Mistake

This afternoon I laid down for a nap not long before I expected Mad to be up from hers.  I asked Corey, "If she wakes up before 3:00, please get her.  If you need me, of course come and get me."  He agreed.


To me, the above conversation means I need 45 minutes of rest. I'm not sure what it meant to Corey.


I woke up at 5:45 when Tom got home from work.  Apparently Mad got up around 4:00, but I never registered her talking over the monitor, and Corey never brought her to me (nice, but girlfriend could have used a diaper change).  Instead I was busy in dreamland, solving work-related problems and getting ready to deal with teachers, three whom I love and one who I should not have to deal with at all, let alone in my dreams while in my second week of maternity leave.  For that I'd like to thank the employer who called my cell phone today.  She didn't write down any of the information I gave her two weeks ago, so could I please call her and tell her again?  At least she was honest, I guess.


On top of being wide awake tonight, I have been hungrier than I've been in weeks.  Honestly that started yesterday at the barbecue.  It'll be interesting to see what my weight is on Wednesday.

Dad and Margaret decided to gather all of the kids and grandkids together yesterday for a barbecue before the grandkids start school (some of them next week!).


Mad spent quite a bit of time watering things (the grass, herself, the bird feeder, plants).

Then she decided to spend some time "dirting" things (see previous list).

Once she formed her mud pies, it was time to get down to some serious cooking!

Someone chose other activities rather than sampling his daughter's delights.

*Shudder*

I realize that by writing this right after my previous post, people may not read the one that came before.  Please check it out if you have a sec.  I need a little help for a non-earth shattering situation.


I've been feeling a lot like a lazy person lately.  I get that I'm mere weeks from due (24 days) with my third child, and I know that I rested a lot more while pregnant with Mad than I have this time.  (Some of that's because it's hard to go home and nap at lunch these days.  Last time I lived four miles from my office, and within two miles of four of my schools.  Plus, Fynn seems to require less sleep from my body.  Not that I'm awake, but if I nap, I lose that time trying to sleep at night.)  Between having Madelyn running around, and the fact that Tom's working such crazy long hours, I feel guilty about laying down during the day and leaving her care completely to him.  (Not that he's anything less than 100% qualified.  I'm not one of those annoying women who "let" their husbands "babysit" for them.)


Today I decided to risk it.  Tom and I slept while Mad was safely in her room, not napping.  I found a new reason not to sleep during the day, too.


I had a dream.  Now, I am known for my unusually detailed and bizarre dreams even when I'm not pregnant.  Sometimes I get physically involved in them.  Did I ever tell you about the time I thought a blue shadow man was going into Corey's room?  I leapt out of bed to rescue him.  Unfortunately, I led with the foot that was in the center of the bed, and that toe became tangled in the blankets on the way out of my very high bed.  I landed with a very painful thud on my knees.  Had some nasty hematomas that lasted for weeks.  Was happy I didn't break my toe off.


Today's dream didn't involve any physicality, and I did not become injured in any way.  Still, it was the worst.  I dreamt that my car was stolen.  It's a Hybrid Ford Escape.  Although the details of our neighborhood were different, the car was exactly the same (*sigh* in desperate need of a wash).  When I realized it was gone, my first instinct was to call the police.  But then I started thinking about what would happen if we didn't get the car back.  How would we afford to replace it?  What would I end up with?  And suddenly, I knew.


A gold minivan.*


And not one with all the cool features.  A gold minivan with bad gas mileage, slow acceleration, cereal pre-ground into the carpet and seats.


Instead of trusting the local PD, I went out and searched for my car myself.


I woke up and told Tom about it.  I think he was more horrified than I had been.


*Yes, I know you have a minivan and you love it.  I'm just not ready to move to the dark side.

Finding the Funny

Let's be honest, shall we?  There isn't a lot of hi-larity when it comes to my in-laws.  They're just great people.  Of course it goes without saying that they're completely unlike MY family.


***I spoke with my (beloved) Wicked Stepmom today.  She was telling me about some of her nieces and nephews from one of her sisters.  The good one is in jail for "a few years" for failing to report to his parole officer.  So maybe I'm a little intimidated by Tom's nice, normal, well-educated 'rents.  My main goal in any interaction is to not make them feel bad for their son's choice of partner.


