Christmas was lots of fun, even though it took FOREVER for Adam to open all his presents. OK, not "forever", but four hours is still a pretty long time! It was the year of Bob the Builder and Legos, and he was mightily pleased. There were other gifts he loved, too, including an Adam-sized Shrek pillow, some "blinky" Winnie the Pooh hiking boots, clothes, books, and other miscellani. There were only a few presents he didn't like, and he warmed up to them fast enough. His sister mostly got rattles and clothes, plus a few board books. The parents didn't make out badly, either. From Mike, I got the game Syberia, plus a set of surround-sound speakers and some other odds and ends. From Mike's Mom & Dad, I got several of the things on my wish list, including a Big Board ironing board, a tracing light box (on back order), a book, some quilty socks, and many other things. Mike didn't make out badly, either. Among other things, he got a dashing new hat (the Gettysburg)! He's been wearing the same hat almost daily since our honeymoon 3.5 years ago, so it was due!
Random picture time!
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| Adam in his new Bob the Builder jacket and "blinky shoes", prowling through Christmas presents as Mike looks on. | Baby Girl, with her Baby Girl | "Now, you sit here, Shrek!" |
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| From the trip to DC, Uncle Steve plays the piano for Kayla, while Auntie Jen holds Miss Fussy. | Stockings are fun! | What's happening in the world today? (A variation of this picture appeared on the front page of our local newspaper.) |
Now that Christmas is over, it's time to start on Candice's quilt. So I don't duplicate my chatter, I'll be talking about that only on my quilting diary - follow along if you like!
Last night I got this horrible headache right behind my left eye, and down the left side of my neck. I assumed it was sinus-related, since I still haven't shaken that headcold/ear infection thing I had when Kayla was born, and the headache pain was worse after I'd lay down and when I was on one side or the other. I was also having some dizziness and nausea. I called the ER, and they had Dr. P call me back. He said he thought it was muscle pain, and said I should take 2 hydrocodone and go to bed. He said come in if it wasn't better. I took the pills at 11PM and went to sleep (Kayla was already asleep, and the boys ended up sleeping upstairs). I got up at 2AM to nurse the baby and go to the bathroom and I. Was. Loopy. I was feeling NO pain, but I was dizzy and kind of... I dunno. I guess it's fair to say I was high. Anyway, by the time I woke back up for good at 10:30AM, the pills had worn off and the symptoms were back, although much less severe. After some gentle prodding of the nurse, I got them to consult with Dr. P about whether I should come in. He said I should. After a brief exam, he said I should take 3 ibuprofen 3 times a day, one Methocarbamol at bedtime (2 if the pain was severe), and hydrocodone as needed. I'm to do this for a week. If it gets worse at any point, I'm to call him. If it doesn't get better by the end of the week, I'm to come back in for an appointment.
After the doctor's appointment, we did our usual errands and came home. I want it to be Christmas!!
I took the kids out today, to pick up a couple packages around town (one from my secret sis, left at a BETA member's house, two others at the post office) and to do a little shopping. On the way there and the way back home, one of Eminem's songs, Superman came on. I should pre-empt this story with a few facts: (1) I like Eminem (I do believe I'm the only quilter who listens to both Eminem and Garth Brooks), (2) I am opposed to governmental censorship, (3) I am in favor of parental censorship, (4) Superman is not Em's best song, (5) I'm not a misogynist, nor do I secretly wish to be degraded. OK, all that said - the radio station was playing the "clean" (censored) version of Em's songs. Much of what resulted was predictable - "bitch" became either "trick" or "chick", "piss" was replaced with a corresponding sound effect, "fuck" was just kind of staticked over. Some of the rest of it, though, was surprising. "Slap" were also staticked out in one place, replaced with "bump" in another. "Sluts" was replaced with "girls", while "hoes" was left in. And, most surprising, "anthrax" was blurred out. I mean... "anthrax"? Since when does the word "anthrax" need to be censored? OK, to put it in context, the lyric goes, "Put anthrax on a tampax and slap you til you can't stand." The clean version comes out, "Put __ on a tampax and __ you til you can't stand." I fail to see the point. I mean... it's not like the deletions change the meaning of the song, so why *those* words? I guess political correctness has just reached the point of being truly ridiculous.
