I put pressure on Sunday nights. I intend that they be lovely, and they seldom disappoint. Yesterday saw lots of family lounging. Lately, that means LEGOS. Which is great; the girls love to play with daddy and all are happily occupied. Historically, Sundays are often friend game nights, but our good game buddies recently moved and we're in game limbo, besides still being a bit of social recluses due to the Marian health/isolation drama. I did beat Nathan in Scrabble with a surprise slim margin move at the end, but neither of us was quite in the mood for more (Carcassone--Hunters and Gatherers edition because it's beautiful--and Upwords are our favorites right now).
Anyway, I can't play legos well because of the crouching on the floor difficulties that come with being 8 months pregnant. My book,
American Childhood by Annie Dillard (which really has some
brilliant moments, I don't mean to discount it), wasn't holding my attention. I finished yet one more wee crochet project and my hand was too numb to start another (technique not yet ergonomic).
Finally, I cornered Nathan in the kitchen, where he was serving himself yet another bit of ice cream (currently prefers to eat it in a wee juice glass, which necessitates many returns to the freezer), with this declaration:
I think there is only one thing that will satisfy me this afternoon. A bit of handsewing.And it worked for at least an hour.
(one of the bottlecap pincushions I've seen all over, but one nice & exhaustive tutorial can be found here. The bottlecap makes the tiny size feasible: the plastic--here permitted as a craft material because recycled :)--stops the pins from going right through)
In the interest of keeping loved ones abreast even though I kind of avoid the phone, I bring you a report on Marian's emergency trip to Philly about a week ago: everything's fine. A left-over rash and a dull couple of days. Her first virus post-transplant brought a fever, and all fevers must be initially treated as serious infections, so we found a sleepover for Audrey and hurried along to the local hospital for IV antibiotics. Once checked in, we were in their power, so had to take the ambulance to Philly. I should have taken more photos, but was unsure that I was excited about our first ride in the bus. Remarkably, both Marian and I (very pregnant and seatbelted to a 1 1/2' wide bench) slept all the way, though reports are that we bounced around a lot. Small blessings.
Why we were never really that worried: Marian in the ER.
Anyone who has even barely commented on my pregnancy knows that I'm not that excited. Yesterday I realized the core reason why: I still have my baby. Maybe I need to let her grow up. But, look! She's still my baby girl--witness the cheeks! (sleeping in this morning):
and can you see how her hair has grown in the two weeks between photos? Long enough to get messy now :)