Here are a few basic facts:  Judy is a nurse.  A pediatric nurse.  She could be entirely pushy and overbearing about the decisions we make with the kids, but she isn't.  Larry does not work.  He's had MS for about 30 years.  Although his case is relatively mild and progressing slowly, he's told me that he often wakes up feeling like he just ran a marathon: tired and sore.  So the man naps.  I think during their regular life, he probably takes a couple of naps a day.  On vacations, and especially with us, he pushes himself.  Still, a nap a day was in order.


The great thing about our house is that we now have room for guests.  However, we don't have a room.  The sleeper sofa is in the loft.  At the top of the stairs.  Right outside of our room.  From any of our bedrooms, you really can't hear what's happening downstairs.  You can from the loft, although it's muted.  A few days before they arrived, I found a screen that would be perfect to block out sound and give some privacy.  However, the couch wasn't really in our budget, so the screen was out.


Ever wished you'd gone ahead and splurged, even if it seemed wiser not to in the beginning?


First night?  Great.  No problems.  First morning?  The same.  Second night I couldn't sleep.  In fact, I messed around on the computer until nearly 1:00 in the morning.  The baby gate at the foot of the stairs squeaks.  The one at the top is different and clicks loudly as it locks and unlocks.  Five feet from the fam.


Second morning, no surprise, I overslept.  Larry also slept later than usual.  When I came out of our room, there he was, standing (thankfully, with his back to me) in a shirt and his BVDs.


***So maybe a little shiver ran down my spine just now.  It could be cold, right?


I jetted down the stairs, made the coffee and did whatever for what seemed like forever.  Something (it seemed very important at the time) called me back up the stairs.  Only to find Larry still in his unders.


***Brrr.... chilly here!  What is it?  Like 68 degrees outside?  70?


In other, fully-dressed news (please let this be fully-dressed news), Corey has a girlfriend.  His first "real" girlfriend (no, I'm not talking "Lars and the Real Girl"... just that a couple of girls in middle school were girlfriends with whom he did nothing aside from chat during class).  The boy has worked exceptionally hard to get one.  ANY one.  Nearly a month ago I had to block several girls' numbers from his cell.  Instead of toughing it out, he found new girls to text.


Said girlfriend is Lisa.  She looks cute.  Lisa beat out Celina (as opposed Selina... keep 'em straight, wouldja?!?) merely because of timing.  Celina said she just liked Corey as a friend.  She probably wasn't up for his lightning speed getting-to-know-you ritual (which I have overheard on the phone... it goes like this:
"So what kind of car would you like to drive?"
"What's your favorite color?"
"Do you watch G4?"
"Ever have sushi?"
etc., etc., etc.)... or at least not until she found out about Lisa.  But Corey has apparently played it straight.  Anyway, Corey and Lisa are going to Homecoming together.  I have been trying to give him as much dating advice as he'll tolerate.


Madelyn finally had her EEG to rule out any seizures.  The neurologist agreed to schedule it around Mad's naptime so she could just sleep naturally and not be sedated.  In fact, she suggested it before we could say, "Hey, we're all for checking her out, but we are not up for putting her to sleep.  Thanks."  One of the nice things was going back to the hospital where Mad was born.  As with each of the times we've had to go there, the staff were fabulous.  They were very patient with us as we tried to get Mad to sleep. 


Our usual naptime routine is this:
Ask Mad, "Do you want to go upstairs and have a nip-nappy-snip-snappy?"
"No!" (You have to imagine this being said gleefully as she runs over to the stairs... she means "Heck yeah, I want a nap!")
Go up the stairs with Mad in my arms, but in a position that allows her to use the hand rail.  Do a little looby loo.  Check her diaper.  Read a story (unless we've waited too long).  Get Dog.  Get Frog.  Let Mad turn on her music and shut the door.  Kiss everybody and put them all in the crib.  Mad might sit there for a second to get an extra smooch.  Then she folds the animals in her lap and flops over on them.  She stays pretty much in that position with her butt high in the air for 2-3 hours.


In the neurology lab, there was a hospital bed and a whole lot of computer equipment.  Since Mad doesn't use a bottle, sippy cup or binky and she doesn't nurse, we had a small test of willpower to get her sleeping.  I tried sitting in one of the office chairs and spinning slowly to one direction and then the other.


Screeeaming baby.


Singing mama.


Screaming, fighting baby.


Want to go to Dada?


