My Buddy

Simon is at an age where he loves to help...with everything...to a fault, at times. As often as safely & feasibly possible, I let him. No one ever got hurt folding laundry, so I let him help me with that pretty much every time. Sometimes it ends up all over the floor, sometimes he hands me one thing at a time to fold, sometimes he attempts to fold it himself & add it to my pile of "done" stuff, and today he helped in a different way.

I did reach down & pretend to fold him up - his arms across his chest & everything - and he just smiled and let me "pose" him. Silly kid.

After a busy day and a nap, Simon was a snuggle puppy. He was very proud to be wearing his new "purple diaper underpants" which are like a cloth version of pull-ups. They're basically a step between regular diapers and the trainers good for later in the potty-training process (wet only). I LOVE moments like this when he's snuggly & happy & calm, because I can't get him to stay on my lap much these days...primarily b/c I don't have much of a lap, but also because he's usually so busy that it's hard to keep him in one place for more than a few seconds. But we had a good long happy snuggle today before dinner. Happy mommy moment for me. :)

Birthday Gathering

Our good friends, Rob & Tyler, have birthdays a day apart (but not the same year.) It was a "big" birthday for Rob this year, and I think Tyler forgot that maybe he wanted to do something for his own birthday too. So he cooked dinner and invited some friends over. A few had to leave before the cameras came out, but here are those of us who stayed for some post-dinner Apples To Apples.

Tyler & Rob

Me & Adam

Erik

Tyler being the Judge of our apples. And the beer bottles remind me - if you know these guys, ask them to sing you the "XX" (Dos Equis) song.

Friends

I am grateful for friends - even when they only come through my life for a short time. Here are a few recent ones I love & cherish:

Mikela

Cherie

Mikela & Cherie were good friends a few years ago when we were all studying herbal medicine together at the (now closed) New Mexico College of Natural Healing. We had about a year together, and most of the students scattered to do the next step in their journey. We happened to stay. Cherie & Mikela came through town briefly in late 2005 and stopped by our home the day after Simon was born. Then, just a week or two ago, I got an email saying that they were coming through again. We met up with them for about an hour at a little diner restaurant, ate some Mexican food, and hugged farewell again. I am so thankful for the strength & beauty of these women - and for the fact that we have been able to re-connect face-to-face every now & then, even for just an hour.

Erik

Erik came to town for three weeks for work. We met him late in his first week here, so we really only had 2 weeks together. But we clicked really well and very quickly, and spent the rest of his time here together as much as possible. We watched movies, went to see some live bluegrass, walked downtown, cooked & ordered take-out & ate out together, and chatted a lot. I love meeting new people & making new friends, and I especially love it when the friendship happens so quickly & smoothly that we feel as though we've known each other for much longer than we have. Adam & I both kept feeling disappointed that Erik didn't live here, but then realizing it wouldn't matter anyway since in another 2 months we'll be gone too. But boy are we glad the stars aligned so that Erik came through lovely little Silver City AFTER our house was on the market & relatively easy to keep clean & empty, and BEFORE we left town. I can't imagine what we'd all have been missing if we hadn't met and become fast friends. Gotta love this amazing, fabulous guy!

Gila Picnic

We're attempting to make the most of the few weeks we have left here in Silver City. One recent weekend, after our house was about as empty & spotless as it can be while we still live in it, we decided to take a day off & have a picnic & a walk in the Gila Wilderness. We drove just about 15 minutes and found a picnic area, spread out a few blankets, make-shifted sun protection as necessary (Adam forgot a hat, so he wore Simon's shirt) and enjoyed the spread. Then we went for as long a walk as (8-month-pregnant) I could handle. It was sunny & warm & beautiful - and boy, am I going to miss the smell of hot dust and juniper and the warm vanilla-syrupy smell of the Ponderosa Pines.

The Witching Hour

If you believe in angels & demons, then supposedly 3PM is the angels' time, and 3AM is that of the demons - also known as the witching hour.

I'm not sure what I think about that, but I know that it's almost 3AM and I feel a little haunted. Not by ghosts or demons, but by loneliness, sadness, helplessness, frustration.

It's hard to be just 5 weeks from my estimated due date for this second pregnancy and to so badly want to just hang out with my beloved 2-year old. I feel too sore & tired & heavy most of the time to do the things that Simon and I normally do, and I feel guilty for telling him "no" simply due to pregnancy-related things. I feel like a bit of a prisoner in my own home, and yet Simon (and I) get stir-crazy just sitting home every day. But when I go out and about with him, it physically exhausts me so quickly that I wonder if it isn't better to just stay home. Tomorrow is supposed to be park day, but the friends we usually hang out with aren't going to be there and the unpredictability of who might or might not also be there is making me feel like I don't know if I can handle going. And then I feel stuck & bored & sad at the idea of just staying home all day - and keeping Simon here.

Oh...the witching hour has me in it's grasp tonight. I feel so alone and frustrated...and yet I know that it could just as easily be hormonally-induced "witching."

Times like these are when I fantasize about living closer to family.

Bad Timing?

Our house is on the market. Whew!

I gotta tell you, even though it may be very obvious to everyone BUT me: if you're going to try to sell your house & move across the country, do NOT plan on moving 5 weeks after you are due to give birth to a baby. At least not if your spouse is working full time AND attempting to be a good full-time student for an online university. AND when you have a very busy 2-year-old.

I've got 65 boxes packed, labled, and stacked in the basement ready to go. The house is practically spotless, quite bare, and we're trying to live with very low impact so it stays that way. It's been on the market technically for about 9 days, but actually available for viewing only 3 days. We've already had two people show it to potential buyers, and today at least 14 realtors came through for the MLS tour.

I'm a little less than 7 weeks from my estimated due date to have baby #2 and have certainly tapered off in extra energy for things like packing & cleaning. Simon is quickly approaching 2 1/2 and is very talkative, busy, and periodically naughty.

I feel a (probably unjustified) sense of calm & quiet tonight b/c as far as we know, no one is coming through the house tomorrow. Although I may get a call tomorrow saying someone will be here in 15 minutes...ah, the glass house effect. Everything we do, everything we eat, everything we don't pick up in the privacy of our own home (even closets...even the bedroom...) will be noticed by a curious realtor or potential buyer. Yikes. And being late 3rd trimester all I want to do is hibernate & insulate myself from the world. Instead, the world comes through my house in droves. Every day.

Hopefully it will lead to a speedy offer & closing on the house though. If so - it's worth it! I have to say I'm very much looking forward to June. By then the baby will be born, my spouse will be done with his school semester and therefore NOT overly stressed & overly busy, and we'll be very close to done with the craziness. I'm looking forward to July too, but I'm currently a little sad about some of the people & things we'll be leaving when we move, so it's not unfettered joy I feel at the thought of July.