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altarflameThe PATH party was today. It was awesome. They had it at this big ol' park (Larry and Penny Thompson park, for those who are local). There was a bounce house and a giant inflated slide, and Ananda and Aaron participated in sack races, three legged races, egg on a spoon races, bean bag tossing, foam rocket launching, pizza eating and more. Plus there were raffles, and announcements about the coming year. Highlights:
-I was holding Jake and a woman I'm familiar with approached, asking to hold him. A third woman walks up, they start talking about how huge he is and how he "carries himself" like an older baby, and without any way of them even knowing they just launched into a "It's the mama's milk, the good stuff" conversation, like that is assumed.
-A Chevy E350 pulled up (the kind of van I used to call a "church bus") and a woman got out with her NINE kids. I never see these things in real life, it's always on the internet. But yeah, nine happy healthy homeschooled children all out for the day with their mom, how much does that rock? Grant kept staring at them, and said, "It's hard, it's like I want that so much, but..." The but being my own health concerns and delivery crap.
-I got email addresses for two women who definitely want to be a part of the Knitting Circle. One has a 3 year old daughter, and the other an 8 year old daughter. I'm psyched. We're thinking Thursday afternoons, starting with June 8. And I actually have enough hooks and needles and yarn that I'm offering to provide materials, at least for teaching purposes.
-I learned more about PATH, like that they hold annual campouts, spelling bees, science fairs, and beginning and end of year parties, as well as the promotion ceremonies, and monthly enrichment activities, field trips - and the physical fitness testing, and portraits, and yearbooks...on top of the weekly meetings. And it's all volunteer based stuff. Nobody gets paid for anything. I'm seriously considering being co-leader of our park group next year, it's basically just hinging on getting "approval" from Grant - because it will mean it's more important for me to make it EVERY Tuesday, meaning I'll need the van regardless of what he's got going on with customers.
It felt like we were there forever. We had to get up early-for-us (8:30), and didn't get home until about 2 pm. Isaac went down for a nap, A and A crashed in front of a movie, and I took Jake to Publix for some groceries...came home and worked on dinner and cleaned, until it was ready and the house looked good. Really good pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans and blueberry muffins for us, Grant Sr and Robby, and my sister who showed up. She and I went for a walk with the double stroller after dinner, then came back here and talked while I vaccumed (with the dyson, bwahahaha) and cleared clutter and did more dishes and knitted, and nursed babies and changed diapers and got the big kids to brush their teeth. She read them "The Biggest Bed in the World"..She didn't leave until 11:30.
We talked some about the whole "more babies in the future" bit. I'm totally split in half between feeling completely confident about an unassisted homebirth, and feeling completely resigned to just scheduling another c-section. Each of those sides argues vehemently that the other is completely unsafe for myriad reasons. Grant and I basically feel that we can't try for another baby - or not try not to, at that - until 1. We are out of here or Grant Sr is, and 2. I feel really good about and resigned to one of those choices. And I don't know that I could ever feel really good about or resigned to another c/s, particularly the spinal anesthesia, adhesions on my bladder, baby getting stuck in an NICU for stupid hospital infections parts.
*changing topic*
Jake has been sleeping much better the last couple of nights. I'm SO GLAD FOR THAT. And he is SO EASY, during the day...he sat on a hip or in the kozy happy as a clam the whole party outside today, and at Publix, and played contentedly on the floor or in a lap all evening. He doesn't mind the carseat at all anymore (hasn't in forever...) He is so sweet and good. He pulls up on everything, constantly, now. Anytime he's down, he immediately crawls over to the nearest leverage, and hauls himself to his feet. Unless there's an interesting choking hazard close by. I can't squeeze him often enough. What an awesome baby. It was WEIRD to see him not smiling, while he was sick.
Lastly, I've begun to get excited about being an aunt to Laura's kids. I've been excited about us being mothers together, but hadn't really thought of my role in her kids' lives. Her role in MY kids' lives has been very significant. She lived with me for most of Annie's first year, and has since been our only trusted babysitter, until we recently met Jamie at PATH. They all love her to bits. But really, I was thinking about it, and I could be such a cool aunt to have! I'll always have some baked good waiting and a million toys and cousins and a trampoline at the ready. I could totally be the place that this child remembers spending fun weekends at, the way my nana and pa were to me. My kids have never had a place to go to like that. And Grant is amazing uncle material, all horseplaying and kid-loving - he's like the pied piper at every event we attend. Then I started feeling guilty, because Grant is ALREADY an uncle, and I am already an aunt, and neither of us really get much from (or give much to) Mindy's kids. They're so hard to deal with, we're always worried about their horrible influence on our own kids, and it's impossible to corral them. Bah.
I imagine I have to go to bed now, before my eyes start bleeding. I'll leave you with this
Dear Annie: A long time ago, I read an essay listing all the things Mom does before going to bed, and I remember thinking how true it was. Could you possibly reprint it? -- Sandy in Illinois
Dear Sandy: Here it is -- just in time for Mother's Day:
Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."
She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches, rinsed the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and set up the coffee pot for brewing the next morning. She then put some wet clothes into the dryer, sewed on a loose button, picked up the newspapers strewn on the floor and the game pieces left on the table and put the telephone book back into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket, hung up a towel to dry, wrote a note to the teacher and counted out some cash for the kids' field trip. She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope, and wrote a quick reminder for the grocery store. She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked.
Mom washed her face, put on moisturizer, and brushed and flossed her teeth. Her husband called, "I thought you were going to bed." "I'm on my way," she replied. She looked in on each of the children, turned out a bedside lamp, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks in the hamper and had a brief conversation with the older one, who was up doing homework. In her own room, she set the alarm, laid out clothes for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack and added three chores to her list of things to do tomorrow.
