Confessions of an Angry Mother

Hey kids. Listen, I know sometimes I'm lots of sunshine and roses, but that's not what you're getting today. Today, you're getting blisters and spankings.

Tried out my new shoes on a run this morning (I actually got up at 6:30 to run!!). Mostly because I thought I'd read that "breaking in" new shoes is a myth, and that good new shoes shouldn't cause blisters. Well, A) they're not really that good of new shoes; they're New Balances but definitely bottom-of-the-line NBs. B) Hello, I have owned shoes for at least the last 30 years and I'm pretty sure shoes do, indeed, grow a little softer once you've worn them for a while.

Bottom line: I ran for 20 minutes until a hill kicked my heiney. I could tell I was getting blisters on the back of my heels, so I laced the shoes tighter, thinking that would stop the rubbing. Bad idea. Walking was agony at that point so I unlaced them entirely and was able to sprint the last 2 blocks home in almost no pain.

Got home and found a blister the size of a dime on my left heel. I lanced it, drained it, and MacGuyvered some diaper-rash cream under the blister's roof, using one of Ed's old syringe-like Liquid-Motrin-dispensers. This sounds gross, and probably is, but it was also very cool. I do like to dabble in self-surgery. My right heel's blister was less malevolent-looking, so I just band-aided it and am hoping for the best, or at least for a good science-fair topic: Which Blister Heals Faster?

After lunch, Jayla arrived and all was going well. I put Ed down for nap. I put Jayla down for nap. It was time for Lucy's nap and I gave her fair warning and I closed her shades and she said "I don't want to nap" and from then on it was a nightmare. She didn't want to go potty. Then insisted on going alone -- wouldn't even let me in the bathroom. So she went tinkle and then insisted she had to go #2 too. So she tried the little potty, tried the big potty, tried the little potty again and I was like, I'm sorry, that's it, you are done, we're going to go down for nap and she insisted on emptying out the potty but I said I had to help her (because I don't want tinkle all over my bathroom floor, and I don't think that's too neat-freaky of me, do you?) and she freaked out and was screaming so I swatted her bottom so she slapped my face and I am a horrible mother and then Jayla was screaming too and I was so angry I could spit. I put Lu in her bed and told her I didn't want to see her for 2 hours. She has actually been quiet ever since. Ed, of course, woke up then, too, but I think he calmed down after Jayla left.

Sooo... it's a rough day. I do not believe in spanking, and obviously it wasn't the right thing to do since she just hit me right back. I am really ashamed to admit I did that, but what the heck, I don't want anybody snowed into thinking I don't need a lot of help making it, here. I am really afraid I broke her heart and I desperately want to go in and hug her and tell her I love her (again, because I did tell her before I put her down) but I also desperately want her to nap a little longer. Argh.

AND I got to watch the Twins on cable! Yes!!

I feel the need to clarify: I am not running a 10K. I am running ten STINKING MILES... almost twice a 10K. I am going to die.

I did go for my First Run on Sunday; it was about three miles and it was great! My hips hurt a little and I was way tired by the end, but all in all it was good action.

For a while now, Lucy's been answering "Three o'clock!" whenever you ask her what time it is, and I think we just realized why: in the song "Goodnight, Sweetheart" (which, according to Lu, is "Daddy's song"), the first verse begins "Well, it's three o'clock in the morning..." and I'm sure that's where she got it.

My dad sent us a mix CD he just made (ostensibly for the kids, but I'm going to be the one weeping along to it every day) with a bunch of old-time favorites that remind me of my childhood. So many memories evoked by the playlist! Oh, here, what the heck, here it is:

Shimmy Shimmy Coco Bop
Goodnight Sweetheart
Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard
Kissin' and a-Huggin' with Fred
Catch a Falling Star
Mr. Sandman
Hernando's Hideaway
Day-O
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Sweet Charlotte (hey Dad, I'm not actually familiar with this one. Should I be?)
Little Deuce Coupe
Scarlet Ribbons
Puff, the Magic Dragon

We had an awesome Easter weekend in Monti with the Gronaus. We colored eggs on Saturday night, the kids were reasonably well-behaved at church on Sunday, and we did an outdoor egg-hunt (a first for me!) with Lucy. I was in charge of dessert and thought it would be funny to make a traditional lamb cake with white frosting but with a red velvet cake... a la the armadillo groom's cake in Steel Magnolias. Joel and I thought it was hilarious -- I'm not sure anybody else truly appreciated it, which is OK. I didn't have a lamb-cake pan so I kind of invented it out of regular cake pans and even though the photos don't show its true beauty (nor its bleeding interior) it turned out much better (and far more stable) than Ellen's Macchu Pichu cake last November. I am improving!

Lucy's been doing great in the toiley department. She's been dry for naps for a full week, and even though she has been having maybe one accident a day (during the week, that is, mostly because she refuses to be torn away from playing)... she actually had a dry diaper this morning. I'm astounded, as usual.

Eddie is now feeding himself almost exclusively. He even uses a spoon about half the time, which is just awesome and very freeing for me. He's been walking a *bit* more in the last few days, too -- he can maybe go 10-12 feet at a stretch, and sometimes he even pulls himself up and takes off on his own. He was mimicking sounds a lot this weekend; Grammy D has a Little People zoo set that makes animal noises, and Ed got the lion, elephant, and even the monkey pretty close. I swear he grew during his nap today -- I came home from my run and he was, like, somehow less of a baby.

I forgot to post this! Convos with Lulu

Jean was over the other week and we were packing up the kids to go to the grocery store and Lucy asked Jean: "We going to Jeannie's house?"

Jean: "No, Lu, we're not going to my house."

Lucy: "Oh, it's too messy?"

Then yesterday I was walking in the kitchen and I slipped on one of the kids' blankies that was lying on the kitchen floor. "Whoa!" I said as I sort of fell into a chair. "I slipped!"

Lu: "You slipped onna blanket?"

Me: "Yes, I did."

Lu: "It's okay, Mommy. It happens sometimes." (big cheesy grin)

Me: "You're cute, Lucy."

Lu: "Thank you."

I actually do happen to believe in coincidences.

http://blog.nj.com/sopranos/

Sooo... apparently on The Sopranos there was a horse named Pie Oh My that was killed by a guy named Joey Pants. John Shabe from Joysey was kind enough to bring this to my attention, and now he has an enormous picture of my head on his blog. How super weird is that? (the coincidence, I mean, not my head)? The guy refers to searching the "Internets" so I figure he must be relatively cool. Even if he did say I look like a mom. ;) (As I'm sure my mom is thinking: guess what, Meg, you ARE a mom.)

My swing dance class last night went splendidly. I have about 8 couples (I think there are actually maybe 9, but one didn't show up) and they all at least sort of know each other (they all live in the same building), which is a very cool dynamic to teach.

I have not started running yet, but Jean is on my tail and we're going to be able to run together at least a couple days a week, it seems. I do need to invest in a new pair of running shoes and a comfortable watch, if I'm going to make this work.

I'm hoping to have something to post soon that is more than just the mundanities of my day-to-day. Like, um, gee, anything other than "We went to the Children's Museum this morning and now the kids are napping." I'm workin' on it. :)

Monday, Monday

"Whuff" is the noise I want to make right now. I am in one of those moods where I have about 400 things I ought to be doing. Am I doing any of them? Nope. Blogging.

I took the kids to the park this morning, during those doldrums known as after-morning-snack-but-before-lunch. It was a little chilly, probably low 40s, and really overcast. Of course, now the sun's out. Anyway, it's a challenge because Ed's not walking but is big into exploring and climbing. And Lucy's not really much of an explorer and would much prefer to follow someone else's lead. Or just sit in the (very cold and damp) sand and dig. So I let her, and I just let Ed toodle and crawl around. Thank goodness for antibacterial soap and machine-washable clothes, I tell you what.

So apparently I signed myself up for the Soldier Field 10 Mile, which sounds a lot like I will have to run for TEN WHOLE BLEEPING MILES, which is about eight more miles than I am at all comfortable running. I'm so not pleased. Anyway, it's in Chicago on Memorial Day Saturday. My sisters are running too, which would be fine except they'll be flying on ahead of me and I'll probably just stop in Chinatown mid-race until someone comes to pick me up. I'm toast.

I start teaching my new swing dance lessons tonight and I'm sort of looking forward to it... I think? I don't know what the space is like, but I do know the people who set it up for me, so I'm hoping it'll be fun and fulfilling. I've never taught two sessions of classes concurrently (I mean, one-right-after-another, is that the right word? I think it's not.) but I think that might be a good thing... I can learn from my own very recent mistakes.

But I should probably at least wash my face before going.

Also, I'm supposed to start Lucy and Josie on some Friday dance lessons and I have some seriously awesome ideas but it's kind of a daunting task, pulling a whole curriculum together.

And I promised JG I would put the laundry away upstairs. He asked very sweetly and in the way that means, seriously, it would be a really good thing if I could get it done.

And I guess I should think about dinner. I have pork chops defrosting on the counter... but no plan...

Argh!

I love my kids, I love my kids...

But MAN it's kind of been a long week.

What's that you say? It's only Thursday? Ahhh, geez.

Put the kids down for naps right after lunch, and Ed was up gabbing at 1:59. OBJECTION!! I say. Overruled, says Eddie. He's up. But it's only 2:29 now and I'm going to let him hang out in there for a bit. He's happy.

This has been my first "full week" with Jayla and she is SUCH a doll but even though she's only here for 1.5 hours I do seem to get significantly less done around the house than I would like. By which I mean that I have not had a chance to pick up my book all week. Rats!

