It's Wild Here

SNIFFIN'S FREE!

My Weekend, Part One
in which I declare that my sister is a freak magnet

Katie came up on Saturday to have a Wears the Baby booth at the street fair, and I sat with her for a few hours in the morning.  This was our "neighbor," Candle Lady, whose candles were good, but whose sidekick, Vern, was better. I just made up that name, but I think it fits. He gave Katie a 5-minute monologue on the virtues of Organic Pumpernickel Snyders of Hanover pretzels. His dog won't eat them if they aren't organic. And forget about Grippo pretzels: too much salt.

PHOTO DELETED

I didn't get pictures of the other freaks, but they were streaming in all day. Not ordinary Yellow Springs freakies, but really bizarre folks. Dudes asking if her "Still Nursing" tees came in men's sizes, see what I mean?  Katie said later, "I do have that. The shirts say PERVERT across the front."

Part Two
in which I discover that I was the one attracting freaks

We took the boys out to breakfast the next morning. I couldn't get pictures of them all, but the place was swimming with more of the same.  We asked for a picture of our favorite - the light-up Halloween headband waitress.

AND AGAIN

 

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. We finally splurged on a basketball hoop for the driveway. I'd like to get out there and set it up this afternoon, but Jamie needs an allergy shot.

Here are a few more photo highlights from the past few days:

Sweet baby on my mama's beautiful quilt.

The aforementioned newly-discovered feet:

The big boys' latest craftiness, paper bag gargoyles

My latest knittiness:

RyanLion:

OK, more later. I have some videos.

nasty cold

This illness is moving fast - Kellen's been stuffy almost 2 days, Jeremiah since yesterday, and now with sore throat, and Evan this morning. I was ignoring my little throat tickle until the last hour, and now I feel pretty crappy.  I hope one of us can at least make it to the store for food.

Jamie is still well... hopefully he'll stay that way! 

terrifying

One of Kellen's favorite places is on a blanket on his and Ryan's dresser. We use that as a changing table, and he enjoys the window, or the altitude, or the energy of the old dresser... I have no idea what it is, but he is always happy up there.  So we often take time there, talking and smiling, and Ryan pulls up a stool or chair to join me.

Today, just as I was about to take them out, Ryan took a wrong step and fell off his perch. He wasn't hurt, but had grasped the blanket to catch himself, pulling Kellen completely off the top of the dresser. He fell, completely head-first, toward the floor. I caught him by ONE ankle when he was inches from hitting.

My heart was pounding; it was all done in a split second, and I just couldn't believe how lucky we were.  It took a good half hour for me to stop clutching them and breathe at a normal rate. In hindsight, knowing everyone's fine, I feel a bit like a combination of Wonder Woman and The Flash.  Or, if you watch that dreadful "So You Want To Be A Superhero," you are familiar with Fat Momma. I could be her.

playground fun with cousins

Today we met Dani and her mother Zuleka (sp?), Grace, Isaac, Katie, Clover, Fynn, and Audrey at the big playground in Wilmington.  It's a fantastic climbing structure which was great for Ryan. The kids had a ball in the sand and on the swings. It was wonderful to see Daniela's mother again. She is so warm and generous.

The babies were pretty hot and fussy, so we left a little sooner than planned to get some fast food and let the kids run around in the air-conditioned play place. We met Nana, Mimps and Grandma, who were anxious to get a second look at Kellen. He's changed a lot since that first week when they last saw him. Kellen wasn't wildly impressed with the noise level in that play place, but he was fairly settled in the sling if I walked him a bit with my hand over his exposed ear! Halfway home, I had to change him because his poopy diaper was making him fussy. As soon as he was back in the seat, you know this is coming... he pooped again. We made it home, though.

Jamie and Jeremiah are extremely helpful in the car-ride routine. Jeremiah helps Ryan get buckled in, and Jamie is dedicated to helping Kellen stay soothed.

It's never boring to see the cousins together. For those who don't know, they are:
11, 9, 5, 3, 2, 2, 2, 5mos and 1 month

soccer camp and the warming-up belly

Big boys have completed their first two days of soccer camp. Because of World Cup soccer, it's an exciting time to be involved in 3 hours/day of soccer. The camp is "British Challenger Camp" and each instructor is a young adult from England, here for the summer. They did it last year and found the coaches to be fun and funny, very engaging; the games and drills were new and interesting and they learned a lot.

This year, we signed them up again (it meets in the next town over) and then heard a week later that some local people were bringing in one of these camps to OUR town.  The boys really wanted to do both, for various reasons. So, this week is the local camp. The coach for this year, in this town, is, welll... a bit different than last year. She is, to begin with, a she. They were all guys last year. Secondly, she is harsh. Just rough stuff, not soft, not sweet. She's not really all about fun, although they are *having* fun with friends and learning new things. The biggest problem, I think, is that Jamie goes in the morning for three hours, and then we go back with Jeremiah for his group in the evening 5:30-8:30.  It's a lot of soccer hours.

