The best birthday week ever

It started like this:

Something major has been brewing for a long time now but I've been too afraid of jinxing it to put it here. After 3 1/2 years, my BFF, Shinesalot, is back home. Not quite next door, not yet sure of where they will finally hang their hats, but they're back in the same area code and a hell of a lot closer than Texas. I can't quite put into words the enormity of this.

The day after they returned we celebrated the 4th of July with 2 parties. We had fun in the afternoon with sprinklers and friends and then in the evening we enjoyed some fireworks on the lake with Shinesalot & family. My kids were up later than they've ever been before.

Vader took Tuesday and Wednesday off from work, so we got to see him for 5 whole days. On Tuesday we took the kids to play some putt-putt and Chewie surprised me by not running off... too much. Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought a bike for me to ride. (I'm not giving up running, but I wanted to have a bike so I could encourage SkyWalker to ride his. A week before he actually got on his bike, sans training wheels, and learned how to ride! I may have misled him into thinking his BFF could already do this. But that's okay since today his BFF took his training wheels off and learned how to ride with his best buddy by his side in my driveway. All's well that ends well.). On Wednesday, my actual birthday, we went to Howe Caverns with the kids and they all did so well. No crying or complaining. It was great.

On Thursday I was planning to go to dinner with The Happy Runner, which would have been an awesome way to end my birthday week. Instead, she tricked me and I had dinner with all the girls, including Shinesalot! It was a lovely surprise (although I disappointed them by not actually registering any surprise. ) I brought my camera,  but forgot to take any pictures.

After years and years of suckitude surrounding my birthday (something always gets screwed up), it was so nice to have multiple days of good times. And to know that there are more ahead.

Home sweet home

We're all done traveling and I am glad to be sleeping in my own bed again. I will be even more glad when Chewie is sleeping in her own bed (her crib upstairs instead of the co-sleeper in our room). She had a couple of really good nights on LI and I think they were both because she was outside in the heat for the majority of the day! We have yet to replicate it. I'm getting really tired of, well, being tired. Being up twice a night is wearing on me. Particularly since I know the Princess was sleeping all night long by now... it's not fair to compare but that's what's in the back of my mind. 

We were on LI for our anniversary so we were able to go out by ourselves and have dinner and walk around Port Jeff. I had an Italian Ice. I don't know if any place up here has Italian Ices... in any event it was nice. Much better than last year when the kids and I went to dinner by ourselves. 

We're still not done with the cleanup from the Yellow Jacket Invasion of '09. My husband is going a little cooky with it. At this rate we will never be done. 

SkyWalker starts kindergarten in 3 weeks. I can't quite believe it. We're going to start getting him up earlier. His bus will come at 6:52. Isn't that crazy? He should be home by 2:45 though. I'm not sure if I want to try getting the Princess down for earlier naps or keep her on her current napping schedule. It might be nice for SkyWalker to have some alone time with me when he gets home. This is assuming the Princess naps. Actually she does okay as long as no one else wakes her up. 

The sun is still not up yet. I haven't gotten up this early in a week and I feel it... I think it was good to get a bit more sleep, but I definitely prefer getting up before everyone else and starting my day in peace. And then going to bed early. 

Shinesalot had her baby Tuesday morning and I realize once again how lucky we were that she was here when Chewie was born... I have been going crazy being so far away. 

On a related note there is a Clutch concert in NYC the day my SIL is due. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could be down there and see the concert and the baby in the same weekend? Would it be even more lovely if Chewie is sleeping the night by then?? Cross your fingers for me.

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Divine intervention

You know I've been ready for this baby for weeks if not months now. I had Vader put the infant car seat in last weekend. Everything was done. On Tuesday Vader miraculously fixed our garage door opener so we could have the van in the garage again. My BF, Shinesalot, and her son came for a visit on Tuesday and to spend the night. And although it was only going to be one night I was grateful for any time I could see her. We had a great time all day Tuesday and because SkyWalker was so comfortable with them so was the Princess. She acted like she had known my BF her entire life too. I looked forward to playing more on Wednesday before I had to take them to the train station.

And then my water broke.

