Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I want out

I have been laid low by life lately. This whole month has been busy with various events, and even the fun stuff leaves me utterly exhausted. A trip to the pumpkin patch and picnic with friends, an evening potluck with interesting people, a playgroup kid's birthday party, dinner out with Husband for our anniversary--everything is tiring to me now. I'm 36 weeks pregnant now, enormously fat, and I don't give a shit how dirty the house is, how much food I have prepared in the freezer, or what sort of labor I might be looking forward to. I want.this.baby.out.

Pregnancy is not for those of "advanced maternal age" like myself, apparently.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Blessed rain

Okay, I know the weather is the most boring topic in the world to blog about, but I just took the dog for a spin around the block IN THE RAIN. The glorious rain! Fellow Southerners out there will know exactly why this makes me rejoice. We haven't had a drop of rain here in Chapel Hill since September 14th and our city government has been talking lately about how the town reservoirs will run dry in a matter of a couple of months if we don't get rain. Plants have died by the hundreds, whole trees have died by the dozens in my neighborhood, and even if you're not a gardener, it's the topic on everyone's lips around here.

Yay for rain!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Blogger meet up

Know what I got to do today that was so cool? I got to meet a fellow blogger in real life! Has anyone done that before? I haven't. Beth was down in NC visiting her lovely daughter--who I also got to meet today--and we 3, plus Bean, converged at Pullen Park in Raleigh on a deliciously cool morning. Beth was just like her blog, easy to talk to and funny, and it was like I'd known her for longer than...well, anyway it felt like I already knew her. Beth's returning home on Tuesday, but her daughter, Rae, I'm hoping to have over for dinner at our house before this baby is due. They're so nice.
Maybe Beth will post some pictures when she gets back? I was too slack to remember to bring my camera along this morning, I'm sorry to say.

State Fair

One ostrich burger, 2 roasted and lavishly buttered ears of corn, 2 foot-long hot dogs, 1 apple dumpling, 1 ice cream cone with sprinkles, 1 orange slush puppy, 1 giant basket of fries, and $100 later, Husband and the girls and I have completed our annual NC State Fair pilgrimage.

It was a little tricky this year with Bean so insistent on being independently mobile. Despite renting what we thought would be an irresistible car-shaped stroller to push her around in, Bean had to walk like a big kid and furthermore had quite strong opinions about where she did and didn't want to go. Hence, many kiddie rides and prize-every-time games, but no gazing upon prize-winning pies and quilts and amateur wedding cakes for mama. Still, after 5 hours of waddling around, I was happy with what we had done and seen. The girls were happy, too.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Rough return, but then more nesting

Ugh. It took exactly 2 hours on Monday for the afterglow of the annual ladies-only beach trip to wear off. This week has been so busy again, though, that it already feels like ancient history. So I guess there's no point in wallowing here in Husband's obvious crankiness about my being absent from little girl care for 3 days and nights, about the house-wide infestation of dust bunnies, the empty fridge, the mountain of dirty laundry....Nah.

Nesting in preparation for our new little daughter has begun in earnest now that my trip is over. Her room--formerly Bean's room--is pretty well set up. Baby toys and clothes stored in the attic have been washed and put away. Cloth diaper service begins on 11/10. We have a new freestanding freezer, courtesy of my friend Suburban Gorgon, in which I'm looking forward to stockpiling food for the baby apocalypse. On the agenda today--4 chicken pies and a large batch of pumpkin muffins.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Catching up

Life gets in the way of blogging. It's the paradox of writing a mommy blog.

It's been a pretty brutal couple of weeks, with Husband and I finally selling my old station wagon, Girl Scouts to deal with, out-of-town guests to entertain for a weekend, and a new, wretched phase that Sister is going through involving a lot of lying and tears. Phew!

Fortunately, there is an end in sight, or at least a much-needed reprieve. Tomorrow at noon, I and 4 of my good college friends are heading to Topsail Island, NC for a long weekend at the beach. No kids, no husbands. I am practically delirious with excitement at the idea that I'll be able to sleep in, make ONE breakfast for myself, sit in one chair as long as I feel like it, and have lengthy, uninterrupted, grown-up conversations with some of my favorite people. Knowing that I can't have any of the free-flowing cocktails that are usually characteristic of this trip doesn't even matter. I.can't.wait.