Jamie has come home thrilled every day. His soccer just improves so much all the time. I can see how just watching all this TV World Cup has energized him! Unfortunately, right before bed (why is it always just before bed?) he told me that he'd been very anxious for the first half of camp yesterday, and wanted to touch base with me. The coach, however, told him he couldn't call me. It always amazes me when I specifically ask coaches/instructors to allow my children to call at any time, and still they say no. It keeps happening. It drives me crazy.  We've brainstormed some ways for him to feel more comfortable today, primarily involving me staying there for longer. It's not an easy thing to do right now - hot sun, running Ryan, big belly.  I decided it was worth a chance to ask for a last-minute help from Dorothy, who has generously agreed to hang around with Ryan so I can take him over and stay a while.

Jeremiah also found the style of the camp to be very challenging. I don't think this is the type of "Challenger" camp any of us had in mind. He is mixed in with a group of 11-14yo girls plus 3 other young boys. It's an odd mix, and these girls are very talky, which brings out the not-nice in the coach. Jeremiah is just not loving that.  Last night, Evan stayed with him for the duration (he goes in the evening) and he seemed to have a good time.

I wish this weren't all happening right now, to be honest. Getting out the door by 8:45 am for camp, and arriving home at night at 9pm at the end of the other boy's camp... it's a long day for my slow-paced self.

Plenty of contractions the past 24 hours. They aren't painful or close together, but definitely more abundant than before.

weekend

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMIAH! At this time, 9 years ago, I was not an especially happy mama. In three hours it will be the time of your sweet arrival.

Here's a look back at some favorite Jeremiah shots.

 

 

Speaking of arrivals,  I know Ryan was born a tiny bit before his due date, but I don't know about this baby. I am thinking he could stay put quite a bit longer. If not, that's great, but I just don't know...

Last night we went to an open house/party and saw lots of people we enjoy seeing, and the kids ran around outside for hours in a pack. Ryan had good food and was amused by a couple of lovely teenage girls with a big station of bubbles and bubble pipes, etc.   It was a nice longish walk to and from the party, and a fun time in between.

This morning, I took Ryan to the toddler park for a little playgroup someone invited me to.  He didn't hurt *anyone*!  He had a particularly nice time playing with a little girl a month older than him, named Elizabeth. All the other moms were very friendly and it seems like a nice group. Should I still be pregnant, I'll go next Sunday.

poppitulls

this is Ryan's way of saying popsicles.
Popsicle content in this silly chat (in which "man-boy" was my particular favorite part):
Jamieshmamee: linkage?
Jamieshmamee: Web cams?
Jamieshmamee: :*
wearababy: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams/
Jamieshmamee: :-[
wearababy: this one is different - can't find the other one but hang on
wearababy: http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/animalcams/
Jamieshmamee: Okeedokerz. O:-)
wearababy: http://biology.about.com/od/animalcams/
Jamieshmamee: :-)=-O:-$:-\:-(:-*:-!:'(;-)>:o:-[:-X:-P8-)O:-):-D Those are all my new smileys!
wearababy: wow
wearababy: multiple personalities!
Jamieshmamee: I now, I'm a man-boy of many emotions.
Jamieshmamee: xP ***know
wearababy: indeedy
Jamieshmamee: YES indeedy.
wearababy: how about some blogification from you?
Jamieshmamee: Indeedy is an understatment, it needs a "YES" on the ends to make it special. =o
wearababy: birthdays, parties, summer, slip and slide, soccer camp, cranky pregnant mama
Jamieshmamee: cranky pregnant mama?
wearababy: oh? you don't know of one?
Jamieshmamee: How about "NICE pregnant mama with some cranky on the side?
wearababy: :-) you are a sweetie
Jamieshmamee: And fries.
wearababy: salad
Jamieshmamee: with a value meal.
Jamieshmamee: and some yo-yope
wearababy: right!
wearababy: speaking of which, we need more
wearababy: grocery time for me - I'm making a list - any requests?
Jamieshmamee: Lots of suger loaded crap?
Jamieshmamee: O:-)
wearababy: coming right up
Jamieshmamee: PLEEEEEEEEEEZ?
Jamieshmamee: O-o
wearababy: as usual, I live to provide you with as many ways to get sick and unhealthy as I possibly can
Jamieshmamee: HUZZAH!
Jamieshmamee: *hug*
wearababy: dear jamis, we have a serious sarcasm problem
Jamieshmamee: What sarcasm?
wearababy: serious sarcasm - is that an oxymoron?
wearababy: ok, so no requests then
Jamieshmamee: Was there sarcasm incorporated into that answer to my request for sugery crap?
wearababy: I'm just speaking for myself, I guess
Jamieshmamee: How about vanilla yogurt and some banana popsicles?
wearababy: but if you weren't being sarcastic, you haven't been paying attention
Jamieshmamee: What>
Jamieshmamee: ***?
wearababy: fine - seriously, you want banana poppitulls?
Jamieshmamee: Yes I want bannana poppitulls.
wearababy: ok

