Okay, now that Hannah has just turned 10 months (yesterday), I thought I'd do some updates to my previous posting about "Things I've Learned about being a Mom" (or whatever that title was.)
For those of you that don't know, Hannah started crawling a couple weeks ago while her girlfriend, Kayla, was over. It was almost as if she'd known how all along, and then she finally decided "Well, if Kayla's going to do it, I can too!" Since then, we've discovered that out of necessity, we have to vacuum/sweep/mop MUCH more often because otherwise Hannah will be eating all sorts of edible & non-edible snacks throughout the day. Last night I remarked to Keith that I don't even want to think how dusty & gross our carpet & linoleum was at our apartment, since Hannah wasn't crawling there and, well, let's face it...weeks go by without doing it! :) Oh well, new house, new rules.
So that's my thought on the crawling business.
Also interesting is how the level of stress & busy-ness in regards to parenting is all relative. A busy day for me consists of a trip to the gym in the morning, an appointment in the mid-afternoon, and maybe having someone over for dinner or coffee. Then my friend Molly came over with her three boys, with whom she stays home 3 out of 5 days a week. After a rousing visit of puzzles, cookies, screaming kids, and a couple tantrums thrown in here & there, I asked her what her daily schedule is like. She kind of laughed and said "This." :) After they left, both Hannah & I seemed fairly relaxed--and I was thinking twice about having any other kids (just kidding...that kind of thought is always fleeting!) :)
Lastly, I noticed something yesterday that I've heard of moms doing, and never really thought about me doing it until then. In the late afternoon, after Hannah had taken a fairly short nap, I decided that we would go to the mall for a while to kill some time before dinner. Keith wasn't going to be home until later, as he had night class, and Hannah was a little cranky, so I figured it was either that or start to really resent not being in a lecture for 4 hours. ;) I felt better as soon as we got to the mall, not just because we were able to get out of the house, but also because there were people to observe, kids for Hannah to watch, and--this is the kicker--all sorts of adults that I might talk to! Seriously, the whole time we were there, I was making eye contact & conversation with anyone who happened to look my way (which was easy, since I had a baby with me, and everyone wants to talk to babies!) I spent about 15 minutes in a candy store discussing what to buy with the clerk, and I went over & interrupted an old neighbor simply to say "Hi." What is with me? Oh, that's right, it's the old "I've-been-talking-to-my-baby-daughter-for-the-last-few-hours-and-am-craving-some-adult-conversation." Like I said, I've heard of it happening, but it hadn't hit me until yesterday. What's even weirder is that I had had two other adult encounters earlier in the day, so it's almost as if I was on a roll and needed to continue that pattern. Hey, at least I've found an outlet--talking to anyone who glances our way, whether they want to or not!
Anyway, this is a really long post suddenly, so I think that's all I'm going to write. Let me know if any of you have had this experience! Ooopps, there's an adult at the door--gotta run!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Our Open House
We had a great time at our open house yesterday! It was so fun having people over to OUR PLACE and knowing that we had the room to have 30+ guests at once! :) It was really great to see a bunch of our dear friends & family, and fun to show off the house--especially the pantry; definitely the highlight of every guest's tour. ;) I felt like we had a nice spread of snacks & goodies, and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. I was really excited that we received a number of plants--some things to add to our yard--yeah!
Incidentally, I have to say that as much as I have hated weeding in the past, I have a secret...it wasn't SO bad when I was doing it in our flower beds. :)
Anyway, we had a wonderful time yesterday and I also discovered (or maybe rediscovered) how much I enjoy having big groups over. Of course, it's always a relief when the party is over because then you can have the peace & quiet, but then I always start thinking a little bit about the next time to have a get together!
Well, that's all for now. Time to kick back & enjoy my morning coffee--along with a leftover goodie from yesterday! :)
Incidentally, I have to say that as much as I have hated weeding in the past, I have a secret...it wasn't SO bad when I was doing it in our flower beds. :)
Anyway, we had a wonderful time yesterday and I also discovered (or maybe rediscovered) how much I enjoy having big groups over. Of course, it's always a relief when the party is over because then you can have the peace & quiet, but then I always start thinking a little bit about the next time to have a get together!
