Hanging in There

I'm home with Anna today (Friday). We unexpectedly did not have daycare, and Edwin's leaving this afternoon for Chicago. So here I am.

I had goals for today but they're falling by the wayside. I'm tired, and so is Anna from being up until 9 last night. Sigh! One task was to take Anna to visit some of my coworkers, but when it got to be 10:30 and she started being cranky I let that one go. Another task was to look at potties for Anna, which we did do at Baby Depot but didn't get anything. So far, all we've done successfully today is go to the library for a couple movies.

Work is still crazy, I went in for four additional hours Wednesday night. But I'm now seeing the end of our most urgent work, thank God. I lost all momentum about a week ago, and each day since then has been a struggle.

Edwin's parents and niece arrived last Friday for the first part of their visit. They came bearing gifts for all, which was fun. Saskia and Anna now have matching pajamas from Disneyland Paris, they're very cute and my suggestion is that we take a few pictures with them in the pajamas, together. You never know when that holiday-picture opportunity will present itself!

So last weekend we stayed with the whole crew in Lake City, on Lake Pepin just south of here. We were only there from Saturday to Monday, and come to think of it really didn't do much on the lake itself. We went to an art fair type of event on Saturday, and then split up to do some biking and tubing on Sunday. Driving back on Monday, we stopped in a couple small towns on the Wisconsin side of the lake. Anna was a trooper, considering her schedule was turned upside down. She enjoyed showing off a few of her tricks to a new audience.

Now I'm getting ready for the weekend--Anna and I are flying to Chicago on Sunday to join Edwin for a few days. We don't have daycare all next week, and Edwin has known about this trip for some time so we decided to make a mini-vacation of it. My current plans are to just walk around and hang out at Millenium Park on Sunday, go to Lincoln Park on Monday, and Navy Pier on Tuesday. At Navy Pier I'll be meeting up with a mom from my MSN board--it should be fun. Wednesday we have tickets to the Cubs game before returning to MN. Edwin will be busy with work during the days, but not at night so maybe I might have some free mommy time in there as well. Crazy, but hopefully fun.

We never got the bed for Anna that I saw on Craigslist, another buyer beat me to it. I'm disappointed, but at some point another one just as nice will come along. I did go ahead and buy the PB Kids bedding I'd found on eBay for Anna's upcoming bed. It's a mostly yellow floral with lots of green and pink, perfect for her room. I can't wait! I would guess that somewhere between age 2 and 2 1/2 Anna will be ready for a new bed.

I had a conversation about books with two of my coworkers yesterday, which reminded me how much I miss being in a book group. I didn't necessarily go every month, or like every book, but I could count on good conversations and good wine during those times I did go. My first book group disbanded quickly when the leader of the group moved away. From that group I read Jane Austin for the first time (Persuasion). My next book group was a spin-off of the MSN group I belonged to at the time. It was with that group that I read Life of Pi and the Kite Runner. I didn't care to belong to that group after a while, hard to describe but there didn't seem to be a commitment to the group or a respect for the efforts of some in the group (including me). Oh well. Those types of things seem to have a life span, so I don't take it personally, but when a book group is good it is really, really good, and I would love to be part of a good one again.