The Queen's Rambles

Happy Valentine’s Day! I got a super sweet Valentine from Erik. Of course, I sort of made it, but he directed me. He did do all the cutting and some of the writing. I forget how excited little kids can get about things. He’s been totally hopped up about Valentine’s all day, mainly because Ruby of Max and Ruby fame makes Valentines in one episode.

Really, we didn’t do much to celebrate. I flexed all my creative muscles and made a pancake heart. Then Erik made Valentine’s for all his Oregon relatives. He totally made me cry because he wanted to make his Granny (my grandma) a card. When I told him she died (he talks about that once in a while), he said that was ok. We could just put it outside and it would fly up to the sky and she would read it there. I really have no idea what to tell him about death and all that jazz. I guess if that’s what he wants to believe right now, that’s what I’ll let him believe. There’s plenty of time for him to come to his own conclusions about death, life, religion and all that jazz.

We spent a lot of time at Ikea, looking for the perfect dresser. We ended up with a giant six drawer chest, which will suit our needs perfectly, but dwarfs our other furniture. I’m just glad to have something that can be filled to the gills. I want to get the baby clothes put away, pronto! My friend brought me another garbage bag stuffed with clothes yesterday. I need to go through it and return what I don’t think we’ll use. She had a winter baby and we’re having a spring baby so I don’t think I am going to want a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen her daughter wear. It is all super cute, but wool knit leggings in July aren’t going to work.

I totally over did it at Ikea and really stretched out some of my innards. I put myself on bed rest for the rest of the afternoon/evening and am feeling a lot better. I was starting to get a little bit worried.

I subscribed to NetFlix a couple of weeks ago and am really liking the streaming video. I don’t care to watch movies on my laptop, but it is pretty nice when I need to be alone and laying down. Netflix to the rescue! I’ve already watched a couple of movies (Made of Honor–cheezy and Then She Found Me–pretty good). I don’t even know what movies I’ve missed in the past four years.

I have a question for all you moms. How independent do you expect your four year old to be? I expect Erik to get his own water when he is thirsty (cups are in a low cabinet, we have a water dispenser in the freezer door). I expect him to help me sort out the whites when we do laundry and empty the lint trap (if he is down there, he doesn’t always come down). I expect him to hand me his coat and gloves when we come in the house, not just throw them on the floor (he can’t reach the hooks). I expect him to put his dirty clothes in the hamper or the dirty clothes pile (he usually needs reminding, which is fine because I need reminding too). I expect him to take his dirty dishes into the kitchen and put them on the counter. I expect him to help me vacuum when he makes a mess (don’t expect him to do it well, but he has to make an effort). I expect him to go get his own easily accessible snack when he asks for it. I expect him to throw his own garbage away. If there is something of his that needs to be carried and it isn’t too heavy, I expect him to carry it. I expect him to get from point A to point B on his own. I do not carry him at all. Not that he would let me.

We haven’t had any problems with him doing those things. Sometimes he has to be reminded, but he rarely throws a fit about any of it. He enjoys his independence and really likes helping out. In fact, he has a whole list of other things he would really like to do that I consider too dangerous/messy (make his own pancakes, chop vegetables, do the whole laundry routine by himself).

I’ve been told I’m a little harsh with him. I don’t know. Sometimes I guess I do talk harsh to him, but if he is capable of doing those things, why not let him? I’m not going to be one of those ladies who serves my 40 year old pizza in the basement. When he’s old enough, I envision him getting an after school job and buying his own wants. I don’t know how well that will actually work. If it interferes with his grades I wouldn’t want him to do it. He might also be really involved in sports or other extracurriculars that are more important for his college admission so I can’t make any long reaching parenting decisions about something that won’t even be possible for 12 years.

I don’t mind be a hard ass, but I honestly don’t think I am. I think I’m too easy on him a lot of times. He still spends a lot of time on my lap being cuddled. It’s just interesting to see other people’s parenting styles.

We got out of the house today! I was thinking of going to the indoor pool, but I heard it was going to be packed. We went to the mall instead. Not quite the same, but since we are both still fairly snotty it was probably better all around. Don’t need to be the people blowing boogers into the swimming pool, right?

