Aurora Borealis

This morning, very early (to her credit), our substitute babysitter called in sick.  She was supposed to work 8-noon, and then again this afternoon from 4-8.  She apparently woke up in the middle of the night with some strange and worrisome chest pains.  She was going to the ER to be checked out, and she said she hoped to be able to come in the afternoon and would let us know around mid-day.  Fortunately, Mr. Tldz didn’t have anything formal scheduled for the morning, but he did have follow-up calls, e-mails, etc. to do. 

I called J^3 from our old parish.  A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. J. had called and volunteered that she could watch Agent Murphy during the day if we needed that.  She is regularly keeping her grandson during the week in the summer.  He’s only 5 months older than the Agent and she said she’d really like to find a playmate for him.  So lucky for us, she was able to take Agent Murphy on short notice, although her schedule was a little strange today.  She picked him up around 9:30 or 10:00 and brought him back around 1:00, which gave Mr. Tldz time to do the job search things he needed to do.  J^3 called this evening to report that Agent Murphy was very easy to take care of and they like him and they think he likes them.  He’s not always easy for Mommy, so it’s good to know he’ll behave better for others.

Fortunately the babysitter is okay and she was able to come for the afternoon.  We don’t usually need that, but the community exchange on the MARTA route modifications was today.  S. took Mr. Tldz to that, and since we were able to line up an actual babysitter we worked up a list of some other errands they might run if the MARTA thing didn’t take too long.  They’re still not back yet, so hopefully they’re having some success getting miscellaneous baby gear we need and picking out baby furniture.

Mr. Tldz had a phone interview for a contract position with AT&T early this afternoon, and they’ve already called back and scheduled him for an in-person interview on Friday afternoon.  And he continues to hear from recruiters about other positions to apply for.  So this is good.  Saying our prayers and keeping our fingers crossed…

Now I’ll have to go and pull up some pictures of Agent Murphy.  He’s demanding to see himself on the monitor.  (The other day I was going through a lot of his baby pictures, and now he apparently thinks his mug is always supposed to be on the computer screen!)

So I bought Agent Murphy a pair of slippers a month or so ago.  He really likes them.  They have lion faces on them.  For the last few days at least, he’s decided he must be tucked into bed wearing them.  Okay, well, that’s our boy.

So Agent Murphy has taken a liking to the top drawer in particular of a little filing cabinet in our office.  If I’m doing something in the office, he’ll busy himself emptying it out and carrying items around the room.  I’ve finally decided I’ll find a new home for the tape, pens, pencils, and various items and put some of his toys in there instead.  I’ll still have to pick up stuff every time I work in the office, but at least it will be *his* stuff, stuff he’s *supposed* to play with.  Of course, we’ll see if these “legitimate” toys hold his interest in the same way.  In fact, I think he’s already taken a number of the toys and carried them out of here because he doesn’t think they belong in the office.  Hmm.  Maybe I’ll have to introduce some new toys especially for the office…

Edit: I’ve been foiled.  He’s decided now it’s best to take the top drawer out and play with the drawer itself — and get into the bottom drawer.  Oy vey.

Agent Murphy has a puzzle bench with his name on it that his Uncle G. and Aunt M. gave him.  Each letter is a separate, differently colored piece that comes out.  He loves it.  He takes the letters out and carries them around the house with him.  (He’s also gotten pretty good at knocking two letters against each other.  Banging things is good.)  We’ve been pretty successful at rounding up all the letters every night.  But the first letter of his name has been missing for over a week.  Today, Mr. Tldz found it.  Now two other letters are missing, but they’ve been seen in the last day or two, so they should turn up soon.

Agent Murphy had a doctor’s appointment today.  Once again, he freaked out immediately upon being put on the crinkly paper on the table.  Shrieked afterwards while I was getting him dressed.  They must wonder what I’m doing to him.  He doesn’t cry that hard during the exam.  Really, it’s just the crinkly paper.  So I tried getting him dressed on my lap, but he was already worked up and just a wiggling mess, so I gave up and went back to the dreaded table and went as fast as I could.

Anyway, our big guy is indeed big.  21 pounds 12 ounces (75th percentile), and 30.75″ (”off the charts” – above 97th).  Everything seems a-okay with him.

Most of Friday afternoon and evening, I was sick.  Better yesterday.  Sick again today.  Headachey, nauseous…  With the yard sale coming up, I needed this like I need a hole in the head.  Poor Mr. Tldz wasn’t feeling very well today, either, but he’s stepped up and kept Agent Murphy taken care of, who, fortunately, has been pretty cooperative today.

