A Day In My Life - June 26, 2007 - My Birthday

In advance, thank you for all the birthday wishes! You are all so kind. Many have asked how my birthday is and I had to reply: "perfectly normal." And I was thinking about what a "normal" day really meant in my current life. What makes me so busy? Why am I so tired? So I decided to record my day.

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GINORMOUS DISCLAIMER
In no way am I complaining. I am blessed with good friends and family - my parents came in town last weekend to wish me well and my friends hosted a lovely dinner where we all kept eating the smoked salmon spread, the prosciutto-wrapped figs and goat cheese, the grilled pork tenderloin, the fresh tomato/grilled veggies/pesto/mozzarella on grilled ciabatta bread, the white wine sangria and only stopped because there was chocolate cake. And a bunch of you sweet people bought our t-shirts. THANK YOU! It was a perfect get together. A bottler. (I wish I could have opened some of that bottle today.)
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My day technically began at 12:05am with Smith's phone chiming. He is out of town and by an unfortunate accident left his cell phone behind. The calendar of his uber fancy phone will chime a reminder of appointments and events. This chime? Was to remind him that today was my birthday.

12:45am. Another phone is ringing? chiming? I totally don't recognize the tones. Did my parent's leave a cell phone behind? Is some stranger in my house and his phone is ringing? Where is that sound coming from?!? Turns out it is my phone. My phone is a hand-me-down from Smith, and he supposedly deleted all of his files/contacts/etc. Apparently this phone also has a calendar reminder. Reminding me of my birthday.

1:30am. Jmonkey wakes up crying. Snuggles into bed with me.

4:20am. Jmonkey wakes up crying and demanding to nurse. This is where my weaning streak fails me. I want to sleep, he wants to nurse. I give in and we are both happy.

6:15am. A construction truck decides to swap out dumpsters at our construction site across the street. Complete with banging metal, scraping, grinding and the obligatory beep-beep-beep as it backs up. It is this beep that wakes the children and they are glued to the window while I email my neighbors an apology and call our contractor and make sure that HE is awake too.

6:55am. Kids first argument.

7:05-8:15am. Nbear does yoga: "downward cat."
Giant tinkertoy percussion experiment.
Giant tinkertoy hockey tournament.
I pretend to sleep.

8:20am. Sigh. Discover the dishwasher totally didn't clean the dishes (make mental note to call for plumbing quotes.) Start it again. Make smoothies. Offer cereal. Discover two bowls of cheerios are dumped on the kitchen floor. Run vacuum. (just ran it last night.) Hand wash some dishes.

8:40am. First birthday phone call greetings from Sinda. Then my mom called. Then Smith called. Then Nbear demanded that his fingernail and toenail polish be changed. From orange on fingers and purple on toes to red with silver sparkles on both.

9:40am. Got in the shower. got out of the shower. Turned on the TV for the kids. Got back in the shower.

9:50am. Jmonkey slips in his puddle of pee on the floor. Start laundry.

10-10:35am. Krisalis business call with Lisa.

10:45am. Read 3 stories while watching the rain.

10:50am. Decide to weenie out from swim lessons today because of the rain. Then the exact minute class probably started, the sun comes out.

11am. Snack.

11:30-1pm. Target. 2 bank deposits. Drop off/pick up something at Lisa's self-imposed quarantined house. She waved through the window. [we are all glad that it is NOT MUMPS as previously thought.]

1-1:30pm. J naps. Nbear and I have lunch (cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, his favorite) then began a science experiment with a magnetized floating needle. I leave N and his sitter to sort out the final details of finding magnetic north as I bolt to my yoga therapy session. This is an attempt to prevent another back going out episode.

2-5:15pm. Yoga therapy. Grocery store. Put away groceries. Check mail. Check emails. Sitter leaves.

5:15-5:45pm. Nbear beats me at Yahtzee. J shoves random game pieces under his mattress.

5:45-6:15pm. Prepare dinner. Make dinner plans for Saturday night.

6:15pm. Eat dinner. Eat dessert on the porch (it IS my birthday. I chose ice cream.) A large box is delivered that is my present from Smith. The box is covered with ice cream handprints. Hose the ice cream off the porch. Start a bath for the kids. Large quantities of water are dumped on the floor. I cut the bath short and start a load of wet towels.

7:30pm. I read the newspaper with fingers in my ears as the two in pajamas chase each other around the house screaming. I'm counting to ten. again. and again.

8:00pm. Lights out for the kids. Early (for summer) and totally without stories because of the water and the screaming. I start washing dishes, which are still not clean so I have 2 + dishwasher loads of dirty dishes taking up space in the kitchen.

8:50pm. Kids are finally asleep after lord knows how many sips of water and nose blowing. J likes to blow his nose at bedtime. He'll do it, oh, 5 times?

I thank my lucky stars neither wakes up at 9:10 with the fireworks at the Dell Children's Hospital opening. or at 9:35 when I smash a glass bowl all over the clean dishes.

10:10pm. Finally to a stopping point with the dishes, I begin the yoga routine I got today.

10:45pm. I begin my post.

what else do I want for my birthday? Sleep and an umbrella.

Work

Recently someone (whom I didn't know well) asked what time I had to be to work in the morning. I answered her (lamely) something like:

"Oh, I don't have to be at work, I'm at home."


When what I really wanted to say was:

"For which job? the non-paying job? the paying job I squeeze in during cross-my-fingers naps? or my business start up?"