Nicole Watson's mom (occasionally commenting here as The Madwoman of Preserve Path) as a new blog. She's a great writer and very funny so check it out if you have time.

I am boring the living daylights out of myself. Sincerest apologies.

Some photos

...courtesy of Pat Watson, our photog-on-retainer, of course. I was totally hoarding these photos because I am ordering big prints for our walls (yes, I am FINALLY getting pix of my kids up in my house!)... but then I realized that many of you are never going to come over.

Not that you're not invited, of course... ;)

Yeah, it makes me smile...

I'm super-hooked on Lily Allen's CD "Alright, Still". It's been a really long time since I had a new CD that really made me happy! Even though the lyrics are actually really, um, jaded-urban-Gen-Y, maybe? Whatevs, I like her British accent. So I've been surreptitially listening to Lily (too many swears for baby ears) when I can. Thanks Stu!

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY, could you even imagine a more beautiful weekend? 70s and sunny and so lovely. We got the garage cleaned out (including the removal of truly revolting amounts of mouse messes), I went to Target three times, and we got the laundry and groceries taken care of for the week (I think).

I also agreed to teach some more dance lessons for a couple from my current Latin class and some people in their condo-building. This will be a great night-job if it carries on. I was sort of looking forward to not-teaching for a while but it seems like it will be a good gig so I may as well give it a go.

Alley Joel and Cara were putzing in their garage on Saturday so we all had a barbecue right before the rain came. The kids fawned all over Jean and Cara; it was fun to see.

The kids spent kind of a lot of time this weekend at the playground; thank goodness it's only a block away! They both love the swings. Lucy is getting brave enough to do the slides by herself; unfortunately, so is Ed. That kid! I do not know what to do with a boy. We put him down in the sand for three seconds this morning and next thing we knew he was halfway across the playground, a third of the way up the steps. Oof. I know he's frustrated that he can't walk or keep up yet.

Oh, and I helped Jean buy, transport, and assemble some new bedroom furniture today. So fun! I love helping other people spend money. And I do love Ikea. I got a few frames for the kitchen in hopes of getting some pix of my kids actually up in the house here.

My sister Ellen ran in Chicago's "Shamrock Shuffle" today along with thirty thousand other people. My folks went to see her run and said it was a total madhouse. Can you even imagine? Ellen is also joining this sorta-almost-professional women's volleyball team in Chicago. She totally amazes me.

Tomorrow I start watching Jayla 5 days a week. I really want it to go well... I know it will just take some actual planning on my part, even though it's only 1.5 hours a day. It's supposed to be gorgeous again tomorrow... so I should probably go to sleep so I can get up and enjoy it, eh?

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

I'm not sure what that lyric means but the song's been running through my head since it was playing at the Kids' Museum this morning.

Yurk! I can't believe I haven't posted in nigh-on a week.

We had a wonderful trip to Illinois over the weekend. Spent lots of good grandparent-time (including seeing Aunt Eller and both my grandmas, what a treat!) and by the third night both kids were content sleeping in my folks' accommodations. We also got to see adorably pregnant Stulie and play Santa by bestowing upon them 2 gynormous bags of baby clothes. So we must be done having kids... we have no more baby clothes!

On Saturday my mom treated me, Joel, Lucy, Ellen and Grandma Jake to Seussical, the Musical at Conant High School. The show was not bad, and fun, and Lucy was rapt with attention (as was Grandma). Lu clapped at the end of every song and blew bubbles during the tub scene and got to meet some of the Whos after the show and she loved it.

Joel took Lucy on a date this evening to see Charlotte's Web at the $2 show. Well, $1 for two-year-olds. She talked all day about how she was going on "a date" after her nap. They got popcorn and she held her tinkle until after the show was over. Her only complaint was that there weren't any songs in this version (she knows all the songs from the 1973 version we have at home).

Oh! Which reminds me, Lucy has been wearing big-girl underpants for a week. She's had a few accidents, most of which have been my fault (like, not taking her directly to the pot after a longish grocery trip... or forgetting to diaper her for a nap). But she's doing pretty well. Man, that girl has a mind of her own -- you cannot force her to sit on the pot if she doesn't want to. Boy, oh boy. We had a slight problem tonight: Joel diapered her around 7:15 and by 7:45 (she goes to bed around 8) she had wet the diaper so much that it soaked through her jammy pants. She did tell me she was tinkling, as she was going... but it's as though wearing a diaper gives her license to just tinkle whenever. So, moms-who've-been-here... what should I do? Not diaper her until right before bedtime? Or do I have to buy those spendy "Feel-n-Learn" diapers that feel wet on her bottom and have her wear those at bedtime and naps?

I should say that Lucy did drink a lot of juice during her date. So that maybe exacerbated the problem.

Ed's still not walking, which is OK by me. That kid is going to have a major head injury by the time he's 2, I can almost guarantee it. No fear, no sense -- he just climbs up on everything.

I'm going to bed now... got another wild day ahead tomorrow...

300!

Not the movie.

This is my 300th post! Happy to me.

Joel and I are sitting in the living room right now with the TV actually off. OFF. OFF, do you hear me?!? I do not remember the TV being off ANY other evening in our house. Joel had on the Pussycat Dolls show, whatever-the-heck it is, and he started whining about how bad it was and I suggested (kiddingly!) that the TV could, indeed, be turned off and he actually went over and did it. And then swore about it for the next five minutes, while gnawing on some random pretzel crumbs and staring oddly at the darkened TV screen.

He's reading a month-old issue of Sports Illustrated now. Upp, now he's starting to wiggle. And swear again. Annnnnnd....

The TV's back on. Well it was a good 20 minutes, while it lasted. To be honest, I spent 10 of it on the phone with Jean.

Speaking of TV, I feel the need to admit that I have the teeniest crush on the guy who plays Tommy on The Black Donnellys. I am not the type to crush on actors. But I did read he was a ballet dancer (ballerino? ballet-man?) so maybe that has something to do with it. Joel knows about it and has started walking around with his cheeks sucked in, telling me to "get outta my bid'ness".

Know what bugs me? When people say "down south" when what they mean is "southern Minnesota." Because those two terms are not interchangeable.

Edward had his 12-month well-baby this morning. He's like almost 24 pounds and maybe 31" tall. Or something. They said 85th% for height and 80th% for weight. So he's a chunker, which should surprise nobody. His head is exactly average -- so take that, mean mall mom. :)

Drat! My battery's dying, I'd better go. Be well...

Gotta go!

A couple other Lucyisms I need to write down:

A couple weeks ago I was running a little short on temper. The ever-perceptive Lucy goes "Mommy, you mad at me?"

Me (after a deep breath): "No, honey, I'm not mad at you."

Lucy (after a thoughtful pause): "You... fussin'-ratin' at me?"

Awwww.

Also -- some kids have imaginary friends. Lucy has... imaginary words. Specifically: floo, fla, flow, and fisha-fasha.

It's really interesting to observe, because you can tell she uses them when she can't quite come up with the right word as quickly as she wants to use it. For example, when she doesn't like something or she thinks something is icky, she'll often call it "floo" or sometimes "flow and low."

Carol and I went out for drinks on Saturday night, to a local dive. I mean, it's a serious dive. So anyway, we're walking out the door at (a very modest) 11pm, and a woman steps out of the bushes sort of right into me. We just barely brushed shoulders; I didn't even think the contact warranted an "excuse me"... but the gal sorta shouted at us: "White hos gotta go!"

I mean, really. You know what Carol and I look like. Like minivan-drivin' moms. Though I suppose the gal was spot-on about the white part.

Musicals musicals! Spectcular spectacular!

Golly, I love a good live musical. Joel and Jean and I went to see Disney's "High School Musical" at the Children's Theatre Company on Friday night. My friend Katie Allen was the lead, Gabriella. She was amazing and the show was maybe one of the best 3-5 shows I have ever seen. The show is going to be opening on Broadway sometime in the next year or so and I cannot imagine a Broadway performance being any better than what we saw. Every single member of the cast was "on" the entire time; the staging, sound, and costumes were all incredibly engaging and professionally done. We'd seen the movie a few months ago and been unimpressed, but it really does make a much better live show. So congrats to everyone at CTC; really, really great job!

Joel and I took the kids to the Children's Museum again this morning. Man, do we love that place! They had face paints laid out for the kids to play with, and Lucy completely covered the lower half of her face in green (her favorite color). She was so happy. Joel drew Elvis-style blue glasses and black sideburns on Ned.

Saturday night Joel put on "The Music Man" DVD (the newer version with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Broderick) for Lucy. There's a song called "Shipoopi" in the show. When it started, Lucy turned to Joel incredulously and said "POOPY!??!" Joel told her it was "Shipoopi" and then they came upstairs for dinner. Lucy was saying "Poopy, poopy..." and I (thinking of potty training rather than Meredith Willson) said "Lu, we don't say 'poopy,' we say --"

Lu: "Shi-popo?"

That girl is like a sponge when it comes to songs. So she ran around the basement the rest of the evening, singing "Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi" (which is how the song goes). I should also add that she was playing one of Eddie's plastic golf clubs like a trumpet. The next line of the song goes "the girl is hard to get," which Lu had misunderstood as "the guy is soaking wet." We laughed hard enough for her to realize she was hilarious, and she sang it all day today too. That is, when she isn't singing "a fair is a veritable smorgasbord, orgasbord, orgasbord" from the old animated Charlotte's Web movie from, like, 1973 or whatever. She was singing that one at the top of her lungs when she was supposed to be napping on Saturday.

