Shhhh She is asleep!

Today, the motto is RELAX. And by relax, of course I mean do laundry, prep fruit, feed the baby, and wash and lanolize 15 wool diaper covers. Then attend a breastfeeding mother's meeting.

Ah. Relaxation. I am SO GLAD that weekend is over. It was. Pure hell. I mean, there were good parts. But it was way way way too much going on. I have gotten most of the pictures up from Ardyn's first ride on a carousel, and her first taste of Strawberry Daiquiri Shaved Ice. I also uploaded the reunion pictures. Yesterday was "cleaning people Monday" so that meant that on top of everything else to get done for the silly crazy weekend.... I also had to have everything picked up.

Saturday night after the deadly lack of sleep/yard sale/family reunion combo, I was very very very not feeling well. Stomach. Ick. Tired. Ick. all of us weren't feeling well, and we all agree that it was something we ate at the reunion. I went to bed at 8:30 with Ardyn and finally started feeling better at 10:30, when I got up, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for supper, and watched my evening addiction of Nick and Nite (George Lopez, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Home Improvement.) I slept for a very long time that night and felt more like myself on Sunday. We were all pretty run down, as Evan had a band gig that night and didn't get home till late. We just stayed around home, laid low, picked things up.

Yesterday I evacuated with Ardyn for the afternoon while the house was made spic and span and sweet smelling. We went to my mom's and then we all went to get groceries. On the way there we decided to stop at the cleaners to pick up my winter peacoat and then at the resale shop next door I got lots of 18 months size jeans for this fall/winter (Childrens Place, Old Navy, Gap, and Gymboree) and got a fisher price vacuum cleaner for just under $2 (to the attic with you! until she can clean the house!) and my mom got some good toys too, including a Fisher Price "Store" that looks like a kitchen-set type thing, with shelves for food, a scale for produce, and a cash register.... all for $4. Yeah. Good deals. She also got a potty chair/step stool and a push behind toy and some interlocking blocks with a matching lidded tote. It was a good trip. As we crammed all these good finds into the van, I discovered a nearly FLAT tire, and we drove to the dealership in the town with 30 minutes until they closed and discovered that when I went to the bank drive-up that day to deposit yard sale money (my bank is getting a new roof) I picked up a nice shiny nail in my tire. So. We waited to get that fixed. Then on to Aldi's and Wal-Mart to get groceries.

Monday night I stayed out at moms later than I should, came home at 10:45, ready to crash, only to discover that the SHEETS were still in the washing machine and the mattress pad needed to be washed along with the blanket for our bed. Did I forget to mention Ardyn gulping down her morning helping of boob-juice, settling in for a nice nap right along side of me, and then 4 minutes later puking up all the milk she just drank with the most startled look on her face, soaking both of us, and the entire bed, AND then smiling and laughing as the two of us had to step into the shower to hose down? Good fun. So Evan found me at 3am, asleep on top of an unmade bed, in my underwear, wrapped in our comforter, with the light on. Yeah. I tried to stay awake, I really did. But I just couldn't do it anymore. I even ate an ice cream bar for good measure. AND did a foot fixer. AND ate a bowl of honey nut cheerios. Nothing. Still fell asleep.

So it is BEAUTIFUL today. And I am staying away from it. We went outside for a little bit. And then we retreated in. For lunch. And I let Ardyn feed herself with the spoon. It was very successful. She fed herself her entire bowl of Butternut Squash. I would load up her spoon, she would grab it from my hand, suck it clean, and hand it back. And repeat. She was thrilled.

We have considered going outside to lay out on the blanket. Might just still do that. And read. because this day is all about lazy and recuperating. Because the weekend. Really sucked.

Still Kicking

I am still alive. I have been so busy! This week at work I have been literally shut in my office with the door closed, the phone forwarded, and concentrating on finishing up our HUGE webpage. Finally. 2 years and many many obstacles and opinions, it is finished. Of course it is an ongoing project and there are things that need to be added once we can gather the information, but overall FINISHED! There are 99 individual webpages (htm/html) and then a "work-specific" directory of between 140-300 more pages. And I made ALL of it. Myself. Me.

Do you wonder why I haven't had time to write? When I get home at night, I just want to do stuff at home and wear my pajamas and listen to Christmas music. I try to block out work but all night long (even in my dreams) I think of things that I want to do with the webpage, ideas to try, information to gather, people to check with. My brain hardly shuts off. But I have been doing some reading on inducing the relaxation response using body scans, breathing techniques, and meditation. I was surprised to know that a body scan and the breathing excercises are some of my favorite parts of my Yoga DVD's. I have enjoyed body scans and not even known what they were. I am reading books by Dr. Domar on using your mind to heal your body. Quite Interesting. I don't care if you think I AM a granola munching hippie, I do enjoy the subject quite a bit. I need to look into her tapes. I find it difficult doing body scans to my own voice, because if I am going to listen to my mind, it's harder to shut it off. If I listen to someone else, like Rodney Yee (he he) then I turn my mind off and just do as he says. That works better for me. So I am thinking I might want one of the Mind Body Medical Institute's tapes, so that I can listen to someone else instruct me on body scans, and can shut off my own mind. Trying relaxation response exercises has been helpful in getting myself to sleep earlier- like 12 am (or 1 at the latest.)

Besides that I have stamped, embossed, colored, glittered, and sponged 24 christmas trees for the fronts of my Christmas cards. Tonight my mom will come over and I will work more on the cards. In the sense of irony, my dad gave me a catalog to order mom's Christmas presents, and my mom is coming over tonight to have me help her order dad's online. I feel like Mrs. Claus. But really, I am just happy being Mrs. Johnson.