Right Moon?

Seasons of Love

We're still a few days away from home, but will be offline for a few days. There are so many stories to share, including a nine hour car shopping trip wherein we finally bought a car, only to un-buy it the next day and buy a different one. Along the way we met many characters, including the Man With the Hook and the Dramatically Unfriendly Bald Man. Yesterday was our baby shower, and it was a truly blessed and amazing day, surrounded by dear friends and family (including a four-day-old cousin!) and filled with love. I'm a little overwhelmed and sentimental right now, so perhaps it's good to have a few days to collect my thoughts.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

looking ahead

So much going on this week: 12+ hour drive to Sunny Southern Indiana, a too-quick visit with Bro., Seeing the Rent movie (after carefully keeping my expectations "not too high" so as not to be disappointed), dealing with the new car/old car situation, the baby shower/open house, Dad's birthday, a 3+ hour drive to Indiana's Big City, shopping with the mother-in-law, hunting down baby pictures of Bear (I've never seen any), loading up the car and arranging to ship the crib (a welcome hand-me-down, the best kind of gift), and another 12+ hour drive to get the heck out of there.

But First: a doctor's visit, a few loads of laundry, unpacking last month's suitcases so we can re-pack them for this trip, cleaning the bathroom (Beej will be staying in our apartment while we're gone), taking care of Business, and hopefully finding time to search for the perfect pair of comfortable and cute black shoes.

Will try to check back in with some wit and wisdom (or, more likely, just some more babbling) before we go.

Um, yeah. No.

"toddlers should learn words like "vulva" at the same time they learn "ears" and "toes'..."

This article discusses the "need" for children to be correctly informed about sex from the very beginning. While I see the larger objective, I don't like the idea of my toddler talking about "vagina" when I still refer to the darn thing as my "poonan", or (on occasion) my "front butt".

snap, crackle, snooze

For the last few weeks the Baby Bumble's kicking has felt soft and subtle, like love taps from the womb. This week apparently she's reached a new strength level, because my stomach feels like a bag of microwave popcorn, periodically erupting in pops/kicks/hiccups of varying speed and strength. Just when it slows down, those few last "pops" sneak in and startle the bejeezus out of me.

Of course, this would be more charming if the baby popcorn-popper didn't insist on popping through the very late night and sleeping all day.

crafty goodness: Bumble edition

Baby blanket in-progress. In case it's not clear, that's a baby bear, in a diaper, sleeping on a big yellow moon. So sweet it gives you a tummy ache, right?

Every time I have a problem with the pattern, I remind myself that this blanket will someday be covered with spittle, baby-snot, and maybe even infant poo, and I don't feel quite so tense about "making it perfect".

stretch

yellow pom

growing girl

As I leave my babysitting gig every afternoon, the kids have a drawn-out ritual involving lots of hugs, whispering to the baby (through my belly button), and general pawing and kissing on my pregnant belly. I love these kids (and I always make them wash hands after snack), so this is endearing rather than pestering. Friday's conversation went like this:

James (age 5), after coddling my belly for several minutes as we talked about how fast the baby is growing: "Meleesa! Your belly is so big now...Even your butt is getting big!"
Me: "Um, yeah, my butt kind of started out that way."

Although I'm not generally a fan of Butt Size commentary, this was so sweet, innocent and good natured that I had to laugh out loud. (James' dad, on the other hand, looked slightly mortified at James' comment.) Ah, kids.

nose-y

Today you may be welcoming cooler weather, daydreaming about the holiday feasts just around the corner, or simply looking forward to the weekend. Me? I'm sitting around with a vaseline-soaked cotton ball up my nose, fighting off my Third nosebleed of the day. 'Tis the season.

I'd like the record to reflect that The Periodic Plague of Nosebleeds is something I hope my children don't inherit. Put this one on the list right after "Tendency to sprain one or both ankles on a quarterly basis" and before "Propensity to scratch mosquito bites until they turn into festering wounds".

crazy

SLEEP has become a rarity in our house. Perhaps our bodies are preparing for the sleepless nights of babydom which lie ahead, or perhaps it's just the change of seasons and the fact that we Cannot Breathe. All I know is that at 4:30 this morning, after hours of lying there pretending to rest, I finally pulled the covers back, said "ok, I give up - this is crazy. I'm going to do something else", and proceeded to a hot bath and a couple more hours of non-sleep. At same 4:30, an unsleeping Bear beside me simply looked over and said "Well, good luck."

I guess it's time to find another engrossing novel to at least pass those dark hours, as I'm bored of late-night television and I've surfed the entire internet at least five times.

life is important

I own issues 1-13 of a quarterly literary publication that once brought me great joy. I looked forward to finding it every season, and a couple of years ago I finally made the plunge and got a four-issue (one year) subscription. This, too, brought hours upon hours of great joy. Issue 13, in particular, was acclaimed as a masterpiece. After that one, my subscription ran out (as did my monthly income) and I couldn't seem to justify the extra expense.

Now I'm seriously considering renewing my subscription (although our finances are still the same; I'm just decadent in the pursuit of reading materials), which would start with issue 18. I'm troubled, though, about the missing issues...If I "need" to renew my subscription, don't I also "need" to back-order issues 14-17? If I just re-start with issue 18, won't that gaping 4-issue hole leave me with a sense of something missing every time I look upon it? Or is it time to really cut the cord and move on, like when I finally cancelled my Rolling Stone subscription after college? Better yet, is it time to once again review my many Buddhist books cautioning about the dangers of attachment to things?

I understand that books don't do it for everyone...some people are never tempted by the allure of a freshly printed or well-worn collection by a favorite author. But for me, books have always been, and surely will continue to be, a simple and true luxury.

they said this town was dangerous...

It's a really strange thing to watch your little home town - the one you haven't lived in for over 10 years - become headline news (the latest victim of global warming and nature's freakiness). My heart goes out to everyone affected by the tornadoes, including the great folks at Ellis Park.

What I learned today from CNN: everyone in Southern Indiana does indeed have a southern accent like Dad's*, and once in a while the media will actually show the midwest without referring to their politics or their religion. There are casualties and great losses, which is difficult and heartbreaking, but I do believe that Evansville is resilient and will handle the tragedy and it's aftermath with respect and expediency.

Aside from the horses lost at Ellis, it looks like our friends and loved ones have been once again spared and blessed (update: some of our loved ones were very very close to the storm, but came through unscratched. Halleluia!). Miracles abound.

Hope you're well.

[*I don't have the accent. Not sure why, but I don't think I ever had it...]