Is it really any surprise to anybody that I haven't been the most prolific blogger these days? As you can probably imagine, I've been kept pretty busy trying to figure out how to mother my new babe, do a minimal amount of work for WHM, and maintain healthy relationships with my darling husband and wonderful dog. This means that I have no time to keep up with the baby book or my mother's log or this journal...I also have no time to cook, do laundry, or the dishes. On a more positive note, TNT runs fabulous reruns of ER and Judging Amy every weekday which means I'm not getting sucked into the soaps. But enough venting, here's what's been happening in November...
November is birthday month. Meredith, Danny, and Dad should reference the above paragraph on why they didn't get more than a phone call from me this year. Hopefully next year, I will be more on top of things. I did have a great time on my own birthday. We went to Cirque du Soleil with Mom, Danny, Joanna, Dad, Diana, and Meredith and Michael O'Reilly. After much vacillating, I finally decided it would be best to leave Magda with Hanka for the evening. Since I don't yet pump, Hanka offered to wetnurse her for me. Everything turned out very well and I think everybody had a good time, including Hanka. And since I'll probably be curious next year, I'll mention my birthday gifts: caller id, bon bons, and a lady bug broach from Stepan, the Brian Wilson Smile cd from Danny, cash from Dad/Diana, Bosse iPod docking station from Mom, red snack plates from Brian and Joy, and matching red kitchen goodies from Elizabeth/Dale/etc. All in all, a very good birthday year.
Mom spent another week with us this month. While she was here, I was able to do about 10 hours worth of work for WHM. She did our laundry and cooked for us -- it was wonderful having her here! Luckily, she was here for our bookgoup meeting which was hosted by Elizabeth. She didn't get a chance to read the book, but I think she enjoyed getting to listen to our conversation and I know she enjoyed seeing Kayleigh. She certainly enjoys her grandma time. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of her in Austin now.
At the end of Mom's stay, we got to enjoy another Madrigal dinner at UT...though the evening was nearly a disaster thanks to a screw up by the Texas Box Office. Also, since I'm still far from my pre-Magda figure and the fact that my wench bodice is not conducive to breast feeding, I was unable to dress up this year. Mom tried on my costume, but it didn't quite fit her - I had never realized that my rib cage was so much smaller than Mom's - I wonder if it still will be once I loose these last 20 pounds from the pregnancy. I wasn't able to follow the storyline very well, but I've never really been able to anyway. The food was excellent - especially since we weren't expecting to get fed - and the singing (the real reason I go) was phenomenal. I'm looking forward to going next year - hopefully I'll fit back into my wench costume and we'll get a costume for Magda as well.
The week after mom left, my work hours fell from 10 to about 4, but it was a short week with the Thanksgiving holiday. These last 4 days with Stepan around has given me ideas and hope that I can get solid blocks of time to get some work in during the week. We'll just have to wait and see how next week goes.
Of course a November post wouldn't be complete without a mention of Thanksgiving. Since we found out first hand how difficult travel with a newborn is during my birthday, we decided no to go anywhere for this holiday. We were blessed with a visit from my Dad, Diana, Duke (their dog), and Danny as well as getting to sit for the O'Reilly dogs. Our house was full and our dinner was fabulous. I managed to make it to Central Market on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to pick up all the fixings. Stepan brined the turkey and did a fantastic job roasting it for us. I even managed to contribute by making the stuffing and helping with the mashed potatoes and green beans. Stepan made homemade dinner rolls which were fantastic (he needs to make them more often!) and Diana made homemade apple and lemon merangue pies. Afterward, Dad and Diana did all the dishes. We all had a wonderful time!
The rest of this weekend has been very lazy. We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday and spent a couple of hours at the Victorian Christmas on 6th Street. Today, we took Homer and Magda on a long walk through Walnut Creek Park. Afterwards, we ran a couple of errands which included running around to get a wreath and candles for my annual advent wreath (today is the first Sunday of Advent, by the way).
That's about it for November. Hopefully, I'll be back to write more before Christmas!
Posted by jfer at November 28, 2004 8:59 PM