my computer was broken for a while. i didn’t know what the problem was, but i knew it was unusable. couldn’t use the trackpad, couldn’t use the keypad without the errant cursor jumping all over the page, highlighting and deleting at random what i had written. frustrating, to say the least. turns out i had a bulging battery. that sounds ugly, doesn’t it? bulge? not a pretty word. anyhow, apple replaced my battery for free, once i figured out that that was the cause of my issues, so now i can write again. wahoo. not much going on in my world these days. just enjoying the waning days of summer, spending time with the kiddos and friends, enjoying the glorious weather.
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we were gathered tonight at my brother’s house, celebrating my sister-in-law’s mid-to-late-thirtiesomethingish birthday, and i mused that 10 years ago we would have had shot glasses on the bar; today, it’s sippy cups. party preparations used to include bacon and eggs for the stragglers guaranteed to waking up on the floor the next morning. back then, parties were still going strong at 2 am, most often in the form of a dance party in the kitchen ending with one than one gentleman removing his top in an enthusiastic, albeit drunken, imitation of some sort of chippendale. now we’re all home with kids by 8 or 9 pm. it’s a different life for sure, this life with kids, but it’s a good life.
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speaking of la familia. my kiddos are awesome. my girl just turned three last weekend, but today, watching her trail around following a gaggle of five-year olds, i would have sworn she was going on 13. so independent and poised and yearning to be part of their circle. at once it made me simultaneously proud that she was so confident and self-assured, but also heartbroken that my baby is so not a baby anymore as she slyly and urgently motioned for me to “just go away, MOM!” as in, “sheesh, you’re embarrassing me, mother. i’m trying to play with the big girls and you’re going to remind them that i’m just a kid. now shoo!” she starts preschool, three mornings a week, in september. she is so ready. she is excited, and so eager to learn. i am also so ready, mostly for the few hours of relative silence when she’s in class, but also so NOT ready for her to grow up.
the boy child. oh, my peach. we moved him to his crib this week, out of mama’s co-sleeping embrace, and he has done really well. it was not the difficult transition we experienced when Avery was an infant. he is sleeping pretty well, and we’re starting to see some semblance of a schedule emerge with him. it really does feel like he’s still brand new, like he just got here. but in reality, he’s almost 4 months old! what?! when did that happen? i was rubbing a finger along his gumline and thought i felt a roughish nub there….could he be getting a tooth already?! noooooo. he’s still my baaaaayyybeeeee! avery didn’t get her first tooth until 6 months, though my mother-in-law reports that my husband cut his first at or just before 4 months…so it wouldn’t be that out of the realm of possibility.
we also have another new baby in the family; our niece Claire was born on August 8 (just three months after my Crosby was born) and she is just a tiny little bundle of lovely. i love that my kiddos have two cousins, who are close to them in age, who live nearby. my cousins lived on the other side of the country when i was growing up so i never really got a chance to know them. it makes me so happy that my kiddos will grow up knowing, and will likely go to the same school as their cousins
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0ur garden is going strong. i am just about zucchini’d out. the tomatoes are now ripening faster than we can pick them, and we pick them at a pretty quick clip. we’re first timers, you see, and we were a bit enthusiastic in our planting, anticipating a good 50% failure rate, given my history of black thumbs. but guess what? it’s pretty much all gone gangbusters. our eleven tomato plants? yes, you read that correctly. eleven. yep, they are ALL prolific producers. we’ve got tomato overload. the four zucchini/yellow zucchini/summer squash plants? yep. like giant monster plants on steroids. the peppers, eh. the herbs, eh. the cucumbers, eh. the lettuces…were awesome at the beginning of the summer. we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and we’ve learned a lot about what to do differently next year.
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signs of the impending change of seasons have begun to make their presence known, but i will go down kicking and screaming. summer sunshine is really my lifeblood. it fortifies me, makes me feel happy, energized, whole. winter is damn depressing. fall is winter’s evil sidekick, reminding me everyday that snow and frigid temps are just around the corner. i saw a V of geese flying overhead the other day, practicing for their long journey, no doubt. no! no! no! i screamed in my head, urging them to turn around as if their failure to migrate might ward off the cold weather i know will be upon us soon.
perilous domesticity 