Baby Makes

Picton yarn shoppe. Untried territory, distractions from homesickness GALORE.

I’m leaving tomorrow to stage manage a gig in Picton at the Festival Players of Prince Edward County.

Don’t be confused by the emotion expressed in the title; I really am excited to go but I’m really sad to be leaving my boys. With all the change they’ve encountered in the last few months, Arras and I decided it would be best for them to stay in their familiar environment with their usual caregiver Jovana looking after them in the days, rather than come to Picton and start a new daycare, only to start another new one in the fall. So we’ll miss each other greatly, but this is better for the boys.

We rehearse Sunday through Friday with a Saturday day off which means I’ll be back on Friday night, but the next few days are going to be very interesting. We’re rehearsing in a barn for the first two weeks, and then I don’t know where for our last week. But we open to HOARDS of adoring theatre patrons on August 4th in a tent with no tech. Curtain is at 6:30pm so we’ll perform our musical lit by the sunset in Prince Edward County, much like Arras performed The Outdoor Donnellys back in Blyth.

Click here for more information on my show; and keep checking in on these boys because Arras will be taking over the blog while I’m away.

Cameron and Dada have a super favourite game you might have seen back here, and a while ago, when playing this game, they stuck the blue football up a tree. I wasn’t bothered at the time, that kind of thing happens, and hey, we wreck stuff, but then I started being able to see it from my seat at the dinner table. I started to feel for the football, up there so soon after being brought outside for the summer season, and so one night after the boys went to sleep, Arras I decided to set the ball free. Expecting this activity to be as accident-prone, injury-prompting, and laughter fit-inducing as these fiascos always are, I brought the camera. Alas, Arras has brilliant aim – had it be me trying to get it down, I’d be in hospital writing this post, but Arras nailed it in two shots, and posed for the victory shot.

I went to Montreal last night, straight after work, as it was my next to last chance to see Ronnie Burkett’s latest show Billy Twinkle: Requiem For a Golden Boy. I have been sick for the last two weeks and was very concerned that I would cough through the show (the reason why I couldn’t attend when it was in Ottawa), but I managed with the supplies I had (thank you, Shanna) and my excellently timed medication schedule. After the show we were privileged to have an on-deck tour and saw the marionettes up close – the detail is awe-inspiring – and after the tour we went for drinks with some old pals we hadn’t seen in years.

Mtl won the game that will set them up for the next…whatever, in hockey, so the energy was hopping, and Mtl is always the best city to be in, anytime; we had good, good company all night, full of laughs and jokes, and connections and comforts.

I thought of my husband and my sons the whole time.

I had been reluctant to go – my health has been getting me down, but my man encouraged me to go, saying it would be so great for me to have some time with my girls, time I don’t have enough of in Ottawa. My boss said I would have such a great time, that the show was very good (it was) and that it was a good opportunity to spend time with peeps I rarely see. And they were both right. But I find as my family gets bigger and my time gets stretched thinner, and my health…oh my health, the ongoing equation of constant possible solutions…gets weaker, maybe my best option was to stay home…miss the show, sure, but stay home with my fam.

I don’t regret my choice – I love every opportunity I have to go to Montreal, the city where I discovered so much about so much. And the opportunities are so rare these days. But more than the event itself, I love what the time away gave me; a perspective that being in the daily grind makes you lose. I LOVE my family. I LOVE my husband. I LOVE my babies.

I had breakfast in Mtl with my oldest friend and her daughters, and I loved it. I was met at the train station by my boss and was so touched by that. Then, my end of day arrived, and I saw my white van round the corner.  As I walked towards the vehicle my gorgeous husband smiled at me, and I saw him talk to the kids, and as I sat down in the passenger seat I looked back to see Cameron blowing me kisses and Jackson, now facing front, smiling bigger than big, teething red cheeks and all.

I’m in no rush to leave town again.

In a great way, that is. I woke up this morning and BNH is most certainly sitting lower in the old birth bag. Arras could see the difference in how I’m carrying, and I feel more comfortable than I have in weeks. Finally a sign! Other than the rehearsal contraction I had three nights ago…

Yeah right. But the great thing is, my one day left is also my first day on maternity leave. I am now a lady of leisure, on the days when Cam is at Tammy’s, and until BNH arrives, I plan to waddle, sit down, watch my stories, knit, and take naps. Tomorrow I am having coffee with Yaya, writing to the girls, and maybe taking Cam to the doc to look at his toe which may be infected.

