X- gmaes Day 5 the home stretch

This blog needs to also be entitled "Ode to Solo parenting" I am exhausted, weary, running low on patience, and drained. Emory is cranky, loud, sick, and "yucky".

So far the funniest thing to happen was that last night, Emory came to see me and Said, "there's a man" If you know me you probably know I have a virulent fear of serial killers and home invaders. I was absolutely convinced that he had seen a man in the house. I kept looking at him and saying, "Where's the man?" "There's the man" "Where's the man?!!" This is actually the same fear I have of mountain lions that once led me to sleep in my car one night about 6 years ago instead of my apartment that was obviously mountain lion infested! Katy, I know you can get on board this mountain lion fear, but I don't think they come in the house. I am just crazy

I was very close to deserting the house for Aimee's in conifer, when I realized that salvation was much closer. MY MOM. So I called my poor mom and she very quickly came over with her attack poodle and spent the night keeping the house safe from all dangers. She is also convinced that Emory has a cough and not pnemonia so I did not have to embarrass myself at the emergency room.

Today we went swimming with Nana and then has mac and cheese for lunch. We are going to go to the mall this afternoon and play at the brand new play area and probably hit King Soopers for some groceries. Then we go to the airport and pick up GABE!

So for all of those moms who do solo parenting on a fulltime basis, you're amazing. I don't know how you do it. Find some way to go to a spa!

Day 3 and 4

I think My post on thusday was prophetic because I did clean instead of doing the errands! But this was not my fault. Emory took one of his rare 3.5 hour naps and it was just to late to go anywhere. I will try to hit the mail office this morning.

We had a very restful day yesterday and played at the park. Mom came over with us and later we ate chinese food. Emory and I visited Toys R Us and Barnes and Noble that evening to participate in Black Friday, but it is too hard to fully evaluate presents and run after a toddler so we didn't buy anything. We cleaned the house and watched Shrek 2. Emory was very upset going to sleep last night and ended up in my bed.

Last night it snowed about an inch and we are going to celebrate by going to the zoo with nana! The winter is the best time to go to the zoo, the animals are frisky and there are no people. Later we might go swimming.

We miss Gabe a lot and out lives are very boring and yet filled with activities. The best part of the day was hearing the Dr. Hausfrau is moving to WYOMING and will only be two hours away. What bliss. I am looking forward to getting to see Katy once or twice a month instead of once a year. Katy will have a baby boy that will be Lily's age almost exactly!

X- parenting Day 2

Well I now remember why I don't sleep in Emory's room. Pain. And I apparently keep him up. Every so often I would feel a little hand touch my hair. "mama here? Mama here." At about 3 Am I finally decided to move back to my room. I'm sure you know what's coming...."MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA COMING." So in the interest of sleep and against all parenting books, Emory came to bed with me then. He slept great. I did not. It's so absorbing to just stare at them in wonder.

We got up at 5:3o.

The rest of the day we spent waiting for Gabe to call, cooking mashed potatoes- Thanks Katy and Nola!, going to the store on an emergency run for diapers (and blackberries). I made the mistake of telling Emory we were going to visit Uncle Shanti...consequently he was too excited to nap. We stopped at Dad's to do an emergency check on the dogs while he was working, and then it was up to the mountains.

The food and company were great. Shilah and Emory ran around for an hour naked chasing each other. We are now home, but I missed the evening call from Gabe and can't figure out if people would be asleep there or not. Emory is in his bed and maybe I'll watch a new movie in my bed and hope to fall asleep. Maybe a western comedy.

I must gain my strength back, for tomorrow I face two DREADED tasks, the car registration place and the mailing place. Also, I have to talk on the phone to Qwest. OMG I would so much rather clean.

Emory remains convinced that Gabe is still at the airport.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a lovely dinner and are getting ready for dessert. Andrea and Emory were very missed, but I are 1 day closer to seeing them again.

Extreme Parenting day 1

Gabe is off to MA for Thanksgiving to visit family and friends. He took the camara so there will be no pictures for a while. I will be blogging each day to try to keep him up to pace. I am calling this Extreme Parenting because not only am I solo, but because I'm off from work I feel compelled to suck all the life possible out of the five days! (And I have a very very long chore list!)

