Wednesday, Jason was able to leave work an entire hour early so he and I zipped down to The Rock and enjoyed an entire hour of happy hour. The one-on-one time is important. We do love hanging out as a three-some, but it's hard to get into detailed conversations with the Peanut around.
That night, after Miss Center of Our World went to bed we started making our part of Thanksgiving dinner. We were on deck to bring stuffing for the family. We chopped onions, celery, apples and de-cased sausage. It was a team effort, but by 7pm our kitchen smelled fabulous. We made enough stuffing for 15-20 people and felt we had plenty. I had a bit of trouble going back to sleep after the 1am infant sleep interruption and checked the Internet for important life updates and saw that our Thanksgiving Day hostess said that she was looking forward to all 27 guests. 27!? I knew the recipe would not stretch to 27 and debated about jumping out of bed and running to the grocery store for another onion, apple and other much needed supplies for a second batch. Thankfully, reason set in and I eased back to sleep. (The cough syrup with codeine that I've been taking at night time was also reason enough not to get in the car.)
We (Jason) did make an emergency run to the store Thursday morning while Lucy and I (mostly me) made breakfast. She helps by hanging out in the kitchen (sometimes in the high chair, and sometimes on the floor with a rubber spoon.) We whipped out a second batch of stuffing thus making our house smell even MORE heavenly. Lucy went down for nap which allowed us to gather everything we were taking.
Jason's young cousin and his wife are expecting their first child in May and since they are college students they don't have any extra funds nee, I venture to call them "starving students." As an aside, I have a friend whose kind of girlfriend broke up with him because I called her a 'starving student'. I think she may have been overreacting and was a bit crazy to boot. In the end, he met someone else and is in that "happily ever after place" with a reasonable woman who can hold her own against his erudite wit. I think Miss Starving can (to coin a phrase) suck it! Anywho... we packed up lots of items that Lucy required and now, eight months in does not need or want anymore:
- Giraffe Swing (allows the infant car seat to be connected and thus a sleeping infant can be continually rocked and ideally stay asleep after car rides.)
- Baby bathtub
- Bouncie Chair - this battery operated vibration chair was a life saver for us.
- Bumbo - a soft plastic 'chair' that cradles the infant in an upright position so they can "sit" before they can sit.
- Infant Car Seat accessories (they get the infant car seat at Christmas.)
- The remainder Maternity tops (some were so nice that I didn't want to give them up, so giving them to the new mama felt better than donating to charity.)
- The Potterybarn for Kids activity mat. Lucy wouldn't stay put on an activity mat to save her life right now. Her whole world is an activity mat.
It felt good to rid ourselves of these items. The house feels less weighted by baby stuff. Of course, our main family room is being taken over by things, but we make an effort to pick everything up each night so that our baby world transforms back into adult world, even if it is for 2 hours and I nap through the most of it, it's still good to pick up the blocks and toy cars.
After Lucy emerged from her nap we loaded up the car and headed to Duvall. In spite of the rain it was nice to drive up there without fear of being snowed in, flooded in, or any other kind of dramatic weather event. Dinner was nice but there were NOT 27 people on hand and thus we came home with a lot of stuffing. Oh well...better to have too much. There was no drama or super exciting events that occurred during the family gathering. One year a relative stepped away from the table, went upstairs to his room and pulled out a gun and shot a squirrel who had been running along the fence in his back yard. I don't think I need to say that no one will ever go to their house for holidays ever again. Jason said to me "could you imagine your dad's reaction to that? Heck he'd drop to the floor, grab the side arm that is in his walker and take aim against the host." (Sorry Dad, but I think you would have been an unfortunate guest at that party, everyone else was shocked and pissed, but I think you would have been ready to take the host out.) We were at Eric's that year dodging uncomfortable conversation with his mom's strange "doctor" friend.
So, with the enjoyable and firearm free holiday behind us we headed home. Jason had to work Friday, but had planned to go in early. Actually, he had planned to go to Target for Black Friday door busters, and had set his alarm for 4:45. We had a rough night with Lucy up multiple times and then when we finally got her back to sleep the power went off. No biggie right? Well, we have to manage the computers and the battery power back ups (which aren't designed to keep you up and running during a power outage, but to keep your systems from a hard surge shutdown).
