my nephew is ...
* four weeks old!
* 6 lbs 9 oz!
* doing just great!
* stinking adorable!
* home!!
go wyatt!! you rock!!
(by the way ... uh, becca? that nose is totally dad's. the mouth might be, too. just thought you should know.)
pix of the week so soon? well, yeah. since i was late last week, they're sort of running into each other this week. whoops.
it's freaking cold here today, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue. it's lovely, but deceivingly so. harper is painting, i'm heading to the showers, then there's an ikea errand to be run. marc's in a plane to california and warmer weather, and i have a feeling henry will be whining about having to play catch-up on some homework tonight because he's slacked on his reading log this week.
just another normal thursday.
which means, also, time for pix:
we got some good numbers this week. now we just need to visit the bank and see what *they* think. and then i need to get over my crisis on conscience. maybe i'll post my neurotic pro/con list and you can hold my hand as i work through it.
why does he always look like we're in HIS space?
henry and his buddy, drawing comic books. they've gone entrepreneurial on us, and are going to start selling their books at recess for $.50 a pop. more power to them.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Elizabeth Warren | ||||
| ||||
sure, jon stewart is satirical. sure, he's contextual. sure, he's a comedian. he also lets experts do the talking.
right now, every member of senate needs to listen to elizabeth warren. they need to put aside petty partisanship, and put aside their promises to lobbyists, and they need to seriously consider what their votes will do to our economy and our country.
wall street's money canNOT dictate what happens to this country. obama needs to put on his tough guy tighty whiteys and be the president and tell these guys that they canNOT let the gordon geckos of the world make the decisions. greed is NOT good; it's screwed over millions of people for the benefit of a few.
it ISN"T about socialism. it's about giving the people their money back. titans of business who can essentially ruin the lives of thousands of families in one selfish swipe should NOT be given multimillion dollar bonuses for doing so.
let some of our money trickle back down to us, asshats. you had your day in the sun. now it's time to be a little decent and let main street have its money back. people have very simple dreams, and the wall street ceos are making those dreams impossible. and congress and the senate are allowing it every time a wall street ceo lobbies them.
i'm only four days late with this, but even so i have a good excuse:
my geek took apart our file server, then it wouldn't come back up. so he had to find the bug and kill it. but he got sidetracked by "call of duty" on xbox live. several times. so i'm just now able to access my photos again.
have i mentioned i'm not thrilled with the xbox live thing? i haven't? hmm.
so, here's last week:
i should really take down xmas stuff.
remember miss evie? look how big she is now! and yet she still has the hair!!
my brilliant artist girl drew a still life of Cat on Window Seat With Kalanchoe. Including Window and View of Neighboring Trees. brilliant.
finally hauled the tree to the curb, before february comes and the trash men stop picking up trees.
and that's that.
we had an insanely busy weekend, the vikings lost after a good game, and it's back to normal: snow, ice, marc's gone, plumber came and went, and i've had my coffee.
more later.
first, and certainly foremost:
matt. becca. wyatt. in their kitchen. THEIR KITCHEN!! ie little man is HOME!!!
one day shy of the three-week mark. what a blessing and miracle. he's a strong little guy, and i can't wait to hold him!!!
secondly ... my day.
remember the issues we had with our bathroom remodel? namely, this, this, and this? well, last week i noticed some leaking around the seal of the toilet. not a lot, but more that there should have been. by saturday, it had seeped out a good six inches from the seal. saturday, we called the Contractor From Hell to see if he would come fix it for free, since it was his issue. well, he wasn't home. monday, i called our favorite handywoman, celest (seriously ... if you live in the twin cities: call her!! she's the best!). she said yup and arrived today at 10:30 on. the. dot.
after first expressing her confusion as to why the toilet was sealed with PUTTY (not sealed to the floor, as is code), she then took the toilet off the bolts to discover that it has never actually rested on the wax ring in the past, oh, year. so that brought up some warning flags to her. in checking further, she discovered that one entire bolt - the thing that anchors a toilet to the pipe and thus the floor - was NOT CONNECTED. TO ANYTHING. it had rotted away years ago (no fault of CFH, she pointed out), but CFH actually was aware of the problem enough to, drum roll, putty the thing in place and walk away.
really.
so half of our toilet was just sorta resting on the assumption that bolt #2 would do the job for them both.
bigger annoyance? not something she's qualified to fix, as in, it's gonna need the big plumbing guns.
good grief.
first, the cat. then, my car. now, plumbing.
don't you hate it when you try to do everything right, save up that magical 20% for a down payment, then everything the universe can surprise you with pops up and makes you think you'll never, ever move and will be doomed to spend 160 minutes a day - bare minimum - in a car, schlepping kids, and never ever get a life of your own again?
hate it. i'm so mad right now. just when everything seemed to be going RIGHT with the move/build idea ... this. savings = even farther away.
so, to whip myself even more with this wet noodle of despair, i started flipping through my online folder of kitchen inspiration photos. i can't remember where they all came from so i can't give credit, but as i looked - and as you will soon see - i have a definite "style." no mystery what my future plans for a mythical kitchen will be, eh?
enjoy the eye candy.
