asteroid B612

Fourth of July used to be my favorite holiday, back when we went to the parade, were tossed free candy, ate fun food, and went to fireworks. (Actually I think we only did all of the above once. The fireworks in Independence were pretty lame.) The free candy was especially appealing.

Now the Fourth is a hailed as a Day Off. It was nice to have Daddy home in the morning when he isn't usually. We went to the arboretum with our friend Judah. He and Ellis are Three Year Old Boys. They carry sticks, climb things, get very dirty, and pretend they are something else (anywhere from pirates to cats to monkeys). It was a soggy day threatening to downpour at any minute. We did seek shelter under a tree at one point, but mostly evaded a soaking.

In the evening we met up with Judah again and some other friends for a yummy dinner at my ILs. The kids played like crazy in the driveway, but by the time it got dark enough for sparklers, it was raining too hard. Poor kids!

I finally got to dress E and M in their fun matching shirts that Daddy picked out. E loved it. M? not so much.

So I start a new blog and then abandon it? I don't know why it's so Herculean to post these days. Oh, maybe it's the new baby. He's lying next to me on the couch giving big yawns. He's getting so cute and pudgy. And alert! I feel like he "woke up" this past week, has become more aware of the world. He's still sleeping well, so I'm glad for that. E still isn't. And we've all been fighting colds. I'm on the verge of survival.

We manage to keep pretty busy, though.

Friday, we said goodbye to Maddie (and her parents). I was really sad. E didn't understand that we were REALLY saying goodbye. We went to park day today. As we got in the car, E asked if we were going to play with Maddie, and i said np, she was bye-bye. When we got to the park, he was playing with his other little friend, but then this little girl arrived with her mom. She had short bobbed hair with a barrette, and looked about E's age. I think E thought she looked like Maddie. He kept following her around and was kind of in a weird mood. Eventually he signed Maddie and looked sad; I had to explain that she wasn't Maddie. He stayed kind of sad and brooding until some more friends arrived and distracted him. It made me sad; but it was kind of a first for E. He had a buddy move away last year about this time, but they were so little then, it was kind of out of sight, out of mind. It's like the first time he missed a friend. Kind of sweet.

Anyway, on Saturday we went to visit my parents in their new house. It's so much fun! A great house in the city; very comfortable with not too much fixer-upper to it. Chris is drooling to get back down there and work on the house. We were so relaxed and having such a great time, that we decided to stay the night, and spent Sunday with them, too (since we had our laundry anyway).

Then I had to face the week of E and no school. They finished the term last week. I wake up in the morning and feel depressed because the whole day stretches ahead. What am I going to do? How am I going to survive? How do I give two kids my attention? By the end of the day it wasn't so bad in the end.

Monday I ran errands, and both Ellis and Marlowe were great. Phew. Tuesday we went to the arboretum with Em and baby Josie. (Camera battery dead, argh!) We had a great time with them and stayed a long time. But it was just a tad too long perhaps. Because we staggered to the car with three crying children (and two laughing Mommies; it really was comical--though, I told Em that if she weren't with me, I would be crying, too).

In the evening, the church ladies had a nice shower for me and another woman who had a baby a week and a half before Marlowe. It was a really nice time hanging out and celebrating our babies. It was nice to see Moriah there, too, before she jaunts back on to her Southern home.

(Photos stolen shamelessly from Moriah--I'm desperate for a haircut and sporting my fancy babyweight, but there ya have it)

I don't know if you can catch Marlowe's whole outfit on my lap. He's sporting my new favorite thing to sew: baby pants!! So easy, and so incredibly adorable!! From the appliqueed "M" to the little shoes, I made his whole outfit. Kind of proud of that.

Anyway, I guess that brings us up to date. let's just not talk about today. I yelled at Ellis way more than I should have (which is AT ALL). Suffice it to say, when Daddy came home, I fell asleep nursing the baby and slept for an hour and a half. Kind of felt bad, since dinner ended up a lot later, and Daddy wasn't feeling too hot himself, poor guy. I put E to bed though, and I think we had some good reconnect time. I'm hanging on to Friday and going to Lancaster again. It's my reward for getting through this week. I feel a little bit like a loser, like I should be handling New Baby a little better, but I'm not. So I guess I'll just be a loser.

We did enjoy some good company last week.

On Monday, my pal who lives in France called me on the phone; her baby is a week older than Marlowe. It was great to hear her voice and feel at the same point in baby haze.

Monday afternoon, Erica and her husband and CUUUUTE almost 1yo came to visit. She's my best friend from grad school. She's my twin. Seriously. We have this crazy parallel life! When we get together, I used to catch up on what was going on at the ol' home department. I think I may have inquired about it briefly this time, but we mostly talked about kid stuff: solids, sleeping, etc. You know, the usual. Talking shop has changed a lot. haha! I was a dork, though, and didn't take any pictures. Gah! (You'll have to send me the cell phone pics you took, E).

She brought fun prezzies, too. When Ellis was born, she made this incredible nautical flag quilt. Each block was the alphabet in nautical flags. This time, she made pillows of E and M for Ellis and Marlowe out of the same fabrics. Too cute! Not to mention another fabulous gift E and M received from Erica's SIL, who I barely know, but is a blog buddy. She sent E cute finger puppets and M this really adorable stuffed kitty that made. Loving the handmade goodies from this talented family.