Today, I had a doctor's appointment. Lily is doing fine and I have finally gained 2 pounds! The belly is measuring an exact 24 cm so apparently I am having a baby in three months. wow... Last night I had this dream that Lily was here and beautiful and tiny and talking like a two year old.

"Lily would you like to nurse." "No, OK?"
"Lily would you like to go home with us." "No, OK?"

In the dream she decided to go home with a different couple. There is definitely a reason they can't talk at first. I woke up thinking, "Like hell did I just go through the last 6 months for that to happen. Little Brat!"

The only bad news was that I am not supposed to pick up things that weigh more than 25 pounds and Emory weighs 30. Katy Can I ignore this? I mean really, how is he supposed to get into the car or the crib blah blah blah if I don't pick him up? Telekinesis?

Emory and I got the oil changed in the car and they tried to sell me a fuel filter. Why do they always try to sell me something? I don't know whether to fall into the fear/guilt trap and buy it or if it is a scam?

Emory and I went shopping at the grocery store along with several hundred other people. I will be attempting to make rolls and mashed potatoes tomorrow. (It is good thing the camara is away) Thank god Aimee and Lauren are doing the rest. I wonder if they know that Gabe normally does the cooking? Are they reading this?

We also went to the playground, played outside, played with blocks and watched Madagascar. Emory is really counting now. Today at the oil change he counted the batteries. "One battery, two battary, three battary." I honestly thought he was just repeating meaningless words, but somewhere in there he really started counting. I guess two accountant Grandparents will rub off on a kid!

Gabe, I have fed the fish and the cats. I know you were concerned that they would die through neglect while you were away. But actually they are very pushy! (the cats anyway...the fish not so much) Oh yes, Emory ate too (mac and Cheese). And so did I (Blackberries and cooked sushi).

After an ongoing debate with Gabe on who should get more space in the bed and more pillows (obviously the pregnant person) I am going to sleep on a mattress in Emory's room instead. What a weenie I am. How does Aimee do this all the time?

Spaghetti dinner

We had a yummy dinner of garlic & basil encrusted tofu over spaghetti (by we I me Emory and I!) and it was yummy!

Emory at the zoo...again

We spent the morning at this zoo this past weekend, Emory style. This means no stroller, just Emory leads us where he would like to go. While this is quite fun, what is interesting to a 2 year old at the zoo is ducks, fences and trash on the ground. Andrea was very patient with Emory while I was trying to 'convince' him that he wanted to see animals...Emory won, but I still had the camera so I got a few pictures.

Counting

Emory is working very hard on his counting. Here we are counting fingers. Thankfully he can only count to ten so we are still just using fingers.

Winter gear

We had our first fire in our fireplace the other night and I had forgot how relaxing and mesmerizing it is to just sit in front of a fire. It was quite nice on chilly evening. Also, Emory is very cute in his vest.

Leaf Pile!

Emory helps me spread the leaf pile back out into the yard...exactly my goal when raking them into a pile.

Beautiful fall/winter day

It is an absolutely beautiful day here today! It is sunny and clear and very warm. We spent the morning picking up and cleaning our back yard. We picked up toys and tools and stuff that has accumulated in our yard over the summer. Part of this chore was to rake the leaves and Emory was a very big help!

Supermen!

Introducing...

With the introduction of our new family member, we needed to replace our little truck with another vehicle that will hold kids. It turned out that on Friday, our little truck crapped out and instead of putting money into it to last the winter, we went car shopping. I test drove a few cars on Friday night, and this is the one I liked the best...the Nissan Versa. Nice little car that is comfortable and gets good gas mileage...we would like to introduce what will be Emory's first car...

Introducing...

Baby Lilliane Marie Pless. Due March 18th. Expected before.

Emory says "Baby sister! Baby Lily!"

Gabe says, "I'm so excited!"

Andrea says, "Holy &*%&^%. What have I done?!"