Overheard

Things you might hear if you were at a table near us at the restaurant tonight.

Alec: "Wouldn't it be cool if dad were a leprechaun?"

Cody: "Mom? Would you be mad if I put my face under the ice cream machine and just drank it like that?"

Noah: "I have to go POOOOOOOOP*"

*said in loudest imaginable voice

My life got a little shorter today.

As previously mentioned, Sean has graduated into a big boy bed. Not without some resistance, mind you. It takes about 20 minutes of back and forthing to get him to stay there, and he may or may not periodically get up during the night. One night, he woke at 1 am and began opening doors to bedrooms. "Hello?! I'm awake, it's time to play!"

Last night, he stayed in bed all night. "ahh..." I thought as I awoke and he wasn't standing in my doorway.

Then I went into his room to get him... and he wasn't there. He wasn't in the livingroom, or kitchen. He didn't respond when I called his name. Checked the other kids beds, no sign of him. As my mind reels with visions of him dead on the porch from hypothermia, I hear GWH say "what are you doing?".

The little asshole was on the basement stairs with a fortune cookie and a pair of scissors trying to get it open.

I wonder if I am going to survive his childhood.

The End of an Era

14 years ago this month: I was 22, newly married, and hugely pregnant. (Do the math if you must, sheesh. Prudes.) We were living in my ex's grandmother's house (she wasn't there, she'd lost her mind and gone to nursing care). It was a small little ranch style house, no basement. The master bedroom was still hers, and the door was locked. I suppose I could have opened it if I wanted to, but I am not nosy enough to invade someone's privacy THAT bad. That left us with the 2 smaller bedrooms. Anyway, the point of this story being... I was hugely pregnant. My life revolved around readying the nursery, and praying for labor. I was due February 7th, so by this point, I was MORE than ready.

We had our crib set up, the room painted, everything ready for a new era: Parenthood.

Last night: My littlest boy slept in his big boy bed for the first time. No more crib.

Fourteen years of babies. This is the first time I haven't had a crib in the house* since 1993! That is pretty much my entire adult life.** Truly the end of an era as there will be NO MORE babies if I can help it!

Look at my precious boy (who woke up at 6:30am, got out of bed, walked to the gate in his doorway and announced his presence. This isn't going to be all it is cracked up to be, I fear.)

Taken on auto with popup flash as my real flash was at the studio, and I wasn't about to turn on a light and wake him up! :P






*Ok, Ok, it is still in the house. Give me some creative license here.
**Yes, I realize adulthood officially begins at 18. I'm a slow learner.

Photo Blog

So, as usual I'm late... But I started a 2007 Photo A Day blog. Call it fashionably late.

http://2007photo.blogspot.com

Stop by sometime :)

I am Full of Good Ideas

Things I would invent, if I could.

A bathtub that stays full. Like a hottub for kids. Except to bathe in. Of course, it would have some kind of fancy pants filtration system, because a tub full of dirty kid soap water is really not a winner. Also, the tub would not be on the floor, it would be built up taller so that I could bathe a baby without needing chiropractic services.

A clothes dryer that folds the clothes. No, wait... Kids that actually put them away right* would be even better. I can wash, dry, fold all day long, but putting it away is my nemesis.

A self-cleaning house. Duh.

A self-emptying garbage can for the car. You know, you put the garbage in and then it disappears never to be seen again, like when you poo on an airplane.

Voice activated Blogger. I normally think of clever and witty things to blog about while I'm walking up the stairs (clearly NOT with laundry) or driving in the car or playing Parcheesi or something. I need a little device that I could just speak my undoubtedly profound thoughts into and POOF a blog entry.

*Right meaning actually in the carefully labeled drawers** where they belong and not in a big heap at the bottom of the closet.
**Yes I labeled their drawers.

I'm a total sap.

GWH is out of town for training. The class was Wed-Fri of last week and then Monday and Tuesday of this week. He's paying all of his own expenses. He was going to fly back home for the weekend, but I figured it was more trouble than it would be worth for him to pack, check out, turn rental car in, fly home, etc just to go back on Sunday night and do it all over again. So, I told him to stay.

Sunday I realized that 5 days was as long as we'd ever been apart, and this is 7. So the last 2 days I'm all sappy and pathetic.

Last night he called, and as soon as I heard his voice, I just started crying. Yes, I'm that sappy and pathetic.

Then this morning I woke up crying from a dream that the owner of my studio had found someone to rent it for more than I was paying. She hadn't bothered to tell us, it was just occupied one day when I got there. And he'd painted my orange wall! The nerve!

So anyway, send ice cream and chocolates.

Just sayin'

I got all that laundry put away.