By this time tomorrow, I will have performed my first legal marriage ceremony, and united two of my closest, dearest friends. And it’s very fitting that my own husband be co-performing the ceremony.
Category Archives: Weather, Seasons, & Celebrations
Sniffly Boy
Well, it’s official: Liam has his first cold. He was sneezing yesterday, and today his nose is running. The good thing is that he finds sneezing hilarious. On the not so good side he’s mildly cranky. He’s spending a lot of time crawling into my lap to be held, and pulling at my shirt to indicate that he wants to nurse. Since he’d pretty much dropped daytime nursing on his own, I’m assuming it’s because it comforts him and it provides fluids, so I’m not complaining. Naps are going haywire again, however, because he can’t breathe very well. And we know exactly where he got it (hi TAZ!), which is reassuring, so we know precisely what to expect. I’d rather he be infected through playing with a friend whom we know is sick than pick goodness knows what up from goodness knows who.
Part of me is relieved that he’s finally caught something, and part of me is wishing he could have hit one year old before breaking his healthy streak. Just ’cause.
To distract him from how miserable he was feeling after lunch, we spent fifteen minutes playing in the sunny back yard, where he ate dirt (of course), petted the grass (which needs to be cut, so naturally our mower requires fixing), and pulled the heads off dandelions, which made him giggle for some reason. Speaking of playing outside, does anyone local need waterproof sunblock? We bought some Coppertone SPF 45 baby sunblock, not realising that it was the white stuff that sits on top of the skin, and Liam immediately tried to lick it off because he could see it. I picked up some sunblock that gets absorbed instead, which is what I wanted in the first place, but now we have a large bottle of the other stuff that we won’t be using. It’s expensive, so I’d rather it go to someone who will use it than have it just sit in a cupboard here.
Garden!
I have just returned from eating dinner on the back deck, cooked on the new barbecue. (Thank you, whoever left the brochettes in the fridge; they were delightful.)
HRH spent the early part of the afternoon overhauling the gardens, because it was such a beautiful day. The mass of hostas that were growing along the side fence have been transplanted to various spots around the house. We took a trip out to price lumber and lattice to build the new side fence, and then to the nursery to buy our first set of plants. I now have rosebushes, lavender, and other herbs in the back corner. The huge creeping vine is gone from the back porch as well, as the trunk was beginning to split the floorboards. I think we’ll plant a clematis or two down below to replace it, to wind up the deck and along the side fence.
It’s beginning to feel somewhat like summer. It will feel more like summer once we’ve put in flats and flats of flowers, but we’re not going to do that until we’re certain the overnight temperature won’t dip close to the zero mark. I’m not tempting Nature like that, not when it’s done it twice in the past five years before Victoria Day.
Gig Minus Five Hours And Counting
We had a good, solid dress rehearsal this morning where we got some blank-memory moments out of our systems, committed music (there were goosebumps!), and were in general pleased with how things happened. I am personally satisfied with my bits in the IBFKATCS. I’m looking forward to the gig tonight.
I had my first soft-serve ice cream cone of the year yesterday. Chocolate and vanilla swirl, dipped in hard chocolate coating. Delicious.
And happy Earth Day to all!
Because It’s Shakespeare!
And really, quiz or not, how can I resist taking a quiz whose script compares me to the unamed summer’s day of Will’s sonnet? Particularly one whose FAQs, when asked how accurate the test is, reply “In every way save the ones of accuracy. Or comparison. But, chances are, you are lovelier than a summer day. For a start, you probably represent minimal risk of bees, sudden tourists or skin damage to those near you.”
| Thee | Summer Day | Score | |
| Name | Owldaughter (134) | Friday 12th May (159) | 0 : 1 |
| Loveliness | Lovelier | Lovely | 1 : 1 |
| Temperature | 98.6° F | 60° F | 2 : 1 |
| Lease | 34.74 years | 0.59 years | 3 : 1 |
| Complexion | 4 : 1 | ||
| Owldaughter is more lovely, and probably more temperate, than a summers day | |||
| Compare Me To A Summers Day | |||
Daffodils!
After a couple of good nap days, today has been a complete disaster with Liam waking up after twenty minutes of sleep on the dot every time, at that brief awakening point before the sleeper sinks into deeper sleep. HRH took him for an hour-long walk, and while he didn’t nap it mellowed him out, and that plus a bottle once home again seems to finally have put him to sleep. We’re currently at half an hour of nap and counting. Thank goodness, because Liam was getting as frustrated as I was about the lack of sleep, poor kid.
And I forgot to record that he said “Mama” the other day. Go figure.
Liam and I went grocery shopping this morning, and on the way out of the store I saw a man at a little table with two vases of daffodils. Every single year I manage to miss the cancer-awareness daffodil fundraiser. Not this year!
I chose two that had only begun to unfold, and one that was still a tight bud. It’s so warm that they’re opening already. I love them; I so rarely have fresh flowers in the house. And since they give out stickers now instead of pins, Liam has a daffodil sticker on his cap.
And there’s Liam now, waking up after forty minutes of nap. Well, that’s twice as long as he’s slept any other time he’s been put down in his bed. Every little bit helps.
Liam News
HRH finally saw Liam pull himself up to stand by the coffee table last night. And, of course, today was his first movement-related ouch: he pulled himself up, overbalanced reaching for (what else) a cat, and hit his head on the corner of that coffee table. It had to happen; both his parents did it at least once as babies too. Liam caught the edge of his eye socket, but other than a red mark that’s a bit swollen and injured pride, he’s fine.
I think I forgot to mention that the pacifier is a thing of the past. His original one was getting worn at the bottom of the bulb from those new little teeth chewing on it, so I took it away and tried to give him another one of the same design. He wouldn’t take it. Apparently to the other one was worked in just so, and he wasn’t going to accept any substitutes. So he cried a bit at bedtime for two nights, and then la la la, it’s like he’d never had a soother, ever.
We have a new car stroller courtesy of his paternal grandparents (thanks!), and it rides like a dream.
He loves playing in the sun that comes through the front living room windows in the morning, and he loves watching the shadows things make, too. Thank the gods for spring. Walks are ever so much more pleasant. And the sun that pours into the house at various times in various places makes me want to curl up in the sun puddles like a cat.
We’ve ascertained that Maggie actually plays with him. Now that he’s mobile, he galumphs after her wherever she goes. In the kitchen the other night she had him doing lengths of the room for half an hour, simply by strolling to the back door, sitting down and watching him galumph towards her, then sidestepping and walking past him to the kitchen table while Liam drags himself around and heads off towards her again, cackling with glee. He slept beautifully that night.
Okay, enough of an update. I don’t get online much any more thanks to the New Improved Mobile Baby, so when I do I throw a bunch of stuff down into the journal to keep at least somewhat up to date.