Saturday, October 16, 2004

Over at "Workings of the Mind" a new mom asks, "Is it just me?" She wonders whether every new mother has a hard time getting anything done. Should I tell her?

There are approximately seven weeks left before I am like a new mom again, home with an infant, unbathed and still in pajamas at 4 in the afternoon. My three older children will be fed up with pizza delivery, my husband will ask whether I made it to the bank, have I seen his shoes, do I want to see The Lord of the Rings Trilogy tonight etc... I will be feeble, smelly, dazzled by my new child and yet not quite sure how she got here.

I have heard of some women with 6 months of healthy and delicious dinners frozen and labeled in their clean kitchens. They bathe their infants daily, and drive the other children to soccer and oboe lessons. They shower, go to church, and keep scrapbooks detailing every Special Moment. Myth? Urban Legend? Sick fantasy perpetuated by Gerbers and Pampers Supreme?

When you are home alone with only one baby, no teenagers or toddlers, my suggestion is that you revel in the exhausting bliss of accomplishing "nothing" but caring for your infant. Use paper plates, be proud of clean clothes (forget hanging, folding, ironing). This time is counted in weeks and it will slip by too soon, believe it or not. Don't worry. Don't panic. It's pointless to think of what is left undone, especially if you are taking care of your infant.

Nice advice, I think, but of course I still have my own delusions: I believe I will be sending Christmas cards with birth announcements and a family portrait. I think I will wrap, pack and ship Christmas presents. I plan to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, like homemade cranberry relish and pumpkin pies. The house will not only get clean, but remain fairly respectable, somehow. The baby will weigh 7.5 lbs, but somehow I will lose 25 pounds at the time of delivery. I will continue to post my deep thoughts, while also inspiring the children to change the litter boxes, read classic novels and write thank notes for all their presents. And after several sleepless weeks with a cough and 32 weeks worth of baby onboard, I have the particularly ridiculous sentiment that: I cannot wait for the baby to come, so I can get some rest.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Proof that there can never be too many *bright* ideas: Query Letters I Love

February 18, 2007

Just updating archives. This link isn't quite what I remembered.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004



It may be the chair. I have been too uncomfortable to sit at the computer and update Chicken Blog. In order to accommodate Mini Me I have to lean back and give her more room. When I lean back the key board is out of reach and the screen gets a bit blurry. Wait! Hold on. I just remembered I can pull the screen in lower and closer... there, that's better. So, now what's my excuse?

We have been busy around here. I am imparting my vast stores of knowledge and the boys are learning. Geoff and I revisit our "Where should we live" conversation on a daily basis, and that is always time consuming. I am nearly finished with a quilt I have been working on. I did the last of the actual hand quilting and now I need to complete it by sewing the edges with quilt binding. We managed to shift enough things in our room to make a nearly crib size space in the corner. I think for spaces that are nearly big enough I will have to go to Ikea, where furniture is often times scaled down a bit. Yes, we have definitely been busy.

I did end up going to the baby shower. Geoff and I know Danny from tennis and working out, and Danny has been keeping us updated on Amber. She's 4 weeks more pregnant than us, so Geoff and Danny pass some time comparing notes while lifting weights. The shower was nice. I mean good. I mean, I knew no one. Nobody, and that's not an easy situation to be in. Everyone was friendly, and it was nice to be out of the house for something other than grocery shopping. The hostesses used a Hawaiian theme, because it matches the baby's nursery. I have to say the theme was fun.

I won't mention the barely audible sigh of envy I am releasing, because I sort of slightly, really wish I could decorate a nursery. Perhaps I should pretend to have a nursery and draw out my plans, choose paint colors and coordinated lampshades. I think this much effort would exhaust me, and life being what it is, I wouldn't have to actually follow through on executing the project.

Theme: Rustic farm/country with a Mexico flavor: Cowgirls and chickens, flores y rebozos.
Colors: Deep cranberry red, smatterings of pink, and splashes of lavender and green.
It looks good.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Hmmm... I thought I could publish a movie link, but it ain't working.

It might as well still be 3 in the morning; my brain is behaving in delayed mode.

Okay.

That's about it for me.

Oh. Supposedly I am going to a baby shower... for the girlfriend of a nice guy that plays tennis with Geoff.

?!! How do we get in these situations?