It's the Final Countdown

Baby #3 is expected to arrive in our household in T-8 weeks.

You'd think after having Baby #1 and Baby #2, Baby #3 would just be a piece of cake. But Baby #3 is causing more upheaval than either of its predecessors.

After deciding that this whole Baby #3 was a good idea, I sat down to do some actual math. And realized it makes no practical sense for me to continue working at my job. And no financial sense for me to work at all for at least 4-6 months. Part of this has to do with the timing of Baby #3's arrival (in late April, just before summer vacation - and full-time daycare for three kids is astronomical). Part of this has to do with the basic logistics of having a 7-year-old, 5-year-old and infant. Doctor's appointments. After school activities. Sick days, snow days, and pick-your-son-up-he's-biting-and-hitting days. Someone has to be on call to deal with the regular emergencies that having children entails. Since I'm the lower wage-earner in our two-income household... that someone has become me.

Some days, I think this will be a blessing. Other days, I'm not sure I'll survive. This week is a perfect example. Yesterday, I got a call from daycare. Did I notice that E has a rash? Can I come pick him up and get a doctor to check him out, because it looks like impetigo?

No - I can't come pick him up. I have two interviews scheduled for the afternoon for candidates to replace me at work. But I don't really have a choice, do I? I delay as long as possible so that I can chat with candidate #1, then leave to take E to the doctor. And of course it's impetigo, which means 24 hours before he can return to civilization. Clearly, not working would make this easier on everyone.

It looked like pimples. Or chicken pox.

Today I'm home with E. He's learning the letter M this week at school. I have no idea how to introduce enriching activities to children.  We watch some Sesame Street on the letter M. How the h-e-double hockey sticks am I going to provide him with enriching activities this summer? What if I'm home with #3 when it's a toddler?? My kids have learned letters, numbers, about animals, how to use scissors, etc. - all at daycare.  

I don't even know how to write an M. Do you do the sides first?

Then there's the issue of fulfilling activities for ME. Staying at home means my house will be cleaner, right? (we hope...) I abhor cleaning. You clean a dish, it gets dirty again. You vacuum, and two seconds later there are crumbs and cat hair everywhere. Least rewarding activity ever. And it never ends. Cooking and baking? My husband tells me not to bother, takeout is better. I love working outside the home - I accomplish tasks! Cross things off a to-do list! File applications, write press releases, send emails... I'm a competent individual! I solve problems! ... at home, I just see Christmas decorations that haven't been put away yet, piled up in the corner. A bathroom covered in soap and toothpaste. It's a disaster zone and all I want to do is play Candy Crush Saga. I have serious doubts about preserving my sanity in the months to come.

But it's too late to go back. With T-8 weeks, it's the Final Countdown. Baby #3 is about to turn my world upside down, and I have no idea what is going to happen to us.

Will this be done in time for Christmas?

Two hours tonight to figure out how to increase. Half a toe complete.

Baby, it's cold outside

Zero, in fact.

Three things about winter in my house:
-wood
-drafts
-oil

The thing about wood is, it shrinks in the winter. This mostly causes small changes that aren't irritating but which give you pause. Such as:

-the floor in my kitchen is covered with vinyl. Vinyl does not shrink. So, every winter, the floor shrinks under the vinyl and my kitchen floor has air lumps.
-Also, the wood frames on the windows shrink and make awful noises like ice cracking.

Now, drafts. The kitchen is full of drafts. It is insulated solely by the cabinets. So when you open a cabinet, you are greeted with a blast of cold air. Icy air seeps out from under the corner cabinet and the oven, and freezes your feet. And the door is like a sieve. I have resorted to shoving coats in front of the worst drafts.

Finally, oil. The house is heated by oil. I love the oil company. They have been awesome. But oil is just so.damn.expensive. So the heat is usually 65 or less. Unless we have company. I like having company!

I was reminded today of a problem we do NOT have in this house (knock on wood): frozen pipes.

The project begins

This weekend, our project begins. We were going to finish the upstairs. Then we were going to finish 2/3 of the upstairs. Now, we are going to finish a room upstairs. In the back. In its current footprint.

So... mostly this is just insulating, at this point. Insulating and drywall.
Let's see how terribly wrong this can go.

What IS that?

Last night, I was sitting on the couch, and I was curled up, and I felt this sticky thing on the seat of my pants. It was really stuck, it wouldn't come off, no matter how much I picked at it.

So I finally gave up, and just went to bed.

Tonight, I am sitting on the couch, and I curl up to read some blogs, and I feel SEVERAL sticky things on the seat of my pants. But this time they haven't become fuzz encrusted yet, and I can see... they are little bits of candy cane.

I need to clean the couch.

Say what?

My daughter just stomped out of time out. When I explained she needed to go back to time out and that it's rude to stomp, she claimed she "just wanted to play marching band."

...to further this story, as I am writing this, she just flat-footed it out of the room. Which sounds like stomping.

I dread the day she enters puberty.

The boy child, meanwhile, has turned into Peter Pan. He chases his shadow around the house and he just informed me that the shadow was "bad."

Fuses and buttons

It took me 20 minutes, but I replaced the fuses in the string of Christmas lights we had that stopped working halfway through the season. I plugged them in and they are good as ... wait.

One light is flickering. One green light.

So I gave up on them for the night.

I need to be a success and sew buttons back on my coat. If I have two posts about this, does it make it a recurring blog theme? Or is it just sad that it's been three years and I have the same coat, still missing buttons?