We ate lunch at the Silver Dollar Diner. GAG! Please remind me never to eat there again. I got a hot turkey sandwich. Pretty hard to ruin. I don’t even mind fake mashed potatoes and canned gravy when I’m pregnant. When I’m not pregnant? No. When I am pregnant, I like gross, old fashioned comfort food. But this gravy was nasty, with carrots and celery. And it was red. Sorta. Ewwwwwww! I didn’t even eat half of it. I thought a sit down restaurant would beat the food court, but I was oh-so-very wrong. I still have a nasty taste in my mouth and it was four hours ago.

I was naughty and went into Gymboree! I only bought three things, shirts on clearance for under $3. I don’t think any one can begrudge me $3 Gymboree shirts. I have a big bin of Gymboree clothes downstairs that I need to wash and start listing on eBay. The Gymboree moms are INSANE. They want all the clothes and don’t care how much they have to pay. I’m just kind of waiting for my last ultrasound to make sure I’m really, really having a girl.

Our main goal was to pick up the giant ass Erik picture, but it wasn’t in yet. I thought the date said “Feb. 1-2” but I guess it really said “Feb 12.” Bit of a difference. Even though today is the 12th, all the mail is delayed so I’ll have to go back down next week.

We also stopped by Great Beginnings, a super fancy baby super store. I hate going in there. I am always content with what we have and our not-so-consumery lifestyle until I go in a store like that. I have to admit, those $1200 strollers are NICE. Those fancy, $400 crib sets are CUTE. I wants! I can’t have. It is impractical and wasteful, but the showroom sure does know how to do its job.

I only went in because they have a large selection of kids’ drawer pulls. Erik’s armoire has been missing a knob since we moved, so I decided it was time to do something proactive about making the room feel a little cuter.

The knobs I wanted that would have looked really cute? $11.99. I think not.

The knobs Erik wanted that annoy the hell out of me? $1.99 on final clearance.

Guess what we bought? Now he has ugly train knobs in his space/animal themed room. Dandy.

I also ended up getting Erik a real wooden rocking chair that had been marked down to a barely affordable price. He was in love with it and for the price I paid I feel like I got a good deal. He says he is going to sit in it and rock the baby. We shall see. He used to have a little foam couch that he would sit on, but after years of abuse it fell apart. I hope he decides to sit in his rocker some. Normally he likes to perch on the arm of my chair, while laying on his stomach, sort of sprawled over me. I don’t mind it in the mornings, but by about 4 pm I am d-o-n-e. Mama needs her space.

I really wish I could get this horrible taste out of my mouth. Ice cream, toothpaste, Listerine and potato chips haven’t done the trick.

I’m so glad I’m not on bed rest. My friend was on bed rest for 20 weeks. Can you even imagine? I’ve been home bound since Friday morning. That’s five days. I’ve been able to go outside most days. I’ve been able to walk around the house, doing whatever I want. I’m going freaking INSANE. How would I ever do bed rest?

Of course, having a very active child suddenly halt all activities hasn’t made this any easier. Will we ever get to go back to school or the gym or the open gyms or the park or a restaurant or SOMEWHERE? Certainly not tomorrow. Probably not Friday. Maybe this weekend? Then it is supposed to snow again on Monday. Do you see my middle finger, Mother Nature? Because I’m pointing it right at you.

I have a quilt top finished and my batting arrived last week, so I decided I could go ahead and fuse the layers together and possibly think about quilting it. I don’t want to quilt it because the pattern recommends free motion quilting. I haven’t done that in years. I think Kisha’s almost three year old daughter has the last quilt that I did any free motion quilting with. I don’t know what to do.

Anyway, I laid the batting down on the floor, then crawled around on my hands and knees, making sure the backing was really straight. Then I tried to stand up and had horrible, horrible pain.

Luckily I didn’t put the phone away this morning so it was laying on the bed and I was able to crawl over and call Mike using the intercom feature. I didn’t explain what was going on, just asked him to help me. I think he was a little irritated when I told him to come quick. Sometimes I call him and he takes a few minutes because he is finishing up whatever it is he is doing. That’s almost always ok since I usually need help doing stupid stuff. That wouldn’t have worked today. I don’t think he was expecting to get upstairs and find his pregnant wife curled up on the floor, crying.