On Friday, Ellis and I took his best GF Maddie and her Mama to the arboretum. They're moving. We're sad. Really sad.

The garden railway was up and running. The roses were in full bloom. Everything was lush and verdant. It was fun sharing one of our favorite places with one of our favorite friends.

On Saturday we went back to the arboretum with more favorite friends. Blogging is great, it gets you in touch with people you'd otherwise never know. Last year, Deaf friends Nick and Keri and their son Lochlan (a tad younger than E) stayed with us on their way to Ocean City. We had such a great time, they came again this year on their way back from OC! (And their in utero #2 will be just younger than Marlowe. yay) Though I don't know who was hosting whom at the end. They were such a great help to our new baby bedraggled selves. And they got to celebrate Ellis's 3rd Bday with us. And again they left and we wished we all lived closer.

Welcome to the world, JonesGirl!!

This morning, E and I were out the door bright and early for my weekly midwife appointment. All is well. We're just waiting. I measured 35 cm, which is a nice size. I asked if she thought he was engaged (in the pelvis) yet, but she said she didn't expect him to be until after I started labor, he was sitting nicely in the dip, though. But I could've told you that. He's been hanging out there for a long time.

Since I'm GBS positive, they want me there early on to get my doses of antibiotics. And since my first labor was, as she described it, efficient (5 hours of active labor, with a little help from Pit), my second labor will likely be even more "efficient." So "your bags are packed, right?"

She also said something that was music to a pregnant woman's ears: just rest as much as you possibly can. She did not say that I would go into labor tomorrow. She did not say that I would go into labor at 40 weeks. She did say that we're just waiting for the baby to be ready. And was very chipper about it. I did not cry after my appointment.

Afterwards, E and I went to Park Day and met up with our buddies. Maddie is moving soon. Boohoo. I found them in the tunnel playing. Maddie said they were watching TV. E was just kicking the sides. Funny to see the difference between girl and boy right there.

I stayed at the park for three hours with E. It took him about two minutes to fall asleep tonight.

C started a new job. Yea, as if two weren't enough. Fortunately he can do some of it from home, but sometimes needs to go to the office, about a 35-45 min drive from our house. We have one car. Hopefully, with this job we can buy another. C is basically a self-taught computer geek. He's basking in the fact that with his most recent two jobs he's getting paid to work on the computer. It's nice to see him enjoy his work and use his skills.

I'm still in the process of editing 2007 home movies. I got a chunk done for New Year's Eve. It's a tradition I'd like to keep up: watching the year's home movies on New Year's Eve. It'll force me to keep up with editing and get them off my hard drive!

I've got a few stragglers. I've spent the past few evenings making a movie about our fun day with friends in Chatty LAST JUNE! It's amazing how long it takes to get such a short bit of movie. But I thought, hey, may as well share it with the people whose company we enjoyed that day (since I keep up with most of you over the internet anyway). Enjoy...for what it's worth...(sorry the resolution is lost a bit in the compressing)

We had fun enjoying some warmer temps the other day. I played with my friend's camera and got some cute shots of Ellis and Maddie. He's about 10mos older than she is, and the age difference is starting to close a bit. It's fun to see!

Also, notice his car shirt? Yea, basically E's two favorite articles of clothing are anything with cars on it and fun socks. The other day he insisted on wearing a pair of my socks (infinitely funner than the white sport socks I was offering). And it's pretty much a Major Tragedy to take off a car festooned shirt or pajama if another such car sporting item is not offered in its place. Yea, I'm thinking some stencils are in order to make part of his wardrobe acceptable items. haha.
He also seems to favor the color green. I can get him to wear a shirt that has green on it if it doesn't have a car.

I went to my friend's annual Oscar party last night after church. This year I had seen all of one nomination...Ratatouille. haha. Yea, so our life is currently a little Pixar heavy. I usually watch the Oscars to see what came out last year. This year, I actually didn't want to see too many of them. I do want to see Juno and La Vie en Rose and that other French one Becki recommended to me.

So i go to the party for the food, fellowship, and one-liners. I was really too tired this year, though, and by the end of the day, I'm too uncomfortable to really ignore my discomfort. But I had a good time. I'm so paying for my late night today, though. Ugh.

Nothing struck me particularly about anyone. Jon Stewart was sort of funny. Some of the dresses were okay. But I didn't notice anything particularly striking.

Helen Mirren gets the Classiest Person Award.
Tilda Swinton gets the I Wore a Black Garbage Bag to the Oscars Award.
Cate Blanchett gets the Classiest Pregnant Woman Award.
All hail independent musicians who make it!!
And congrats to the Coen brothers for getting a shelf full.

Hooray for non-Americans/non-native-English speakers getting up there! I really think they should just speak their own languages. It would do our isolated continent some good. And do they have to point out that Penelope Cruz can speak 4 languages every year?

And why didn't Paris, Je t'aime get nominated for anything? seriously baffling.

Alright. 'Til next year.

Miss Thompson died today.

Last time I was at Cono was in 2001. After I said goodbye to Miss Thompson, I was walking to my car to leave and I said to Jane, "That could be the last time I see Miss Thompson." And Jane, in her usual candor, said, "Don't you feel like every time you see her might be the last?"

It was the last time, until heaven.