The Menagerie

Peach Blogging

It seems about time to post a couple more Peach pics!  Also, other than wanting to post a screed about  Alexander McCall Smith fans (I was nearly trampled by a herd of them at Powell's Friday), I have very little to say.

Here's Eden in the tub, accompanied by the back of my head:

We get pretty serious around mealtime. 

Every girl named Eden needs a giant stuffed snake, right?

We took Peach to the Oregon Zoo today (more on that, including pictures, here), which was a blast.  The big hits were goats and black bears, because she was able to pet the former and see the latter at a close, albeit protected, distance. 

Best child reference book ever

I'd heard of Dr. Brazleton before I was even pregnant, from a neighbor who teaches child development.  She loved his books, but hadn't seen them in a long time.  So I was *very* delighted to come across Touchpoints: Birth to 3 on sale at Powell's for $9 yesterday.  Seriously, ten minutes of reading this book did more for my understanding of the Peach than ten months of reading everything else out there.  Wonderful stuff.   The Google link lets you browse quite a bit. 

Meta post

I never understood how people who'd blogged for a long time could just up and quit.  Once a writer, always a writer, right?  Anyway, I think I'm starting to get it.  There isn't much about my life that strikes me as bloggable - which is not to say that interesting things don't happen - I do live in the Little People, Big World stomping ground, after all.  It's just that I can't post about bloggable events without violating a confidence (client or otherwise), risk offending family (like, say, this post did about my parents' poor behavior at my sister's wedding), or terrify would-be future employers (why I haven't reviewed my reads of The God Delusion and God is not Great). I would love to expose the foibles of some of my attorney colleagues, but that's bad mojo  and not terribly professional. 

That leaves me with very little besides baby stories, home improvement, work whining, descriptions of getting sick, and maybe some pictures of my garden for the few readers who might remember that I love digging around in the dirt and killing slugs.  As much as I turn my nose up at anonymous blogging, I'd kill for a good anonymous platform on one of my bad days. 

So I started a blog just for Eden.  I am working on a couple of blog ideas that I would love to turn into books but I'm not going to post about them until they're a bit more established (but do look for them as unannounced links in the blogroll in the next few weeks).  I am really, really toying with starting an anonymous blog, too. 

This weekend we're expecting lovely weather, so:

• I want to go to the zoo this weekend with the Peach.
• I want to garden!
• I want to finish sanding, painting, and putting polyurethane on the china cabinet I am repurposing for Peach's bedroom. 
• I want to clear out the garage (a bit more).
• I want to finish a response to a motion for summary judgment.

See?  The usual.

Dear Daycare

We love you. Seriously. After twenty months on your waiting list and giving you nearly $1000 a month out of our nearly empty pockets, how could you doubt it?

Alas, your true contribution to my life is providing me with endless virii. There was the stomach virus that left us prostrate for an entire weekend, and not in a good way. Next was Cold 1, the flu, Cold 2 (which led to strep throat and the antibiotic resistant ear/sinus infection). The laryngitis. The random sniffles. The week-long illness that struck Matthew and kept him at home and miserable about a month back. Only since February, those! You're a hard worker.

And when Eden only spent three days at your place last week, because my sister was visiting, you managed to sneak in a cold virus on Friday, just in time for Peach to be miserable Sunday, get sent home Monday for a high fever, and since 24 hour exclusion really means something like 36 hour exclusion, that meant Tuesday, too. What does all that quality Mom/Peach time mean? Of course! I have Cold 3 now, too. Except I still have to work. And no one is rocking me every time I have a coughing fit. My Tylenol isn't grape flavored, and no one brings it for me. No one drives me to the doctor. And...

And can you just do me this teensie favor? It's OK to send my kid home if she's sick, but would you mind also sending those other sick kids home before mine does get sick? Fair's fair, after all.

Love,l
Shelley

More perspective

There's nothing like having a few weeks of good health to make me even that much more miserable the next time illness hits. This time, I've only got an itchy throat, headache, and runny nose, but the Peach has a massive cold: she's a snotmonster baby, feverish and unhappy. This is, actually, an improvement over Sunday-Monday, when we had the fever, snot, and a REALLY unhappy baby. She's still clingy and whiny, but now we've taken some breaks to explore the filing cabinet's exterior and a good round of playing ball (she bounces it back when we roll it to her). Here's hoping that I somehow manage to get work accomplished on Day 2 of daycare exclusion.

