Friday, October 23, 2009

home

I am SO CLOSE to having our bedroom all unpacked and properly organized and livable, which is pretty awesome since we've been living here for a year and a half already.

I know, I can't believe it either.

This is the biggest apartment we've ever had, but it's also set up funny, since it was sectioned into an apartment out of an old farmhouse. I love this place, but it (and my landlords) can drive me nuts. NUTS, I SAY! With such little storage space, clutter is inevitable and never ending.

Give me another couple weeks and some more clear plastic storage bins, and this whole place could be top notch. I'm so tired of feeling like we're still in transition, but I'm getting closer to having a place I can be very proud of, that feels and looks like home. I'm thinking CHRISTMAS PARTY.

Does anyone have any tips on how to place wall hangings (picture frames, etc) without putting holes in the walls? My walls are so big and bare.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Reason #572 Why I Love My Husband

Today at work, Gabe was pushing a cart full of files down the hallway to pass on to the next department, and he had propped open a set of doors because he had to make a couple trips. The doors are in a section of the hallway with a corner, but he wasn't rounding the corner; he was going to pass straight through the doors.

He stopped when he heard people coming towards him up the hallway, so that his cart and the women would not collide. The women didn't know he was there, but saw the doors propped open and one of them snipped, "Geez, that's dangerous, those doors being open like that."

Then they rounded the corner and Gabe smiled and said, "What's that?"

The woman tried to play it off like, Oh, I wasn't just being bitchy about something as insignificant as doors, fake-chuckled and said, "Oh, just the open doors being dangerous."

Gabe asked, "What's dangerous about it?"

"Well, if I wasn't paying attention, I could walk right into them," she said, like duh.

Gabe told her, "The dangerous part would be you not paying attention."


I love my husband.

*

Monday, October 19, 2009

Suck it, pink eye. (That sounds gross.)

So, Liam's fever?

Pink eye.

Yes. Conjuncti-frickin'-vitis. Because he didn't JUST heal from surgery on both eyes and have to endure two weeks worth of eye drops and ointment.

Conjunctivitis.

He is inconsolably miserable. He still has a fever, can barely sleep, he has no appetite, he has a cough and runny nose, and he keeps telling me his eyes hurt. This is the sickest he's been so far in his life, and it sucks big time for all of us.

It's hard to watch your two-year-old child in so much pain and discomfort and know you can't do anything about it. I can help him wipe his nose, I can rub his back when he coughs, I can cuddle his when he's not burning up, and I can give him popsicles. I can administer Tylenol and his new prescription eye drops. I know that I'm doing what I can and that he knows it's not my fault or anything. But it's crap, not being able to DO anything, like wave a magic mommy-wand and make it all go away.

What I want to do is take it all away from him and deal with it myself. I'm an adult and I've been through that all before. I've had pink eye, scarlet fever, colds and flus, migraines, random and unexplained bouts of puking, sinus infections, pregnancy and childbirth and fourth-degree tearing, surgery, a urinary tract infection, strep throat, shingles. All of it and more. And maybe I'll get the pink eye again anyway because it's so contagious. I just want him to get over this NOW and we can move on because that sad, tired, helpless look in his bloodshot blue-gray eyes BREAKS MY HEART. And he keeps looking at me.

The worst is the eye drops. Do you know how you give eye drops to a strong and willful toddler who hates eye drops? You pin them down against all their strength and pry their eyes open, and they're crying and struggling the whole time, then they squint really hard as the medication spreads and stings across their eyeballs.

That's how. It's the worst.

Conjunctivitis can kiss my ass.

KISS. IT.

updates

I was going to go back and do things right, and write up enough posts to fill in the big gaps and date them according to when I should have written them, but that's not going to happen.

It's 12:41 a.m. on a Monday, and Liam's been a little weird today (well, Sunday) and then sprung a fever and promptly went to sleep- and then woke up, blinked miserably on the couch for a couple hours, then got all goofy and hyper, and is now lying in bed with Gabe trying to fall back asleep.

That is what I can deal with right now, not months worth of blog posts.

Quick(ish) recap:
1. I got to Brooklyn and back safely even though the giant cargo van I was driving was incredibly difficult (needed an alignment) and intimidating. I didn't get to see a lot of New York, but I did see the Statue of Liberty in the distance as I was driving into the city and I shouted, "OH MY GOD THE STATUE OF LIBERTY!" even though I was driving alone.

2. Gabe's brother and his wife visited us from Texas for about a week in July, the week following my return from New York. Uncle Chase and Aunt Theresa are now high on the list of Liam's favorite people, and he still talks about them and their visit! We did have a great time and I loved having them here.

3. Another week or so after that, Gabe's mom Kay visited us for three weeks, and his sister Jules was here for two of those. Nana and Auntie Jules are also some of Liam's favorites and out of the blue he'll say things like, "Nana lives in Texas," and "Auntie Jules fly on plane."

4. Between those visits, we went to the beach a few times (ocean and lake), the New England Aquarium, the Maine Wildlife Park, a local farm, and the Old Port, and also dedicated Liam at the East End Beach in Portland.

5. During Kay and Jules' visit, Gabe and I celebrated our third year of marriage! We dressed up fancy, at sushi at Sapporo (which we also did on our honeymoon) and went to the Nickelodeon to see 500 Days of Summer. It was our best date ever.

6. After my in-laws had returned home, I started preparing madly for the Picnic Music and Arts Festival in Portland. The festival was on September 12 and it rained, but it was a great learning experience for me. I had never been a vendor at anything (except my own art shows, totally different) so it was scary and exciting but I met some really nice people and all kinds of strangers complimented me and actually bought my stuff!

7. I then spent several weeks recovering from all the stress and anxiety I piled upon myself throughout my busy busy summer.

8. Liam had eye surgery to correct his strabismus problem- it ended up being a surgery for both eyes, and I was so so scared about it, but Liam is an amazing person and it's true, so true, what they say. Stuff like this really is harder on the parents than it is on the kids. I can't express enough how strong and awesome he was. And his eyes are looking great now!

9. I've been on two Girls Night Out-type gatherings with some of my closest friends from high school, most of whom I haven't seen in years, and it was a lot of fun reconnecting with them.

Ok, I'm going to check on the guys.

I guess I'm blogging again.