Poor Erik was a little scared, but mostly excited. “Is baby Elsa coming now! Is she coming now!”

She wasn’t, but that might have been less painful.

Eventually we were able to get me in the bed, then Mike went above and beyond the call of duty and fused my quilt sandwich together. I guess I have no choice but to try to quilt it soonish.

Erik has decided he wants several baby brothers and sisters and he wants all the cribs in his room. He’s certainly changed his tune. We’ll see how excited he is when the baby is here, squalling her head off and taking all my attention.

The poor boy is just as restless as I am. Today he informed me, very sadly, that he’s never watched so much TV in his life. So very true. We’ve been playing games and doing other things, but the days are long when you can’t go anywhere. We couldn’t really even go outside today because the wind was nasty. It was a mess out there–true blizzard, white out conditions. I hear they ordered all the plows off the roads for a big part of the day because there was no visibility.

He shocked me tonight and wanted to go to bed an hour early. He didn’t get any argument there. I don’t know if he is still feeling a little sick or if he was just bored of being awake. I know I’m bored. In fact, why am I still awake?

I didn’t realize there was a new LOST last night (no spoilers). At least that gave me something exciting to watch tonight. Now I can spend the day tomorrow reading all the forums and trying to figure things out.

The side effect of being cooped up in the house all day is a slowly draining bank account. It’s not like the old days when being home meant your money was safe from impulse purchases. I have nothing to do but surf the internet and yell at Erik.

Btw, Kisha, Mike is so going to kick your ass. Back story for those not following comments yesterday: Kisha (same_sky), suggested I give Erik dried beans to play with. She has a sweet little girl. I have a not so sweet boy. But! I did happen to have a tub filled with a ten pound bag of dried pinto beans and various measuring cups. I also have a shower curtain that I use to cover the floor. I got this idea from another lady with a sweet little girl. Erik never gets to play with his beans because he is way too naughty.

Anyway, at first he tried really hard to keep the beans on the plastic and be appropriate. By the time ten minutes had elapsed he was over being a good boy. He piled all the beans in the center of the plastic and would launch off the couch, jumping into the middle of the beans and sending them everywhere. At this point I was so bored and cranky I didn’t even care. My only concern was that he would bruise the shit out of his knees. Isn’t there some book about a psycho mother who makes her kids kneel on dried peas and pray for hours?

All that to say, when Mike got home he had to face a house of beans, a cranky wife, and a depleted bank account.

Actually, I didn’t buy anything. Except just now I spent a nice chunk of change at Hanna Andersson, but how can I resist buying $10 shirts and dresses? I would happily pay that for used HA clothes, so scoring that price on new stuff is amazing! Elsa has a sweet Christmas dress now! How will I ever find something for Erik that matches?

This is so disjointed.

Anyway, I discovered that my brilliant plan of hanging all Elsa’s clothes is not going to work. She has way too many clothes and we don’t have enough hangers/closet space. And most of those clothes? Are newborn size. So I don’t think they’ll even be used much, if at all. Erik was way too big for the newborn size, but she’ll be early instead of late.

I think we’re going to have to get Elsa a dresser. I’ve been trying to think of ways to avoid buying one, but all our dressers are in use. My new plan is to put the changing table in our room, the dresser of fabric somewhere else (no idea where), and the clothes dresser in Erik’s room.

I’ve found two that I want. If I was a less restrained person I would have ordered one and then bore the wrath of Mikey. I knew he would say no. He should say no. The price is not in our budget. But I wants! Oh how I wants! Why can’t I have cute things?

My first choice is only about $800. Oh, how I would love to do a kids room with all this stuff! HERE. Never going to happen, though.

My second choice is a much more reasonable $600. It’s not as cute, but it would still be fun in Erik’s room HERE.

Sigh.

Guess we’ll end up going with some cheap, white dresser thing. I just want cute! Is that so wrong?

Thank you guys for all the comments and conversations yesterday! It really did help the day go by faster, though I have to admit that by six o’clock I was crying and frustrated. I just wanted to be left alone, but do you think my son knows how to leave me alone? “But mommy, I just love you and want you and want to sit with you!”