Kayla and I took a trip to DC this past weekend. We left
Thursday morning and arrived last night. We went to visit my friends
Lyn and
Steve, as well as other friends
John, Laura, and
Jen. Kayla is a very good traveler,
despite the fact that she's trying to cut a tooth, and maybe getting a little
cold to boot. Our flight out left at 9:30AM, so we left the house at 6. From
excitement, I wasn't able to sleep much - only a couple of hours - so I was
pretty groggy at first. Flight to Chicago was 20 minutes early, so I had time to
track down an
ATM machine, grab a hot dog, and give Kayla a little floor time in
the terminal before we had to board the flight to DC. I was blessed that my
arrival gate was right across from my departure gate, but cursed in that the
nearest ATM was halfway across the airport. They had two of them, but chose to
place them right next to each other. Stupid system. Both flights on Thursday
were uneventful, but the last flight culminated in Kayla having a huge blowout.
She managed to soak through diaper, sleeper, my sleeve, two burpcloths, and
blanket. As soon as we deplaned, I went to the bathroom to hose us both down. It
took awhile, so Lyn & Steve, who hosted us, were kind of worried by the time we
reached baggage claim (airport security being what it is, only ticketed
passengers are allowed in the actual concourses). Needless to say, I did a load
of laundry at Lyn & Steve's house that night.
I was "up" from the high of finally meeting them, and
suggested that I wasn't too tired to go out for dinner. Once we got to their
home and the adrenaline rush wore off, however, I realized I was pretty beat. We
ordered in from a local Thai place (I had some chicken curry thingie) and then
went to bed. As was to be the schedule for the whole trip, I ended up staying up
til 2 or so. Lyn was gracious enough to provide me with a computer to use while
I was there, so I could check in on email a couple of times a day, and even chat
some with Mike. The next morning, I got K and myself dressed, and Steve drove us
"into the District" to have lunch with Lyn and Jen. We ate at Jaleo, a "tapas
restaurant". Basically this means everyone chooses a few small-size portions,
and you share. I'm sure Mike would have loved the fare, but I fear it was a
little... up-scale for my tastes.
After lunch, Steve drove us home (cold and rain canceled
our plans to visit the National Archives). We weren't home for very long before
it was time for him to go pick up Lyn from the Metro station. That night, we
started making her first quilt (she made it; I just supervised). You can read a
little about it and see a finished picture on
her own
journal. Dinner was pizza we ordered in (Domino's, I
think). Saturday they
were having a party (happy birthday, Steve!), so we did a little more work on
the quilt, then they got the house ready for company. The party was a smashing
success, with close to 25 people in attendance, including three babies under six
months. It was at this party that I got to meet John and Laura, and their baby
Roseanna, as well as Joni and Adrian and their baby Aelliana. There wasn't
really anyone else there that I "knew", though I had heard many of the names in
email conversations, chat, and the like. Was fun to put names with faces, and
talk to people about something other than babies for a change. Oh, and my
offering to the party (Velveeta cheese dip) was well-received (after I finally
remembered to plug the crock pot in and turn it on) - there were no leftovers!
Sunday was fairly low-key. We nibbled on snack mix and
cookie leftovers all day, until John, Laura, Roseanna, Laura's niece Becky,
and
Jen came back over. After a little bit of chatting, we headed over to the
infamous Mike's - a steakhouse and favorite restaurant of Lyn & Steve's. The
food (I had herbed chicken) was pretty good, once I finally got to eat it (Kayla
was having a rough night), but the service left rather a lot to be desired. As
we were leaving, there was an ugly scene where one of the other patrons
apparently reported to a manager than Laura was changing a diaper on a table (in
fact, she was just bundling Roseanna into her snowsuit to take her outside). The
manager confronted Laura, and was less than apologetic when he found out the
true nature of the situation. After dinner, we all headed back to Lyn & Steve's
and just relaxed. Lyn worked some more on her quilt. The next day, Monday, Lyn
had to go back to work. Steve had to do some work as well, so Kayla and I mostly
amused ourselves (yay, Tivo!) until lunchtime (Bertucci's pizza). Lyn came home
early, and we worked on and finished her quilt that evening. Afterward, we went
to King Street Blues for dinner (I had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes).