Well, not quite then. Sometime shortly before 2 a.m. (why is it always in the wee hours of the morning when that happens?), I felt and heard a "pop." This is significant because at Sunday's Mom's Book Club at my house one of the moms talked about hearing and feeling a pop when her water broke. And I laughed because my water had never broken and I would rather have it done naturally than have it done by the doctor. So when I heard this pop, I said "Oh crap. No." Because on Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning really, I was only 36 1/2 weeks. I went to the bathroom and everything was fine so I thought "I'm so suggestive. It was probably just gas." I went back to bed. And then felt something shoot out of me and thought "that's weird". I went to the bathroom and saw that I was a bit wet and then that I was A LOT wet and said "Oh crap." By the time it actually all started coming out it was 2 a.m. 

On the ONE day of the year that my BF was sleeping in my house. 

Do you understand the significance of this?

My husband and I left for the hospital knowing that our sleeping children were in good hands in their own home. We had to go to a different hospital which sucked donkey ass but that's another blog post. Labor and delivery was rather uneventful and 6 hours later we had our new baby girl.* Born on Wednesday, June 3 at 8:01 a.m., she was just 2 days shy of 37 weeks, which I believe is considered full term. Not ideal, but full term. Don't tell that to the people at the hospital though who apparently enjoy saying the phrase "gestational age" a lot. Anyway, the absolute best part is that my BF was able to come to the hospital and hold my new baby girl and be a part of this for me again. And that could only be explained by divine intervention. 

*No, you're not getting pictures. That involves walking down the stairs and I'm not doing that yet. 

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Dread

Shinesalot and Littleman have just left for a party with her former coworkers. SkyWalker was not happy. He just wanted Littleman to stay home with him. I was hoping to have some kind of distraction today but it just didn't work out that way... he was so totally sad it has completely broken my heart. I cried as they drove away. I cried as I tried to explain to SkyWalker why he couldn't go with him. And I cried carrying the Princess upstairs for her nap because I could just see how horrible tomorrow will be. Today is just a few hours of no Littleman. Tomorrow is a really long time. I'm hoping we can go to the beach and meet some friends there so that when they leave (from the beach) we will both have distractions. But I don't know if the weather will cooperate. 

We swam in our new pool and although it doesn't look like it should it was perfect for my little ones. It was great but unfortunately the Princess's right eye is red and irritated. Not the whites, but the skin around the eye. I think that she rubbed sand in her eye from playing in the sand box after the pool. I hope that's what happened. If it was the pool I think it would have been both her eyes. I gave her some benedryl just in case and she's napping now. Hopefully she will take a nice long nap and wake up happy and fine. 

SkyWalker is watching Dora and laying his head on my lap. He is tired and sad and just asked me when Littleman is coming back here. Watching him play with Littleman has been so bittersweet. He's been doing great playing with other kids, but it's clear that he has this comfort with Littleman that he doesn't have with anyone else. This bond that is so sweet and heartbreaking. He is leaning against me and clearly in need of some loving.

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Ouch

This is the first time I have been the first one up in a long time. Shinesalot and Littleman are here with us and I kept waking up all night long expecting A) a thunderstorm to wake up SkyWalker causing another screaming fit B) the boys to realize they were in the same room and could play at 3 am or C) the Princess to realize she had a guest as well who could get her out of her prison cell, i.e. the crib. I also woke up repeatedly with throbbing pain in my knee from my worst nightmare--my dogs escaping the kitchen with the big garage door wide open and me not being able to do anything because I'm holding my baby. Luckily they were more interested in Shinesalot than in freedom and she could corral them back and get them inside. But I still managed to bust my knee while attempting to grab one while holding on the Princess. Lack of quality sleep has led to a headache. I should have gotten up to take something in the middle of the night but I can't get up in the middle of the night because I am tracking my temperatures. And even though I am not trying to get pregnant right now I "need" accurate information so I can tell when my damn luteal phase goes over 10 days because if it doesn't I will never get pregnant again. Argh. 

That was a jumbled paragraph and probably why I'm not up at 6 am anymore. 

Oh! Exciting news! Yesterday morning the jedi and I went to Big Lots on the recommendation of a friend and guess what I found? I got 4 of those individual straw-like beach mats, a bigger travel beach/picnic blanket, and a better beach tote bag, ALL for under $20. I was very excited. 

We went straight from the store to the neighbor-friend's house because SkyWalker insisted. They had called in the morning and I said we'd call when we got back home but it was better to go there than to go home, unload the kids, get the kids back in the car and drive 2 houses away. SkyWalker played with his friend and it didn't take him 2 hours to do it! The only way I got him to go home was by reminding him that we had "people" coming over. I didn't tell him about Littleman's visit partly because I wanted to surprise him and partly because I didn't believe it was true until they were in my driveway. SkyWalker was prepared to stay at the neighbor-friend's house while I took the Princess home. He even said he would nap there. He's full of shit but it was still funny. 