At least Mike is home today, though he plans to hole up and write a paper. He’s supposed to present this paper at a space conference in April. Ha! I guess his boss or one of his co-workers can present it.

I found something to do. I just got a big box of baby girl clothes in the mail, so off to the wash they went. They are so cute! I am so happy! My old college friend and I reconnected on FB and are both having babies in April. Her due date is April 13, the day I want to have Elsa. We’re trading clothes since we both expect this to be the last baby.

Do you know how bad it would suck to give away all the baby things and have an unexpected pregnancy? I guess there are worse things in life, but it would be pretty brutal. I am still trying to decide what to do about BC after the baby comes. I want to get my tubes tied eventually, but that just feels so. . . permanent. Not sure I want to do it until Elsa is around for a few years. I guess that sounds kind of morbid, but you never know what will happen.

Hormones are out.

IUD? I don’t know. It kind of scares me, but maybe that would be the best option.

Natural family planning? It is easy, for the most part, but also a pain in the butt. I get tired of checking temps every day and feeling up my hoo-haw. This will probably be the method I lean towards anyway.

Condoms. Ugh.

So much for the sexual revolution! I’m really glad I have options and am educated on all of them. I just want better options.

I was thinking about the things left to buy, other than clothes, diapers, wipes, creams and so forth. I think I need:

1) A snap and go stroller. No way am I doing a freakin’ travel system again. Hated that bastard.

2) A swing that goes sideways and back and forth. They plug in these days instead of running solely on batteries. Awesome!

3) A baby book. I have sorta-kinda kept up with Erik’s. I need to find it and do some updating. I am sure he will appreciate it, but I think a little girl will appreciate it even more. I do have Birthday Books for both the kids, which are way more awesome than Baby Books, but I want both.

I am always amazed when I read the stupid babycenter.com posts where people are whiny that no one bought them their stroller/car seat/swing/big fancy item off their registry. What kind of friends do they have that they expect them to spend that much on their baby?! That is just not the way my world works. Some of those women are so entitled and whiny. “I don’t have the money to buy all this stuff myself! Isn’t that what my shower is for?” Uh. NO! If you didn’t have the money, why’d you get pregnant? Scour craigslist and consignment shops. That’s my plan even though I am not in dire financial straits. Your shower is for cute little outfits and some of the smaller baby items, unless your work or a group of friends all chip in for a big ticket item. Maybe I am just a bad, ungenerous friend.

You know what? I am starving. Who wants to go to Taco Bell and get me my daily burrito. Prior to this pregnancy I had never been to the Germantown Taco Bell. A few minutes ago Erik said something about “we haven’t been to Taco Bell in daaaaaaays. I just want a steak soft taco!” Maybe we’ve been a little excessive with the Taco Bell.

Can you believe when I was his age my Granddad would sit in his truck, give me a dollar and send me in to the Bell to place my own order. I suppose Erik could handle doing that, but it would never occur to me to let him. I don’t think it would have occurred to my mom, either. Granddads are different creatures. When I was a little girl I didn’t know that dads and granddads were allowed to go into stores or restaurants, except the pizza parlor. I’m sure I saw other men in the stores, but I think I was a teenager before I realized my dad sometimes went into the store in the gas station to buy things. I was also a teenager when I realized that all boys don’t drive trucks and all girls don’t drive cars. Yes, I lived in Hilly Billy Junction.

Be prepared, people. I might make lots of updates today. I am bored. BORED. BORED!!! It’s only 9:38 and I already can’t stand the day.

Erik is really sick now. He showed up in our room around 11:30 pm with a horrible cough. Thankfully a rub down with Vicks stopped most of the coughing, but he was still a pain in the ass to sleep with. Why don’t we just take him back to his own room? That would be the smart thing to do, but I feel bad for my poor, sick child. As Heather once said, you don’t stop being a parent just because you prefer to sleep.

Anyway, he woke up again around 5:30 complaining that his “whore was long.” I don’t know how to pronounce hair in Swedish very well, but Erik pronounces it as “whore.” I wasn’t thinking very clearly and it took me awhile to realize he meant hair, not his own personal prostitute. He kept crying and crying about his whore and wouldn’t sleep until I put my hand on his head and pressed down fairly hard. When he was a baby he wouldn’t sleep unless he had pressure on his head. I guess he’s reverting.