Oh, I should also mention that Lu spent much of the day Friday wearing... a strand of pearls. And... that's it.

Eddie seems to be aging gracefully since his b-day -- though he still refuses to walk much. Oh, he did stand himself up and take three steps on his own this evening. And yesterday he took, maybe, 10 steps from Joel to me.

Ned and Lu spent about 5 minutes at the supper table tonight, screaming at each other. Screaming. It would have been really irritating, except you could tell they were just seeing what kinds of noises they could make. And it's really funny to watch someone let out a super-loud scream at the top of his lungs and then immediately take a huge bite of chili like nothing ever happened. Especially when he still has the light-blue remains of Elvis glasses painted on his face.

My Eddie!

Happy 1st birthday to my baby man Ed.

Everybody (myself included) keeps saying "I can't believe it's been a year!" but it sure has.

My dad is in for the week -- he gets such a huge kick out of the kids and it's so fun to watch. It's also fun to watch him do all the dishes. :)

Well! Short & sweet today. I think I'll take a nap now.

Baseball on the radio, I'm so happy!

We went to story time at the Red Balloon Bookshop this morning (as we do every Tuesday, though I'm not sure how long we're going to continue -- Ed was WILD today and it's really hard getting him to chill through both story times... I'm getting ahead of myself)

There are actually 2 story times; first is Baby Time, for 0-2 year-olds. Each week Sara, the leader, sings "happy birthday" to whichever baby(s) have birthdays that week. And apparently I did a good job preparing Ed for this week; when Sara asked for birthdays, I exaggerate not, Ed stood up on my lap, waved his hand and went "Eh!" We sang to him (and to some kid named Luka, which I think confused Lucy because I have spent the entire last week gently reminding her that, no, it's not your birthday this week) and went on our merry way.

The second story time is for 2-3 y-os and Lucy gets way more out of that one. They do a couple little dances, I think is why. Well anyway, Kim (the leader) was dressing a toy dog (I'm not really sure why; I was try to keep Ed entertained) and she put some underwear on it and the little girl right next to Lucy got really excited and shouted out "Big boy underwear!!!" It was really funny.

Which is my segue to the Quest-for-Big-Girl-Underwear Report: while yesterday was kind of fair-to-middling (I had a heck of a time getting her to put down the toys and sit down on the pot), Lu was completely dry all morning today. Which included going at 9:30 and then holding it all the way through both storytimes AND lunch and then going again at 1:30, which seems like an unreal time for her to hold it but she sure did.

The little girl I've been watching (3 days a week, 1 hour each day) is now going to need watching 5 days a week, 1.5 hours each day. I just don't know whether or not I should do it.

Dur dur d'etre bebe!

At least, I sort of think that's how you say "it's so tough to be a baby" in French, though my source on that is the 8-year-old (as of 1992) French "house mix" singing sensation Jordy, so, you know, take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, so Ed fell asleep in the middle of lunch today. He got the leans midway through his second PBJ sammy and the next time I looked over, he was cashed.

In other news, we hooked ourselves up with a fambly membership to the Children's Museum, and I am super excited to make that a regular outing. We also started a toilet-learning sticker-chart/M&M-bribe system with Lucy. We'll see how it goes.

1500, my new radio home

That show Medium always freaks me out. I love it!

Tonight I seriously HAPPENED to turn on 1500AM, only because I just had to reprogram all my radio stations in the van because my in-laws left the lights on when they took Lucy to church on Saturday so the battery died so all my pre-set stations went the way of pin-rolled pants and banana clips, and while reprogramming the stations I actually remembered that the Twins are no longer on 830 but 1500, so I actually set it correctly, so then when I turned on the radio (which I only get to do when I'm alone in the car which is very rare these days) THERE WAS A TWINS GAME ON!!!!

Yes, spring training has begun! I am not kidding when I say my little heart skipped a beat at the sound of John Gordon's voice. The ride to the Dayton's Bluff Rec Center is less than 5 minutes, so all I really caught of the game was that we were ahead 1-0 in the 3rd based on something Jason Bartlett did, and that we're scheduled to play against Kyle Lohse later this week, but WHO CARES, it's BASEBALL!!!

Now, it still confuses me that major-league ballplayers can be younger than I am. I know, I know, some of them are an entire decade younger than I am. But it's still something that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around.

Silly kid update!
Lucy's taken to calling Ed "a stinker." Probably because I do too. The other day Ed was hollering about something and Lucy said to me "What a loud stinker!"
Also, she uses "stink" when she means "smell" as a verb. Today, she picked up a diaper Ed had just dirtied (and I had just carefully wrapped) and said "Let me stink this," right before sticking her nose in it.

Good-bye, nursing bras! Hello...

Um... hello? Hellooooooo...

hello... hello... hello...

Well! I finally went through my bra drawer and removed every last nursing bra and washable nursing pad. Ed and I had one last nursing session last week and we are totally done now. So now my chest is a size it hasn't been for... three and a half years? Which means the only 2 bras I have that fit now are four years old and came from the teenage-girls bra department at JC Penney. Ugh.

Lucy's word for "nipples" might actually be "mittles." I can't quite tell.

My mother-in-law is participating in a Polar Plunge at Lake Calhoun this Saturday. We're going to see her to cheer her on and wish her luck and warmth!

Going ot have to finish this later; it's bedtime...

Friday

Nuthin' new here. Lucy just got up from her nap; she walks out on her own with her sleep-ruddy cheeks and says "Hi, Mommy." It's awesome.



Ed still has his four teeth and they're huge. He grins and says "Hi, Da" all day.



Lucy's phrase this week is "You gotta buy some more." As in:



Me: "Lucy, this is the last cookie for you tonight."
Lucy: "You gotta buy some more."

Lucy discovered her nipples (or "mimples") this week.

(Lifting her shirt) "What are these, mommy?"

"Nipples, sweetie."

"I have breasts?"

"No, right now you just have nipples. In about 10 years you'll have breasts."

"Maybe later. When I'm older."

We had lovely playdates with the Dalys and Watsons, respectively, this week. Toddlers are just so, so funny. Love them all.

New baby

Well! Ask and ye shall receive!

CONGRATS to the Pudwell Family on their new baby girl! I got this email this morning:

Nicole, Scott, and Joshua are proud to announce the newest Pudwell!!
Ashley Ann Pudwell was born at 8:02pm [on Feb. 22].
Ashley weighed 7lbs 11oz, and was 19 inches long.
Pictures coming soon on pudwellfamily.com
Both Mom and Ashley are doing great!!

Welcome to the world, Ashley!! Welcome to big-brotherhood, Josh!

New blogs and whatnot

New Blogs
My friend Jara now has a blog, as does my cousin Amy. Actually Amy has had one for several months; I'd just missed the loop, for some wild reason.

Whatnot
Also! Congrats to my friend Michelle who is relatively-newly pregnant with #2.

Please send power out to 2 of my due-any-minute preggo friends, Nicole P and Tricia. Can't wait to hear their stories!


More Whatnot
So I read this item about birthing and breastfeeding/latching in Parents magazine last night and I thought it was really interesting. Of course, I am the crazy granola mom. So I'm embracing my role. :)

"Sometimes it takes a bit longer for a newborn to latch -- and the most common reason is that the baby's sleepy because his mother was given an epidural or other labor medications."

Then they quote a gal from La Leche League, Katy Lebbing:

"Research has shown that if an epidural is administered for more than two hours, you'll have latching problems. The longer the epidural is in, the more likely you are to have trouble. ...A woman ... had an epidural for 48 hours; her baby didn't latch on for three weeks."

I had never heard before that the two were related... though I knew I was already a firm believer in both natural childbirth and breastfeeding, but I guess this info makes me feel a little better since I know I'm in the minority. Maybe I need to really strap on the Birkenstocks and learn how to become a doula or something. Always searching for my mission in life... :)

I should really try to figure out the source; I would love to read more about this "research." Usually Parents magazine is a neverending slosh of ridiculously expensive "must-haves," excessively consumeristic "great ideas" and unrealistically idealistic "safety tips."

Sample tip for raising earth-conscious kids: "Go on a hike through some nearby woods and introduce your children to the different types of plants, trees, and ecosystems in your area." This would be assuming the parent is some kind of crazy botanist with encyclopediaic knowledge about the local flora. Can you even see me? "Okay, kids, this is a tree. It's got branches. And... leaves. And here's another tree! Also with leaves. Ooh! This one looks like a bush. It has leaves, too. Here! On the ground; this is a stick. It fell off a tree. Or, a bush. And here we have some mud. And there! More mud!"

Rounds and worms

Happy Fat Tuesday, everybody! I'm actually coming off an entire Fat Weekend (pizzas and gyros and pie, oh my!), so I'm trying to eat healthier starting today... sort of. I was actually thinking maybe I should add a couple more layers of fat to insulate me from this ridiculously cold weather we've been having. Then today it's 43 and sunny. Can't win!

My friend Nikki posted that she thought she heard a bird the other day. I heard nothing, but saw an entire round of robins* on the roof of my garage! And they were the fattest little robins you ever did see. It was a little bizarre. This was RIGHT in the middle of the coldest part of the cold snap, too. I do not know what they were doing. But they don't look too happy with themselves.

*(I Googled "collective noun" and "robins" and came up with zilch, so I sort of made that one up. Okay, actually I just looked a little closer and one site says "worm"!?!? Well, that's just silly.)

