pirate party for thing one

my baby turned 6 the day after Christmas, i still can't believe it! we recently discovered jake and the neverland pirates on disneyjr.com and we've all been on a bit of a pirate kick lately. even i've been shouting "aww coconuts!" on occasion. so i decided to let thing one lead a search for pirate treasure for his birthday party. this marks a mile stone for him, because this is his first party that was really about him and his little friends. past parties have mostly been about getting all the family together and, while fun was had, they weren't really what you'd call 'kid' parties. now, being these kids' mom is my full time job, and i admit that i want to get work awards and promotions just as much as anyone else out there in the work force. my bosses are just a bit shorter than most, no less capricious. to put it simply: i am the primary disciplinarian around here on any average day but i still want to be the cool mom sometimes too. saturday was a win for me. even though we were sick my husband and i (with help) managed to make a treasure map, leave clues, bury a treasure chest full of goodies, and all around have a blast with our boys and their friends. we ate cinnamon sugar popcorn and chicken drumsticks, and drank hot chocolate. i still feel like a hero of legend every time thing one says 'that sure was fun, mama' to me, and it was all pretty easy really. with the possible exception of digging the hole for the chest (a cigar box)which gave my poor husband a sore back. to kick it off, tristin got a chess set, in which was hidden a mysterious clue that led him to a map in a bottle, which led him to an X in the yard. all the kids took turns with the shovel that was handily leaning next to a tree by the X digging the treasure out. at one point we thought one of the guests was going to faint from excitement because the shovel finally hit 'something'. the treasure chest contained some booty, and a lot of craft supplies which they all got to use to decorate their own treasure chests (more, smaller, cigar boxes) to take home. when it was all over my son cried. the poor little guy was just having too much fun. i felt bad for him, of course, but i was also never so proud.

thing three update

well, our wonderful OBGYN got us in monday afternoon to talk over the ultra sound. our regular appointment was for wednesday, so it wasn't really that early. after i once again checked out right on target for weight and blood pressure and tummy size the dr came in and cheerfully said, "well, there is nothing else wrong in your ultra sound, so this means nothing. it can be cause for concern, but not to you, you're fine." he did say that he might (might!) send us to a specialist for a detailed ultra sound to track/compare baby's growth in 6 weeks, but that would be after next months appointment. so, after about three more rounds of the "you're fine, your baby is fine" litany he smiled, shook our hands and said, "see you in a month!" our feelings afterward: let down. hunger. we shuffled off to wendy's saying things like, "well it's a relief, of course, but i knew we were fine." and "see i told you, we're all good, the baby was fine all along." because these are the brave things you say after a long weekend of trying not to worry, because worry wont help.

thing three

i may have mentioned before that we are expecting thing three this june, or as it happens, a bit earlier. this was one of those times when one partner says, "hey, you know, we could do that again." (my husband) and the other partner (me) laughs and says "well yes, but let's wait just a bit, shall we?" and then POOF the jig is up. my mother warned me about this, she said one afternoon she and my father had a conversation that went something along the lines of "hey, lets have kids" (my father) "hey, let's have puppies instead" (my mother) and there was my brother. apparently the women in my family are highly susceptible to suggestion. this left me a bit on the ambivalent side when, about 5 months ago, i confirmed that i was expecting, again. already. so soon. thing two had left me with some problems in my back and the joint in my pelvis that only just started feeling better a few months before, and i was terrified of going through all the debilitating pain again. the delivery was a breeze, but at around two and a half months my back went out, my pelvic joint slipped and the bones overlapped into a pinching position, and there they stayed until evan was about six months old. i was working my way to better back health and a slimmer pair of jeans at the gym, and finally starting to progress, and now i'm gaining again. *sigh* fast forward to about 8 weeks ago, i'm warming up to the idea, i really am. then i start bleeding. and i panic, just a bit. i get a sitter for the kids, my husband runs me down to the dr, and the whole time i'm thinking, "i finally get on board and you bail on me? i don't think so. stay in there baby, stop scaring mama." the dr does an ultrasound and everything checks out. the bleeding stops and i have to sit on my butt for a week. we have a follow up, and everything looks fine. great. in the mean time my back is getting worse, but not miserable, and my pelvic joint is getting sore but not nearly as bad. in short, things are looking up. then yesterday we go for the 20 week ultra sound. i'm now 21 weeks, and this is the one where they take forever and check everything twice. so the tech tells us it looks like a boy, we ooh and ahh over little fingers and toes, she finishes up, then says, "um, i'll be right back" then a dr breezes into the room, they goo me up again and she says "yep, see there's only two vessels showing right there, lets just have a look for anomalies" anomalies? like, abnormalities? i'm no english major but i'm pretty sure that's not a good word when it comes to my baby. she then proceeds to mutter things like "oh, good, there's one hand. he's a mover! and ok-ay yes there's the other hand. that's good. and, alright two feet. okay. trisomy 18, mutter mutter. spot on your placenta, oh you bled? okay, well there it is. i'll get this to your dr, soon." okay, we're given our little picks of feet and blurry arms and shuttled out. hmmm. last night i get home and all i can think is trisomy 18, what? turns out pretty horrific. then i look more. most sights say a baby can be fine with a two vessel umbilical cord, but there's a likelihood of the baby not growing as fast inutero due to decreased flow. so, either horrible genetic malformations and congenital problems with a high mortality rate, or a kinda small perfectly healthy baby. wow, i feel great. and gee, friday was a great day to schedule this, because now i get to spend the weekend with this hanging over us. i'll tell you one thing for sure, as i sit here with little (probably) Ian kicking like crazy as i type, i'm off the fence. i'll take a small healthy, somewhat sooner than hoped for baby, thankyou.