Well, that's all for now. Time to kick back & enjoy my morning coffee--along with a leftover goodie from yesterday! :)
Saturday, April 5, 2008
How it feels to have a piano in my possesion again...
Taking Senia's advice, I decided to start this post with this sentence. I figured it was time to give my faithful readers (all 3 of them) a new post.
First of all, I absolutely love having the piano here. I've found myself itching to play it, which is ironic since most of the years I was taking lessons, I had to force myself (or my mom had to force me) to play--or at least to practice. I think I've always enjoyed playing the "fun stuff" (performance repertoire, classical, Broadway, etc) but it was hard to tackle the technique practice & the theory. Again, now I'd sort of like to audit a theory class because I've lost some of the ability to immediately notice chord progression, key signatures, etc. (This probably sounds like mumbo-jumbo to some of you, but that's okay.)
Anyway, the piano arrived just a couple weeks ago, when Keith's parents came for Easter. It was pretty momentous, especially since Patrick drove the piano here in his small Mazda truck all the way from Washtucna. I was a little worried that the piano might end up here in pieces, but he had tied it down & it was safe the whole way. :) When they got it to the house, Keith & the guys had decided to move it in through the back door (across the yard & deck, since there were only 2 stairs), but once Patrick got stuck in the mud (it was of course raining), they realized they had to take it up our front steps (about 5 of them.) Fortunately for them, I was in Hannah's room this whole time, otherwise I probably would've been out there trying to direct something I knew nothing about. :) This piano is very heavy (I've heard) and it took 4 guys to heft it up. (It probably could've used 6 guys, but we were short on people.) Our kind neighbor, who we've already enlisted a couple of times, helped the guys. All I heard from upstairs was a lot of loud bangs & bumps, some laughter & a few grunts & groans. When I got downstairs, the piano was there and even in a playable key! :) Now that it's been sitting there for a few weeks, it still sounds pretty good. Although I don't have perfect pitch or anything, I feel like it's actually in pretty good tune for being moved 200 miles & lifted up stairs.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to have it. At some point I'd like to have it finished, as it's pretty scratched up (what do you get for having it in a household of 6+ kids for 25 years?), but for now, I'm really enjoying just playing it & remembering why I was so intent on starting lessons 20 years ago--whoa, that's a long time! :)
First of all, I absolutely love having the piano here. I've found myself itching to play it, which is ironic since most of the years I was taking lessons, I had to force myself (or my mom had to force me) to play--or at least to practice. I think I've always enjoyed playing the "fun stuff" (performance repertoire, classical, Broadway, etc) but it was hard to tackle the technique practice & the theory. Again, now I'd sort of like to audit a theory class because I've lost some of the ability to immediately notice chord progression, key signatures, etc. (This probably sounds like mumbo-jumbo to some of you, but that's okay.)
Anyway, the piano arrived just a couple weeks ago, when Keith's parents came for Easter. It was pretty momentous, especially since Patrick drove the piano here in his small Mazda truck all the way from Washtucna. I was a little worried that the piano might end up here in pieces, but he had tied it down & it was safe the whole way. :) When they got it to the house, Keith & the guys had decided to move it in through the back door (across the yard & deck, since there were only 2 stairs), but once Patrick got stuck in the mud (it was of course raining), they realized they had to take it up our front steps (about 5 of them.) Fortunately for them, I was in Hannah's room this whole time, otherwise I probably would've been out there trying to direct something I knew nothing about. :) This piano is very heavy (I've heard) and it took 4 guys to heft it up. (It probably could've used 6 guys, but we were short on people.) Our kind neighbor, who we've already enlisted a couple of times, helped the guys. All I heard from upstairs was a lot of loud bangs & bumps, some laughter & a few grunts & groans. When I got downstairs, the piano was there and even in a playable key! :) Now that it's been sitting there for a few weeks, it still sounds pretty good. Although I don't have perfect pitch or anything, I feel like it's actually in pretty good tune for being moved 200 miles & lifted up stairs.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to have it. At some point I'd like to have it finished, as it's pretty scratched up (what do you get for having it in a household of 6+ kids for 25 years?), but for now, I'm really enjoying just playing it & remembering why I was so intent on starting lessons 20 years ago--whoa, that's a long time! :)
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