Our Week

Time just seems to get away from me these days...part of the problem is that my work schedule feels like it's been more intense lately, I don't know, maybe it's just that the job is taking more out of me these days.

I haven't recapped the events in our lives in a while, some of it will just be lost to time, and I'll begin with last Sunday. Saturday was pretty much wiped out because I had to come home from work and watch Tommy until Emmett got home from taking the LSAT and then I had to get some sleep before going to work Saturday night. At least the weekend at work wasn't too bad, that helps considerably.

Sunday I was off, well at least I got off work at 8am and didn't have to be back until 6pm on Monday. I came home and hung out with the boys for a while and then we decided to go to the park for a while before I went down for my nap. We went over to Candlestick Park which is pretty cool, just across from the stadium and right on the bay. We walked around and let Thomas run around and explore, it was fun. Alex climbed down and went for a swim in the water, which seemed to make him very happy. We also brought Alex's toy football that he's had since the lake house and he enjoyed chasing that around, too. It was a great time. Some of my favorite times are those moments when the weather is right and I'm there with my favorite boys and everything just seems right. I felt happy and at peace. I came home and laid down for a few hours and then we got up and ordered food for delivery (too lazy to cook) - a chicken caesar salad for me and cannelloni for Emmett. Yummy.

My diet is going okay I guess. I don't know if I mentioned I'm doing the South Beach diet, or some bastardized version of it. I feel like such a sell out counting carbs like everyone else when I don't even agree with that. Oh, well. I guess I'm getting a little desperate these days to find SOMETHING that works, I'm so tired of being fat! I'm sticking to it pretty well - I did discover I was overdoing it on the peanut butter (not measuring it) and thwarting myself. I also have been slipping on the caffeine. I just LOVE to have a cup of coffee in the morning. Strangely enough, for me, it turns out that I miss that more than bread, pasta, potatoes or rice. I never would have believed that! Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I've been doing it for 9 days and I've lost 3.5 pounds. Not very much, but better than nothing. Only 49.5 pounds to go. Ugh. I can't even think about that right now, it's too depressing. One good thing is that my diet seems to be expanding Thomas's diet a little bit, too. He absolutely loves eggs now, so I've been cooking eggs for both of us in the mornings. Also, I bought him some carrot juice and he really loves that too, so at least he is getting a little bit more veggies, even if they are in liquid form.

Monday morning I finally had a chance to catch up with Ulrich, my friend who bought the farm (literally, not figuratively!) in Panama and has been living and working there in between jaunts to South American and Germany for the last 2 years or so. He sounds like he's doing well overall, his work is going well and he loves the farm in Panama and also his travels in South America. It's funny - we talked for about 2 hours on the phone and I don't think I heard any of his travel stories. We talked a lot about politics, the upcoming election, etc. etc. I am thinking seriously of taking Tommy to visit his farm sometime next spring. I think it would be a great opportunity for both Tommy and I, as well as very relaxing and fun. Something to look forward to.

I went to work Monday at 6pm, Emmett and I passed each other in the doorway, and worked until 2am. There are things that I love about this shift and things that are not so great about the shift. With three in a row Emmett and I were really missing each other by Thursday night. I woke up late on Tuesday, at like 10am, and was surprised to hear Tommy's voice downstairs. I listened for a minute and then I heard Emmett's voice too. Didn't know why he was home, but didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I rolled over and went back to sleep until 11:30am, which was good since I hadn't gotten to bed until 3:30am and I was going back to work again that night. I got up and Emmett told me he was sick and had taken the day off work. I felt bad that he was sick, but it was sure nice to have him home during the day. We spent some time outside on the deck, relaxing. There were two funny incidents that happened out there. The first one was Thomas's interpretation of "daddy water", which I cannot explain here, but was pretty funny. The second was crazy. That boy is just so amazing to me. Thomas had set up a tupperware dish upside down on the railing of the deck. On top of this he had placed his little elephant jungle animal. Well, just below the railing is some shrubbery, so I suggested to Emmett that he should go and get the elephant before it disappears in that shrubbery never to be seen again. So Emmett went over and got the bowl and the elephant and set them on the bench at the other end of the deck. Thomas went over, grabbed both items, put them right back exactly the way they had been and then looked over and gave Emmett the dirtiest look. It was absolutely hysterical. We both just cracked up. That child definitely has a mind of his own.

