What a weird summer

I can't remember ever feeling this busy/frantic without getting anything DONE.

But there are lots of good things. This is our first year subscribing to a CSA, and today is our first veggie pick-up. House is clean, thanks to a combination of appraiser coming over tonight and D's parents in town tomorrow.

B's doing great. I remember how worried I was about her speech, and its really been amazingly fun to watch her vocabulary and usage grow. I can actually have small conversations with her while we're driving/riding in the car! They go like this:

Me: Did you have a good day at daycare today?
Bonnie: Yeaaaaaah
Me: Did you play in the sandbox?
Bonnie: Sand!
Truck! Messy.
Me: You played with trucks in the sandbox and got messy?
Bonnie: Yeah!

6 months ago I worried that she still wouldn't have any words, and here she is, slowly putting them together.

Dh's parents are coming to visit for 10 days. They arrive tomorrow. I don't know how it happens, but I get so impatient and frustrated around them. They're planning on helping us build the garage, which I really do appreciate. And I want them to enjoy seeing their son and their grandchild. I really do. Praying for a cheerful spirit.

This garage thing

Is proving to be a much bigger project than I had thought it would be. Dunc's been doing a huge amount of work on it, and I think that perhaps I've not been as appreciative of that as I should be. I resolve to do better.

But, I think things are going to work out. We found a lender that we can work with, our friend will start painting siding next week, and hopefully this was the hardest part of the project. Good thing I still remember all the paint color names for everything in our house. The house is Inspiration Blue!

B's been really sweet recently. I'm not sure how I'll manage when I'm gone for a week. It felt strange yesterday, when I didn't go see her at lunch! When I picked her up in the afternoon, I felt like I'd missed so much of her day - that I didn't know what she'd done, or how she'd felt. As much as I complain about the lost lunch hour, yesterday made me realize that it is important to me, not just important to her.

I'm so happy its Monday!

This weekend was soooo much work! It was good, really, but it's nice to be back in my peaceful office, working at my own pace for awhile.

Saturday morning, we thought we had things pretty much under control for Bonnie's birthday party that afternoon. We were expecting 10-12 toddlers with their families, and had the house clean (because it'd been raining really hard - an outside party didn't seem feasible), lots of the food made or just ready to go in the oven...all was on track.

Then we decided that we should move some boxes from our loft to the basement, to make more room for people to hang out in during the party. Dunc went downstairs with boxes. He didn't come back up. After about 10 minutes, he yelled "There's a problem with the basement!" All that rain, combined with the dirtwork for our garage-in-progess, had let water in our basement. Only a few inches, and only in the middle part of our basement, but....still! Oh, and a couple inches of mud on the floor in our mechanical room. Luckily, nothing got ruined - just dirty.

My brother and his girlfriend came over, and they helped out a lot - we got the basement cleaned up (well, kinda), the food finished, the living room picked up - everything ready.

And then, the party went great! We went outside, then it looked like rain again (dark clouds, wind picked up, lightning...) and went inside after all. Good thing everything was clean and ready! The toddlers loved the noisemakers that roll out when you blow them, and enjoyed the put-flowers-in-a-flowerpot activity. Total time ~3 hours. At first, I thought we'd have too much food - but it was almost all gone by the end of the party, so that worked out fine, too.

B's been pretty happy about this birthday business. She learned to say "birthday!" and "party!" And was really having fun saying people's names at the party, which is a new thing for her.

Sunday we went back to our old church, because Henry invited us to his house afterwards. Henry's house is lovely, but that church *really* isn't for us anymore. The median age is probably over 60.

Sunday night Pamyua gave a free concert, and we had a great time.

Is it Friday yet?

Since I've been having a little pity party for myself recently, I'll list the bad things first:

1) Hubby is off to Antarctica in January. Despite us thinking for the last two months that he wasn't going. So I started using up my leave stockpile (I was going to take B to spend time with gparents while Dunc was in penguin-land), and now that plan is not very viable. He's only going to be gone for ~5 weeks. I can't imagine 12 months. How do military wives do it?!?

2) B hasn't been sleeping well at night. She wakes up saying that her teeth hurt. These last four molars are taking ages to come in, and causing all of us much pain and lost sleep.

3) I've been worrying and praying for a few family members. Long story. But they keep me up at night, too.

4) The news is back from the class study at work. No promotion for me.

Now, the good news:

A) I got a raise. But I was feeling so sad about Antarctica and other things that it didn't sink in until last night. I've been praying and praying about our garage-building, and feeling uneasy about it financially. And then God drops nearly all of what our monthly payment will be, right into my lap when we need it. Amazing!

B) Garage-building has started! We've got a big hole in our front yard, and they hit undisturbed loess, which means we don't have to pay tons of $$ for gravel and fill dirt and a big retaining wall. Hooray!

And in the mixed-feelings pile:

1A) We're having a birthday party for B on Saturday. She'll be two. It's going to be huuuuge! Nearly everyone we invited says they plan on coming. I was worrying about cleaning house - now I'm just worrying about making enough food, having enough chairs (nope, not possible) and wondering if everyone can even fit on our lawn. I also have to acquire more party favors. 12 party whistles and 13 toddlers isn't a good equation!

1B) I'm going to Augustine this August. I get to do field geology! Whoa! But I'll be away from B for a week. Wow. That feels like a long time to be away from her. I worry about losing her trust. But I'm excited to go. I have a lot of work to do to get ready. Lots of equipment to gather, code to write, people to talk to....

Oh, sweet sleep success!

I did it! I got Bonnie to fall asleep in my arms instead of riding in the car! Whoo-hoo! :) Happy dance, happy dance.

And she patted my face ever so sweetly, as she was drifting off.

She's so cute!

Living with a toddler can be really great, sometimes.

Last night, it was time for her to go to sleep, and we could tell that she was honestly very tired. So, we did the whole going-to-bed routine, and while I was rocking her she sat up and said "BED!" We knew, from previous experience, that while she often asks for bed, it rarely means she wants to *sleep* in bed. But, what can you do? So, Dunc took her to her bed, and stayed with her.

A few minutes later, all I can hear is Bonnie screaming.
She wants out of bed. I ask her if she wants to lie in Mommy and Daddy's bed, and she says "aaaah." (She used to say "hess" for yes, and now all we hear is some strange "yeah" approximation.)

So I lie next to her in my bed, and she lies down next to me, snuggles her face up close, and accidentally bonks her head on mine. She thinks this is great, and does it again and again, saying "Bonk!" each time. She throws her arms around me and starts giggling. I say "Close your eyes, Bonnie, go to sleep" for the zillionth time and start pretending that I am asleep. She sits up and starts rubbing and patting my back, very gently, the way I put her down for naps. Then she lies down again, kisses my cheek, and snuggles very close.

Of course, this lasted for about 10 seconds. Then she was up, trying to get off the bed and go play some more.