There's GOT to be a better way
Hey there, inventors and entrepreneurs! You need to invent something that makes it easier to get kids in and out of car seats during winter. It's not safe, buckling their buckles over all those coats. And it's certainly not responsible or possible in a practical sense, to remove the coats before putting them in the car seats.
I think what needs to happen is a special coat with slits made to slip the seat belts/buckles through. The slits could Velcro closed when the kid's not in the seat. Oh, no, that wouldn't work because of the kids' arms... Okay, what about a harness that you put on the kid prior to donning the coat (which would still have to be a special kind of coat, with slits or something) and then buckling the harness onto the car seat? Grrr.

Let's see, what's new -- my mom ("Grandma Books") was up for the weekend. It was so great to see her and the kids just loved it. Ed even took a couple steps (maybe even 4?) unassisted (but with heaps of encouragement) for her to see.

Ed had a yucky fever most of the weekend (high of 104.3 on Saturday morning) and the rest of us have been a little cold-y too. Lu loves being the booger police, letting us know when she or Ed needs a kleenex. I guess we should have taught her to say "runny nose" instead. You live and learn.

Ed loves to say "hi." Over and over and over. It charms the heck out of old ladies at the grocery store.

More later...

My brain was frozen and filled with snot!!

Back by popular demand, today's Guest Blogger is none other than fan favorite, JG!

I was so excited to find an ultra close spot at the bus stop. Background: My company subsidizes a parking spot monthly which is, say, 9 blocks from work. Okay so like only 4-5 blocks. It's walkable, but a bus pass is included in the parking permit so you don't HAVE to hoof it. Buses leave from the lot every 10-15 minutes in the morning. So my usual routine is to catch a bus in the morning. (The walk is uphill and I can barely stand to think in the morning before my 3rd cup of coffee.) Not to mention, every time I do walk I see the stupid bus pulling up like just as I am arriving at work. So really, why not just catch the bus. I do walk at night, so I don't have to wait for the bus, and then, yes, you guessed it, it's downhill. Easier to keep one's momentum going when one has some additional weight in the fulcrum of one's body, you know?

So, like I mentioned, I found a primo spot in the lot. I believe Meggo and I used to call it porno parking. Since we have kids now I think we have taken that out of our vernacular. Prolly not though. Noting that the bus is ready to leave, I hop out of the car, grab my workout bag, and jump on the bus. I pull out my cell phone to play with the buttons so I know how to shut off the ringer... see if there are any games... just get used to how the blasted contraption works. I mean really, I don't need to take pictures, make a meal, or complete a masters degree online with it. I just need to be able to call someone and answer it when it rings. On the bus I start a conversation with a guy who was recently in the news, quite an interesting story, I'll tell ya sometime. Then I arrive at work to realize gangnabbit I left my keys on the bus; they must have fallen out when I was playing with my stupid cell phone. Well there's nothing really one can do when that happens on the bus and we had our all company meeting to get to. So I started that trek of lemmings down to the meeting room with our good friends Carol and Patrick Daly.

Meeting over. I stopped by at the bus office in the skyway to get info as to what one does when they leave something on the bus. Call lost and found tomorrow, is the answer I get -- I knew that one. It's now 11:45ish and I'm working up the gumption to call Meggo to let her know and logistically it's not a big problem; I can catch a bus home at night and back to work in the morning, but just in case I'll walk on down there to make sure: A. I didn't leave the keys in the car; B. I didn't drop them in the transition from the car tothe bus; and C. Verify the car is still there. I bundled up and walked down. Half way I realize I didn't grab my cellphone. Smart Joel real smart. I mean, insert Meg's voice here: "What do you have a cell phone for ANYWAY!" I turn the corner to where I can see the parking lot and the cars all lined up. Terror dripping from my brow. I'm straining to just get a glimpse of the little car and not seeing anything. Scanning the row back and forth hoping that it's just hiding behind the Bonneville. Nope. Getting closer well maybe it's beside the Seabreeze. (A shout out to Bridget Fors old baby the Sebring.) Oh wait I see my bumper. WHAT THE HELL, there's exhaust coming from the tailpipe. You have got to be kidding me. Sure as my vacant expression. I did something I have never done before. I left the car running with the doors locked for 4 and a half hours. No cell phone. IDIOT!! I caught the bus back to work, called Meggo who I knew was at book readings (ed. note: it's actually called "story time") with the kids. Well my valentine came to my rescue. I walked on down there again to visit and grab my keys and see the family. Eddie fast asleep, Lucy clutching her red balloon and new "Philadelphia Chickens" CD Meggo purchased for her and the funniest little expression on Meggo. One that says, you will never live this one down. Needless to say Meggo now has, in the immortal words of Paula Abdul, her back pocket token for whatever she wants. What can I say, my brain was frozen and full of snot.

I switched to the New Blogger

I don't feel any different.

Also! I need a recipe. I was sitting next to a mom at storytime today who fed her daughter what appeared to be an oatmeal-raisin cookie, but what I'm sure was actually an uber-healthy granola-ey concoction, optimized for high fiber and nutrition and minimal fat and sugar.

But you can't exactly type that into Allrecipes or Epicurious and expect to get any results.

Also! New poll. Oh... except I don't have the time to figure out how to do a poll again.

Ed slept for maybe 30 minutes in the van right before noon/lunch, due to a set of somewhat bizarre circumstances that I will allow Joel to post at his discretion. We got home by noon, finished lunch by 12:30 and Ed was in his crib for nap by 1:00. Except he was wiiiiide awake. But happy. He jabbered to himself and played his fish-music-boxes for close to two hours(!!) until I thought to go in, at which point I immediately discerned he had a large dirty diaper. I changed it, and put him back down. He fell asleep almost right away.

Am I a bad mother for letting him fart around for two hours on his own? I'm not so concerned about the diaper; it didn't seem to bother him. But, like, should I have taken him out and played with him? I really thought he was going to fall asleep at any moment. Really.

Corrections and Clarifications

ST PAUL, MINN --
In a recent blog entry, Meg may have unintentionally misled readers to believe that she:

a. has this whole motherhood thing figured out

b. is never cranky, crabby, or at all out-of-sorts

c. never, ever wishes that the kid clawing his/her way up her pants leg would just go bang some Tupperware bowls together, or something, and let her just fold this one last stinkin' dish towel, if it's not too much trouble, please!??

d. galavants happily throughout each day, magically whisking her children to and from enriching activities, providing nutritious and delicious snacks and meals at appropriate times, and always provides consistent and firm, yet gentle guidance and discipline when necessary.

Meg wishes she wasn't so fast and loose with her posts on her happy days, and Meg wishes she could also post her grumpy days too, but you definitely don't want to read that. Meg guesses that what Meg meant was more, like, she understands herself and her role and her life a little better now, and she hopes that readers know her well enough to know that mood swings and waffling emotions are still to be expected.

Meg regrets the error.



Lucy Speak
These days, when Lucy asks us to do something, and we have to say "no" (like, she wants me to pick her up when I am already holding a very sad Eddie... OR, she wants me to peel her another orange when she has just devoured two of them)... she replies:

"You got to try!"

Or sometimes it's:

"Don't say 'no' at me!"

It is sooo hard not to laugh.

Also, I know everybody already knows this but I have to write it down for posterity: she calls the refrigerator the "fridgerfridger."

Half a recipe

I was emailing a friend and she sent me a recipe for some Asian wraps that sounded wonderful, and in a weird coincidence, us Gs had just eaten some really tasty wraps for dinner that night. Short story long, I promised I would post my wrap-recipe... but the bag that the tortillas came in (on which the recipe was printed) got tossed so now I have to kind of recreate the recipe for you. Whatever; they're really good. Joel raved.

Flour tortillas
Cream cheese (you don't need a whole brick unless you're making like twenty)
Shreddy cheddar cheese
Deli-sliced roast beef
Red onion slices
Avocado slices
Roasted red peppers (I always use jarred)
Fresh spinach leaves

What I did was warm a tortilla a little, then spread about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the cheddar on the tortilla. Add 1 or 2 roast beef slices and then microwave that shebang, just to soften the cheese and bring out the meat flavor a bit. Then add some of the onion, some avocado, a bit of red peppers and exactly six spinach leaves. Roll up and eat. Feasty!

Really, I don't know why this was so good. It just kind of was.
If you're not a tortilla person, the results are just as nummier on some toasted sourdough bread. Toasted bread is good.

I can't actually feel my toes... is that a problem?

I peeked out at our thermometer in the backyard this morning around 7:45 and I said, hey Joel! Looks like it's up to 20 degrees! Thank goodness!

No, you dummy, he replied, that says twenty below. And gosh danged if he wasn't right.

So... it's chilly here. How chilly? You may ask.

Whatever diesel gas mix they use in school buses is actually freezing.

Paint is chipping off the window frames in Ed's room.

There is snow buildup inside many of our windows on the north side of our house.

Every once in a while I hear a loud "pop" come from somewhere... like the roof or an exterior wall... like the stucco or something is cracking? Ick.

Our garage door opener has gone into hibernation. It now takes a party of at least two to open our garage door... one inside, madly pushing the button; the other kicking and/or pushing against the door trying to force it up.

Wait, there was a point to this... what was it? OH! Some clarity.

I was at a party this weekend (one of three, all of which were very much fun if a bit overwhelming; Sunday morning when Lucy woke up I asked if she knew what we were doing today and she said "Another party?!?") with both kids climbing/hanging on me, and I realized... I didn't mind.

This was sort of an unusual (that word has three u's. That's a lot!) feeling for me, and I was trying to figure out why. Most parties in recent history, I've been super annoyed that the kids were hanging/clinging and I just wanted them to run/crawl off and play on their own. So there I was, happy to be serving as a human jungle-gym.

