It seems like I’ve been busy, busy, busy lately — and we certainly don’t have the weather to thank for this. I feel sorry for school kids: their entire summer has been rainy so far. In fact, today is a frigid 55° and rainy. Anyway, rain or not, it’s been a busy summer so far. So busy that I find a week has passed without a blog entry, and then I scramble to play catch-up.
Let’s see. Where to begin? I cut my hair. I was 1) bored of it and 2) tired of Emily getting a stickymitted grasp on it. A week later, it’s beginning to settle down into something reasonable and I think I like it. The first few days were rather, uh, puffy.
The new garage project has been delayed due to weather. They’ve dug out the hole for the new foundation, but haven’t been able to start pouring yet due to rain. I think what we’ve really contracted for is a bizarre swimming pool…and a nasty mud river flowing through our basement.
Our poor dog Natalie fell into the hole the other day — Chris saw her walking toward it and when he yelled at her to stop, she got so upset at being scolded that she scurried forward even faster…right into the ditch. Amazingly, she wasn’t hurt, or even particularly startled. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief a few days later.
The 4th of July was — surprise! — a cold, foggy, rainy day, so plans to go to Long Island (Maine’s Long Island, not NYC) to have a cookout at Jeff and Tina’s camp were postponed. The only good thing about the weather was that our resident crows (Russell, Larry, Edgar, and Sheryl) were enjoying the weather and hanging out on our roof, either building or dismantling a nest on top of the [currently unused] chimney.
Luckily, Jane can fly by the seat of her pants and change plans on a dime, so within a matter of hours, we had new 4th of July plans for a cookout at her house with Jane and Kermit; Chris, Emily, and me; Mary Ann, Steve, and Steven; Mom; and Ray. As always, excellent food and company! The rain even ceased for a few hours and we saw some much-needed sunshine.
Emily had her 6-month checkup at the doctor’s office on Monday. Unfortunately, that meant she had to had another round of shots. I felt like I totally betrayed her. She was having a swell time until she was pricked with a needle, at which point she became injured and indignant. I hate this part of the game. But within 15 minutes, she was back to her old self again. By the time we got home, she was ready to re-explore her favorite basket of toys.
Yesterday was a big outing with Rachel and Dakota to Sam’s Club in Bangor. It’s amazing how tasks like that, which we previously took for granted, have become so much harder. The car was packed with stuff before we got there — and it was practically overflowing on the way home. Extra diapers, change of clothes, bottles, sippy cups, toys, blankets…. Anyway, the outing was a great success, as you’ll note from Dakota’s smiling face.
Dakota slept through lunch, allowing Rachel a leisurely meal at the Olive Garden, and Emily did pretty well too. I could have stayed there all day working on free refills of soup, salad, and breadsticks, but I suppose objectively, I had had enough to eat before Miss Emily demanded a feeding of her own. After lunch, we wandered into the strange vast world of Sam’s Club with our gynormous carts, debating the merits of buying 960 hamburgers for the low, low price of 42¢ apiece. A mere $200 later, I was ready to go. Rachel showed considerable restraint and escaped with only $50 of goods. Now, does she have 36 bars of soap and 10 boxes of tissues to brag about? Not so much. She’s young — she’ll learn. Stick with me, kid, and you’ll have 78 bottles of Windex, too.
This morning was playgroup day. Yippee! Our favorite! The place was packed, most likely due to the miserable weather. (Apparently, I’m obsessed with the weather. I can’t seem to stop mentioning it!) Emily got to see her buddies Lucie, Jasper, and Annika, plus many other old and new faces. It seems that today was “dress your Aryan daughter in red” day. I’m so glad Emily got the memo! She would have been mortified otherwise. She so enjoys being fashionable.
Grandmother Ann said,
July 9, 2009 at 8:08 am
What a wonderful sleu of photos. You capture little Em and her extended entourage with a practiced eye, and you bring smiles, warmth and delight to us all. What a GAL!! Hey, I just happened to think. You should have taken photos yesterday showing your poor Ford Escape deep in the mud! Never a dull moment
Grandmother Ann said,
July 13, 2009 at 12:44 pm
It’s me again on Monday July 13th. I ran down through your offerings, which are always a joy to read and look at. I wanted to mention to you that Emily’s toes in the above two photos where she is playing on your family room rug, are exactly like your’s when you were little. The separation of the big toe with the next toe was exactly the same. (don’t know it they are still the same) It’s those little likenesses that amaze us when we have babies.