Yeah... NOO!!!  This at least resulted in her face being buried in my shoulder.  Every time she did that, her crying mellowed out.  We probably attempted the hand-off (at her request, not because we're mean) half a dozen times.  Eventually I was able to sit down and snuggle her.  Too soon I tried to lay her down, but it only added a minute or two to our temporary pre-sleep ritual.  She was pretty tired.  We'd gotten her up about two hours earlier than normal.  Getting her to sleep took about 15 minutes, but once Mad was out, she was out.  The only problem came when, halfway through getting electrodes attached to her head with conductive paste, Mad decided it was time to go butt up.  Everything got fixed and the testing went off without a hitch.  If I had to go through it again, I would mention to her that it was naptime, and we would have brought her special sleeping music. 


We get the results tomorrow.  Not sure why the doc wants Mad there, too.  I'm hoping it's just because the receptionist didn't know to mention that Mad's only 18 months old, it's not like she's going to understand the concepts of our conversation.

Mid-Visit Update

As anticipated, my in-laws are great.  When Mad was born, they came out but stayed at a hotel (we had a tiny apartment... they'd stayed with us there before, but for this they gave us space).  Whenever they came to our place, they called first to see what they could bring.  While there, Judy probably used every bit of her self-control to not hog the baby.  Instead, she cleaned and organized my kitchen and backyard... and then she held the baby.  I guess her mother-in-law would come to visit when the boys were born.  She'd tell Judy to go ahead and deal with her chores; Grandma would take care of the baby.


So yeah, I'd like to say a little thanks to Tom's slightly selfish grandmother.


The other day I was talking to Gina, who is married to my brother.  We were talking about my in-laws and how long they were staying.  She seemed to think that four nights was a long time, but I disagreed.  I told her about some of their previous visits and ended with, "My in-laws are great!  Everyone should have in-laws this great."


Her response?  A wistful... almost sad, "Yeah.  You're right."


Ahem... 'scuze me?  Bah!  So, some of my in-laws are great.  Namely, the ones on Tom's side, haha.


Judy and Larry have arrived at what seems to be the perfect time for Madelyn.  She was sick last week, but seems to be better.  On top of that (and more importantly), she has been much more receptive to others lately.  I did arm the grandparents with a secret weapon:  knowledge of the Boop (grapes).  Mad's a full-fledged Boop Addict (it's early for coffee yet).  So Wednesday evening Gramma gave Boop and yesterday Grampa did.  Last night Mad gave Gramma a kiss before bed, and today she let Gramma pick her up from her nap and bring her downstairs.


The only downside so far was that Corey couldn't sleep last night.*  He was apparently up and down the stairs pretty often, and then chose to watch something with the volume too loud.  (Larry and Judy are sleeping in our loft, so no doors for them.)  Combine that with the fact that Tom and Judy's chatting yesterday afternoon apparently kept Larry from getting a good nap.  He has MS, so naps are not uncommon (heck, I don't have it and I can appreciate a good one). 


Today, we spent the late morning shopping for Halloween costumes and decorations and clothes for Mad.  After lunch, Mad and Grampa were ready for serious napping.  Grampa was determined to snooze:

Seemed to work.  I think I'll try this next time I'm trying not to hear Tom shaving/brushing his teeth/opening the shower curtain 900 times in the course of a work morning.


*Okay, really, there was one other downside, but I can't talk about it right now.

We went to a birthday party. I slept. The end.

We had a pretty full weekend, how about you?


Saturday we attended a birthday party for one of Madelyn's friends.  Seth is on a different nap schedule than Mad, so we left for the party almost an hour after it started.  She didn't sleep that late, but had to have lunch first.  Then in a nod to her newborn days, she had three dirty diapers in less than 20 minutes (pee, poop, pee, in case you were wondering).  As I trudged up the stairs for the last one, I told her, "No more peeing from you."  It was one of those World's Best Mother moments.


In a perfect world we would have been on time and I would have left after half an hour or so because Nancy's son was also getting married that day.  That was out of the question, so I just enjoyed the day.


***I talk about it like it was so much longer ago than yesterday.


The party was fabulous, as have been all of the first birthdays we've celebrated this year.  None of our friends are over-the-top, so the parties were all pretty similar.  Playing and eating, followed by cake and presents.


Corey doesn't always attend these things with us.  Last time, there were other older kids.  Not so much this time, so he spent the afternoon lounging in the yard and texting his friends.