I'm so proud of him. He's doing so much better with his friends. I wonder if somehow he can sense that I have finally opened myself up to people again and so he has too? 

My head still hurts and I should probably shower while I have quiet in the house. Shit. I always jinx myself. I think I just heard a child. Maybe it's not mine. Never thought I would say that...

****

Edited 6:46 am. The boys are up playing in their room "until 7". I told them to play quiet and not wake up the Princess. Littleman responded "Okay, I have quiet farts" and pushed his little heiney out to illustrate. Classic

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Clever titles elude me

It's so hard losing a relative or a loved one. It must be a thousand times harder when you see it plastered all over the news. Or hearing about it for the first time on the radio. My heart goes out to Shinesalot and the rest of her husband's family mourning Uncle Tim. 

Damn these miles between us. 

We had another playdate today. SkyWalker was a freak as usual--walking around in his rain boots and mittens and not talking to anyone. But he warmed up towards the end and declared that he would be friends with train boy. He told me he doesn't like talking to people but he likes saying goodbye to them. Which is true, he very politely said goodbye to everyone. Next week should be younger kids for the Princess to play with so hopefully there won't be as much of a mess as there was today. Today was out of control. When I have kids over I expect that there will be a mess. That's what kids do. They play with things and then leave them where they are for mommy to clean later. Doesn't matter whose mommy. What I don't expect is for a child to empty every bin of toys, dump them on the floor, NOT play with them, and just walk away and go make a mess in another part of my house. SkyWalker helped me clean up even though he didn't make the mess at all. Next time I'm going to have to play outside the whole time or have fewer toys out or open my mouth and say "hey, don't do that."

I repeat. Making friends is hard.

We have located the elusive hole in the Thomas Ball Pit. Unfortunately I have no idea where I put the patching thing that came with it. And the inflater thing that came with the air compressor we have sucks ass and is broken. At least I know where the hole is now and we can get a kit from the store and blow it up with the old fashioned foot pump we have. 

It is almost 10 pm. The dishes are done. Laundry is folded. Toys have been picked up. Vader is downstairs working out. The dogs are sleeping. I need to shower but really I think I just need to go to bed. I will do neither one though, and wind up surfing the net and snacking and wondering why I'm so tired tomorrow morning. 

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Sad lips

Shinesalot is going through what I did just a mere 2 months ago; her FIL passed away early this morning and now she has to pick up the pieces and juggle her responsibilities to her husband and her son. Never an easy thing. I wish I could hop on a plane and be there.

I spent the afternoon outside, first with SkyWalker running around with the soccer ball, and then with both SkyWalker and the Princess on the swings. The Princess wasn't quite sure what to make of the swing at first but she liked it. She especially liked when her big brother was swinging right next to her.

She did wonderful at the meet-up today. She was cute and flirty with a baby just one month younger. They teamed up to move one of the chairs. She held his hand. SkyWalker said she made a friend. He did okay. He was quiet but then he started to warm up and say silly things. There was another 3 year old girl there who was non-verbal and with her therapists and then a 2 year old so SkyWalker really didn't have anyone to play with. I talked a lot with the mom of the baby. It went well.

Isaac was doing well when we got home. No more bloody diarrhea or vomiting. He went out a million times to pee but I think he also just wanted to be outside and I felt guilty that I couldn't just let him out. Haze spent the ENTIRE day outside, sleeping on the deck. Rubbing it in. I feel so bad for Isaac. How much does this poor dog have to go through? It's not like any of the surgeries were cosmetic. And it's not like we had a real choice. Sure, you always have a choice, but we really didn't have a choice. I hope the biopsy comes back okay. If it doesn't then we'll have a real problem.

The Princess has been very kissy lately. She usually tries to french kiss me and likes to eat my lips when I pucker up for a kiss. But the other day I was laying on her floor and she crawled to me and I felt a little soft kiss on my nose. Her mouth was closed and it was a real little kiss. And then she looks at me and smiles and laughs and it's the best thing in the world.

SkyWalker has been "bery happy" lately. I don't really know why but that's okay with me. He is constantly telling me he loves me and the Princess and Daddy and the dogs. And we're all bery happy. Except the dogs. Because they have sad lips.

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