Self portraits, 34w6d

~RCH~

Question of the day

How did a banana peel end up in the washing machine with my load of whites? (And why did I not notice it until after I'd run the load? Ugh.)

Something to ponder.


~RCH~

One of the benefits of sharing a room

...is that your sister can comfort you when you're scared and/or sad. I remember my own sister doing this for me (and vice-versa) when we were kids.

For some reason, Dos got it into her poor, over-tired head tonight that there was a monster in the closet. She could not simply ignore it and fall asleep. First she cried, then she sobbed.... I closed the closet door so no monsters could get out. Nope. That wasn't going to cut it. I opened the closet and showed her the very safe and boring contents: Dresses, shirts, pants, shoes, a few books on the top shelf -- no monsters anywhere. More tears, increased hysterics, and a repeated insistence of a "real live monster" lurking in the shadows of her closet.

"Hey Dos," Uno called from her bed. "Who's that guy who's blue and eats cookies all over the place?" She had to repeat herself a couple of times before Dos even heard her. "You know, the guy who's blue and eats cookies all over and he lives on Sesame Street?"

"Cookie Monster," Dos replied, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"See?" said Uno. "He's a nice guy. We only let nice monsters like Cookie Monster and Elmo in our house."

It still took Dos a while to calm down, but she did eventually. I went to check on them just now and Uno had climbed in bed with her; they're sleeping (finally!) side by side, Uno's arm around Dos's shoulders.


~RCH~

Recent conversations overheard

UNO: ...And that's why you can't go in the ocean.

DOS: Yeah, because of their teeths.

UNO: Sharks eat everything, so if you go in a pond or an ocean they'll try to eat you.

DOS: No, they don't live in ponds. Just frogs do. And fishes.

UNO: Fishes live in the ocean and sharks eat them.

DOS: Yeah, and they eat people.

UNO: But they have a big tail that pokes up so you can see them if they're coming.

DOS: And then you have to swim really fast! [Makes swimming motions with her arms]

UNO: Hey, let's be scuba divers....



* * *

DOS: No he's not!

UNO: Yes he is. The fire got him and burnt him all up.

DOS: Smokey the Bear is not dead.

UNO: [With much satisfaction in her voice] I saw him burn up myself!

DOS: Nuh-uh because I saw him at the parade last morning!

[Smokey made an appearance at the 4th of July parade we watched in West Yellowstone last month]

UNO: It was after that.

DOS: Poor Smokey the Bear!






~RCH~

Hey there, hot stuff

~RCH~

A hot time in the old town tonight

We don't have central air conditioning in this house. We used to have a swamp cooler that did a relatively decent job (well, except for the moths and other small bugs it slurped in through the kitchen window), but after a particularly muggy week last month (one week out of the whole summer!) we got rid of it.

Our current strategy for battling endless days of triple digits and high 90-degree temperatures consists of a small window a/c unit in the kitchen (which tends to freeze up and quit working if left on too long) and fans in each of the bedrooms.

We have a digital thermostat in the hallway that enables me to watch the internal temperature climb. Anybody want to guess yesterday's high? Not for the town we live in, but for the inside of our house.

89? Anybody guess 89F? *Bingo!* Gold star for you. 89 freaking degrees inside our house for most of the afternoon. (By midnight it had cooled off to a "pleasant" -- yes, that's sarcasm in my voice -- 82. By 3am, 77. This morning at 6:55, 75F. You'll note that none of these is at or below the universally accepted room temperature of 72.)

In my regular life, I might not mind so much. (DH still would, but eh.) I'm usually very cold natured; I was even cold while pg with Dos, who was born at the end of July in the West Texas heat. But this time? I now understand why they euphemistically refer to pregnancy as having a bun in the oven! I'm feeling very oveny. VERY. I'm sweating from places I didn't even know had sweat glands (though for the sake of propriety I'll spare you the specifics).

We're saving our money to install central air next spring; DH has vowed that we will not live like this again! (Uh, except for the immediate future.) Of course, by then I won't be pregnant anymore and I'll probably be back to my cold natured self, wearing turtleneck sweaters in June and cursing the a/c gods while cowering under my electric blanket. Oh well.

Anything's got to be better than this.


~RCH~

Let's play a new game

In light of a recent incident, we've had several conversations with Uno and Dos about the necessity of sticking with one's parents (or other caretaker, if they're hanging out with aunts or grandparents or other responsible, trustworthy people). They have been told that while most strangers are probably good people, you never know which ones are the bad ones because they don't all look like bad guys. That's why we don't talk to or (heaven forbid) ever go anywhere with someone we don't know.

So. Strangers are on the brain lately. A week or so ago, I heard the girls playing together in the living room:

UNO: Hey Dos, let's play a new game. I'll be a stranger.

DOS: But we can't talk to strangers!

UNO: No, no, no, hang on. I'm a good stranger. See? I have candy! If you come play with me, I'll give you some!

DOS: Okay! Let's go!

Fabulous. I can see we're going to have to go over this concept again....


~RCH~

Maternity clothes

Nothing fits. That is all.


