Stress, a Leaky Roof, and the Gnat Frat Party at Our House,

I've made it a point over the years that I have been cataloging our daily (ok, so lately more like monthly) lives to not speak overmuch about work. Partly because how many of you REALLY care about my work life, and partly in an effort not get dooced. Im breaking my silence because right now our stresses over my work ARE our life, mostly. My company (name withheld to protect the innocent, namely, ME) creates a product that has recently sort of been made obsolete by new guidelines distributed by an industry group (not official, legal, etc, just a group of industry leaders trying to lead the industry). In discussions with various folks it has been revealed that there may be lay offs (sorry to be so vague folks, see above re: doocing). This morning that "maybe" became a "trying to avoid" which says to me "imminent". I have no idea if I would be one of those laid off (although there really are only 3 of us who are potentials), what if any kind of severance package I would receive, etc., but the fact that we live off of my income is making me quite quite worried about the whole thing. Please pray for us?

In other news, we came home from running errands in a downpour last night and found that the downpour was in the kitchen, too. Apparently one of the branches that fell during the wind storms over the last couple of months has gouged a hole in the shingles and/or leaf buildup has wedged them. We can't tell until it stops raining enough for Hubband to get up on the roof without worrying about sliding off in the mud. For the moment, there is a bucket in the attic that is collecting drips and a section of drywall in the kitchen ceiling that needs to be replaced.

Further kitchen news that just made my day... apparently there was a gnat frat party last night. They seem to have gotten drunk on the red wine in my red wine vinegar (who knows HOW they got in the bottle) and then drowned in the vinegar while they were unconcious. So far, the gnat police haven't charged me with anything (willful distribution of red wine vinegar to buggy minors?)--I'll keep you posted.

And now, the queen of the 40 minute nap has struck again and I need to go and get her majesty out of jail. Farewell.

Retrospective Tuesday

This last week we had an opportunity, thanks to Krissa (who got free tickets for us) and Stacy and Brian (who babysat for us) to go on our 2nd post-baby, baby-free outing. Krissa's radio station had some extra comp seats to the opening night of Avenue Q at the Orpheum here in Memphis and the 3 of us went. It was a blast! I wasn't sure what to expect, as my only exposure to the show had been through an Ace of Cakes episode where Duff and the gang made a replica of the stage in cake. I was pleasantly surprised not just at the show for entertainment quality, but of the number of messages that were presented and concepts put "out there" to get the audience thinking. We laughed pretty darn hard during the show, but I think we laughed even harder in the car on the way home. Krissa felt pretty good about the fact that she got me laughing so hard I snorted, and Hubband was on a rare roll of teasing me with full support from the peanut gallery.

And then there were TWO....

Teeth, that is. What did you THINK I meant?

Our girl was really grumpy this morning, and her left bottom tooth has popped through so I wasn't sure what the attitude was for until she hollered at me while I was changing her diaper and I noticed that instead of ONE white peak, there were TWO. Above photo was snapped when we were trying to convince her that food was not what was causing her mouth to hurt. You can see both little "toofs" front and center! Go on, look hard. I promise that's what they are....I've been bitten by them in many different places!

We have TOOTH!

That same tooth that we all saw looming under her gums around 4 months ago has finally made its appearance! Well, mostly. She chomped on my finger this am and nearly cut me... Still not terribly easy to SEE the little sucker, but you sure can feel that sharp edge! Photographic evidence to follow as soon as possible. I must run now, she's crawled into a corner and gotten herself stuck...


UPDATE

Here is that photographic evidence... at least, as much evidence as she will allow. The bottom middle tooth on the left is the one that is in, you can see it there just peeking out between her tongue and gums.

Ella's 7th Month

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The Vocabulary of a New Parent

In the midst of an email exchange with my lovely mother-in-law I realized that the vocabulary of a new parent does not necessarily include new words and phrases, but that the MEANING of those words and phrases changes drastically.

For example:
sleeping in

• To a nonparent, this implies continous sleep from the time one enters bed until a time to be determined solely by the body and brain as they figure out they are rested and/or hungry the following day.
• To a new parent, this is any time past 5 am that the baby allows you to sleep, regardless of how many times you have woken up already in the night; the secondary definition also includes the opportunity to go back to bed at any time before 9 am and obtain at least 1 hour of sleep.

cleaning house

• To a nonparent this is the simple task of dusting, vacuuming, and picking up ones abode
• To the new parent this is a herculean task that requires teamwork and several consecutive days, at least if both are working. In our case, we pick up 2x a week, vacuum and dust on Friday, alternate the cleaning of bathrooms, etc. and the house is never entirely CLEAN AND NEAT from top to bottom on a single day. We manage to stave of the onslaught of dirt and destruction, but I'd hate for a white glove inspection...
  

going out

• To a nonparent this implies a date or otherwise interesting outing away from home and the rigors of one's job for a purely entertaining reason.
• To a new parent this is any time that one actually exits the premises of the house. For example, yesterday I went out and bought diapers. It was exciting. Today? I shall "go out" and get the mail.
  

tired

• To a nonparent this is when you feel mildly sleepy and/or have overdone things a little at work and play
• To a new parent the former is a standard state of being and "tired" actually implies something akin to sleepwalking where "tired" reaches out and slaps you in the face repeatedly merely to keep you from walking into walls.
  

wet

• To a nonparent this is when it has rained outside, or one has freshly exited the shower or pool
• To a new parent this is a state of being that travels from the baby's own person (diaper/drool/spit) to oneself (pee, drool, spitup)

I'm sure others will occur to me shortly, but I am tired as I was unable to sleep in this morning, El is wet, and we really should clean the house before going out....

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