Here's my only theory: I have grown to accept them as part of my life, and not just a distraction from my life. Is that terrible? I'm sure most mothers pick that up sooner than I did, but it's a great feeling. Joel's Aunt Denise (who comments here sometimes) sent me a wonderful message when I quit my job back in October about how God showed her that her kids should be her first priority, and never simply an "interruption." And I think I'm beginning to feel that way, too. Which isn't to say that I don't certainly need my Meggo time. I think maybe I'm just finding out how to embrace motherhood.

Speaking of embracing, Ed just turned on his fish-music in his crib which means naptime is over and cuddle-time must begin. Now I get to find a warm spot in the sun to hang with Ed until the Princess of the World wakes up.

Thanks to Julie, Carol, Trish, Kevin, and Dave and Dana for hosting your respective parties over the weekend! We had such a great time. Thanks to Peg and John for driving all the way up from MKE to visit as well! Warm, warm, warm hugs to everyone.

Bored?

If you want a good laugh, go over to the right of this page and click on the link(s) to Jan and Feb 2006. It's mostly me being pregnant forever but I've had SUCH fun rereading everything, now that I have a year's perspective on it all. Of course, maybe it's only fun for me, because it was me... well anyway, read the comments too; there's some good comedy in there. :)

Ed gets a haircut

Here's the new 'do!

Nothing else is new. The windchill is eight below today. I WANT OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

I am, however, a genius for stocking up on fresh foods last weekend. Fresh basil, tomatoes, avocados, and assorted other whole foods have been fortifying my sanity for the last couple days. Well, as much as possible I guess.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me three times, thy name must be Cub Foods.

So I've HAD IT with Cub Foods. They have their stinkin' coupon books with all their "buy-one-get-ones" and you have to rip the coupons out and hand them to the clerk and then you have to bag all of your own groceries even when you have both of your very small and very wiggly and very vocal children with you in the store, so you can't really take the time to watch the clerk's every movement to make sure they actually ring up all the coupons you just handed them, and then you get home and just happen to be glancing at your receipt when you notice that the $10 worth of roast beef that you bought that should only have been $5 was still showing as $10 so you have to go all the way back to the store and have them adjust it and give you back your $5.09 in cash and you're telling me they don't have the technology just to put it back on my card?! because giving it back to me in cash is like not giving it back to me at all and it happens once and I feel stupid and embarrassed and it happens again and I start to get angry and it happens a third time and even though your 18-year-old manager was super nice and actually gave me back the entire $10.38 I spend on roast beef that day, and even though Cub is super close to my house and also I know the layout like the back of my hand so I can actually find a jar of roasted red peppers or wheat germ when I need it, I will be taking my grocery business elsewhere for the next month or so, because I Just. Can't. Take. It.

So, Byerly's, here I come. Or Rainbow, I guess -- it's probably only 5 minutes farther away.

As Joel said last night, if I'm going to get ripped off anyway, I'd like to know about it when it happens (i.e. at Byerly's), rather than finding out after I'm already home.


In More-Positive News!
Ed got his first haircut yesterday! I did it myself, with distraction-help from Joel and Lucy. Ed is so adorable I can hardly stand it. I guess I could post a photo... um...

Far be it from me

I hate to squash my daughter's individuality by gently suggesting she wear something other than dresses. I mean, I like dresses too and all. They're pretty. And what the heck, they were all either hand-me-downs, save one which was $6, so it's not like we're saving them or whatever. And they make her SO happy.

Here is the problem: LOGISTICS.

A. It's January. Minnesota. I can put tights on her, but they are a very thin and ineffectual windbreaker against single-digit windchills. I can put pants under the dress, but then she gets bunchy and tuggy and that causes trouble.

B. She's going potty on the potty. Only occasionally, true, but with enough regularity to make it really difficult to bunch up the dress, pull off the tights/pants, tuck the dress up into itself, and hold the entire package steady atop the toilet for upwards of 5 minutes... with one hand, since the other is invariably either holding a whiny Ed or stiff-arming him to keep him from splashing in the toilet water.

C. I know, I know, I should have a C. I don't.

Have a great weekend!

Do yourself a favor!

Go see my sister Jean's blog and scroll down to her photos of Peru. The photos are breathtaking.

Oh! And we figured out Jean looks more like me when she doesn't wear makeup. Which is why, for a sec, it might look like I'm in Peru. I am not. :(

Photos! At long last! (Sorry if the captions don't line up correctly; also, don't forget you can click on each picture to make it bigger.)

Adorable Ed in his cowboy jammies (just like Joel's!)
The kids with friends-from-Winona's kids. See Carol and Becky's respective blogs for versions of this photo with at least one child actually looking at the camera.


Ed eating jubbalos. You can see his hilarious front teeth.
Waking up happy from nap (for once!)
Lucy dolled up for Elmo. In one of her dozen "pretty dresses" that she insists on wearing. Every. Single. Day. I have a hard time coming up with reasons why she can't wear them. Every. Single. Day.


Ed and my dad sharing a moment at the window.

Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance

Where to start?

We took the kids to see Sesame Street Live last night. Our friends, the Curtis family (whom we met in birthing class pre-Lu) got a bunch of free tickets at the last minute, so we, the Curtises, and Liers all met at the Target Center for some Elmo madness. The show was pretty cool. Lucy was an angel (she danced and sang and looked totally wowed by the spectacle, plus the "number of the day" was 8, her favorite number) and Ed was a little wiggly but spent long moments staring at the stage and he yelled along a little bit too. Joel and I got a big kick out of the old-school Sesame Street songs; we did NOT get a kick out of the $8 mylar Elmo balloons they shamelessly peddled during the completely unnecessary intermission. But the evening was very fun and very unexpected, and a nice treat for us all.

You know what's a better treat? The kids proceeding to take FOUR-HOUR NAPS today. Heck, yeah!!

Speaking of sleeping! Ed has slept through the night (from 8ish PM to about 7:30 AM) more often than not the last week! Sweet action. This has obliterated our middle-of-the-night nursing session (I decided to hold off on the weaning for now), so we're just taking it one day at a time. I, inexplicably, seem to wake up much more rested when I actually get to sleep all night. It's amazing.

Lucy is... man. She's Lucy. I really don't do her justice here; you just have to spend some time with her. I'm sure I've said this before, but it's hard to remember she's only two, because she talks so much and has so many things figured out! Okay, okay, actual conversation when my dad was in town on Monday (tip: "Boofer" is my nickname for Joel):

Grampa: Lucy, what's Mommy's name?

Lucy: Meggo.

Grampa: And what's Daddy's name?

Lucy (so pleased with herself): Boofer!!

Okay, what else? Eddie bit Lucy the yesterday. HARD. His teeth, they are few but they are sharp. Usually they get along really well. I asked Lu how old Ed is, and she told me "Thirty." Where does she even get this stuff?

Oh! And we're working on pronouns: people are not "this" and "it"; "her" isn't generic for "he/she/him". And the concept of a double standard: we can tell her to do things but she can't tell us to do things. It's very challenging simply to stay ahead of her.

With upper lip we do a "pico"

They're back!

Jean and Ellen made it home safely from Peru. I hope Jean will blog about the trip; it sounds like it was totally amazing. They went whitewater rafting, biking, and hiking (apparently all three of those words are euphemisms for what actually occurred) and managed to get Ellen a new passport and all that rot.

And they brought back souvenirs! Including a "quena" flute for Lucy. It looks a little like a recorder, but it's not super-intuitive to play, so it comes with an instruction booklet. The booklet is entitled "Quena: method for to learn to play" so you know you're in trouble from the start. Some excerpts follow. I have actually corrected spelling of words I could decipher.

The quena method and size
As belong the family flutes, the quena is a instrument mouth piece with 6 holes before and 1 back.

(Ed. note: so far, so good, right?)

The permit intervening to blow of uslert air and opening and closed different musical notes necessary for any song. The measure the quena it's 37 cm. length for 2 cm. diameter.

TIPPED
We support the quena for medium part with finger index and thumb with chim closed hermetical entrance to quena.
With upper lip we do a "pico" that we throw a flow air weak to entrance of tipped as a "tunnel" try play sound.

FINGERING
Use hands following way:
The index middle and thumbs finger the both hands it cover upper holer and right hand the inferior, the back hole it cover thumb of the left hand. They also work the little finger of the two hands but the thumb finger of left hand.
Also worked the small finger both hands more thumb finger the right hands as supports and back part. ...
That sames the fingers not must, pressure the holes with finger tips more good a few more back at the sames.

Mannery to Utilize Method
There is in musicsing it change the intose a the sounds it rising, descend or changing at his natural state, this figures it put at left part the note and it read so.

.
.
.
.
.

Great! So at least the thing comes with instructions. At first I got the biggest kick out of the last "Mannery..." part, but now I think "FINGERING" is growing on me. We gave the whole shebang to Lucy to see if she could figure it out. She licked the whole thing and then started hitting Ed with it. It's probably a good thing that we can't figure out how to make it make noise yet.

Boring kid updates

Ed says "uh-oh" when he drops his cup on the floor. I guess we're counting that as his first word. He repeats what we say, too, as long as it's "mama" or "dada" or "eddie" (which is more like "ah-dee," so maybe he's just speaking Steve Lindsayese and we don't know it. OK, like four of you will get that joke). I don't recall Lucy repeating things at this age. Wait, I phrased that incorrectly: Lucy did not repeat sounds, back before she knew words. Does that make sense? Now, as you know, she's a stinkin' parrot.