Mr. Tldz is about to start his third week at the new job.  We’ve made it so far, but it’s hard.  It’s a really long day for him with the commute.  And we miss him during the day.  But I guess we’ll get used to it.  At least he likes the work so far, the people he’s working with, and his boss does seem to be living up to the signs he showed of being a good manager.  And in some minor interactions Mr. Tldz has had with his former employer, we have abundant confirmation that being out of there is a very good thing.

Now I’m going to lay down again.

Apparently, my mom’s shoulder replacement surgery yesterday went well, though it took twice as long as they said it would.  Surgeon reported that she had a lot of “deformity” and tightness in the shoulder, besides being very arthritic.  Talked to Mom tonight, and she says she’s feeling pretty good, just sleepy.  She gets to go home tomorrow afternoon, and has 4-6 weeks in a sling.

In a lesser situation, The Dog somehow injured a back leg toward the end of last week.  She was really hobbling around for several days (when she tried to move at all) and was happiest and most comfortable in her crate, even when we were home; but she seems to be almost fully mended now, back to her usual chipper, active self.  She does still mostly retire to the safety of her couch when we let Agent Murphy go “exploring.”  I can’t say I blame her.  I think his barbaric yawlp as he charges off in some direction or other (or after her) spooks her.  We enjoy it, though.  He’s just fun.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy.  We ran through Mr. Tldz’s new route to work, and as long as the bus driver on that end up there gets a few functioning brain cells, that should be okay.  We put ourselves on our new morning schedule this week (up at 5:00) and Mr. Tldz has been making sure he can in fact be ready to leave at 6:00.  We’ve done various other things to get him ready, including purchasing some upgrades to his wardrobe.  And I’ve been running around packing in the errands I can that are much easier to do without Agent Murphy in tow while I still had the option of putting him down for a nap and then leaving the house.  (Boy, I’ll sure miss that!)

After he dropped off his work stuff at the Midtown office today, we went out to lunch at Pub 71.  Agent Murphy decided on his own that he would play peek-a-boo with us.  I’m so proud of him for figuring this out.  Using one of the cloth napkins he had managed to nab, he’d cover his face and when we’d say, “Where’s Agent Murphy?”  He’d lower the cloth and laugh as we said, “Peek-a-boo, I see you!”  He’s such a clever, cute boy!

We bought a new (much needed!) mattress set yesterday.  It’ll be delivered tomorrow, and we’re very much looking forward to that.  Hopefully, it’ll make for better sleep so that 5:00 wake up won’t seem quite so early.  Of course, if it’s really comfortable, it’ll be that much harder to leave it behind…

So I guess we’re as ready as we can be for this new job.  But I’m not looking forward to being apart from Mr. Tldz so much.  It’ s funny.  I’ve mentioned to casual acquaintances in passing that Mr. Tldz is changing jobs and losing the ability to work from home that he’s had.  And the responses have pretty much been, “Oh good for you – you get the house back.”  Huh?  I guess I/we must be weird, because that’s not how I’m feeling about it.  Yeah, there are a few things that will be easier not having to accommodate Mr. Tldz’s working here, but compared to all the good stuff we’re losing…  That part of this new job is not a good deal.  I’ll miss having lunch with him every day, and having him give me updates on his day when he comes out for a water break and to give Agent Murphy a hug, and being able to periodically give him a hug and a kiss during the day…

But in time we will adjust, and hopefully this new job will be as good for him/his career as it seems like it will be.  And we’ll work on getting ourselves moved to give him a better commute, which will help a lot with family time.

Today took us to the quad at Oglethorpe, in front of the library.  (I felt like an old-timer.  I found myself referring to Robinson Hall as Faith.  Well, in the old days…)  We met up with Clan McG. and had a nice time.  Even had the added benefit of running into Dr. W. , who was on her way from the library to her office.  And we visited Lyndra’s tree, which is actually looking like a small bush these days.

Foster Mulan had fun playing with Laser Girl and Danger Dude.  Agent Murphy was very cooperative and good-natured during the picnic.  (He ate cauliflower-sweet potatoes.)  And the grown-ups had time to catch up some.

Summer camps were in full swing on campus.  I couldn’t help but think of H.  He’s probably thrilled he’s escaped to the Pacific Northwest with Walgreens!

We got home, put the Agent down for a nap, all got some water, and then I took a little nap, too.  Mr. Tldz had to do a little more (only a little more because he spent several hours overnight attending to pager issues) for work before calling it a day.  We are very much looking forward to his vacation next week!  (The pager gets killed.)