It was 'eh'. Again, the service wasn't great. We had dessert back at home - a
cake I bought to celebrate Lyn's first quilt, and some ice cream. I washed some
laundry and we watched some more Tivo, til it was time to head for bed. I packed
my bags, laid out clothes for the next day, and did a little web surfing. I was
in bed just a little after midnight, and awake before 8 the next morning.
Got dressed and ready to leave. Went with Steve to the
Metro station to drop off Lyn, then we swung by McDonald's to grab some
breakfast on the way to the airport. Had a little scare at the check-in counter,
when I realized I had left my driver's license back at Lyn/Steve's house, but
lucky for me they accepted a bank card with photo and another credit card in
lieu (yayyyyy airline that's trying not to go out
of business!). I made my way to the gate and was just settling in to nurse
Kayla when I heard my name announced, and I
was asked to meet the ticket agent
at another gate. Bewildered, I packed Kayla's blanket and toys up and headed
that way. Seems I'd dropped my boarding pass somewhere along the way, and it had
been turned in. The ticket agent was FABULOUS. When he saw I was traveling with
an infant, he insisted on changing my seat assignment, and even blocked off a
row for me, so we'd have a row all to ourselves. Amazing! On the flight to
Denver, I asked one of the flight attendants to hold Kayla so that I could wash
my hands (it was a 7-wipe diaper!), and she was very obliging. Later, when Kayla
fell so fast asleep that I laid her down on the empty seats without waking her,
the same flight attendant agreed to keep an eye on her so I could take a
much-needed potty break. As we were nearing landing, she brought her wallet over
so I could see picture of her own children. We chatted a bit about teething and
photo sessions - she was very nice!
Then came hell: the Denver aiport. For one thing,
"airport" is a term I'm forced to use loosely. It's really more like a big
fly-in,
overpriced shopping mall. You have to walk forEEEEVER to get from point
A to point B, and I kid you not, I crossed through not one, but TWO mass
shopping areas from my arrival gate to my departure gate. I wasn't time-crunched
at all this time. In fact, quite the opposite - I had a three-and-a-half hour
layover. I ate from Cantina Grill (it was horrible) and Kayla was nice enough to
play happily on the ground with a new stuffed doggy destined for her brother
throughout the whole meal. Afterward, we walked around some and just looked.
Bought a $4.50 chocolate shake at the TCBY. Checked email at one of the
phone/Internet terminals ($1.25 for 5 minutes). Considered checking my heavy
carry-on bag into the lockers, but they were all out of order. Finally, I just
laid Kayla down on the floor, where she quickly fussed herself to sleep. I lay
down next to her (we were in a relatively quiet corner of the terminal) and
dozed and read. She woke up an hour or so later, screaming her head off (poor
toofies). Luckily, she worked it all out of her system (Tylenol helped, too) and
ended up sleeping almost the entire flight into Spokane.
Mike and Adam were waiting for us just on the other side
of the security area. Even though it's not a busy airport, Adam didn't see me
until I was right on top of him. He was very huggy and quiet (Mike says he had
just woken up), and loved his little doggy. Baggage claim was pretty painless,
and after a quick stop at Rosauer's, a long drive home, and a brief look at
email, I collapsed into bed, not to be awoken again until around 9:30 this
morning. Random observations about the trip:
Kayla
and Aelliana loved reaching for each other.Spent most of today catching up on email and doing the monthly prize
drawing over at QI. Tomorrow I think I'm going to just spend working on laundry,
dishes, gifts, vacuuming, and the like. After all, Christmas is only SIX DAYS
AWAY!!