Lucy ends every sentence with "...okay?". Ex: "Lucy, it's time to brush your teeth." "No, okay?" I know exactly where this comes from, as JG and I end everything we say with "okay?" -- I think we do it to make sure Lu heard/understood us. Well, she's picked it up.

P.S. Today got a lot better when both kids took 3+hour naps. Sweeeeet.

If Ed thinks he is getting up from his nap yet, he is sorely mistaken.

Sometimes I think blogging is a huge waste of time, and sometimes I find it strangely cathartic. Just writing things down, I think, helps.

Eddie is toodling. I think I forgot to mention that. Toodling is what we call it when he walks along holding onto both my hands. It's not so good on my back; I need longer arms (or shorter legs!).

The other night, it must have been Monday because that's the last time I was out of the house, Joel put the kids down in the living room to play while he tackled the dishes. After a while he heard a small crash, followed by Ed whimpering a little. Joel peeked around the corner to see Ed toppled headfirst into the Rubbermaid toy container, with his feet kicking out the top. Lucy quickly got up, saying "Eddie are you okay? I coming, Eddie! I help you! Come here, Eddie!" Apparently she actually helped Ed get out of the toy bin. Of course, as my dad pointed out, she was probably the one who pushed him in there to start with.

Also! Joel wrote me an email yesterday:

To: Meg
From: Joel
Re: Oh Man...

So I get back from playing basketball and the meeting that was going on in the conference room is over. (So, background information: there was a meeting going on in the conference room all morning.) I notice one lonely sandwich in a plastic box just sitting there on the conference table. I walk by slowly eyeing that lonely sammy. Stop... look around... walk backwards past it again to see what other goodies are there. Oh, pop and cookies as well. Hmm.. One step towards the door. Corner of my eye, I see someone turn the corner so I kind of act as though I was reading the invisible flyer on the wall. Luckily, I escape notice. So I just walk back to my desk. Maybe if I walk by in a couple of minutes it will still be there...

Okay I get the guts to walk by... Hmm, it's stilll there. IT'S FATE!!.. Oh no, more people. I walk back and ask Brent. Hey man, is that meeting over? YES!! All right. What do you think about me snagging that sandwich? YES YES. I RUN.. I mean casually walk to the room to claim my rightfully due sandwich. (Note: a couple of people I noticed have walked in and walkedout with things but I cannot tell what they are)

It's still there... Raise the roof. Sweet bos-e-fus!!

So to make a long story short. I ate the sandwich. It was good. I am full and happy.

Love,
Joel

Losing it!

Both kids have colds or something -- they were both coughing much of the night last night again. I have a couple cute stories to post, if I ever have a moment... not happening this morning I tell you what. With the weather (and the kids being under it) we are totally stuck in the house. I don't think they like it either. They're both whiny and clingy and I'm super short-tempered. And Lucy's down to exactly three diapers, so I'm just going to have to go to Target tonight when JG gets home.
We're watching the Laurie Berkner DVD for like the 20th time in 2 days.
Oh man, Ed's whining again. Got to go.
Please email me or call me or something, I'm going nuts...

I wish I was kidding...

I seriously JUST got an email 5 minutes ago saying the show this Sat is cancelled. I am really really sorry about wasting everyone's time and energy. I'm surprised they just found out this morning that they didn't have enough acts for more than 30 minutes... whatever...

typing w/1 hand...

holding ed. he was coughing most of last night. sad sick panda.

--- UPDATE! SHOW CANCELED! JUST LEAVING THE POST FOR POSTERITY! ---
ok so i'm in this variety show this saturday at 7:30 PM at maplewood community center, which is on white bear avenue a few miles north of our house. no, I cannot look up the address for you. tickets are $10; buy at the door.

I'm nervous about this show. We have not had nearly enough rehearsal time. I'm in three dances. A tap, a jazz, and a cha-cha. Joel is in one of them (the cha-cha). Also I may have to sing a song. Alone. Because I'm not sure how many other numbers there are besides my three dances and they might need filler. So... wish us both some serious good luck. Or come to the show and we can all have a good laugh about it later. Like, much, much later. Like, maybe in 20 years or so.

Ok I am totally ignoring my kids so I'd better go.

One bad, one good!

Were you watching the BCS Bowl on TV Monday night? Did you catch the halftime show? Please, please say you were. Because my description is soooo not going to do it justice.

So I think it was the Ohio State marching band who was playing. Joel and I are talking so I wasn't looking at the TV, but the tune sounded familiar... ah! "My Heart Will Go On," of course, the Celine Dion megahit from "Titanic."

And...

Oh, dear.

No.

No, they aren't.

The marching band forms the SHAPE OF THE TITANIC. Spanning probably 70 yards of the football field. Complete with smokin' smokestacks -- I'm not sure if they had dry ice in their tubas, or what. And...

Oh, my.

The other half of the band forms THE OCEAN, waving beneath the, erm, marching ship. And then...

Shut up.

SHUT UP.

I cannot believe I am watching this... NO WAY. The "ocean" holds up a big shiny blue swath of fabric, and the rest of the band (the part that looks like a ship) starts marching forward (downstage, as it were) as though it is SINKING BENEATH THE WAVES.

They march and march until only the smoky smokestacks are still showing, and then they, too, vanish under the blue fabric.
.
.
.

Now, I'm not real sensitive. I'm not easily offended. I'm relatively open-minded and appreciative of art, and music, and artistic interpretation, and all that jazz. I always vote Democratic, except when I vote Independent.

But... seriously?? Well, for one, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. But it was much less of a "wow, that's comedy!" laugh and much more of an appalled and flabbergasted laugh of shock. I mean, something like 1,100 people died on and around that ship. I know it was like 93 years ago, but has that tragedy really been reduced to a bizarre and ill-advised marching-band gimmick? Maybe the performance was of high musical quality, I have no idea, but as a casual watcher I was actually a little horrified. Maybe I missed the emotional and serious prelude to the performance, in which case I apologize to... well, probably Ohio State, unless the Florida State band magically changed their costumes while Joel and I were talking.

As a side note, I have a real soft spot for Ohio State ever since meeting their dance team in college -- they were a very cool group of people.


The good!
I'm not one (I should stop starting sentences that way, it's lame and contradictory) to throw out wild recommendations for childrens' products all willy-nilly and whatnot, but I just love the book When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really, Angry by Molly Bang. It is a very simple but amazing book about a little girl who gets, well, angry, and runs until she is tired and then sits and enjoys nature and then goes home to her waiting family. The artwork wasn't my fave right away but it's growing on me, and the message (Everyone gets angry; how do you handle anger?) has really touched Lucy. For one, she loves saying the title (complete with author name; super cute). For two, Sophie looks more than a little bit like my Lu. For three, the solution presented happens to be exactly what I like to do when I get really, really angry. And for four, it's sparked some actual discussions with Lu about "getting angry" and "getting sad" and what it means and what we do when we feel that way. Lu has the book memorized and I just love reading it along with her. It's been a very cool and unexpected experience and I thank whoever got us the book (because I can't remember now, I am so sorry).

Jan 6 Notes

Hi. It's Saturday night and I thought I was really tired, but I'm writing. Ay-yi-yi!

My dad was here all week for a wonderful visit with us and the kids. He ate all my Christmas cookies (even the "booster batches" I'd made on Christmas Eve) so I had to make a final booster-batch of oatmeal cookies on Thursday... which he also devoured. So just in case there's ever any doubt as to where I got my sweet tooth, I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out. Though Mom likes cookies too, so even if "sweet tooth" were recessive, I suppose I was doomed. :)
The upshot is, I'm out of cookies again, and I think Nicole W's molasses cookies are next in the rotation. If I get any time in the next few days.

Which is unlikely since I'm trying to rehearse three dances for the show on the 20th. Yes, I realize that's less than 2 weeks away. I'm stressing a little.

The kids are great -- I'm kind of starting to wean Ed, mostly because he wiggles and whines and refuses to nurse much... also because we think maybe he continues to wake up repeatedly in the middle of the night because he's not getting enough food. I'm actually extremely dubious about that hypothesis; if you take one look at Ed's cheeks and thighs, you'd probably agree that "hunger" is not one of his problems. I don't know, I'm really ambivalent about the whole thing. I don't have much of a nursing support group; I don't regularly hang with any other nursing mothers, so even though I know who you are it's not like I actually get to sit down next to you and nurse our babies together; it's a challenge, you know? P.S. Ed is 10 months old on Sunday! How did THAT happen?

No major updates from Lu; she remains riotously hilarious and wonderful. We're working on her comic timing; it's coming along nicely.

I got my hair highlighted and it's really... stripey. I thought I liked it until I got a really good look under bright lights this evening and while it does mask the increasingly large gray patches, it's a little bolder than I probably wanted. I'm told it will fade. I'm not holding my breath.

I'm toggling between the Blogger window and an article on espn.com about Justin Morneau. I really wish baseball season was coming sooner than it is.

Well, have a good week!

Mystery gift update!

I keep forgetting I have to UPDATE when I post an unfinished story, or I get harassed. So right after posting the otther day, the kids woke up so I screwed my courage to the sticking place and packed a small tupperware of cookies and walked across the street. Upon arrival on the front step, I noticed the "mystery gift" was nothing but a stinkin' bag of Ice Melt. RATS!

At that point, I'd already rung the doorbell and they were apparently waiting for me because the gal answered right away so we talked a little; her daughter is cute; BLAH BLAH BLAH.

It's a really pretty bag of Ice Melt, honestly.

Oh, man, I just realized I think I actually own binoculars!! I'm an IDIOT!

On mules we find two legs behind and two we find before...

