Conversations I'll miss when Eli goes to third shift.

2:30 a.m. Eli crawls back into bed after giving Eliot a bottle.

"Do you hear that noise?"

"What, the humming?"

"Oh, good. I thought I was going crazy."

"Sounds like something outside."

"Go investigate!"

And since I've been lying there not sleeping anyway, I get up and wander out to the front porch, trying to spot the origin of the humming noise.

Back in bed.

"Did you find it?"

"Inconclusive. The porch is very cold. Mumford is asleep on the couch. That's my full report."

"Hunh. You'll need to type that up and submit it to either me or Mumford in the morning."

"I guess I'll submit it to Mumford, since you'll be at work."

"That's not good."

"Why not?"

"Because Mumford's much tougher than I am."

"So you're saying I better mind my p's and q's?"

"More like your kibbles and vittles."

"Hunh."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Quick recap.

There is much going on in the Heicher household these days. Let's see...in good news,
last night I went to a performance of The Vagina Monologues with Elecia. It was the third time I've seen it and I loved it once more. Very inspiring. If they do it again next year, I really want to be in the cast. I could so totally do that.

I made Valentines today for a few very select beloved family members. Only a few, because it was very difficult to get Eliot's (and Eli's, for that matter) cooperation with the stamping. Those boys just don't appreciate handicrafts like they should.

And, Eli bought me an electric blanket to keep me warm on the nights he'll be working third shift. I'm under it right now, and so toasty! :-)

On the other hand...
Eli will soon be going to third shift. (Yeah, I said that already, but it bears repeating in the bad news category.)

Eliot and I are STILL battling colds.

Our washing machine broke yesterday.

Today I found out I have Hashimoto's disease, which basically means that my immune system thinks my thyroid is the enemy. It also means I'll probably be getting my blood drawn every month or so from here to eternity. (Ew, punctuated by deep, shoulder-shaking shutter)

Hmmm...just thinking I should have done bad news first, because it's rather depressing to end on that note...

So, to lighten the mood, here's my favorite YouTube video of all time. It makes me indescribably happy to watch this. It also makes me want to teach Eliot to speak in a British accent and stick his fingers in people's mouths. Oh, wait. He already does that last part.

One crucial vowel.

Apparently, food is supposed to go IN the baby, not ON the baby. That's IN, not ON.
We've been doing it all wrong.

Some days you get the barn, and some days the barn gets you.

When I arrived to pick Eliot up at daycare on Monday, one of the other kids came running up to me blabbering faster than I could decipher, pulling on my pantsleg, and from what I could tell, the main thrust of the story was "ELIOT IS CRYING BECAUSE A BARN FELL ON HIS HEAD!" Once I disentangled myself from the kid ambush and reached Eliot, I could see that he was indeed sitting on the floor with tears and snot streaming down his face, furiously sucking on someone else's pacifier. (That part isn't as bad as it sounds. I'd been distracted trying to leave that morning because Eli drove off with Eliot's carseat in his truck and I had to dig out and use the old pumpkin seat from the nook above the stairs. In all of the commotion, we left the house without our nuk and had to borrow an extra one from our daycare lady.) Eliot looked up at me with his big blue eyes and an expression on his sad little face that said, "Momma, A BARN FELL ON MY HEAD."
So daycare lady explains, that, yes, Eliot was lying in the floor playing and pulled the Little People barn down on top of himself by accident.

My first reaction was an overwhelming urge to grab the barn, yank open the door, and do a wind-up and fling it across the road old-school Karil-style, but while screaming, "You'll never hit my baby in the head again, Little People barn motherfucker!!!" But I thought that might not be a good example for the kids, so I restrained myself.

Eliot was alright. After we got home and he had time to calm down, I could see that the bump on his head was very small (the rest of the redness was just from the crying). And then today it wasn't even noticeable unless you knew just where to look for it.

So I guess I won't have to sneak over in the dark of night and stomp the barn to smithereens.

But if it ever comes upon me in a dark alley, it sure enough better run the other way. That cute little mooing door won't be enough to save it from my momma wrath.

Sick day.

I've been down with the world's most evil cold for the last few days. It started on Friday but got so bad last night, I just laid in bed shaking with fever. I could feel every contour of my body under the covers, the same way when you get a chill you can feel every hair on your head standing up. Ick. It was terrible. After I finally got to sleep, I woke up a few hours later drenched in sweat. Double ick. So today I've been lying around napping and watching hours of Mythbusters. Eli went out and bought me various cold medicines, fruit popsicles, and The Princess Bride on DVD. Apparently to make up for the fact that when I groaned, "I think I'm gonna croak," last night, his response was "I wish you would." And then he refused to sleep in bed with me and took to the couch instead because I was "getting germs everywhere."
He has been nice today about taking care of Eliot so that I can rest, though, and I guess we're going to watch some Super Bowl commercials and then The Princess Bride.
It's storming outside--lightning and thunder, the whole bit. So weird for February. Anybody still not believe in global climate change??? Triple ick.

Just another Friday at the office.

Oh, go on and shut your channel already.

One of my favorite scrapbooking blogs has posted on it today a quote from Martha Graham that I found particularly inspiring:

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time this expression is unique and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it! It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

So often I end up quitting on something because it isn't THE BEST, it isn't PERFECT. I like this idea that not only should I give myself permission to create and express myself, but in some way I actually have an obligation to do so. Seriously. It's for the benefit of THE WORLD. Then again, I often come across "expressions" of others whose business needs to be to shut their channel already. Shut it! Just shut it!

Anywho...just something I'm thinking about today.