The Cliffs Of Insanity!

Phil flew in last night from a SEVEN day business trip, and boy are my arms tired! I had a couple days there where I thought I might bury my unwashed body in the decroded sandbox in our back yard to escape the madness, but it appears we made it through unscathed.

On one of the "Ahhhhh!" mornings, I had spent hours going between a fussy 2.9-year-old and a fussy 11 week old. Elsbeth wouldn't stay asleep and howled with rage if I put her down, and Andrew figured hurling himself to the floor and screeching was as good a plan as any when not getting his way. He had asked at one point to play on the deck (we have a little blow up pool and water table out there), but got that privilege revoked when he screamed and kicked his legs when I tried to put on his bathing suit (apparently I was supposed to remove his shirt first). Later, when he asked again, I decided we'd give it another go. Els was getting some heavy eye-lids in her swing and I figured having rambunctious big brother outside might contribute to her nap. So I got him into his bathing suit, coated him in sunscreen and bug spray, and worked to fill up the pool, bucket by bucket from the kitchen sink. With that done, I turned to finally wash the breakfast dishes but was interrupted by a knock at sliding glass door leading to the deck.


Andrew: You're all done? (translation: "I'm all done." Still backwards with the pronouns, and he says everything like it's a question)


Me: What do you mean, you're all done? You don't want to play on the deck anymore?


A: OK?


M: Well, since we just went through all that work to get you set up out there, I want you to stay out there and play for at least 10 minutes.


This is how he spent his 10 minutes ....



But even with Daddy gone, and Mommy feeling a little overwhelmed, we managed to have some good times.


The picking and eating of our bush's first ripe blueberry ...




Happier times on the deck ...





And lots of really great smiles ....



And ultimately, Nannie saved the day with a wonderful visit. We all got to go see Thomas the Train live at the Fox, which was super cool! Andrew nearly burst as he sat in his seat waiting for the show to start, then a distant train whistle sounded and he clapped wildly, then just wrung his hands together with overflowing excitement. It was so cute I almost cried.





Isn't this a bizzaro picture? Looks like I cut out a distorted washed-out head from another photo and pasted it awkwardly on his neck.



I also had a lovely visit with my mom the weekend before Phil's evil conference. I think she pulls off the Moby look quite nicely.




For a while now, my Nibblet has given me these deep, knowing looks that have struck me as much older than she is and, well, familiar. I kept gazing at her and saying to Phil, "She looks familiar to me," but I couldn't figure out who it was I was seeing in there. So I asked Mom to bring up a bunch of baby pictures so I could figure it out. Didn't take long.


Elsbeth:


My mother:

I love it! However, the stories about my mother during her toddler years are legendary, so if my girl mirrors her Nina in personality as much as she does in appearance, I may be looking into some very powerful medication in the near future.

And while we're comparing people, my son Andrew has bit of my brother Andrew in him, don't you think?

Here's one of my baby pictures I thought was blog-worthy.

Me again with my mommy. :-)

Thought of the Day: I have a hard enough time understanding why God chose to create those horrible nasty vile gigantic cockroaches, but why, for the love of all that is good in this world, did He go and give them the ability to fly?

Hot Ham Water

About a week-and-a-half ago, Andrew got to spend a few days on his own with Nannie and Papa in good old SC. I actually had a pretty hard time letting go - I'm not used to being without my little sidekick - but he had a blast and Elsbeth and I got in some really good girl time (as well as a few naps that certainly wouldn't have happened otherwise). One of the highlights of the trip was an afternoon on Aunt Gayle and Uncle Ron's boat.

There were also some pretty awesome cows ...


. . . and a visit with new cousin Anna-Kate. I'm trying not to be too jealous that he got to meet her before I did.


And just look how my girl is growing!


She feels so big to me these days ... very long. Add in a bulky cloth diaper and she's already wearing some 3-6 month things! This week she has wanted to eat a lot, then she's smiley and happy (even not being held) for about 15 or 20 minutes before things start going south. She's usually content for another 15 minutes if she's being carried around just so, then it's best if I start working her towards another nap. In the evenings it has been taking hours to settle her down for the night - I'm often putting her in her crib at 10 or 11 - but then she's out. She'll wake to eat a couple times, but then fall right back asleep and doesn't really want to begin her day until about 8 or 9. It's pretty obvious that it's her giant brain, now developing at warp speed, that's causing her to be so high-maintenance. It will all be worth it when she cures cancer.


Here's a little video I took of her at 9 weeks (she's 10 weeks now, so this is soooo, like, last week). As always, I feel I must comment on my background chatter. The gooby voice and sharp intakes of breath are my pathetic attempts to make her smile. And yes, I do realize that it makes me sound like I have the IQ of a pair of socks. Maybe I do, because as much as I cringe at the voice I make in baby videos, I keep doing it.

The Precious very much enjoys hanging with his friends now, and his BFF Eunice Chantilly McSchnazzy* came to play earlier this week. It was one of the cutest things ever. They played together with his new Thomas set (early b-day present from Nannie and Papa) for an hour, just chattering away to each other.

I even took a video clip to capture the fun for all posterity.

Aren't they adorable? It looks like the gorgeous house across the street from Eunice Chantilly is going to be up for sale soon. As in, me and her mom could string up a clothes line between the houses, pin our children onto it, and hoist them over to the other house without their little toes ever touching the road. Did I mention it has a to-die-for yard, flat and fenced and lovely? My yard would make a great ski slope (with some snow, of course), there are trees growing out of my gutters, and my current neighbor is out right now yelling in the street (it's almost midnight). Clearly, it would be hard to leave the ambiance of my current situation, but if you all wouldn't mind sending me lots of money so that I could buy the aforementioned glorious home, that would be awesome.

You Can't Refrigerate A Toilet

My Aunt Amy, Uncle Mark and cousins Brent and Ashton came to visit this weekend, and my camera battery was dead! Ahhhh! And the camera store was out of my battery! Ahhhhh! Fortunately Uncle Mark came to the rescue with his phone camera. Perhaps not the highest definition photography, but the meeting of Julia Ashton Sanderson and Elsbeth Ashton Mobley had to be documented.

I've been dying to introduce Elsbeth to the lovely lady after whom she was named. Ashton has always been close to my heart, and after sharing a room together the summer before I started college, we decided we needed to be unofficial sisters. And after a day of wiping elderly heinies, you need a fun-loving sister to come home to, let me tell ya!

Fun story from my days as a nurses' aid in a nursing home:

One of my jobs was to get my patients up and dressed for the day. One morning I dressed a woman named ... let's call her Ms. VonGriffinpelt. Since Ms. VonGriffinpelt no longer had all the bulbs burning upstairs, dressing her could be a bit of a challenge as she didn't enjoy it and would sometimes act like she was going to hit you. Thus I attempted to get this job done as efficiently as possible. Later in the day, after the residents had been wheeled to lunch, I heard on of my co-workers yell, "Who dressed Ms. VonGriffinpelt this morning?!" I ran into the dining room in time to see Ms. VonG sitting at her table with her shirt pulled way up, tucking her "girls" into her pants. In my haste I had forgotten to put on her bra, and I guess them dangling around her waist had finally gotten uncomfortable. Man I miss that job.

So anyway, I had a marvelous visit with my dear family. They ooohed and ahhhed appropriately over my girl, and my boy had a fabulous time playing outside with Brent. I think Brent now knows where all the basketball nets and sewer covers in our neighborhood are located. Why can't we all live closer?