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Puke and Guests
There seems to have been so little time for writing recently. With Jake being sick once again and our having our third group of guests from England in so many months, I feel like I'm run ragged.
Jake sick? Yes, again. We had the asthma episode about 2 weeks ago, which was scary. Then we took him for some innoculations - one being for Chicken Pox - and a few days later, wouldn't you know it, he got a fever and even vomitted all over me yet again. The vomitting happened last night actually and I don't think I've ever been so completely covered in puke in my life. It was horrible! For him too, I'm sure. And me being me, I cried my eyes out for him.
The funniest bit was that we have Stephen ex-wife, H, and her new husband, W, staying with us right now. (You'd think I'd be weird about my husband's ex staying with us but Stephen and I are both quite relaxed about it and I'd go so far as to say that I've enjoyed their company and we've had some really good conversations.)
Anyway, as I was saying, the funniest bit was that Stephen and I had decided to have a little dinner party. We had H and W here, as well as Ruth's boyfriend and Sarah's boyfriend. There were 10 of us in all, including Jake. He puked all over me, down my shirt, soaking my bra and skirt, just as everyone was eating dinner. As I got up out of my chair, holding a crying 14-month old and dripping with his vomit, I said something like, "well, I hope that hasn't put you off your meals!"
By the time I got back from cleaning myself up and putting Jake to bed, most of the food had gone so they couldn't have been that put off.
Jake is feeling much better today and is right now getting rough with our closet door that obviously isn't opening as he'd like it to.
Here is just a few minutes ago, intently watching TV:
Here's our cheeky little boy, caught in the act of rearranging our living room furniture:
He's our little He-man!
Here it is!
Remember a little while ago, Stephen and I took Jake to have his photo taken professionally and I mentioned a "cowboy" picture that was absolutely priceless? Well, I finally have the picture scanned and here it is...
We tried everything that day to get a smile out of him. We only got one smile, but this picture was definitely my favorite. The look on his face is, well, priceless.
I feel like I haven't updated this blog with anything other than pictures in ages. We've had more guests staying with us from England - this time, it was Stephen's ex and her new husband - and things have changed around here since they left. For starters, a little while ago, my eldest stepdaughter, Hannah, decided that she wanted to return to England to resume her nursing studies. Knowing that her Mum was going to be visiting soon, she made arrangements to return to the UK on the same flight. She left here on the 19th and we were sad to see her go. Hopefully, England and nursing will make her happy and she'll be back to visit us soon.
Hannah's departure meant that we had a spare bedroom in the basement so, yesterday, we packed up Ruth's bedroom and moved her downstairs. She had been in the room next to Jake and, with his early bedtime, it meant that she had to be super-quiet all the time. At 15 years old, she deserved a bit more freedom.
So Ruth is settled downstairs and her old room is now our study. Stephen and I moved our laptops in there and that is where I be now.
It's pouring rain outside right now. It sounds so refreshing. It's been so humid again today and I've been feeling stifled.
Stephen is at work, as is Sarah. Hannah is in England. Ruth is in her room in the basement. Jake is asleep in the next room. Other than my typing, all I can hear is the rain.
Them were the days...
I've just been rediscovering the joys of downloading music. When I was in high school and soon thereafter, I had an extensive CD collection. I spent all my earnings on CD, videos and concert tickets. And while at the concert, I just had to get the customary black, over-sized tshirt with the band logo on it. Usually some skull or other scary image adorned the front of the shirts I bought. You see, I was a heavy metal fan in my youth. 80's metal, or, shall we say, "hair bands" or "glam bands" were my thing.
In concert, I've seen bands like Judas Priest, Metallica (4 times!), Guns n Roses, Poison, Tesla, Testament, Vixen, Ozzy Osborne, White Lion, Megadeth, Motley Crue, Faith No More, Kiss, House of Pain, Biohazard... just to name a few. And I've downloaded songs by almost all of these today as well as other bands like Ratt, Cinderella, Europe, Faster Pussycat, Gwar, Platinum Blonde, Pantera, Warrant and Skid Row.
For a brief moment, I was 18 again, sitting in the park near Beth and Jen's place, with my friends and case of beer. The cops were there, checking up on us, as they always did, and warning us to keep the music down. Smoking a cigarette (I did back then), or whatever, and hanging out with the UIA (the Uncoordinated Imbicile's Association... don't ask). Sometime after midnight, frozen to the bone and more than a little tipsy, we'd head back to Beth and Jen's and continue the party in Beth's room, above the garage. Around dawn, sleep would come... then the hangover...
Them were the days!
Don't touch!
For quite a while now, we've had a bare and boring living room. No framed pictures on the end tables, no lamps, the VCR and DVD player tucked away safely in the cupboard... Why? Because of Jake. He's into everything. I can't put a cup down without him knocking it over within about 2 seconds of it's release! We have now resorted to pushing the coffee table up against the TV table to stop him from getting close to the set and pushing all the buttons.
We came very close a little while ago to watching a heavy table-top lamp fall on Jake's head and, since then, we've moved all the lamps out. What that means, of course, is that, come dusk, the living room is quite dark unless we use the ceiling light in the dining room. (I hate harsh ceiling lights!)
The heat here is unbearable at the moment so we have put a fan in the living room. Guess who keeps unplugging it... Arg!
Anyway, our once-lovely living room now looks sparse and undecorated. The floor remains littered with colorful and noisy toys until the little man goes to bed at night. With our wanting another baby, we figure that it'll be quite a few years before we can have family photos and lamps in our living room again.
Bless him!
First Dip
Our most recent guests from England bought us a pool while they were here. It's not quite the huge adult pool you may be imagining, but it is also not a child's paddling pool. Our new pool has an outer ring that you blow up then, as the pool fills with water, it starts to take shape. It is 12 feet in diameter and 30 inches deep. We've positioned it in the middle our back yard, filled it with chlorinated water, started up the pump and had a lovely dip earlier today.
With today's temperatures reaching the early 30s centegrade, the pool gave us a much-needed break.
And, for the very first time, I took Jake swimming. I wasn't sure if he'd enjoy it so I hadn't prepared him in his swimming trunks. But he seemed curious as Stephen and I held him while we stood in the water. The thermometer gave a reading that the water was up at 30C, so I had a good feeling about trying him in there.
We stripped him down to his birthday suit and, minus nappy and swimming trunks, Jake took his first "swim". And he loved it. At first, he was a bit apprehensive, but he was soon giggling and walking around the pool with our help. And did he ever look adorable in the buff!!
Anyway, we had a great time and will be doing it again tomorrow. Although I may just get his trunks ready this time!
