What a Life!

Steve went back to work last Monday, and my mom left yesterday after being here for ten days. So we’re on our own again. In some ways, it’s nice to do things myself and not have to worry about telling someone else what needs to be done and how to do it. On the other hand, when I sat down to do bills yesterday, I managed to sort them and that was all the further I got (usually I’m able to sort them, reconcile my accounts, pay the bills, and file everything all in one sitting). I told Steve when he got home last night that he can’t complain about things not being done for a couple weeks while I get back up to speed.

Ben wasn’t himself really after mom left yesterday. She left right after lunch, and all afternoon he didn’t have much energy, wasn’t very interested in his toys, and even fell asleep on the floor. When Steve came home, he didn’t seem to care, and usually he gets really excited when Daddy comes home. Steve was only home for about a half hour – he went up to his alma mater to see a playoff football game with a couple of high school buddies. After Steve left, I was unable to entice Ben to eat even his favorite foods. I gave him a bath about a half hour earlier than normal. I was nursing Joey when all of a sudden Ben started crying and I went into the bathroom and it looked like he’d pooped in the bathwater. I got him out, cleaned him up and put his jammies on. I had promised to read him an extra story, but after a single story, he got down from the couch and trotted off to bed as is his usual custom. Shortly after that, when I went to clean out the tub, what I found was more like vomit than poop, so I’m thinking perhaps he had a tummy ache, either from his food not agreeing with him or from missing Grandma who had just left. This morning he’s more like his usual self, but at the moment, he is upstairs having a fit over a cheap little car that keeps falling apart. Gracious!

Today is Election Day, and yes, I have every intention of voting…with both boys in tow. I took Ben with me to vote in the primaries and he did just fine. I’m thinking if I have Joey in the sling, Ben will stick with me and everything will be just fine. I plan to go to the polls early this afternoon when I’m hoping it will be a bit slow. The retirees running the poll always enjoy seeing Ben. Last time they gave him a sticker, and I’m thinking he’ll enjoy that again this time. I must confess, I’m glad it is finally Election Day – I’m always so glad when it’s over because I get so tired of hearing about it. In fact, this morning, I hardly watched the news at all because all they were talking about was the election.

I am feeling quite well for giving birth a mere two weeks ago. Joey is a fairly easy baby once you get him figured out, and I’m only 7.5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m wearing civilian clothes on top – no more maternity blouses – and my knit pants fit okay, but I’m by no means back into my jeans. That will come with time, I’m sure. Quite frankly, I’m rather amazed at how good I look considering that I a just two weeks post-partum. I’m still not back to lifting Ben, but I’m thinking perhaps those days are over. He’s become accustomed to climbing on his bed for me to change his diaper (rather than my lifting him up onto the changing table) and that seems to be working quite well. Hopefully soon we’ll get to potty training and I will have only one in diapers instead of two.

I’ve been making my lists again of things that I need to do. While I still think of things occasionally that I need to add, I would say they are about 90% complete. Now I just need to get busy and start getting things done…