~RCH~

PSA

To the two well-intentioned people at church:

I think you were trying to express compassion for my situation as a very pregnant woman with two energetic children (children who are forced to attend three hours of church each week when, on any other day, they would be eating lunch and napping). I do appreciate your concern for me.

Still.

While I can think of a few things more offensive than telling a mother, "I feel so sorry for you!" because of her children, that one certainly makes it near the top of the list.

Don't feel sorry for me. They may be hungry, tired, overstimulated and simultaneously bored, and therefore prone to some misbehavior, but I'm glad I have them.

Next time, even if that's honestly the best way to describe your feelings about my family, keep your pity to yourself.


~RCH~

T minus 10 to lift-off

Is that what they say? DH would know, but he's sleeping in after a rough night on call so I won't bother him to ask. In any case, here are my girls in their "astronaut helmets" in a leftover shot from the new hair photo session (this one's for you, Mom!):

Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ... six ... five ... four ... three ... two ... one....

BLASTOFF!




~RCH~

Nursery help

As you may remember, I'm on my third baby and putting together my first real nursery. Yay!

Last Monday my super nice sister drove up with her baby so that they could entertain my girls while I painted the room two shades of yellow (Mustard Something on the bottom and Something Pineapple on the top). I thought about prepping the room the night before, but I figured the girls would just tear down the tape, so why bother? Maybe I should have bothered. Despite having the girls out of my hair, and even with said kind sister's help while the girls napped, it took us most of the day to tape off the trim; I finished the day with only the bottom half of one wall painted (and it was the shortest wall, lol).

But who should appear next, a mere half hour after the first sister had left? My other very nice sister, her husband, and their little boy! For all I knew, they had come up to visit us for the 24th of July holiday -- not because we had anything exciting going on, but simply because it's nice to get a change of scenery once in a while. Plus, I'm just super fun to visit, lol. (So fun that we made BIL stay up until past midnight helping DH dismantle a swamp cooler and jerry rig a window a/c unit that was too big for the actual window. Whooo! Good times.)

We all went to bed at around 1:00 in the morning. I got up bright and early the next day to take the girls to their swimming lessons and planned to start on the rest of the painting when we got home, hoping our visitors would play with the girls while I worked. As it turned out, there was no need: My sister and BIL had painted the entire rest of the room -- including the ceiling! -- while we were gone! Those sneaky kids work quickly and well. What a wonderful surprise. :-)

The room looks BEAUTIFUL (so much nicer than the old baby poop green color!). I keep standing in the doorway for long periods of time simply to ogle the lovely new paint, lol. I'm so grateful for all the help I received from my two fabulous sisters and their families! It's so pretty. I couldn't have done it without them.

Now that the painting is finished, I suppose it's time to figure out the rest of the decor. Here's a look around the 11'x9.5' room:









I've identified three main challenges so far: (1) The twin bed, which I would like to keep in there to make middle of the night nursing sessions easier (so I won't bother DH, an insanely light sleeper, by bringing the baby to our bed); (2) the only heating vent, which is on the floor beneath the window (covered by the changing table in the room's current configuration -- don't know how well that will work come winter); and (3) the closet that eats up nearly the entire left wall.

The size of the room and the placement of the vent and closet make for limited furniture arrangement options, unfortunately. I've decided I don't want to put the crib in front of the window, although there's more room beneath it to accommodate air flow from the vent, because I don't want Ponybelle to pull on the (as yet unchosen) curtains or strangle herself in the blinds cord. I guess I could put the twin bed there instead, and move the crib to the bed's current spot with the changing table between them on the right side wall. I don't know. Maybe I ought to just disassemble the twin and put it in the storage room for now. I can nurse on the couch at night. :-P It would certainly help the room look and feel less cramped.

The other question I have concerns shelving: Right now there are no horizontal surfaces in the room on which I can put stuff, either knick-knacky decorative things or practical items I'll want ready at hand like diaper rash cream. I first thought wall shelves would be a reasonable solution ... but would that look wrong, since the room is already cut in half horizontally by color and the, um, wood trim thing? (That may be a stupid question, but I'm a total novice at this so humor me.) Our local fancy-dancy furniture store has open (as opposed to encased with glass) shadow box-type frames that could double as shelving without looking overly horizontal. Kind of like this one, from Target:



Do you think those would work? At least for curios, I guess; Boudreaux's Butt Paste might look sort of funny framed in a fancy box. :-P

I may be in over my head here, so this is the point at which I invite all you decorating divas to contribute your ideas. My design plan, sparse as it is, began with the crib sheets from KidsLine's Tiger Lily bedding set, though while I'm considering buying the crib skirt (if I can find it as a stand-alone) as well, I'm not going to vomit that set all over the room with the matching bumper and valance and curtains and hamper and mobile and lamp shade and bla bla bla. But I do like those colors, the pinks and yellows, and of course the white trim that's already in the room (baseboards, window, closet and door). I need a place to put stuff. I may or may not need a place to nurse at night.

Where would you go from here?


~RCH~