Sunday, April 05, 2009

Sunday again?

Well.

This spring is flying. Last week, three people asked me my due date and upon hearing May 31st, remarked something like-- well, that's not too much longer!

At which point my hands fly in the air and I say no, it has to be forever away. There's too much to do.

Despite my waving hands I'm nearly 32 weeks pregnant. Out of 40. And I've begun to slow down a lot; I sleep like I've been hit on the head and dropped into a well, I really, really dislike picking things up (a big disadvantage in my house), and when I push myself too hard, leg cramps, headaches, and contractions ensue.

So I'm trying to achieve some kind of balance between the gardening fiend-new house mania-toddler mama and the need to take care of the new bebe. There are daily naps. Vitamins. Healthy food. Lots of water.

All of which mean I can keep doing about 1/20th of K.'s workload...

The floors are nearly done.

That sentence doesn't reflect the several stages of sanding, wood puttying, painting with a roller AND a brush, and four-- mmhmm, FOUR, coats of polyurethane per room.

He's over there right now, in fact, poly-ing away.

What's really fun is to see K. stand on the front porch when cars go by. He waves at them all, and the man is a Vermonter-- not a sociable waver like most southerners. He points out he has to wave because everyone's cars are slowing to look at the house.

It's come a long way...

In other news, my father sent Annaliese a ginormous playhouse. The huge plastic kind with a slide and a little door and enough room inside for at least four little girls to play house. There's a stove with burners, a cabinet, a cordless phone on the wall...

K. assembled it in about an hour last week (because he's a genius, would have taken me the rest of my life) and it's a big hit. Especially the slide. She's got a system worked out and gets herself up the two levels, sits at the top, and slides down with a huge grin on her face.

I never would have bought one but it sure is nice to see her having such a good time.

Lastly, I think Annaliese has chicken pox.

This is less momentous than I remember: she's been vaccinated, and so if she does indeed have it, it's really, really mild. Like a scattering of red bumps that don't seem to itch on her trunk and a few big ones under her chin. But she's had a cough and runny nose and has been sleeping super-hard with a low-grade fever, all of which are symptoms. And a kid in her daycare came down with it week before last (incubation time? 12 days. Mmmhmm).

So I'm about 80% sure that's what's going on.

She's eating like a champ and happy as a little clam though, so I'm just making her miso and tea and letting her rest whenever she seems tired and giving her Motrin at night. (UPDATE: Maybe not? The bumps haven't changed and aren't like sores at all, more like a rash? I don't know-- why did I think mothers know?)

The weather's been fantastic, though I'm waiting to put my tomatoes in until this cold front passes through-- supposed to get to 30 degrees Mon and Tues nights, quite a change from the balmy 70s high and 50s low we've been enjoying. Spring and fall really are superb down here. The wisteria is blooming, wild purple clumps hanging from the trees all over the place. And azaleas and redbud and dogwood and all sorts of pretties.

So that's the news! Next Sunday's post will be the last from this house. The Sunday after I'll be waking up in my sunny white southern-facing bedroom, in the house we own free and clear* thanks to K's thriftiness and what we called my dowry.

(*Sort of. We are so frickin' broke right now. The only pictures I took this week were of stuff I'm selling on Ebay. And we totally opened one of those interest-free-for-six-months Home Depot cards to help us through the renovation/cash crunch time. If we pay a dime of interest come October, you all have permission to kick me in the ass... man I hate debt).

So Happy Sunday all! Sorry about the pictures... I'll do better next week.

2 comments:

D'nelle said...

so... since I have guilt that i'm all obsessed with Steph's pregnancy and haven't really paid much attention to yours...
can I send you anything from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's? Seriously, if you think of anything you'd like from there, please tell me so that I can send it and feel better about not being as supportive of you as I am being of her.
Really.

Angela Atkins said...

So by "broke" you mean "no longer have thousands in savings and do not owe huge mortgage and other loans?"

I love you both, but if so, seriously: kiss my ass.

We would love to help with Annaliese during the move--or Ace can help you move. He's good for brute force and a pickup truck.