Oh Crazy Day!

You know you've had a crazy day when your mom tells you she can't wait to read the post you write about your day.

Monday, a few months back, was just plain insane.

It started out like any other "normal" day. Not too normal, not too exciting. We were just getting stuff done. I went to work, Isaac stayed with his "Duck" (Josh's dad). I was having an Usborne book party that evening at my house. I knew I'd probably be running around like crazy after picking up Isaac after work and going home to prepare, but really, I hadn't a clue.

I got a call about mid-morning from my landlady, letting me know that since I hadn't been home when our handy dandy repair man had arrived with our new refrigerator, that he had placed our new fridge in the dining room and left the old one in place in the kitchen. This lovely man really had good intentions, he doesn't like to handle other people's food. You know, hygiene and germ safety issues. This extra fridge in our home may not have been a big deal if we had a dining room bigger than say, a guest bathroom. But we don't, and I expected a good 10-12 guests that night. I was able to laugh it off at that point. Oh well, Josh could help me with this when we both got home from work around 5.

I got the call from Josh after lunch. He would be late. Of course he would.

On my way home from work, I began to call in my troops. Mom, my sister, my neighbor, another friend... I was confident this was going to happen.

My mental list written on my return home:

-dishes
-trash
-feed Isaac dinner
-switch refrigerators
-clean up any mess left behind
-bring in extra table from outside
-prepare food and drinks and place on said table
-pick up any toys left laying around

I had from 5:10 pm to 7 pm. I believed in myself.

We had taken our "butcher block" table outside for cleaning and airing a few days prior to Monday. The base was sitting by our grill, the top leaning up against the wall. Or it had been before I'd left for work. I realized as soon as I looked around for it that it had a little too near the trash. The trash man, assuming it was just junk, had grabbed it this morning after I'd left. Of course he had.

I came inside to feed Isaac. He was eating a good dinner, no complaints. I happened to be on the phone with his pediatrician, which I never am, and turned to see him red-faced and choking silently. Terrified, I grabbed him and swiped out his throat. The baby Heimlich took care of the breathing hazard while I tried to sound like a non-crazy, competent mother on the phone with our pediatrician. I heard myself saying "he hasn't choked in months, I don't know what happened, he has like 25 teeth! It was just a kidney bean, he's eaten like 1200 of those!" God bless Dr. Hansen, he just acted like he talked on the phone with choking baby's mothers all day. I found myself shaking for at least the next hour.

After the terrifying dinner, I found Isaac playing with his xylophone, pretending it was a vacuum, of course, and half of his diaper contents all over his legs. I had known this would happen. I'd even told him, "please just tell me when you plan on pooping all over yourself tonight so I can get it before the floor does." At least I'd been prepared?

Unbeknownst to me, Josh was digging around in our dumpster looking for the missing table top. After a 12 hour day, he came stomping up the stairs with the rouge piece of metal to help usher out the old refrigerator. Adrienne, Josh and I started a line from the old to the new, passing down food. That was accomplished soon enough, and as I'd already moved magnets, pictures and all other refrigerator coverings, all we had left was to kick the old fridge out the back door. Except now it was 15 minutes before my party was to start and the fridge was too wide to go through the door. Mhmm.

I mentally removed myself from the refrigerator and it's nemesis and focused on the rusty crusty goop that had been hiding under our icebox. I assume it had been building up since about 1973. After much thought and the entrance of about 3 of my guests, I chose to leave this disgusting mess for the next person to get a new fridge in this apartment and clean up the rust stains streaking my kitchen floor.

Miraculously, Josh and my construction-worker sister got the piece-of-junk down the stairs and out the back door.

My party boat had barely been rocked and the rest of the night was spent reading fun childrens books and drinking red wine with several girlfriends. A good close to an interesting day.

Weary Soul

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel

2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust

3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet

Heart Smiles

I decided to give my post a really cheesy title. This is because, as syrupy as it is, it's what happens when I see these pictures of my grub man. Every few weeks I think, now THIS is my favorite age. I love all the new words, how excited he gets when he sees a new book on his shelf (and how many times we have to read it in a row), his ever whitening dance skills (as soon as I can stop laughing long enough to take a video of this I'll get one up here), how much he loves airplanes ... I could go on.

Here are a few moments from the last month or so. Sadly, I have not been blessed with any special photography skills. Please try and look past that :-)

Here are my TWO GRUBBY MEN. I love them. They both work so hard, one sweats it out in a fab shop, honing his fabrication skills, ie: welding for 10+ hours a day, the other works hard at play. Isaac found Daddy's shirt about an hour before Josh got home one day. He was hugging and snuggling with it (Josh had worn it the day before) and I put it on him as a joke. When I tried to take it off, Isaac started crying. I left him to run around in his t-shirt gown till Daddy got home. Once he did, Isaac had a ball pulling things out of Josh's pockets while he took a floor snooze.

While I was enjoying a break at the beach, Josh and Isaac had some male bonding time which included running around in diapers outside. (I'm almost certain Josh ran around outside, fully clothed. There are not any pictures for evidence. Suspicious, but we'll never know.)

Something slightly tragic occurred yesterday. We left Joe, Isaac's stuffed hedgehog and best friend, at a family members house. I don't know how Joe did last night, but Isaac did remarkably well. Normally, he converses with Joe for an hour or two before finally falling asleep in his crib at night. Last night, I hoped Osita ("little bear" in Spanish), who has always been just an acquaintance, would suffice. Everyone slept just fine. This morning, he woke up asking for Joe, but with a little of my subject-changing skills, Isaac spent the morning playing with "Tita."

Tita about to go for a ride on Beep Beep.

"You need to sit on your bo-uuum!"

"Let's go!"

Hugs for Tita!

If you made it this far, I hope you are smiling. Now I'm off to get ready for lunch at Advance Memphis and then dinner and a show (Les Mis!!) tonight with my husband for an early birthday celebration!!!