cottage reflections

i'm sitting here on the couch with my feet up, listening to my kids play outside, and marguritaville is on the radio. does it get better than this? i propose that it does not. sure, my husband could be home, but he's at work, slaving away because he loves me and these kids and if there's anything better than having him home, that's the one thing. could i have a frosty little drink in my hand? well, yes, but i did make some guava orange passion fruit juice earlier as a treat, and i'm about sugary drinked out. i'm content. i remember two moments in my life very clearly right now: the first, standing in the kitchen of my trailer (not makin' it up folks) experiencing once again the eye of the hurricane that was my life at the time wishing desperately that life could just always be as perfect as standing in the clean kitchen watching the curtains blow in the breeze. it didn't last back then, poor choices and perceived chains kept me from much peace. now i'm blessed to have a life that is almost always curtains in the breeze, so to say. the second, an afternoon bible study where the pastor posed the question "what does 'life abundantly' mean to you?" my answer was to not be hungry in any way. just let me have enough. enough food, enough love, enough warmth, enough friends. there have been more times than i can count when my life was anything but abundant and rather than make me greedy, it has made me humble. i don't need excess, i don't want too much, i'm no glutton. just give me 'that life abundantly' to the point of contentment, then pass the rest to the next guy. so today, the house is not sparkling, the yard is not ready for sunset magazine to show up, the kids are in a somewhat random state of being (dirt on shirts, snot on noses) and i remain adamant that this life, right here in this cottage, right now on this unseasonably warm january day, could not be improved.

cottage geese

you know when you get those bright ideas? the ones that are so bright you are inexorably drawn to them like a moth to a flame? yes, well, i had one of those. last Christmas as i was standing in front of the freezer case looking at the price of geese, around $80 each, i thought: how hard can it be to raise geese? i can raise my own, spread out the cost, and get fresh meat! a win, win, win situation! i know you're already laughing at me, yuck it up. i can take it. my first clue should have been that each gosling was $12.99. i knew that geese were mean. i knew they weren't bright. what i didn't know was that they are the most perverse, clumsy, idiotic creatures ever created. or that they could destroy a respectable vegetable garden in one day when left unattended. i am also learning that their favorite place to poop is a freshly hosed front walk, and they innately know whom they can chase without earning a smart kick in the chest and whom they cannot. have you ever seen a goose trip on it's own feet? i have. it almost makes this whole thing worth it. i now laughingly look back on those first weeks when i was explaining their presence in the yard and people were telling me "don't name them" or "don't feed them by hand" so that i wouldn't get attached and therefore not be able to go through with the butchering. HA! the trouble now is going to be not killing the cusses until Christmas....

i am remiss

if you have read all these rambling articles, you may have picked up on a theme of discontent having to do with my tiny, one cup food processor. it's subtle, but it's there. my husband, champion of hintery, killer of bugs, and all around good chap noticed this tiny thread of discord and for my birthday gifted me with a new 7 cup kitchen aide food processor. still my heart, he even got the red one! this not only goes on record as best birthday gift ever, it expands our culinary pursuits. no more let us quail at the produce stand, never again shall we hesitate with cook book in hand, no! we will boldly stride forth armed with the height of kitchen gadgetry and artistic nuance combined! we will pulse, or puree to our little hearts' delight! alas, my birthday was in june and i had forgotten until just now to post my official thanks, so here it is: thankyou husband, you should give lessons at what you do.

gardening madness

life just got a little prettier here at the cottage! i just planted more snapdragons and verbena out front and we have hanging baskets seeded with herbs out back and a new wine barrel with a beautiful cala lilly and alyssum right by the door going from our bed room to the patio. things are shaping up! last year i was just too prego to do half of what i want to do so this is the year of out door improvements!

thing one

my first born (aged 4) is lovingly referred to as thing one around here, he is crazy and hyper (again: 4) and has wonderful messy curly hair. the other day he and i were trying to play a video game, with almost equal skill, and thing two (baby aged 8 months) started fussing. i glanced at the clock and realized we were past due for some nursing so i said to thing one, who was still staring raptly at the tv screen, "i can't do this right now buba, i have to feed the baby. do you want to do it?" he turned to me with a puzzled frown and said, lifting his shirt, "but i can't i just have little nipples." and was only more confused when i laughed hysterically for the next five minutes.