Monday, February 8, 2010

The Broken Blackberry That Wasn't

Our weekend was lovely, but odd- at least for me. I couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing but I couldn't think of what it might be. My blackberry was silent, which I enjoyed on Friday and Saturday, but by Sunday I was hitting buttons and sending test emails to make sure it was still working. Isn't that sad -- one Sunday without a flood of work emails and I think the whole blackberry network is down. This is what being too busy for too long will do to you.

Because it was absolutely delightful to play with Landon, take a trip to Ikea (where I fell in love with a bright pink hippo which has now been adopted into our family. I intended it to be for the baby's room, but Landon asked if he could be the hippo's "friend" until the baby arrived- he seriously looked worried about the hippo being alone in the nursery and she slept in his dump trunk at the foot of his bed last night), host a mini Super Bowl party, and do a bunch of other productive things (like organize all our old pictures into labeled photo boxes, and let me tell you, it feels so good not to have stacks of photos in random envelopes on random shelves of the study anymore) without trying to figure out when and how I was going to do that 5-hour work assignment in time to send it around for comments by Sunday night.

But I also felt a little adrift- by the end of the Super Bowl, after we'd cleaned everything up and I'd eaten my 4th frosted fudge brownie, I didn't know what to do with myself. I'd done all the baby research I wanted to do and have spent or earmarked what we're going to spend, so the internet held no allure. I was done with my organization projects and had finished my taxes. I think I need a new book series. Or a hobby, but that seems a little hasty since I'll probably be busy again soon.

I previously promised a picture with my 22-week baby bump and here is one from Sunday:



It's actually a terrible picture to highlight my belly, since you can barely see it, but the one I took from the side did such weird things to my neck that I just couldn't publish it. I'll work on another. The real reason I wanted to post this picture for posterity is because Landon actually asked to take it. He wanted to show his Papa and Gigi his "handsome shirt" and "fancy pants" as he called them that morning before church. Ever since Christmas when I told him his sweater vest made him look so handsome, any shirt with a collar is a "handsome shirt" not just a shirt. Cracks me up.

And this picture below- this is one of my favorites ever. We had a friend and her 3-year-old son over to watch the game. The two boys are good buddies (they play in the church nursery together every Sunday) and they squealed and giggled as they chased each other in circles around our house for about 2 hours. At half-time JP suggested a game of "hide and seek." He closed his eyes and counted to 10 while Landon and friend ran directly into the playroom and threw their hands over their eyes. Can you find him?



They did this through 3 more rounds of the game, running to different parts of the house and freezing with their hands over their eyes. My friend and I were laughing so hard we were nearly crying. Toddlers are so much fun.

11 comments:

  1. A ways back some comments on your blog turned me on to the Sara Donati series (Into the Wilderness, etc.)Her final book in the series just came out, The Endless Forest, so if you are looking for a book to occupy your current, and likely brief, downtime that might be one to try.

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  2. Hi Anon - I'm glad you've been reading the Wilderness series! I actually read the Endless Forest in two sleepless nights after I got it in the mail from Amazon. I really enjoyed it, though I was sad to see the series end. A few of the tidbits in the epilogue about broke my heart. I had mentioned the book in my original draft of this post, as well as a few others I've read recently, but then decided it was long enough already and deleted it.

    I also recently read one of Diana Gabaldon's Lord John books. I don't know if you've read the Outlander series, but the Lord John books made her 7th book in that series make WAY more sense, so I'd highly recommend reading those in addition to Outlander if you haven't.

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  3. Is it really 22 weeks already?

    I did my taxes this weekend too... I couldn't believe how much we owed! First time ever that we didn't get a refund.

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  4. It is! Although to me that doesn't feel nearly far enough along... I'm pretty sure I've been pregnant forever. Proof that pregnancy goes by so much faster when it's not yours.

    We actually still got a little refund, mostly because of deducting our extremely high property taxes and some sort of credit for JP's tuition and status as a grad student. I think this will be our last year though, we've already phased out of some of the deductions and once he's working, we'll phase out of even more. It's a good problem to have of course, but it's still a little sad to see a smaller amount in green in that top right turbo tax refund box.

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  5. I recently re-discovered Steinbeck. I love love love "East of Eden." It's worth a read, or a re-read if you haven't read it in a while. :)

    By the way, how is it possible that Landon keeps getting cuter? ...and the hippo. What a little sweetheart.

    SO glad you're enjoying this time without so much work, even if there is a certian comfort in getting back in the routine of busy-ness! (I just took this weekend off for my b-day, and by Sunday, I was actually looking forward to getting up for school today!)

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  6. His Handsome shirt! that is too good! I love toddler logic- "if I can't see them, they can't see me!"- ha ha ha! you look great at 22 weeks!

    I just bought a new romance book as incentive to study hard and I shouldn't have done that because it's had the opposite effect- I want to just lounge around and read now!

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  7. OK, LL, I'm officially jealous. I'm about 5 weeks behind you and I believe my bump is bigger. Not a good sign of things to come... You, on the other hand, look great - just like you always do with an cute bump!!!

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  8. LT, it's an optical illusion created by my very favorite maternity shirt. I swear Gap could charge a fortune for it. I have a belly- a big noticeable one, as soon as I turn to the side. I think it's at least half cookies and brownies, but at least the desserts are having the decency to congregate near the baby in the belly region.

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  9. I was just going to say ,it's a gorgeous top. You better post a different side picture or we're not going to believe there's really a baby in there!

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  10. LL, is the shirt still on the Gap website. If so, link please? I could definitely use a miracle shirt!

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  11. Sadly LT, no. I bought it at the big store on Michigan Ave. when I was in Chicago. I didn't realize it's magic powers until I got home and I immediately went online with the intent to order a few more colors only to find it wasn't on their website at all. Very sad because it's a great top.

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