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A very busy couple of days for me. The BETA dinner was lots of fun. It's one of those progressive dinners, where you have hors d'oeuvres at one house, main course at someone else's, desserts at a third. I've heard of these things being so dragged out that you have salad at one house, soup at another, appertifs at another, after-dinner mints at another, potty breaks at another, etc. I think that would get a bit tiresome, though. With ours, if you weren't hosting one of the courses, you were asked to bring something. I brought the salad to the main course, and it seemed to go over well. At the last house, we had desserts (hot fudge brownie sundaes, yum!), Grasshoppers (a mint liqueur drink, which I didn't imbibe), and a gift exchange. I've heard these things variously called a Yankee Swap, a Chinese auction, and (what BETA calls it) a steal-my-present party. I ended up with some lavender aromatherapy bath stuff and (the part I was really after) a textured bath pillow. Mike's parents had given us one a few months ago, but it broke. Kayla accompanied on my merry rounds. She was somewhat fussy most of the night - I really think she's trying to cut teeth - and by the time I headed for home at 10 I was exhausted. One other thing to note, though - during the main course, we got to talking about quilting. None of the other women but me is actually a quilter, but several are interested in it, and one (Pam) has made a quilt top and started quilting it ten years ago. Anyway, long story short - we decided to start an evening quilt group! We'll meet the third Tuesdays of the month at 7PM at "the Depot". The Depot is actually owned by the Wheat Grower's of Endicott, but is the closest thing we have to a community center. The other Endicott quilt group (the Monday afternoon one that I attended for a couple of months) occasionally meets there as well.
Thursday morning I dragged my butt out of bed and got Adam and Kayla ready to go out. They both fell asleep on the way to Pullman, but Adam woke up fairly quickly when I told him we were at "school". We waited around a few minutes for the registrar we were to meet, then I took Adam to his class. I kind of half-expected this kind of separation anxiety thing to happen, but he was totally fine with it. In fact, as soon as I walked him over to where the toys were, I may as well have been invisible. I asked for a hug and kiss as I was leaving, and he didn't even acknowledge my existence. *sniff*
I went upstairs where the other mothers were assembled, and got introduced around. I spent the next two-and-a-half hours variously nursing, running up and down stairs to change diapers and check on Adam, trying to console a fussy four-month-old, and chatting with the other women. I looked in on Adam three times. The first, he was off on his own, reading. While I peeked in, one of the teachers went over to him and was talking to him. The second time, they were trying to teach him to make paper chains (ahhh the wonders of glue sticks). The third, they were all having snacktime, so Adam got his first real communal meal. At 11:15, they brought the children up for song time (the last thing you do before you take your kids and leave). Adam was the last one up, and he had trouble spotting me. They pointed me out to him, and he walked in my general direction and looked up, smiling, at the first pair of big-people legs he could find. He looked disappointed when he saw it wasn't me. I walked over to him and squatted down and he said, "That's my mama!" Then he hugged Kayla and said, "That's my baby sister." I got a report on his first day - he seemed to have fun and was well-behaved - then we went into song time, which totally baffled him. Maybe in time he'll learn the words to some of the songs, and learn how to do the hokie-pokie. :)
After that, we made our weekly hit at the McDonald's. Another wretched mother-and-child combo there that day. This kid was such a brat, I considered taking Adam right out so he wouldn't pick up on what she was doing. The woman kept yelling for the kid to "come on out" and warning her "one more time!" I swear, I heard her say "one more time" at least ten times. Finally, the woman said, "Come here right now" and the little girl (who must've been almost five) said, "No!" and climbed into the play structure, taunting, "Neener, neener, neener." I was aghast. Had it been me, I would've been right after that little brat, yanking her out and starting a litany of things that she would NOT be permitted to do. The brat's mother, however, just sat down, resigned, and kept up the "one more time" chant. *sigh*
Speaking of parenting, between talking to women at PS I Love You and talking to the other mothers of young children at BETA, I realize how completely out of step we are with mainstream parents. I'm not saying this is a BAD thing, I'm just surprised at the gulf. Things we would never consider doing seem to be just completely normal for other parents. For example, someone at PS I mentioned how she was "inspired" by another mother's story of how she got her son to sleep through the night by letting him cry it out. I was so stupefied - I didn't believe real parents still did that anymore - that I didn't know what to say. A mother at BETA, whose daughter is 3 months older than Adam, was lamenting that her girl wasn't potty-trained yet, and had no interest in it. She and I have chatted before about how neither of our kids has shown the slightest inclination to use the potty, and how we'd both be willing to just let them go at their own pace. She asked the other mothers how you get your kids interested in using the potty. They gave various advice, finally concluding with, "It's time to break out the tools of bribery." ??? Maybe this is common, but it's totally alien to me. Oh, well. Such is the path of the groundbreaker (me!), right?