More Heinz 57 (ie catchup)

WINDY CITY STORIES
We have blown back in from Chicago. A visit to see Smith's sister graduate with a lovely velvet fob on her head. No flimsy nylon covered cardboard for this gal! Congratulations Alex and good luck on the bar [insert lawyer joke here.]



We are SOOOOO lucky to have family in Chicago. It is my favorite big city - made even more lovable by my in-laws. Alex has always had swanky loft digs across the street from Whole Foods - a corner spot with views of everywhere. Fourth of July was a cool time to visit as we could see dozens of fireworks displays - downtown to the burbs - bursts of light spanning the horizon. She and beloved spouse have recently moved to a 1900s 3-story brick apartment building. Cue the ivy covered walls, craftsman wood details and sweeping windows. Three blocks from the lake. A $10 cab ride to Navy Pier. How much does that suck? We really need to come visit in February to take the shine off of this place.

OH! and I almost forgot to mention the mafia princess bathroom: shiny brass and chrome fixtures, big mirrors, lots of glass and the piece de reistance: the have-a-party- (or a baby) inside jacuzzi tub! N could not wait to hop in and test out all the buttons. I merely heard the ensuing screams as the inaugural whirl came about as all the jets were pointed skyward and soaked Alex (i.e. the dry person outside the tub.)

And speaking of Navy Pier (yeah, I know, go back a paragraph), we looked admiringly up at its ferris wheel on our way in to the Children's Museum. And again on our way out, SIX hours later (we did break for lunch, but just barely.) It would be an understatement to say that Nbear really digs that place. He couldn't wait to get to work in their construction zone. It really is cool to see him in action like that, he has such focus and intense interest in some things. J and I had been through the museum several times (mostly sitting in the driver's seat of the real ambulance) while Smith & N just built away. J also proved his climbing prowess to the museum staff as he navigated the rope tube ladder to the crow's nest of the pirate ship.

The other offerings we enjoyed: a crazed Nordstrom's shoe sale, the FREE Lincoln Park Zoo (totally made the $12 stroller rental easier to stomach), the Nature Museum and the playground 2 blocks from Alex's place. Not quite as famous as the "Diana Ross" playground in Central Park**, but pretty darn cool. My brother-in-law opted to join me one afternoon. We were already barefoot in the huge sandbox and I could see his head scanning the playground searching-searching-searching for us with a lost look on his face. I had completely blended in to the setting of mom-ish figures wearing sunglasses with a cell phone to the ear. (Chicago doesn't seem to have as many stay-at-home dads. And I think Austin is completely lacking in Polish nannies.)

SO WHY DON'T WE DRINK PIG'S MILK?
At the zoo, N was very interested in the petting zoo. From there we visited the farm section. We spent a good deal of time looking at the cows and the milking machines and how that worked, pointing out the metal tubes, the udders, the works. Next he wanted to see the piglets. Mama hog was busy nursing one of her spunky litter and I could see N's little gears working up to an observation (please-don't-compare-me-to-the-cow-or-this-nursing-pig...) and then,

"Do we drink pig's milk?"

And so the conversation ensued. Big Smith & Nana piped up with their own experiences with camel's milk and horse's milk (two reasons you probably won't find me hiking across central Asia anytime soon). But yes. We drink or use the milk from so many animals, why NOT the pig?


**I realize that this trip was from back in the day (pre-blogging) when I'd send out my massive emails, remember those? Perhaps I will post that here soon.


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RECENTLY OBSERVED AT DINNER & OTHER CHILD MUSINGS

An entire jar of freshly mixed salad dressing applied to dress one salad.

"You cannot really love a pillow; you can love the shape of a pillow."

I got to witness N's first experience with chewing gum on the airplane ride. Interesting to see someone try to navigate the experience of chewing without swallowing for the first time, and figuring out what to do with all the extra saliva.


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SMITH'S NEW TOY, er... business tool




psst. it's really a new laptop. with a camera built in to the monitor. see how goofy we are when the kids are asleep? this is why we are married.

Playing catchup

It's been ages, hasn't it? Ya'll have been too busy lolling by the pool to read blogs, right? Well - snap out of it! It's June! BIRTHDAY MONTH!
Let's start celebrating by NOT having my back go out before we leave for Chicago.

In honor of another year on this planet and the eventual cessation of my body as a feeding trough, I've bought new bras. The first, non-nursing bras in FOUR PLUS years. I had to treat myself to the fancy place in Austin, whose name I can only vaguely get right without a google. Picadilly Fair? Petticoat Junction? Petticoat Palace? It's the bra place where the bras are hidden in drawers and you sign up for a fitting (which is really secondary because these are the ladies who can size you up as you are walking in the door.) So I went for supportive, yet pretty. And for a size I've never seen before.

In other news
We have a new critter in our house. A caterpillar. I hunted around the fennel to see if we had the proliferation of caterpillars that we had last year. Not yet. I found one lonely tiny little thing, that has now tripled in size and is still smaller than a fingertip. I'm not sure when it eats because it always appears to be dozing when I happen to look in on its little bug keeper.

Tonight at our friend's house N piped up and sang "A-B-C-D-E-F-GEORGE!" in honor of their dog, George. And J chased around Toast (the cat) screaming MEOW almost as loudly as Toast does [Toast being a sibling of Adrian for those who knew how loud Adrian was.] We had a splendid time just relaxing (and eating lamb burgers, yum! and a crisp with homemade ice cream, yum again!) with old friends.