The call I didn't want to get Monday AM at 9

Peach is running a temp of 104; Matthew is bringing her home so I can take her to the pediatrician at 11:45.

UPDATE: It's all perspective.  He was misinformed - she's actually running a 100.4 temp; if Matthew had called to tell me that, I probably would have been just as scared/annoyed, but now it just seems like a relief.

UPDATE 2: Again with the perspective.  At the pediatrician, the temp was 103.2.  Tylenol has brought it down, and the doctor is pretty sure we're dealing with a cold and/or roseola.  It boggles the mind all the virii this poor kid is in for in the next couple of years - let's hope the grownups get passes. 

Good and bad

Good:

• long visit with my sister and brother in law
• giving sister and brother in law loads and loads of baby things
• first trip to PDX Ikea (actually, any Ikea)
• winning hearing redo
• visiting with law school classmate and seeing her beautiful little girl!

Bad:

• end of visit with sister and brother in law
• not being paid on time
• tired of being desperately poor
• not hearing back on job interviewed for over a month ago (only reassurance: it took Matthew 6 weeks to hear back on his, which he got)
• cranky, teething, possibly sick baby

It's official

This is my BBC America boyfriend, and this is sister Sarah's BBC America boyfriend. 

Wishful correspondence

Dear Norris,

It's amazing to think you joined our household way back in 1998.  You have added so much to our lives and I love you dearly, which is why I think you won't mind this candid note. 

I don't remember how old ten years is in dog years, but I'm willing to accept that, if you were a person, you'd probably be wearing Depends.  That's why I let you outside all the time, particularly right before I leave the house for a couple of hours.  That's also why I keep track when you poo right before I leave the house for a couple of hours, because for those few short hours, I don't have to worry about the state of the carpet when I return.  So imagine my surprise to find dog poo on the carpet (that I had just cleaned last week) when I returned.  The blood and torn off nail just made it even nicer.  (Although I do have to admit you had me thinking you attacked a would-be burglar before I found the nail.)  Still, it's always nice to have another reason to be glad that we own a carpet cleaning machine. 

Love,
Alpha Mom

***
Dear Former Friend,

Thanks for the snippy email over the weekend.  I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by your tone, considering that you haven't had the courtesy to tell me that you were upset with me.  Fortunately, my philosophy about such things is that if it's not worth telling me there's a problem, it's not worth my having to care.   Anyway, it was great that you sent the email when I had a bit of free time, because it gave me the opportunity to send it to my girlfriends, asking their opinion of your correspondence.   The outpouring of support was incredible and  affirming, and one of them invited me over for dinner that night. I had the most amazing food: spinach and pea soup, homemade bread, poached halibut, and two awesome wines.  I suspect I owe the dinner entirely to your narcissistic rant, and for that, I thank you. 

Love,
The Real Good Twin

Personal Milestones

Today was a significant day in a lot of ways.  Some good, mostly bad.  I probably would have had a very tall, stiff drink if it wouldn't have made my head hurt even more.  But rather than dwell on that, I leave you with the following summary of my two newest accomplishments as a mother:

• I changed Peach without benefit of a changing surface; and
• I peed, flushed, and washed my hands while holding Peach. 

So it wasn't all bad. 

Nothing to see here, move along...

This is just another one of those random catch-up posts, because I am tired and unable to think of anything witty, brilliant, or even just ranting. 

• The baby is really standing and cruising - nothing is safe.  She's like a ferret with opposable thumbs and tool-making abilities. Baby-proofing is much harder than ferret-proofing.
• I am really, insanely busy this week.  I'm appearing in a courthouse I've never even been to before on a type of motion I've never argued before (orally, anyway - I've done a lot with this type of motion in briefing). 
• I had a really weird dream this morning after Matthew and Peach went to work, about an evil witch who turned into a raw chicken (a la Foster's), hid in a walk-in cooler, and had to be disemboweled or else great evil would be visited on me specifically and the world in general.  I think this counts as a nightmare, because I really hate working with raw chicken.  I woke up and thought, "WTF?"
• My face broke out over the weekend - like it hasn't since I was 17.  You know, when I was HALF this age?  Annoying.
• I made vegetarian chili today.  No raw chicken here.
• I listened to General Petreus today while running.  Apt.
• We can really see Peach's tooth coming in.
• Grape Tylenol really does taste better than Cherry Tylenol.  Just ask Peach. 
• If another person tries to tell me that vaccinations cause autism, I.Will.Scream.

Checking in haiku

The attorney works
Her baby crawls, then cruises
The house is a mess