With the house eerily quiet it was hard to go back to sleep but I eventually did. I did hear the power pop back on and heard Jason get out of bed to manage something. As the selfish wife I am, I dropped back to sleep and woke at 7:30 when Lucy started to stir. 7:30!? Unheard of. Anyway, Jason was long gone and I was sad that I hadn't heard him come back to bed or get up to leave. Later I learned that he was so "untired" after all the power stuff that he opted to simply stay up. He reset all the clocks and computers. Then he got dressed and went to Target and Best Buy. He was at work by 6am.
Lucy and I spent a quiet morning together then we packed up and took Jason's car for an oil change. I know, we should have been shopping and spending lots of money, but alas a 30 minute side trip to Old Navy was all I could muster.
With the house eerily quiet it was hard to go back to sleep but I eventually did. I did hear the power pop back on and heard Jason get out of bed to manage something. As the selfish wife I am, I dropped back to sleep and woke at 7:30 when Lucy started to stir. 7:30!? Unheard of. Anyway, Jason was long gone and I was sad that I hadn't heard him come back to bed or get up to leave. Later I learned that he was so "untired" after all the power stuff that he opted to simply stay up. He reset all the clocks and computers. Then he got dressed and went to Target and Best Buy. He was at work by 6am.
Lucy and I spent a quiet morning together then we packed up and took Jason's car for an oil change. I know, we should have been shopping and spending lots of money, but alas a 30 minute side trip to Old Navy was all I could muster.
Because of Jason's early arrival at work he was also freed early and we started our "long" weekend at 2. Yeah!
Saturday we were at Costco when they opened and picked up some much needed items as well as some things that 'should' be for Christmas but simply aren't. Jason found this amazing activity cube with lots of doors to open, levers to pull and balls on wires to grab and play with. We opened it and Lucy was instantly in love. Heck, we put up the shiny Christmas tree and all the lovely ornaments and she could care less. She has the activity cube! She stands at it for long periods of time and then when she either gets bored or her little lets start to give out, we sit her down and she plays with the sides of the cube. It's a huge hit. (and no batteries needed.)
Saturday we were at Costco when they opened and picked up some much needed items as well as some things that 'should' be for Christmas but simply aren't. Jason found this amazing activity cube with lots of doors to open, levers to pull and balls on wires to grab and play with. We opened it and Lucy was instantly in love. Heck, we put up the shiny Christmas tree and all the lovely ornaments and she could care less. She has the activity cube! She stands at it for long periods of time and then when she either gets bored or her little lets start to give out, we sit her down and she plays with the sides of the cube. It's a huge hit. (and no batteries needed.)
Our tree is up, and because we're not hosting Christmas this year we did tone it down on the decor. My beautiful upstairs silver and red tree is still tucked safely in its box. Maybe next year, or the year after that. My pretty tree will live again!
We tried to watch a movie - Horrible Bosses and it was an aptly named movie, but the "Bosses" was not necessary Heck we simply turned it off and went to bed.
Sunday was a quiet day with some shopping and cooking. We've been enjoying two new cookbooks and have been making at least 1 recipe a week from one or the other. Last night I made a chicken, rice, carrot and edemame dish that was pretty scrumptious. I'm becoming a convert to dark meat vs. white meat - especially for cooking. I still want my fried chicken to be the breast piece, but when making a dish like a casserole the dark meat holds up better. (Gosh, I can't believe I"m blogging about white meat vs. dark meat.)
We tried to watch a movie - Horrible Bosses and it was an aptly named movie, but the "Bosses" was not necessary Heck we simply turned it off and went to bed.
Sunday was a quiet day with some shopping and cooking. We've been enjoying two new cookbooks and have been making at least 1 recipe a week from one or the other. Last night I made a chicken, rice, carrot and edemame dish that was pretty scrumptious. I'm becoming a convert to dark meat vs. white meat - especially for cooking. I still want my fried chicken to be the breast piece, but when making a dish like a casserole the dark meat holds up better. (Gosh, I can't believe I"m blogging about white meat vs. dark meat.)
So, that was our exciting weekend. I know you're totally jealous.
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