updates

A Lion in the House  is a documentary created by two lovely local people. I can't tell you how it is because I can' t bring myself to watch it, but as soon as I'm past the late-preg, early-newborn stage, I plan to see it.  I love the village where I live and it's always exciting to see my neighbors achieving cool things like front-page PBS.org status. wow. 

Speaking of PBS, Jamie is up early on this dreary rainy day, sitting in Evan's chair watching this episode of Nova, Newton's Dark Secrets.  It's a pleasure and relief to see that, even in the face of a rigorous and structured academic curriculum, he has retained his natural curiousity about other thinky things.  Other things going on with Jamie:  reading The Secret Garden, watching World Cup Soccer, drawing drawing drawing, in PhotoShop and on paper, hanging out with friends Kira and David, pitching in on housework more and more with very little complaint. What. a. guy.

Jeremiah's occupied by lots of trampoline jumping and Ryan-duty. He's patient and indulgent with Ryan and his very unfair toddler rules. Jeremiah is blasting through the Dragonball graphic novel series faster than our library system can possibly keep up.  He has a couple of standing weekly playdates - Nathan and Daniel/David - and usually sees friends at least 2-3 more times each week. Soccer camp begins next week for both big boys.

There's no shortage of Ryan content on this blog, but a few new obsessions:
the hose (to do list for today: babyproofing gadget for a faucet)
the doorbell (known is the "beep")
3 and 4 word sentences (woot!)
Raffi, on the toddler tape player with headphones
lip-synching to They Might Be Giants, which is acceptable enough to the brothers that it need not be limited to headphones.
helping with household chores - he is a very good clean diaper stacker

Evan:  World Cup watching, in very sane moderation (thank you!), almost daily evening walking with the family, regularly accepting 3-boy duty while I take time for myself, sometimes for shopping and errands, sometimes for leisure. 

playground weather

Fun at Shawnee park - More pictures of the park here

Also, a few new albums of the past couple months have been posted to the left.

Jamie took some pretty artistic photos at the park. Maybe he'll post them on his blog  soon.
Jeremiah was pretty bored. There was a VERY big school/camp group at the park and it was pretty overwhelming.

weekend

[knitting content below]

Rainy Saturday street fair:  Katie and Audrey discovered their canopy wasn't waterproof :-(  Brought Katie a poncho, wished her luck and bought veggies from farmer's market. Oh my, the strawberries around here... we cannot get enough.

Brenda came, defended her supplies against the curious hands of Ryan. She said she thinks I need to eat and drink more regularly - I know, but my appetite is just weird. One day, I eat; the next day, nothing sounds good and I'm just not hungry. It doesn't help that the baby seems to have stretched out into my lungs.  Could I just carry my digestive organs around in a backpack? Because then I think I'd have the space to carry this baby AND nourish myself.  Everything else looks good, and we spent so much time talking about other things that I forgot to ask her some sort of obvious questions about birth supplies. There is surprisingly little required...

Went back to Street Fair with all boys except Jeremiah, who was playing all day at his friend Nathan's house.  We watched the belly dancers, trapese girls, got firefighter hats, balloons, and went to the bookmobile sale. Jamie and I helped pack up books after the sale, and Jamie spotted a couple of reference books he wanted for his writing/drawing. He's been amusing us by reading from his new book of quotations.

Katie stopped over on her way home. Audrey is just about the sweetest thing, geez. She's got this nose you want to grab and the softest head, I just bury my face in her fluff. Ryan, apparently, agrees, and cannot - CANNOT - stop touching her. I know it's funny, but seriously, I think I might have to never sit down with our new baby, because he was not to be distracted from the baby. At all. Wouldn't let her nurse, etc.

Sunday. Groceries and World Cup Soccer. Grammy and Grandpa came for dinner, strawberries for dessert, of course.

OTN: finished two MDK warshrags, starting the MDK kimono. I saw someone did it sleeveless, on the MDK knitalong website. That sounds good - I may do some short sleeved or sleeveless for summer. Right now, I'm using some very badly self-spun yarn and bigger needles than the pattern calls for - hoping for a size to fit when baby is mid-winter, not newborn. The wool is soft, but not on-baby-skin soft.