... all on a smaller scale, and with stainless counter tops, not marble. warm balanced with cool. farmhouse balanced with industrial. clean balanced with splashes of color. what fun that would be.
a girl can dream, i guess. then, wait for the plumber.
oh, how we've had the sickies here this week! harper was vomitous all day monday, after marc had been ill most of last week. then henry got it on tuesday, just in time for marc to skip town. knocking on wood, it hasn't hit me. yet.
here's week two of the photo-a-day thing:
i bought new glasses at target. thank you, target ... they're just what i wanted!!
mario hangs out in the bathroom cupboard. whatever.
me and my girl on the day i officially stop being honest about my age.
mom buys barbie ornaments for me and becca every year for xmas. it's a long story. this year, however, we got two: one from this year, and one from ... no, that isn't a typo on the box ... 1995. '95, people. i was still in college. becca was 11. holy cow is mom a good present hider.
i used to lament the fact that no one sends real holiday cards anymore. then i realized how much i love to see faces i adore up on my wall. it actually feels *more* personal than just some card.
i made fake muffins for breakfast. oh, and the turquoise bowl? yet another "thank you, target" purchase.
mario, chillin' on harper's halloween wig. harper, chillin' with mario.
and while i'm at it, who needs a wyatt update??
little man is doing great! there are still some ups and downs with him keeping his oxygen saturation levels steady, but he's off the oxygen, out of the special bed, no longer hooked up to a million things, becca and matt can pick him up and hold him and dress him and bathe him, and the latest milestone is that he's taking a bottle! the doc says as soon as wyatt goes 36 hours feeding solely from bottles, he can go home!! HUGE news!! becca and matt are hoping and praying that this weekend will be the time they can finally all be home and start life as a new family. we'll all keep our fingers crossed for them! becca's photo updates and blog updates are linked here.
one of my goals in '10 is to keep up with the 365 project again. i loved doing it in '08, i let it fizzle somewhere around february in '09, and this year i'm committed to being faithful every single ding dong day. there is a project in my head, and by golly i'll do it this year.
however, one of the big deterrents the other times was having to take a pic and post a pic every day. that's just too much pressure. this year i WILL take a photo every day, but i'll post once a week. and if i don't put it in a full-on post, i'll at least add it to the album over there --->
being the seventh day of january, the new year officially turning one week old, here is the first of 52 weekly daily pic shares:
my little tech heads, occupying themselves with "professor layton and the diabolical box" (henry) and "pokemon pearl" (harper), while we pack to head home.
the driveway full of 2' of snow and ice that greeted us when we returned home, thanks to the neighbor not shoveling us out like he said he would.
once we found a lifesaver with a bobcat to clear the drive, we were amazed and awed by the size of our new decorative piles.
the kalanchoe is in full bloom, with one sassy little orange blossom making her presence known.
week one: success.
we never would have guessed that we would have all three while in indiana.
there is a much longer story than i'm going to go into here, but there's a cliff's notes version with all the photos in the holiday album. the most important part of the story, though, is this:
we went to indiana for christmas. we started with my family. we had a lovely holiday.
the day after christmas, i went to my sister becca's house to take some belly pix. because she was 33 weeks pregnant and oh so cute and round. i knew i'd see her again at the end of january, but it would be too quick of a visit - just long enough to give her a shower - and pix might not happen. so we took them on december 26th.
then we left for marc's family's home in indianapolis for christmas with them. we had a lovely holiday.
then, on december 29th, becca's father-in-law passed away.
on december 30th, becca was in the hospital with contractions and cramping.
on december 31st, becca underwent an emergency c-section.
and on new year's eve, little wyatt j. became the last baby born at that hospital in 2009. seven weeks early. 5 lbs 8.2 oz. perfect, but early.
on new year's day, at 12:00 on the nose, we got distressing news about wyatt's lungs.
later that day, we got better news.
the next day, more bad news.
later that day, better news.
as of now, he's doing better. getting stronger and healing. becca's home and healing. matt's healing. all of our emotions are healing. the little guy came earlier than anticipated, but as long as he grows and gets to go home soon, earlier is okay.
it wasn't the holiday any of us planned, though most of it was quite nice and peaceful, but we were truly reminded that it isn't gifts or trees or traditions that make the holiday special. it's family. and blessings. and for that, it was a wonderful holiday.