I made some chicken for dinner and then split out for work at 6pm. Hate work, but no use lamenting that for now.

On Wednesday Thomas and I went and checked out a new daycare center. It's one that's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so I'm thinking of using it for occasional care when Emmett wants to go out in the evening or else we want to go out on a date, whatever the case may be where we need daycare but Olga is not available. It was definitely a nice enough place, the neighborhood is reasonable, right near where Emmett's sister used to live before she moved 2 weeks ago. The other kids seemed great, very sweet and nice, and of varying ages. There didn't seem to be any infants there. The place itself was kind of small and that impression wasn't helped by the fact that they had it a bit torn up for some remodeling this week. The woman who runs the place seemed very nice, very softspoken and gentle, but not without backbone. I liked her well enough and certainly felt Thomas would be safe with her. I wasn't completely sold on her or the place from the standpoint that I'm not sure I would want to have her watching him all the time - I prefer the space at Olgas and also the structure that they provide. This place didn't seem to have as much structured activity. Still, the advantage of the 24/7 availability cannot be overlooked, so I'm filling out the contract and will bring it back to her tomorrow. Did I mention that the place is just a little more than half what Olga charges? That also is hard to ignore. Again, I wouldn't substitute for Olga, I think she's worth every cent, but I am planning to leave Thomas there next Thursday evening for a trial run so that I can have dinner privately with Emmett on his birthday - time for romance!!! ;-)

He did take to the daycare lady (her name is Marika, I think she is filipino) right away. He kept calling her, "Mom", like he was getting confused. We don't look anything alike, but we both had ponytails in our hair, so maybe that was why. In any case, he really did seem to like her. Also, he seemed to like the other kids. When he leaves Olga's he has gotten into the habit of saying, "bye, friends," when he leaves. It's soooo cute, it kills me. Well, he said that on Weds. to the kids there as we were leaving and everyone just about died. It was adorable. "Bye friends," he said and waved goodbye as we walked out the door. Emmett thinks he's going to be a politician. :-)

After the daycare visit we ran some errands and then came home. I made roast beef for dinner, which had been marinating for two days and was incredibly delicious and tender, if a bit overcooked for my taste. I ended up being late to work because Emmett's bus didn't come and he had to take another bus and I had to go and pick him up at the bus stop. It was a bit of a cluster you-know-what and I was completely frazzled by the time I got to work. I just cannot afford to be late to work at this point.

I got to go home from work early on Wednesday night which was very cool. I was home and in bed by 1:30am. Emmett took Thomas to Olga's in the morning, since that was his only day this week of daycare and I ended up sleeping until 1:30pm. I woke up and I knew it was late, but I was really shocked when I saw the clock and realized HOW late. I must be fighting off a virus or something because I can't remember the last time I slept 12 hours. It's been YEARS, I think. Or at least since the last time we went and visited my Mom, haha.

I spent my day off (with Thomas in daycare) messing around on the computer, reading my book, and listening to music. It was kind of nice having a whole day off to myself. Pretty self indulgent and I'm happy that I didn't use it to do anything productive, like clean this pig sty house of mine. :-) But everyone deserves a day off every now and then. The boys got home and I was so looking forward to having an evening with them after having to go to work the previous three days all evening long. We all had dinner together - spaghetti with leftover potroast and marinara sauce, sounds weird but was yummy! And then time for Thomas to go to bed. Emmett and I sat around reading our books - he's reading Fast Food Nation and I'm reading The Dirt (autobiography of Motley Crue) before heading off to bed early for some 'cuddle time'. I had a hard time sleeping. I kept dreaming that I told someone I used to row in high school and so they put me on crew and I was afraid that I was going to be found out. Except that the racing wasn't on water, it was actually tobaggoning down a mountain in the snow with this little tiny oars to push you along at strategic times. Very weird.

Anyway, that pretty much catches us up to today. I better go see if that boy is up from his nap yet.

Love,
Melissa