Joel was kind enough to point out to me that I missed some golden opportunities in some of my recent blogging: using, respectively, "All I Want For Christmas Is My 2 Front Teeth" and "Express Yourself" for Ed's recent ventures in teething and breastfeeding. Daaaaang*.

*"Daaaaang" comes from the day Jean and Ellen and Joel and I were trying to go see "The Pirate Queen" downtown Chicago, except we made it to Lakeview (Lake View?) and realized the tickets were still in Rolling Meadows, and I was madly trying to call TicketMaster to see if they had some record of the purchase that would allow us to simply show up at the box office with ID and they could reprint them or whatever, and I got a perfectly nice young TM rep on the phone who was completely unable to help me, not for lack of trying on her part but because, as it turns out, Ellen had purchased the tickets not through TicketMaster at all but right from the box office in a very smart effort to save, like, $340 in fees, and the girl kept entering in Ellen's info into the TM system and getting zero results, and every time (which was about nine times) she would say "Daaaaaang" and it was only funny because we eventually managed to make it back to Rolling Meadows and back to Lakeview and to the crepe restaurant and to the theatre in more than plenty of time.

Omigosh, where was I? Right. HAPPY NEW YEAR! We had an awesome weekend of family fun. We took down the tree and our other assorted (and meager) Christmas decos, we went to Como Zoo, we went to the Mall of America and Ikea (the kids were troopers!) and managed to purchase some wall art and lighting for our living room, we each got brief but much-appreciated naps every day, and we had some family snow-fun in the yard this morning. We got only maybe 3-5 inches of snow on New Years Eve but it was sunny and beautiful this morning, so we bundled up the kids in their ridiculous overstuffed outfits (Eddie in three shades of pink, since we never got around to buying him snow-gear this year) under the pretenses of shoveling. The shoveling did get done, but we spent lots more time making four sizes of snow angels and dragging the kids 'round the yard in the sled. I'm fairly certain it was way more fun for me and JG than for Ed (who was rendered completely motionless by his aforementioned girl-snowsuit) and Lucy (who hates mittens and spent most of her sled-rides scowling and asking for snack).

Thanks to the Crandalls for hosting a family-friendly NYE party -- unfortunately, we arrived late and left early (can't take those kids of ours anywhere!) and rang in 2007 on our own couch, watching the tape-delayed NYC broadcast, which was exceedingly silly. Is that band's name really "Panic! At The Disco"? Is that really what kids are listening to these days? Is it... um... punk?

Big congratulations go out to my pregnant friends Peg and John (due May), Mandy and Shawn (due June), and Julie and Stu (due July, with twins!). I'm so excited and filled with joy and anticipation for all of you.

Two weird-but-true little stories for your reading pleasure

Gift mystery

So the day before we left for Lutsen, our former realtor called, all jolly-elf-like, which didn't fool us because that's exactly how he is... as long as he doesn't have your house listed and it isn't selling... anyway, and he mentioned that he was going to drop off a little gift for us at our house. We returned from Lutsen and found no such gift; however, our Friday newspaper was also missing so we thought maybe both items had just been pilfered from our front steps. Or, we thought, the realtor had simply thought better of driving across town to drop off a present for us. Either way, no great shake.

Except that since then, there has been what appears to be a gift sitting on the top step of the house across the street (formerly known as the Watson abode). It's been sitting there for over a week. People come and go from the house, and the giftlike object remains. I am sooooo tempted to wander over there and take a peek-see. I'm not sure how it got over there, if it is indeed our gift. And I'm not sure why the neighbors have simply left the mystery item on their porch... but we haven't met them so I can't really speak regarding their motivations.

So, should I wait until dark and go peek? Should I go over there under the pretenses of introducing myself? What do you think?


The Marmet Technique

For all my breastfeeding-Naziness, I've never learned to hand-express milk. It's a little too "earthy" for me, especially when Medela makes a perfectly good machine to do the job when necessary. However! My son apparently has Marmet down pat. He finds great joy in unlatching himself and then squeeeeezing... as long as the spray goes delightfully over his head and not right into his eye.

I'm such a housewife!

Okay, I have never done this before, but I was trying to make cornbread, and the cornmeal I had wasn't self-rising, but the recipe I was going to try required it, so you know how they have the company's 800 # on the side of the box, and it says "For questions, comments, or recipes, call..." and I always go "Yeah right! Like I'm just going to CALL and be like 'Hey, I just wanted to comment on your cornmeal!'" ... well anyway I went out on a limb and I DID.

I talked with Regina at Quaker (the phone actually answered "Aunt Jemima" but my cornmeal is like 5 years old so I'm sure there's been some phone-number shifting since then) and she was delightful and helpful and a real person and she gave me exactly what I needed, with no rigamarole or sales-pitchiness and I am SO happy I called because now my cornbread is going to be fabulous and if you get here by 6pm tonight there may be some left!

Also! Jean and the kids and I went to the indoor playground at Woodbury's Central Park this morning. It's a little wild, and somewhat dark, and it will be funner when the kids are older, but we still had a pretty good time and I think we will go there with some frequency this winter. So that's good!

Also! Remember from my Christmas letter how I am having SUCH issues with Craig's List? Well today it has been totally redeemed -- I got rid of a large amount of old computer equipment and it was unbelievably easy and painless. Thank goodness.

Okay gotta get poppin' on the cornbread. Happy Friday!

Silly Kid Tricks

Actual conversation at the dinner table tonight:

Lucy: "Daddy Daddy Daddy!"

Daddy: "I'm sorry, Daddy is talking to Mommy right now."

Lucy: "Meantime, I eat my jubbalos!"

Awesome!

And in The Second Child is Different, Part XIV:
Shortly after learning to put anything in her mouth, Lucy learned that in order to get food in, her nuk would have to come out. She'd see food coming at her face, and dutifully spit out the nuk to make way for the good stuff.

Ed? Not so much. Yesterday I gave him a graham cracker; three minutes later, I checked back, only to find him repeatedly banging said graham cracker on his forehead. Nuk still in mouth. Facial expression just a little... concerned.



A Good Day
Today was just that -- maybe the best one so far, meaning that I didn't groan in agony when I heard the kids stirring from their naps... and meaning that I wasn't counting the moments until Joel walked in the door. The Watsons Three came over for a morning playdate, and we had such a lovely time. There was actually plenty of lunch, prepared in a timely fashion (this is huge, for those of you who don't have toddlers), and as an added bonus, nobody suffered a bleeding head wound. Hurrah!


Heads Up: A Performance!
I am fairly certain I'm going to be performing in an "open mic/open stage" night at Maplewood Community Center on January 20. It's not exactly "open" because we're all planning our acts ahead of time; perhaps "cabaret" or "vaudeville" would be a better description. Anyhoo, you should plan to come! I'm going to be in a few numbers, at least one of which I'll be choreographing. Watch this space or email me for more info.


Apologies Abound
So, in my concerted efforts to be personal and inclusive and not just sign cards "The Gronaus" without even mentioning the persons to whom the card is intended, though, like, if you do this on your cards, it's fine, I know, I'm a Christmas-card Nazi and I'm harder on myself than I am on others...
What was my point? Oh, I accidentally left out some important people. I'm sure they don't even read this, but if you talk to them, maybe you could let them know that I acknowledge and regret my mistakes? Thanks.
Hey Tom and Mary Fuller, I'm really sorry I omitted Patrick from the Christmas card.
Hey Doug and Julie Dahlheimer, my sincerest apologies for omitting Tim from the Christmas card.
There are various other misspellings that I am not going to apologize for, because in some cases I already did and besides there are still some family members who shall remain nameless who keep adding an "e" to "Gronau" even though there is no "e" in Gronau because it is not French, it is German, and "Gronau" means "green meadow," and if it was "Groneau" then it would mean something like "green water" and that is a little disgusting. :) :) :)
I also wanted to thank everyone for the glorious outpouring of cards this year! We have heard from so many people and our mailbox has been teeming with non-junk-mail. It is so very fun.

Happy morning!

Early-morning grandparent update: tooth #4 is in. Poor little dude!

It's a very overcast, dark, gray day here. Trying to decide if we should attempt a trip to a local indoor playground... hmmm...

Can this bleeping year please be bleeping over?

Ed's third tooth made its appearance over the weekend. It is a really large one, top left. His left. He's kind of a grumbly, drooly mess because #4 is right on the brink as well. Can you imagine getting your first four teeth, all within two weeks? It's a good thing he'll never remember this.

Jean, Ellen, Joel and I returned from Lutsen, mostly in one piece. On the 4th run of the first day (Saturday), Jean fell (mostly because Joel fell and she wanted to check on him) on her back onto a very sharp piece of icy snow, and knocked the wind out of herself and cracked a rib. She had trouble breathing and the ski patrol took her in on a snowmobile and then we took her to the ER in Grand Marais. The doctor was hottish (a little scrawny if you ask me, though nobody was asking me) and possibly single, which made the trip far more intriguing... and we only really lost maybe 2 hours of skiing. Jean was having a heck of a time, since laughing hurt the most and when the four of us are together that's just about all we do. She developed a super-scientific method of snapping her fingers whenever she was afraid that our acute hilariousness was in danger of forcing a laugh out of her... it generally worked, until our own guffaws drowned out her pathetic little finger-snaps.

Eddie's crying so as usual this is cut short. Anyway, Jean will be fine, we got some great skiing in, and I think that's it! Oh and I left my entire toiletries bag up there so I have no makeup and no glasses until Joel can choreograph some kind of exchange for the room key I also accidentally stole.

Victor Vito / and Freddie Dasco / ate a burrito / with lotsa Tabasco...