After leaving McDonald's, I took the kids over to Shopko for some shopping. I had been planning to get a tree at Rite-aid afterward, but didn't think my back could stand it, so we just did the Dairy Queen drive-thru and headed home. I had been planning to get Adam a cone of his own, but he fell asleep in the drive-thru. He half-opened his eyes when they gave me my chocolate shake, saw there was nothing for him, and started to protest. He fell asleep in mid-sentence, though, only squeaking out, "I want".
I was so tired from all the running around on Thursday that I just hung out at home yesterday, though I had wanted to go to the season's first basketball game. It's getting so close to Christmas that I really need to be working on presents anyway, especially since I'm going to be gone from the 12th to the 17th. I made some progress on Adam's quilt yesterday, so maybe I'll get that one taken care of before I leave. We'll see.
We ran our usual errands today. It didn't take very long at all - we left the house at almost noon, and were leaving the grocery store (our last stop) by 1. Bank, grange, and grocery store. We had a fairly light shopping, so we splurged on some treats for the kids. We got a board book for Kayla for Christmas, and Adam got an immediate present of a stuffed "i-nosserous". Adam wore his new Christmas clothes (courtesy of the grandparents), and Kayla had on some hand-me-down clothes from when her brother was his size (she'll be sporting her Christmas clothes at tonight's BETA dinner). The hand-me-downs were blue, so someone referred to her as a boy. "How old is he?" I said, "She's four months old." The woman looked stricken. Really, I don't get why people expect you to be all offended by calling a baby by the wrong gender. I mean, they're all fat and round, and most of them are bald. Unless you dress them in a certain way, who can tell? I really don't think it matters. They'll figure out she's a girl by the time she has to pick a fraternity. ;)
Oh, by the way, someone pointed out to me that it might not have been smart to mention that I was home alone and vulnerable yesterday. I really doubt anyone will make the drive out here to do me harm, but just in case you were considering it: I may have *felt* vulnerable, but I was not, in point of fact, *actually* vulnerable. We have two very loud, barky dogs, and while I have yet to find the key to the handgun cases, I do possess three things you might want to think about - an unrelenting determination to protect my children, ready access to the shotgunS, and the skill to use them. :)
I just found some pictures of myself as a baby. Kayla looks EXACTLY like I did, poor thing. ;) Maybe I'll try to scan them and post them here. I'm not even sure if the scanner's working, but I'll ask Mike when he gets back. He's gone to take some certification exams, and I'm digging through *old* paperwork, trying to find the keys to the gun safes. (Just feeling a little vulnerable and exposed here, with two kids and no vehicle). Tomorrow night is the BETA Christmas party, and the day after that is Adam's first day at PS I Love You. Gosh, I hope I can wake up for it in time!! I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately, so the best bet is to remember to ask Mike to wake me up that morning.
I think I spoke too soon in my comments from a few days ago, when I said I wasn't having to deal with the abuse stuff lately. Another wave of it just came crashing down. See, I was drawing prizes for the Mall Crawl that just ended, and I decided to listen to some music really loudly to drown out babbling children, and so I could concentrate. I chose what I thought was safe music - "You" by Janet Jackson. But then I started actually hearing the music for the first time ever, and then I was folding in on myself, pulling inward.
The lyrics go like this:
here i am in your face
tellin' truths and not your old lies
seems to me that you care
and i know that you're runnin' outta time
see ya can't get away
i'll be here forever and again
whisperin' in your ear
do believe 'cause you know you cannot win
spent most of your life pretending not to be
the one you are but who you choose to see
learned to survive in your fictitious world
does what they think of you determine your worth
if special's what you feel when you're with them
taken away, you feel less than again
REFRAIN:
that's right
you gotta mean what you say
you gotta say what you mean
tryin' to please everyone
sacrifice your own needs
check in the mirror my friend
no lies will be told then
pointin' the finger again
you can't blame nobody but you
END REFRAIN:
there's a feelin inside
no you cannot change it right away
gotta make a try
and with time it'll start to go away
i'll be here when you need
that one to sit and cry to
'cause i'm the you you forgot
the only one you know you cannot lie to
bitter you'll be if you don't change your ways
when you hate you, you hate everyone that day
unleash this scared child that you've grown into
you cannot run for you can't hide from you
can't hide from you
(refrain)
I don't know if JJ was writing about abuse or not, but that's what it says to me. Deep.