I don’t think we are going to be able to go outside today. We’re both too sick. I am supposed to go to the OB for my 30 week appt on Thursday but I just called to reschedule. All the lines were busy but at least I was able to leave a message. I hope they call back soon. Sick me, sick Erik and thirty million feet of snow makes the five minute heart beat check feel a little irrelevant. I am hoping to get my 32 week ultrasound scheduled. I hope they weren’t joking with me when they said I would be having a sonogram that late in the game. I really need some confirmation that this is a girl. It is going to suuuuuuck if she turns into a he, but at least we would have some warning. Maybe I shouldn’t have given away all the clothes just yet.

Someone entertain me. Make lots of posts today. Ask me questions. Tell me a joke. Something!

This has been the most un-weekend like weekend ever. All I’ve done is sit around being sick. Mike spent hours upon hours out with the snow shovel, trying to dig us out. We didn’t get to do anything fun at all! I think we deserve a few more weekend days, but Mike doesn’t think his boss will agree.

To top it off, schools are closed through Tuesday. Not that we could go anywhere anyway because Erik and I are both sick, but still. I’m feeling trapped! It’s supposed to snow again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully Erik will be able to go to swim class on Thursday and school on Friday. I think I’m supposed to take pink frosting to school at some point this week, but I don’t know if it is Wednesday or Friday. Guess I’ll just keep a supply of pink frosting in the car. It should be cold enough to stay refrigerated.

I’m kidding!

I wouldn’t keep it in the car. Erik would eat it all.

I’m assuming their Valentine party is going to be a little more interactive than their other parties. Someone is supposed to bring plain heart cookies and I’m bringing the frosting, so I guess the kids will get to decorate the cookies. If it ever stops snowing and they actually get to go to school before St. Patrick’s day.

Maybe I’ll try to get down to the mall tomorrow. My giant Erik shrine picture should be ready. Might as well see just how bad it is going to be. I think there’s something wrong with my maternal instinct. Should I really be making fun of a picture of my own kid? I have pictures of him all over the house, but 16″x16″ is a little much.

I bet we would be able to get down there mid-day if the weather is good. Unfortunately I don’t have any quarters left and when we go to the mall Erik expects to ride a few rides. We go there maybe once every three months, so it’s not like a regular thing. I’ve depleted our change bucket since going to Playtime at the Plex. It’s only $2 per kid so I always pay in change. At first it was always quarters, but last week we were down to a mix of dimes and nickles. I promise I won’t ever pay in all pennies. I hope I don’t drive the lady crazy, but I never carry cash. Using the change feels like using free money. Obviously it’s not free money, but it is wasted money. I’m just letting it live up to it’s potential as a productive member of society.

On a totally different subject, Erik has a lovely new habit of declaring he is never going to speak to us again. Where on earth did he hear that? I took him outside for a little while today and he decided he wasn’t going to come in. He screeched at full volume all the way home “I’m not going to talk to you ever again! Mommy, mommy, mommy! I’m never speaking to you again!” Finally I had to tell him he WAS talking to me and he needed to stop. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. Turd head.

Then this evening he asked me if he made me happy all day because he was such a good boy. I think I need to see a therapist to figure out what I’m supposed to say to things like that. Is he feeling insecure? Is this just a stage? Does he really want to be a good boy? Is he having anxiety about the new baby? I don’t know! He doesn’t seem anxious. He seems quite sure that the is a good boy and he always makes me happy.

They weren’t lying when they said we were getting a shit load of snow this weekend. According to the weather reports, we currently (11:30 am) have 29.9″ and it’s still coming down heavier than ever. I think that might even make a blip on the radar in Kiruna.

Mike and Erik are out shovelling right now. Our sidewalk is even worse because we have lots of trees that Mike is shaking off, so it it is almost doubling the amount of snow in places. Poor Mikey is going to be one sore guy tomorrow. You can’t really even see the cars right now, they are buried so deep.

I’m sick as a dog. Woke up with a sore throat yesterday and it has progressed into a pretty bad cold. Nothing like last year’s flu fest (yet), but I’m still feeling pretty blah. Erik showed up in our bed with a snotty nose this morning, so I guess he’s in for it next. He’s outside right now, which probably isn’t the best idea, but oh well. Can’t keep him in the house for too long if we want him to sleep tonight.

