It's a Windsday

Windy days are inevitably very funny days or very bad days for us. Our dog, Molly, chases leaves. She chases them with all the vigor of a drug addict chasing that next high. I am not exaggerating. Literally if there are leaves blowing, Molly is on alert. She chases them without regard to cars, people, yard boundaries, walls... you get the picture. Her habit could get her killed, not unlike most dangerous addictive behaviors.


So today is windy. That is an understatement. It is a no fun to be had, blustery, blow you down kind of day. So the only outdoor trip I have taken has been to the mailbox. It was a fortuitous excursion too because our state tax return from Wisconsin came today. I was excited to get my grubby hands on it so I ripped it open while walking back to the house. Now for those of you who don't know, my mailbox is maybe 20 feet from my house. Not a big deal to walk there and walk back with all that I gather from Mr. Mailbox. Today was a different story. My freezing fingers fumbled the check and it blew straight up into the sky and twirled around out of my grasp. It did a plastic bag dance a la American Beauty and I was not in jumping distance. So picture this... Molly is leaf hunting and I think to myself that she will help me since this rectangular piece of paper should spark her interest. NO. Not at all.  She ignores my calls for help and continues to stalk dead blowing leaves. I am jumping up and grabbing for this rather important document and it is swirling out of my grasp. 1) I am wearing cut off sweatpants that are holy and held together by dirt and safety pins. 2) I am wearing slipper boots. 3) I am fat and pregnant and not in good leaping and chasing shape. So I end up trying to dive on this damn check as it blows away from me. I miss. Then I feel like stomping it might stop it's motion easier and I miss several times. Luckily, yes, I did eventually pin the sucker and pick it up. I look at my house and there is Lily standing in the doorway laughing at me. I think Molly was too. And probably most of the neighbors.


Also a funny incident that happened today was on behalf of Lily's new found modesty in front of company. She has been taught that when people come over you should have pants on. Yeah, we are giant prudes. She was watching a show on PBS where they are generally located in a classroom. Well during this episode school was off for the day and all the kids from class were coming over to one boy's house. Lily was flapping her arms and whapping me with something. I was chatting with a girlfriend and was unsure of what the emergency was. I glanced down and noticed the object hitting me was her pants and she was frantically looking at me and then back at the TV. I realized too late that she was trying to get me to put her pants on before the friends came over to the boy's house. She was just sure they would see her without her pants and that was completely unacceptable. She actually bolted upstairs in tears sobbing at me that she was "so embarrassed!" because I didn't get her pants on before they got there. I felt bad but could not stop laughing silently as I apologized for my clear lack of tact and urgency in this delicate situation.


Happy Windsday!

Thawing and Planning

Have you ever noticed that when Spring finally drags itself out from behind Winter you start to notice how run down everything looks? I am sure this is why there are concepts like Spring cleaning and projects. Well, now I know why this season brings on a whole host of new tasks and lists and mini-renovations for us to do. And by us I mean mostly Mark and his dad. I can't "re-drywall the new baby's room" I don't even know where I would begin. I can paint it though. Maybe... more on that later. I tasked myself with taking on the minefield of Molly's poop piles in the front yard. This is to say that I left the much larger and fuller backyard for my strong virile husband and his masculine purple latex gloves.


I must admit the whole baby having a penis thing is really throwing me off. Mark and I are still discussing name options. I cannot decide on a manly-slash-baby color for his bedroom to be. Not to mention that I am still quite unsure what to do with a little thingy in the diaper department. The whole concept is foreign to me. I mean do I make his room stylish and sweet according to what I like? I did this with Lily's room and it came out beautiful. But are my tastes going to turn my little man's room into a metro mess? I love the thought of having a son. A little brother for Lily is going to be amazing. But I am just going to need a crash course in having a boy. I feel like this journey is begun and guided by the decisions I make with his bedroom. So with that in mind, I consulted the father unit. Mark just told me to paint it blue. I argued that if we use the bedding we had for Lily that was brown and green it won't suit to paint it blue. Then he said to paint it brown. When I began hemming and hawing about this idea he stated that he had no further input since all his suggestions were clearly being discarded upon utterance. Which I thought was really rude and that he should stick it out and help me. ;)


What I have now is all girl. All girl. All boss. All me me me. Lily is the princess of the world. She loves to call the shots. Last night she actually told me (while I was explaining to her why she needs to eat all of her dinner because she is not getting a snack afterwards) that I needed to "get this under control". She has decided on several names for her baby brother "Mazin" which is a combination of her two friends' names Mason and Isaac. Lately she has thought "Alex" for the lion from the movie Madagascar. She is just thrilled with feeling the movements of the baby in my belly. She played him some music from one of her little Fisher-Price toys and he kicked her hand. I've never seen a more genuine look of surprised glee. She is already surprising me in what she understands and is looking forward to with the baby on the way. Like she asks which way the baby is positioned so that she can kiss his forehead. She asks how much room he is going to take up... "is he going to take up all of your tummy then move to your back?!" She is already very sweet with little babies that she has been around. Mostly I am just excited for the two of them to meet.


Enough of this sweet tender moment stuff. I better get back to my endless list making and plan creating for Mark's projects. And any ideas are welcome on this paint color idea...