We have new songs in the house. Thank you, Laurie Berkner Band!

Lucy's new favorite food is vegetables. She calls them "jubbalos." She likes to tell Daddy she has "jubbalos in my pocket."

Which is sometimes confusing, because after her bath I usually put into her superfine, prone-to-scramblies hair, some leave-in conditioner, which Daddy and I call "product." As in, you know, hair product. She loves that, but calls it "pocket" too. The other day she was VERY upset because she wanted "pocket" and I was totally baffled.

P.S. I know some of you have gotten your Christmas cards. The rest of you will. SOON. I promise. The list was done in no particular order, so just because your last name is high in the alphabet doesn't mean I did you first.

If you never do get one and you're insulted, just let me know. And then I'll really insult you. No, just kidding.

Comments to the comments!

Okay, so I was so tickled to awaken this morning to FOUR comments from yesterday's post that I am energized to post again!

Went to a jazz dance class last night at Alesso's studio on Grand Ave. Best $12 I ever spent -- the class was challenging but not over my head, the instructor was a sweetie but not afraid to give some really great pointers, I got a great workout, and I got to dance. Hooray!

Oh, so back to the teeth: Ed has now slept until 5 or 5:30 AM three nights in a row. This is big, happy news, people. Awesome. I am a new woman.

And no WAY is the world short on hygienists; I swear, every college-age girl I talk to is going into dental hygienistry. Or wait, maybe it's dental-assisting, is that different? And maybe none of them are graduating. I can imagine, it's super hard. I observe (and experience!) the work they do on my teeth, and I have relatively-decent, occasionally-flossed teeth.

And actually, I'm going to choose "hilarious." Well, this week anyway!

Toasted bread is good

Not to be outdone, Lucy chose this week to start sprouting her "two-year molars" -- the last four teeth to complete her baby set. Fabulous!

Ed also grew his second tooth yesterday. The other bottom one.

In further dental news, I had an appointment this morning and no cavities! Except the hygienist was sick again somy dentist had to do the cleaning. I don't know if he was crabby about having to slum it, or if he's just extra-thorough, or if he's just not used to cleaning teeth, but it was not the most pleasant experience of my life. Although, I was out of the house sans children, so that was a bonus.

So here is what I need: some, like, "housewife shoes" is what I want to call them: something with support for my arches that I can slip on and off. I am walking around my house (which is mostly hard flooring) all day and I don't think it's good for my feet. I don't want a real bulky gym-shoe. Anybody have any thoughts? Oh, wait, like my Crocs maybe! Worth a try.

Ed, I am SO sorry

I also forgot to mention that, at long last, Ed has grown a tooth. It was two days ago. I am a horrible mother.

Oh, bottom right (that's his right, or your left if you're facing him and sticking your finger in his mouth).

Friday afternoon

Hi there.

Please send some *power* to my friend Nikki and her family; her grandfather passed away earlier this week. Also to my cousin Kate, who had surgery and is going through some health issues.

Ed had his 9-month checkup today. He is the exact same height he was 3 months ago. He has gained a normal amount of weight (he's almost 22 lbs) but his head did not grow very much either. The doc says Ed looks okay (like, he doesn't look like a too-short pinhead), and he thinks as long as the trend doesn't continue, it's nothing to worry about. My theory is that Ed's been so busy learning to sit/crawl/stand/cruise/jabber, that he forgot to grow. Either that, or all the jumping has compacted his spine. Just kidding.

Joel's Christmas Wish List

Joel emailed his Xmas list to my family this year. And I present it, here, for your edification:

To: The Ryans
From: Joel
Re: My list

When I was young I couldn't wait for the JCPenny Catalog to come out. I would pore over everything in the catalog and make lists upon lists. There was the wish list. Which, of course, were items that were too expensive and/or I knew my parents would say were just ridiculous, i.e. an actual 4-wheel-drive jungle buggy. It was great; it had nubby tires, rollbar, etc. Which is probably why my mom didn't like it, ghast my son would actually roll onto his head with this thing (Donna maybe didn't understand the concept of the "rollbar." Just kidding).

The A list. This was a list where I couldn't help but get excited that I would get everything, but knowing full well I would (maybe) get 1 item. Usually a GI Joe Guy or a flotilla of GI Joe Vehicles. Maybe that's why I don't know if my name is Joe or Joel. Meg can verify. Also my recollection of serving in any number of uniformed commissions around the world. I'll call it childhood flashbacks. Or I'm just crazy.

The B list. Items I needed, truly appreciated, and wanted. I knew a majority of gifts would come from this list so I tried mixing it up. Socks, underwear, shirts, a Scooby Doo lunch box, switchblade comb, BB gun, Star Wars posters, and a bubble gum dispenser. Is it irony or a potato chip that I actually got a BB gun with which I shot my sister Jamie in the butt and shot up the walls in the basement, cleverly removing pictures from the walls and then shooting where the pictures had been, before returning the pictures to their original location. Only to get busted when we moved out of the house and removed the pictures. I probably would have been better off getting the 4-wheel-drive jungle buggy with the nubby tires and the roll bar. Huh Ma?!?

So with that being said, here is my list:
- Dress Shirt size XL 17-17 1/2 neck 34-35 length sleeves. Hey Jean I wrote Sleeve... Ew...
- Underwear. You may think Ellen's birthday present addition was a joke but it's reality. (Clarifying note: Joel wrapped my sister Ellen's birthday present in a (washed) pair of extremely well-worn hunter-green boxer-briefs. You wish I was kidding.)
- Dress Socks. I'm good on sport socks this year. Black, Beige, designs are welcome as well.
- Electricity tester. I lost mine for some reason. It just lights up if there's electric current to the wire. They're pretty cheap.
- Sport shorts. Knee length, solid manly colors yet slimming and smooth.
- Sliding shorts. Mine have a huge hole in the crotch. I really do give my unmentionables a workout I tells ya. Or Maybe it's...Unmentionable??

Hey was I supposed to comment after every item?? I'll stop.

- Caribou Coffee GC
- Long sleeve white or gray undershirts. For softball, or outside insidewear. Fine if it's a little tight I gotta show the guns off.
Sorry about the comments, I forgot.
- Bologna.. er no. Cologne, I'm out.
And a partridge in a pear tree....Love ya all.
Fat Daddy JG

Leading by example

So I'm checking my friends' blogs, and... nary an update for wayyy too long. And then I realized, I have been even worse about writing recently. Well it's HARD! My new job doesn't come with regular breaks!

Okay, so also I'm trying to write my stupid Christmas letter. "But Meg!" you say, "You don't have to write a Christmas letter! I don't write a Christmas letter, and I manage to sleep at night! I'm a good person!"

To which I would respond: Think again, buckaroo.

I do like providing the complete package in my Christmas card (which, by the way, is probably why I didn't send any out last year): 1. photo of the whole family, 2. letter, and 3. something short and handwritten. I have a rating system for Christmas cards, not unlike my rating system for weddings. It's a system. It's very scientific, and I would be delighted to regale you with it at some point in the future. If you buy the coffee.

Speaking of coffee! I have a story. I'm going to fudge the chronology of it because it will be funnier this way (I think), also because it all happened in the middle of the night so, you know, minutes feel like hours and all that rot. But I assure you, there will be no exaggerations, nor stretchings of the truth. These are the facts.

Thursday night: I played volleyball with a team I am sometimes on, but usually not, in Apple Valley. Afterward I helped Jean with her arts-and-crafts project for work and returned home around 11:30 PM. Joel was, to my dismay, up with Eddie, who'd been crying intermittently. I took out my eyeballs, nursed Ed, and retired to my bed around midnight.

12:45 : Lucy is crying. Joel goes down and apparently she is inconsolable, because he brings her back up to bed with us. She has never slept in bed with us, and this night is no exception -- except that on previous occasions of never sleeping in our bed, at least she wasn't physically in the bed at the same time. So she's wide awake, wiggling, wrestling our pillows, wringing her bankie, flipping and flopping and causing great disturbance. I'm wide awake too, and at 2:30 she says something like "Mommy, my bed" and I take her downstairs and retuck her in, resing "mommy's song" and rekiss her little nose. I return to bed.

3:30 : I awaken and open my eyes to the sight of a little blond head staring right at me. "Lucy!" I say. "I go downstairs!" she replies, proudly (she has "up" and "down" confused). "I need water." She says. So down we go again.

Joel follows. He can't sleep, he claims, and rightly assumes that I won't let him watch "Cops" in our bedroom at 3:30 AM when I haven't had more than 30 minutes of sleep yet. Something about the constant siren background music to that show, I don't know, call me crazy, it's not conducive to sleep.

About 15 minutes later, I hear thumping and, um, maybe jumping? And a little crashing and for sure some stage-whispered obscenities. Well, one stage-whispered obscenity, repeated. Joel saw a mouse. I come running downstairs (again) and sort of watch as he sets six traps up in the living room. I go back upstairs and 20 minutes later the various mouse-viewing noises start up again. He caught one! He asks if I want to see it. I politely decline, but peek a little as he carries it by. It was bigger than I expected and had a longer tail. But it was still relatively small. If there is one thing I am grateful for, it is that my husband is not the type to pick up a dead mouse and then waggle it in my face, or fling it at my head, or put it under my pillow.

I'm having 17 people over for Christmas dinner next weekend. Any brilliant thoughts on how, exactly, we're all going to eat? Where are the people who lived in this house for 52 years --
I want to talk to them and see how they did it (even if all they did was avoid hosting Christmas for 52 years). Because, I'm telling you, it's not going to be pretty.