She is 8 today. And she’s having a skating party tonight with something like 11 or 12 girls. Hopefully her birthday present has been collected from Grandma’s post office box and will be given to her.
Early this morning Agent Murphy and I trundled off to the OB’s office (in the nasty cold and rain; I’m ready for spring!) to have Laurie the ultrasound tech check on Garbanzo Bean III. This was just to check the baby’s size to confirm or adjust the due date. She came up with July 23, so pretty close to the July 25 we were originally given. We’ll see her again in a month or two when the baby is bigger so she can check on the chambers of the heart and such.
We’ve been reading God Gave Us Two and A Baby Sister for Frances. Agent Murphy has started picking out God Gave Us Two for story time. We wonder how much he understands of what we’ve been telling him. At this age, especially with his not talking, it’s hard to tell. So after reading God Gave Us Two last night I was explaining to him that we were going to go to the doctor’s office today and they would use a special machine to look inside Mommy’s tummy so we could see his baby brother or sister. He patted his tummy. So I told him, “Yes, but Mommy’s tummy.” Laurie gave him his own copy of an ultrasound photo today. I’ve taped it onto his dresser where he can look at it while he’s in bed.
I am in a horrible mood. I guess I wasn’t doing too great, yesterday, either. I keep crying. Given my wretched mood, I’ve wanted very little to do with The Agent and his antics. But that sweet boy brought one of his diaper wipes to wipe away my tears. I don’t know how he’s such a good kid given the crappy mommy he’s stuck with.
I’ve gotten very little done so far today, and I have to try to get ready to host play group next week. I was hoping to get some artwork up before then, not to mention cleaning, so our house won’t look so pathetic. (It’s a pitiful little place compared to the mansions some of these women have. Good heavens — we don’t have a dedicated playroom! I wonder if we’ll be allowed to stay in play group?) Agent Murphy has a bit of a cold. Maybe if he stays sick, I can cancel like just about everyone else has done. (It’s supposed to meet every week. There was one in the month of January.)
My goodness, another one? 6.1. Does that really count as an “after shock”? I’d call that another quake!
Wow. Lots of prayers going that way. My goodness, something like that makes you realize how fragile life is and how fortunate we are. We just made a contribution to Food for the Poor for Haiti relief. FTP is an organization we’ve supported periodically and just recently started giving to them monthly. They’re very good stewards of their contributions — very low administrative and fundraising expenses, so most of a contribution goes directly to help people. If you’re looking for a way to help, that’s one organization we’d recommend.
Lemon the Lion became Agent Murphy’s favorite stuffed animal some time ago, when he was somewhere between 6 and 12 months old. Lemon displaced a little yellow elephant named Butternut, who got his ears and trunk and tail sucked on quite a bit when the Agent was an infant. And then somewhere around 18 months, Agent Murphy let a roly-poly white polar bear named Snowflake into the club. Mind you, Snowflake has been around since the Agent’s birth and was the only stuffed animal he actively disliked. But it seemed to us that Lemon and Snowflake became a couple, and apparently Lemon convinced the Agent that Snowflake is alright. The two of them have been his sleeping companions since he moved to the big boy bed. And we’ve thought that a little polar lion might be in the works.
During our move, numerous stuffed animals got jumbled up and ended up in different areas than their previous assignments. Lemon and Snowflake, of course, retained their favored status as sleeping companions. Sometime after the move, a hitherto unknown little brown bunny rabbit was promted by the Agent onto his bed along with Lemon and Snowflake. Once it became clear that this was the new order of things, we named the little bunny — Nigel. We then took to calling Nigel a “needy bunny” because, while the Agent gives Lemon and Snowflake kisses and demands that we do the same, he gives Nigel lots of kisses, and we are required to do so, too. Then we realized — little Nigel is Lemon and Snowflake’s baby! That’s why he’s so needy. Who would have thought they’d have a little brown bunny?
For the last couple days, Agent Murphy did nap in his playpen. Yesterday he really struggled with it but eventually fell asleep. Today he was out pretty quickly. Whew! He really does still need his naps (and so do I!).
Perhaps it helped today that he got to play at the church nursery while I went to the St. Monica’s Circle (moms of young kids) meeting about the Catholic school admission process. It’s doubtful we’ll go that route when the time comes, but it’s good to have the info. The babysitter told me The Agent had a grand time in the nursery. Apparently he spent a lot of time in the little stage/puppet theater. Good times.
Birthday cake is made. Waiting for it to cool to frost it. And Mr. Tldz should be home soon. Vacation for him tomorrow. Hooray!
So the bridge loan contingency was removed on Sept. 1. Our due diligence period runs Sept. 2-11. Home inspector was out to the house yesterday and e-mailed what appears to be a very thorough report today. I’ve only skimmed it at this point. Need to get better acquainted with it soon, but I’ve been on a mission packing. Appraisal is supposed to be happening sometime this weekend. This morning I faxed some more paperwork to our loan officer, and I’m sure there will still be something else he needs to get from us. That’s always how it is.
I’ve been looking forward to the long weekend — having Mr. Tldz here for 3 days to keep the Agent corralled so I can pack. Today I’ve gotten the basement pretty much packed up. And the living room. Got all our books in the office packed over the last few days. Mr. Tldz packed up our stand mixer and food processor in their original boxes. Still need to tackle the bulk of the kitchen and the bedrooms and the bathrooms… But it’s actually feeling like this packing up and moving the household might really get done.
I went to Wal-Mart as usual this afternoon for the weekly grocery shopping, but with Mr. Tldz on vacation today I didn’t have to go with toddler in tow.
The woman in front of me at checkout was buying some wine with her groceries. I heard the cashier ask her, “May I see you ID ma’am?” I looked up and had to practically bite my tongue to keep from laughing, as the customer had to be pushing 80. Obviously Wal-Mart has a policy of carding absolutely everyone who buys alcohol. Probably a good idea for them, since 1) many of their employees don’t have the smarts to reasonably exercise judgement and 2) that steers them clear of any possible complaints of discrimination or anything like that. But still, it was funny.
My couch is gone. It’s gone. Everything is different. Things are not right. But The Boy just goes on playing same as always. The big couch is where my couch used to be. I guess I’ll just take a nap on it. But things are not right.