Home Alone

Wow, time has gotten away from me. We didn’t go anywhere over Labor Day weekend which was fine with me. I got a chance to do another round of serious clothes shopping. I got quite a few things that should set me up well for fall and winter and a couple of nice tops that I can wear to work or out. I went to Nordstrom Rack and then to Off Saks 5th Ave and other places in Arizona Mills. On Sunday afternoon, Pam and Murray (Murphy), Nancy and Robert, and Jill and Joe came over. We had a nice dinner and the kids actually got along. It was very cute to see all five kids sitting at the little kids’ table, even 14 month old Tatum and Ty. On Labor Day, I took Brian and the kids back to Arizona Mills to do some shopping for them. I like the stores at that mall but to go with the family to just hang out and relax, that is not the place. They have all these money thirsty little rides for the kids throughout the mall that Jack wanted to ride. That was a huge pain.

By Tuesday I was completely out of my funk from the past two weeks. I am not sure what caused it and I guess it will come around again at some point in my life but by Tuesday I was pretty happy to be a mom and was back to enjoying my kids. The naturopath had giving me some pills to help with my pituitary that didn’t seem to help too much so I stopped taking them a while ago and I took them Tuesday morning. I felt fantastic all day Tuesday and had a lot of energy. I didn’t take them Wednesday and felt like crap and then took them on Thursday and felt good. Maybe they are working now. So I am making sure to take them every morning now. I met a guy friend from work who was visiting from Folsom for a drink at 98 South. He is my second and final ‘boyfriend’. Ha ha. He was all stressed out about work and even took a couple phone calls from work, one that he had to take outside the restaurant because it was confidential. It was slightly annoying but really I didn’t care because he paid for my delicious $13 glass of wine.

Sometime mid-week, I got word that Jeanette from book club was pregnant. Jeanette is not married and is probably not even in a committed relationship (this is always questionable) so this pregnancy should be scandalous. But given that I think being a mom is definitely something a woman should experience if she wants to and is able, given our biological limitations at a certain age, sometimes you have to go for it without the committed relationship. Jeanette is 38 and given the gaggle of experienced mom friends at her disposal is embarking on this adventure enthusiastically. I say go for it. And I finally found someone who could use my “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and “Girlfriends Guide…” books that I will never need again.

I was dreading the weekend because Brian was going to a memorial service in Portland over the weekend which meant I was on my own with the kids. I suppose my stay-at-home mom friends would laugh at my fear of being alone with the kids for a weekend but this is stamina that you have to work at building. Yvonne came over around 8:30 AM on Saturday to watch Ty while I took Jack to soccer. Brian headed out to the airport. Soccer went OK—Jack mostly did what he was told but there were a few times he would come running over to me and resist participating. I had a good time with the kids for the rest of the day. I got a baby-sitter so that I could go to dinner with Annette and Tracy. Thank God I arranged that because it felt fantastic to go out to a nice dinner, have a great bottle of wine and good conversation. We went to Angel Sweet afterwards and then to Basha’s because we all had to pee. On Sunday I had arranged to have my friend Sarah come over after work but she canceled because she had to work the full day. It was a grueling day mostly because Ty, who is 14 months old, is a smart and devious little boy. Up until just a few days ago, I would tell Jack that Ty was just a baby and he didn’t know any better. Well, Ty definitely knows better. He spent the whole day climbing on stools, office chairs, tables, dressers and other assorted furniture. He even carried a chair over to the office chair so he could climb on it. What a Stinker. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him for a second. But we made it to bed time and I finally got to sit down and watch some TV. Then back to the grind.