I already did a two hour nap today!

I’m not ready. I still haven’t adjusted to the change in due date…not that it’s written in stone; Butternut will have the last word on that one-but 26 days is LAUGHABLE. I have a replacement administrator to coach, several days of training to attend myself, a hospital bag to pack, baby clothes to launder, sort, and put…somewhere. The crap of it is that my hours have been increased to 30 hours per week, and by the time I get home, I can’t do much for the fatigue and discomfort. 26 days. As if!

Arras has come down with the sore throat now and is presently at the clinic getting swabbed for strep. I am at home relying on home remedies so I can avoid being a preggers woman on antibiotics. Cameron is in bed after a full day with no fever dosing and pretty good spirits until a melt-down at dinner occurred. His snot rash is doing better but he still looks a bit like he’s been through something the last few days, but at least tonight in his bath he actually played with toys. Last time I bathed him, in the midst of all the illness, he just sat there looking damp. Nero is forever wishing for more love, more food, more exercise. Poor sucker, it’s all going to get worse for him when Butternut comes out. And the wee bairn seems to be making his interest in the outer world known – he kicks so hard I swear something’s going to pop, and sometimes when I walk I feel like he’s falling out. This is new to me – Cam stayed way up high until they cut him out. Butternut is the bowling ball in my nether-regions they describe in preggers books.

I waddle. I waddle a lot when I walk. It’s really embarrassing.

1. The baby gate came down off the stairs and I’m too big to get down on the floor to fix it.

2. Nero wouldn’t go out to pee at bedtime last night and therefore had me up at 5am this morning (Friday).

3. Even though I put windshield washer in the van BY MYSELF and didn’t spill a drop, I prefer it when you do that – my belly keeps me two feet away from the van. Plus it’s warmer on the inside.

4. Cam did a HUGE poo at Tammy’s. If you were here, you could have picked him up, and smelled the after-change odour in the kitchen.

5. There’s laundry in the washer that needs to go in the dryer. I’d do it but I’m far too lazy because I worked 6 hours straight today and missed lunch.

6. A bill came. I can’t open the envelope…too tired.

7. There’s no one here to tease me about my favourite show to hate: Ghost Whisperer.

8. To block the stairs from Cameron-access, I had to put the box of dog food on its end and up one stair. It wasn’t pretty. And now I have to squeeze past it to go up or down.

9. The twins miss you. They haven’t said as much but I know they feel it.

10. I swore I would eat gluten and drink the Guinness when you were away but the fun isn’t in it now. I’ve been a loyal and true pregnant celiac.

11. Your side of the bed isn’t as good if I can have it without a fight.

12. If you come home you can see what NEW ice cream is in the freezer.

13. If you were here I wouldn’t groan when the first notes of Vampire Weekend came on for the fiftieth time in one day.

14. We could go out for breakfast tomorrow – my treat! But then I have to go shopping with Yaya and Annechovie.

15. If you were here I would make you a hot cocoa – the lovely organic kind Bea brought us.

16. There’s no one here to ask me if I have house keys even though I ALWAYS have house keys.

17. Even if I had all my best friends from all my long life in the living room with me talking and gabbing and laughing, I’d still miss you.

18. It’s really quiet here. I don’t even talk to myself.

19. The first night you were gone I was nervous and even locked the doors. Also I even left the porch light on until bedtime because Nero kept looking for you and I thought it was my stalker coming to the door with a gun.

20. There’s no one to watch do his finger-bandaging routine.

21. Chips and dip don’t even interest me. But I managed to eat all the chocolate.

22. I bought Oka cheese today for a treat and if you were here you could refuse having a taste based on its smell. I would have bought oysters too if I had found them.

23. The girls are playing outside in the backyard in the dark; if you were here we could talk about that. When do they go to bed?

24. The house feels colder. I have no one’s lap to put my feet on when I’m watching TV.

25. Remember all that stuff I said I’d do between Cam’s bedtime and 9pm? Yeah right. But if you come home, you could do it.

26 BONUS REASON. I just love you and miss you a bit more than I thought.

It’s 11:52am, I’m done my work at the office and starting holidays early!!! Happy holidays everyone, from all of us here at Babymakes. I’m outta here. xoxo