Minus Forty

Today was quite possibly the longest day of the century. I think it lasted about six weeks. We exhausted the playdough and "Goo" before lunch, and after that I just kind of let the kids disassemble the house as long as they left me alone. I think tomorrow will be Movie Day, and maybe I can even get some sewing done while they rot their brains. The kids don't have school, and even if they did, Husband is taking the Jeep to work since his wee Mazda can't make it out of the driveway. We are Housebound.

I've invited friends over, but I doubt they'll want to leave their cozy house in the coldest weather of the millenium. I have a feeling we'll be on our own again tomorrow. Today I printed out an airplane toy to cut out and assemble, thinking it would be a simple, fun activity to involve G in. Boy, I picked the wrong airplane toy. It took forever to cut and glue a dozen pieces together, and then we had to wait for it to dry while the kids harassed me ("Is it done yet? How about now? How about now? How about now? How about now? Hey Mom, is the airplane ready yet? How about now?"). In the end it didn't even fly that well, though that was probably just because I rolled my eyes at the suggestion of checking the angle of the wing tilt, and I didn't pay particular attention to the angle of the horizontal stabilizer either. No matter, the kids were delighted with it. Delighted enough to nearly throttle one another in the mad rush to have another turn with it. Tomorrow we will find something quick and painless to make if the Movie Day fails to occupy them.

Today was a rough one for me. I don't get it--I've been feeling so mellow and happy lately, and today I suddenly crashed and burned. I was barely keeping it together when I tipped over the rice cooker and spilled water and wet rice all over the kitchen (at least it wasn't hot yet). That was the breaking point, and I had to have a little cry. After that I felt a tiny bit better, but still definitely poopy. I'm a little curious/scared of what tomorrow will bring. But hey, at least it's "warming up" to -26C! Thrills!

Icy; Happy; Maybe Kitty

Big Kids: swimming with Daddy. Baby: sleeping beside me. Aaaahhh, peace and quiet.

This weekend we went to see the local Ice Festival, with sculptures and ice slides and an ice castle to play in and an ice maze to get lost in and movies playing on an outdoor ice screen (which we skipped). The kids had soooo much fun. We went first on Friday afternoon, and since they enjoyed it so much, we went again on Saturday. Friday was wonderful, there was hardly anyone there. Saturday was INSANE. Too bad--but it made me extra glad we'd gone once already and gotten to really enjoy it.

Took the kids out for dinner the other night at a divey pizza joint with some friends. Three strangers approached our table at different times to tell us how well behaved our kids (six in total) were. We thanked them, and after they left, laughed about all the stuff they must not have noticed. My kids were blowing bubbles in their chocolate milk, which piled up and out of their cups and onto their white shirts...there were several tearful incidents between the babies involving not-so-gentle pats...and at one point I asked G to repeat something I hadn't heard, and he bellowed "I HAVE TO GO POOP REAL BAD"--classy. I think the attitudes of the moms at our table made a big difference in how we were perceived by others. There are days where my kids could behave exactly the same way they did that night, and my reactions would be totally different--I'd snap at the big guys to stop blowing bubbles or I would take their drinks away; I'd get embarrassed about the loud update on the state of G's bowels; I'd get exasperated at the babies for not being as lovey and sweet as they usually are together. I would be projecting harried, pinch-mouthed misery, rather than the relaxed enjoyment our table of friends shared that night. In the face of such obvious irritability, I doubt anyone would approach us to compliment our children--although that's probably the moment I'd be most needing to hear it.

With all this happy happy joy joy spilling out of me, I've been thinking about another pet to share all my syrupy feelings with. I'm really on the fence here--after Lunch died, I was surprised at how easy it is to care for one cat. Cats are generally pretty easy, but two cohabitating cats who dislike each other make things a little trickier. Fran is fat and content and requires very little daily maintenance. If her food dish is empty, she lets me know. I scoop some poop, and vacuum piles of cat hair from around the house. That's about it. In return, she loves us all, snuggling with the grown ups and consenting to the clumsy attentions of the kids, and sleeps away most of every day. My aunt has some kittens to give away, and I've considered taking one in. But kittens are a lot more work than our sedate fatty Fran. The kids would be over the moon...but they're not the ones scooping the poop and making sure the furniture remains unscathed and cleaning the tipped plants, etc. Despite all the common sense arguments against it, I keep thinking, "Maybe we should..." Maybe I'm just missing J's babyness and looking to replace it with a baby of another species. For now I will continue to debate it with myself, but I think it's just a question of when I'll give in. I'm such a sucker.

Miscellany

Blogger is irritating me to no end. 9 out of 10 times I try to sign in, it tells me my account doesn`t exist. And my keyboard somehow got switched to some kind of frenchy mode, where my question mark key now produces this: É. My apostrophe is different, and there`s a couple of other things that have changed too. It did this once before, and I couldn`t change it back until I restarted the computer...but as my battery is about to putter out, I`m not going to bother just now.

I just discovered a site chock full of free downloads for 3D paper crafts, which are so cool I could weep with delight. Every new item I click makes me oooooh and aaaaaah (in my head, as the baby is sleeping beside me). I have a new, portable project to take with me for the craft and coffee night I do with some friends every so often. Yay!

Today I diagnosed Baby J with thrush. AAAAAAAAAUGH! I will be picking up some Gentian Violet and acidopholus tomorrow. Now I know why it`s been feeling like his latch has been off somehow--I thought it was due to teething, although he only has one eyetooth left to cut. And suddenly I understand why he`s been fussing at the breast lately...I thought he was fighting bedtime, when really he just had a sore mouth. Poor kid.

We went to a birthday party at an indoor playground today. Those places are crazy and loud and overwhelming, perhaps more for me than for the kids. The boys were all exhausted by the time we left, as was I. I was pretty beat even before we got there, as I went out last night with Husband and Brother and sang some karaoke. We went to a divey bar we used to go to about 9 years ago--and the karaoke host was the same dude! Funny, or sadÉ I didn`t know either.

G starts speech therapy tomorrow. I`m pretty excited--I hope he loves it. He`s made so much progress without therapy, I`m really pumped to see what he can do with a little help.

Okay, computer battery is almost done, as am I. 5 hours of sleep is just not enough.