About that time, her husband turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular, "I'm going to bed," and he did.
-I was holding Jake and a woman I'm familiar with approached, asking to hold him. A third woman walks up, they start talking about how huge he is and how he "carries himself" like an older baby, and without any way of them even knowing they just launched into a "It's the mama's milk, the good stuff" conversation, like that is assumed.
-A Chevy E350 pulled up (the kind of van I used to call a "church bus") and a woman got out with her NINE kids. I never see these things in real life, it's always on the internet. But yeah, nine happy healthy homeschooled children all out for the day with their mom, how much does that rock? Grant kept staring at them, and said, "It's hard, it's like I want that so much, but..." The but being my own health concerns and delivery crap.
-I got email addresses for two women who definitely want to be a part of the Knitting Circle. One has a 3 year old daughter, and the other an 8 year old daughter. I'm psyched. We're thinking Thursday afternoons, starting with June 8. And I actually have enough hooks and needles and yarn that I'm offering to provide materials, at least for teaching purposes.
-I learned more about PATH, like that they hold annual campouts, spelling bees, science fairs, and beginning and end of year parties, as well as the promotion ceremonies, and monthly enrichment activities, field trips - and the physical fitness testing, and portraits, and yearbooks...on top of the weekly meetings. And it's all volunteer based stuff. Nobody gets paid for anything. I'm seriously considering being co-leader of our park group next year, it's basically just hinging on getting "approval" from Grant - because it will mean it's more important for me to make it EVERY Tuesday, meaning I'll need the van regardless of what he's got going on with customers.
It felt like we were there forever. We had to get up early-for-us (8:30), and didn't get home until about 2 pm. Isaac went down for a nap, A and A crashed in front of a movie, and I took Jake to Publix for some groceries...came home and worked on dinner and cleaned, until it was ready and the house looked good. Really good pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans and blueberry muffins for us, Grant Sr and Robby, and my sister who showed up. She and I went for a walk with the double stroller after dinner, then came back here and talked while I vaccumed (with the dyson, bwahahaha) and cleared clutter and did more dishes and knitted, and nursed babies and changed diapers and got the big kids to brush their teeth. She read them "The Biggest Bed in the World"..She didn't leave until 11:30.
We talked some about the whole "more babies in the future" bit. I'm totally split in half between feeling completely confident about an unassisted homebirth, and feeling completely resigned to just scheduling another c-section. Each of those sides argues vehemently that the other is completely unsafe for myriad reasons. Grant and I basically feel that we can't try for another baby - or not try not to, at that - until 1. We are out of here or Grant Sr is, and 2. I feel really good about and resigned to one of those choices. And I don't know that I could ever feel really good about or resigned to another c/s, particularly the spinal anesthesia, adhesions on my bladder, baby getting stuck in an NICU for stupid hospital infections parts.
*changing topic*
Jake has been sleeping much better the last couple of nights. I'm SO GLAD FOR THAT. And he is SO EASY, during the day...he sat on a hip or in the kozy happy as a clam the whole party outside today, and at Publix, and played contentedly on the floor or in a lap all evening. He doesn't mind the carseat at all anymore (hasn't in forever...) He is so sweet and good. He pulls up on everything, constantly, now. Anytime he's down, he immediately crawls over to the nearest leverage, and hauls himself to his feet. Unless there's an interesting choking hazard close by. I can't squeeze him often enough. What an awesome baby. It was WEIRD to see him not smiling, while he was sick.
Lastly, I've begun to get excited about being an aunt to Laura's kids. I've been excited about us being mothers together, but hadn't really thought of my role in her kids' lives. Her role in MY kids' lives has been very significant. She lived with me for most of Annie's first year, and has since been our only trusted babysitter, until we recently met Jamie at PATH. They all love her to bits. But really, I was thinking about it, and I could be such a cool aunt to have! I'll always have some baked good waiting and a million toys and cousins and a trampoline at the ready. I could totally be the place that this child remembers spending fun weekends at, the way my nana and pa were to me. My kids have never had a place to go to like that. And Grant is amazing uncle material, all horseplaying and kid-loving - he's like the pied piper at every event we attend. Then I started feeling guilty, because Grant is ALREADY an uncle, and I am already an aunt, and neither of us really get much from (or give much to) Mindy's kids. They're so hard to deal with, we're always worried about their horrible influence on our own kids, and it's impossible to corral them. Bah.
I imagine I have to go to bed now, before my eyes start bleeding. I'll leave you with this
Dear Annie: A long time ago, I read an essay listing all the things Mom does before going to bed, and I remember thinking how true it was. Could you possibly reprint it? -- Sandy in Illinois
Dear Sandy: Here it is -- just in time for Mother's Day:
Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."
She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches, rinsed the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and set up the coffee pot for brewing the next morning. She then put some wet clothes into the dryer, sewed on a loose button, picked up the newspapers strewn on the floor and the game pieces left on the table and put the telephone book back into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket, hung up a towel to dry, wrote a note to the teacher and counted out some cash for the kids' field trip. She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope, and wrote a quick reminder for the grocery store. She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked.
Mom washed her face, put on moisturizer, and brushed and flossed her teeth. Her husband called, "I thought you were going to bed." "I'm on my way," she replied. She looked in on each of the children, turned out a bedside lamp, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks in the hamper and had a brief conversation with the older one, who was up doing homework. In her own room, she set the alarm, laid out clothes for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack and added three chores to her list of things to do tomorrow.
About that time, her husband turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular, "I'm going to bed," and he did.
