since, of course, you can only do that in person. That’s a whole other entry…yes, I know it’s only January, but once the baby comes along we’ll be sleepless and distracted and then all of a sudden it will be the day before her birthday and she’ll want a big whoop-dee-doo and I will be on my knees begging someone to let me use the party room in the basement of Pizza Hut and making mermaids out of crepe paper at 3am.
The upshot: I’m trying to be pro-active and organized.
That whole event went fine until I was about halfway home and reached for my cell phone to make a quick call and realized I, in fact, had no cell phone. I’d been about eight other places besides the birthday place, and usually when I misplace my cell phone it’s somewhere in my bag and stroller. But it wasn’t. It was at the birthday place. An hour away.
Several phone calls and $16 later, the birthday place was overnighting my phone. And for the next 24 hours, I realized I probably make 463 phone calls a day, based on the number of times I reached for the phone and grasped nothing but air.
So Tuesday, I have the phone back. Yay! But I spent the day at home trying to do housewifey things like laundry and having my children play independently while I play June Cleaver, which turned into a total disaster and several small emotional meltdowns from multiple people. Boo.
As a result of several emotional moments, Tom graciously gave me Wednesday afternoon to start plugging away at my big to-do list. I even took my laptop to my sister’s house to keep the momentum going. My sister’s house with very hard tile floor. I know exactly how hard this tile floor is because of the earthshattering noise my laptop made as it crashed to the floor after I tripped over the power cord and dropped it.
I know this has already been a really wordy entry, but I need to add the point that as it crashed to the floor, the tiny part of the power cord that makes the connection snapped off in the computer and stuck. Any attempt to remove it, just shoved it further in, making it impossible to recharge. You know those scenes in “24” where there’s that clock ticking away in the lower right-hand corner indicating exactly how much time remains before the whole world blows up? The “minutes to battery shut-down” clock began.
I won’t go into all the details, but Thursday morning involved charging batteries on other dead machines and swapping them in and out while I desperately try to back up my machine (which I haven’t properly backed up since last February) and lots of sweat and swearing and Tom being verrrry nice and helpful while I am very grouchy and not very nice or helpful. I did not get it fully backed up before the whole machine went belly up and refused to boot in any capacity whatsoever.
So Thursday afternoon was spent in the Apple store with lots of other grouchy people. My new favorite person, Kurt the Apple Genius, thinks he can fix my machine, but is not so certain he can retrieve my data. So, good news, bad news. It may be fixed by tomorrow. Maybe.
In the meantime, I would give my left arm to check my email.
I went straight from the Apple store to dinner with Tom, Renita and Diane for Tom and Diane’s birthdays while my mother graciously watched the kids. That was really fun and very relaxing. I think my blood pressure almost returned to normal.
For at least five minutes.
As I stood debriefing with my mom about how the kids had gone to bed (Tom was 15 minutes behind me, since he stopped at Meijer to see if they had a Wii, which they did not), we heard a thunderous crash over one of the monitors. We opened both kids’ doors to find two sleeping angels. After a completely freaked out 10 minutes where my mom and I became increasingly convinced that there was some intruder in the house and we all were going to die, Tom and my Dad arrived, and poked around until they discovered that the 40 lb. mirror that hung over our bathroom sink had come crashing to the ground. One side of the wire mounted to the back had detached. I can’t even imagine how hurt someone could have been if they had been standing right next to it.
Anyway, I’m sure there’s some incredibly profound connection I could make here about my whole life being turned upside down by going “wireless” in so many ways, but right now I just want to go to bed and wake up to discover this whole week is finally over.
We got rid of the Xmas tree today. The needles were falling off at lightning speed, and I really missed the real estate in the play area. Nonetheless, saying goodbye to the tree is always sad. It leaves a gaping hole in your living space, and even though the holidays are hectic, it reminds me that all the excitement and anticipation is over until next year.
So today we hatched a plan. As Tom took the lights off the tree and assigned it to its new job as fertilizer, I settled the kids down for a project: planting Xmas tree seeds. This great little kit made it super-easy. Although I’m sure you could do it yourself for much cheaper, it was nice for this first-timer to have all the supplies I needed.
Rehydrate the soil, plant seeds, and then into the refrigerator for 30 days. When we have seedlings and the right conditions outside, we’ll transplant them to an area on the farm.
While Neko was still a little sad to see the tree go, I think she’s excited about keeping an eye on our seeds. And I love the idea that someday down the road we’ll pick our family tree from a grove planted by our own hands.
It’s been grey and gross around here. Overcast skies, threatening rain, and rarely a peek of sunshine. Maybe that’s why we’re on the sixth day of 2007, and I have yet to write a post.
By mid-afternoon today, everyone was cranky. Shep woke up from nap in a bad mood. Neko didn’t nap. Tom is getting a cold. I’m depressed about how much I clean and how much of a disaster this house still is.
I managed to get the recycling out this morning, but the trash bin was full and the mudroom shower was becoming a second dumpster. “I’m taking out the trash,” I said. “Who’s coming?” Neko balked until Shep sprinted for his boots. Then suddenly Neko wanted to go, too. Even Tom found his coat.
As we carried the bags, the kids started playing in the mud puddles. We considered if we should stop them, but, you know, they were in boots and we own a really nicer washer and dryer.
Turns out fresh air and mud puddles are a good cure for cranky kids. And maybe their parents, too.
We met Griffin, Vince and their families at the museum today. Marlo, Jeff, Vince, and James were in town for the holidays, so a get-together is a must.
The kids ran headlong toward one another, and it was like no time had elapsed since they saw one another. We tried to get some good pictures of the three of them, which wasn’t so easy. Then, once Griffin left, the whole photo-op turned into some sort of WWF on the floor between Neko and Vince, giggling all the way.
We must figure out how to get Jeff transferred back to our neighborhood.
Last year, after a hot tip from Chris, I got Tom a Thingamagoop for Xmas. It’s one step away from a high school science project. A homemade box with circuitry wired inside. Turning the knobs results in different frequencies of noise. The antenna is light-sensitive, so it changes the pitch as well. Basically, it sounds like a CB radio gone crazy. Tom loves it. The kids love it.
So this year, each of the kids got their own. I got one, too, because I think Tom didn’t want me to feel left out. Tonight was one of those award winning moments for any music-loving Dad. The kids got out all three Thingamagoops and were seeing how they interact with each other. Shining their lightbulbs at each other. Turning on and off the lightswitch. Tom was beaming with glee.
Now that is a Xmas gift.
Today was the alumni reunion at MFS. I go to take pictures for the newsletter and see a few old faces, and the kids go to tear apart the kindergarten in record speed.
Neko packed her Ariel costume, and put it on mid-way through the party to share with everyone. Shep was fascinated by the stairs and the drinking foutain. Really, if entertainment were this easy at home, I’d be totally caught up on all my magazines.
I’m an aunt again! Welcome to baby Alex, pictured here at about eight hours old. Congratulations to Susie, Doug and big brother, Chris.