Despite the heat, his own coolness dictated the all black, long-sleeved and jeaned outfit.




*** On a side note, can I just say I'm jealous at Steve and Maija's tomato bounty?  They threw them into this area of the garden because they "didn't landscape it this year."  We carefully planted tomato plant after tomato plant at our old apartment.  In three years we never saw 1/3 as many as you can see just in this photo.  And they must have had a dozen plants.  Yeah.  A little green right now.




This particular party was different, though, because of the amount of water involved.  In addition to a lily pond into which Mad threw many a pebble, there was a water table and a kiddie pool.

See how Mad's backside is minimally dry?  That was because she hasn't learned how to lift the pails out of the water table up and over enough to soak her entire body.  Her gleeful laughter was so enchanting, I forgot to take any pictures while she was doing it.




Hopefully Mad's rock throwing wasn't the cause of the dead goldfish found later. Personally, I think Bucket Head might have had something to do with it (not really, just trying to divert attention from the rock flying out of Madelyn's hand in the previous photo... and who doesn't love Buckethead?).

Isn't that a cool backyard?  It was helpful to hear Maija and Steve talk about what it looked like in the beginning and how long it took them to get it to this point (4 years!!!).  We also got some more landscaping tips.  That these people would be knowledgeable about landscaping and gardening is no surprise since they won the contest to design our backyard.




While enjoying their hospitality, Tom and I each engaged in what I refer to as shopping.  It's something we do when we're in a new environment.  I'm not entirely sure it's polite, either.  No, we didn't haggle with them over whether or not we could buy any of their belongings.




As I sat on the stairs (no baby gate at the bottom, so Mad was all over them) and Tom stood on the floor below (for those turn-arounds and no-we're-not-going-back-outsides), I spied their wine racks.  Three of them.  We have a space and we have a need.  I pointed them out to Tom.




"But only two for us, I think, with some other cabinetry."




He knew exactly what I meant and began to tell me about some pieces he's seen at work that might better fill our requirements.  (Tom works for a corporation that has a variety of housewares type stores.  I refuse to name them because I reserve the right to accurately call his boss a rat bastard at any given moment.)




On the trip home I asked what he thought of the dark walls in one bathroom and the hallway.  He hadn't noticed, but is apparently against more than an accent wall that dark.  (I wasn't sure what I thought of the color, to be honest.  I'll very likely love it next time I see it... it's certainly unique.)




It doesn't seem to be in the best taste to be dissecting one's friends homes, but we do it all the time.  And we're not alone.  Maija was telling me that she's been trying to convince her mom to paint her cabinets a similar color to ours.  It was all I could do not to pull out the color swatch that I happened to have in my purse so Maija could send it to Mom (no, really, there's a good reason it's there... I swear).  I was just so excited that someone else loves our color choice.  (The list of don't-love-its is growing, but we're standing firm.)




When we came home, I was exhausted.  I would like to believe that it's because I'm pregnant (highly unlikely), but I know it's just allergies.  Aside from the eyes... the nose... the sneezing and wheezing, I have sores in my mouth.  When this has happened in the past, I've usually had to increase the allergy meds.  However, I haven't taken any since suspecting I was pregnant with Mad.  Between pregnancy and nursing and trying to get pregnant again, there's just been no time to return to my daily meds.  Things haven't been too bad, but fall is coming on quick and I'm no longer pregnant or nursing.  Those two things give a woman some protection, believe it or not.




Yesterday evening I napped for a couple of hours and still had no trouble oversleeping this morning.  Today we straightened up the place a bit and had my mom over for lunch.  Afterward, we sat around watching Madelyn and trying not to fall asleep.  Apparently the gods have smiled down upon us and it was cool and windy here all day today.  Neither of the air conditioning units have been on since this morning.  All the windows are open.  That meant it was pretty windy in the house, too.  Mad's ball raced across the floor downstairs by itself a couple of times.




This evening I took what ended up being a four-hour "nap."  Considering that tomorrow's Monday, I've really screwed myself up here.  As it nears midnight, I'm only a little tired.  I wouldn't have slept that long, but it was cool enough that I eventually ended up getting under the covers.  That is the waking soon kiss of death in my world.  But that delicious breeze held me in it's clutches and I didn't want to be let go.




In retrospect, the start of this post isn't really accurate, is it?  So I've changed the title, too.