Being pregnant and sick sucks. I’m taking out my aggression on stupid people at babycenter.com. I shouldn’t even go there and read. There is rarely any information I need or want. It’s just a big drama fest, mainly. I am getting really tired of the natural birth people being rude and judgemental towards women who aren’t into natural birth. Bully for you if you want a natural birth. I wish you luck and success. I just get tired of the “women have been doing this since the dawn of time! It’s what are bodies are made for!” Why yes, women have been doing it since the dawn of time. Women have also been dying in childbirth since the dawn of time, or losing their babies due to complications. I just don’t think it is right for anyone to say you must have your baby the way I want you to have your baby or you are a terrible/stupid/irresponsible person. It’s all about choices and doing what you and your doctor or midwife thinks is best.

Off my soap box. Can you tell that is irritating? I’ve been kind of mean on the forum! Can you imagine? Get a bunch of hormonal, opinionated pregnant women together in an online setting and the fur will fly.

Erik is being cute today. He told me he is never going to make me mad again and he is going to help me do everything that I need to do. I have no idea what brought that on. He brought me a peeled banana this morning, unasked for. Uhhhh. Thanks, kid? He brought me my toothbrush with toothpaste already on it. He insisted he pour my milk. I’m glad he is wanting to be a good boy, but having a 4 year old helper is exhausting.

Currently he is trying to wrestle himself out of his snow clothes and refusing help from anyone. This could take awhile.

Can you tell I’m bored? I have a book I should be reading. I put out a plea on Facebook for a book rec and a local friend suggested The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. It looks to be pretty strange, which is just what I’m craving (far future, low tech, feminist).

I really want to get a new bathtub that is decent for soaking in. Our bathroom is pretty tiny so I don’t know how that would work. Surely there must be tubs the same size, only deeper? I probably should ask my dad about it. He’s a former plumber. He could tell me stuff. Too bad he couldn’t come and install it, but he can’t even walk, how is he going to fix my bathroom?

Off topic (when am I ever on topic?): why do internet people spell “huge” as “hugh”? I don’t understand! Is it a typo? The H and E aren’t near each other. Do people really think that’s how it’s spelled? But why? That doesn’t make sense.

See, told you I was in a cranky mood. I think I need food. Nothing sounds good. We had fondue last night because I’ve been thinking about it non-stop for weeks, but it wasn’t even good. Mike said it was, and I believe he enjoyed it, but my non-functioning taste buds had me convinced I was eating melted rubber.

I’m so exhausted tonight. I woke up with a sore throat and the sniffle, so I guess a cold is contributing to my exhaustion. Wonderful! It’s going to be a long weekend with illness and snow.

At least we managed to get out of the house today. We went to Playtime at the Plex, which was really annoying. It was a totally different crowd today–mainly a bunch of little brats and jerky moms. Several of the kids had play swords which they were fighting with. Erik found different items to use as a sword so I was constantly telling him no hitting and getting looks from the moms who were allowing their kids to hit. I almost wouldn’t have a problem with it if it was just a group of kids who all knew each other and the moms all knew each other and there were not random little tiny kids everywhere. Things escalate too fast and get out of control in such a setting. I find play sword really inappropriate at this particular venue.

There was one little asshole kid who had it out for Erik. Everywhere Erik went, he followed. He kept hitting Erik with anything he could find, then when Erik would fight back (usually by trying to take the toy away), the mom would get really pissy at Erik and not say a word to her poor little snowflake.

I usually love Playtime at the Plex because I can sit on the bleachers and watch Erik play with minimum parental duties for two hours. Today I had to be right there with him the whole time to keep things under control. Ugh.

He had his very first swim class this afternoon and prepping him for that was also exhausting. He decided he didn’t want to go because he didn’t want to get his face wet. He kept claiming he wasn’t going to get dressed, he wasn’t going to leave the house, he wasn’t going to get in the car. So on and on and on. It took a lot of psychology, willpower and sheer stubbornness to get him out the door.

My friend has been telling me about these swim lessons for the last year, so I had an idea of how they would go. I tried to prepare him as best I could, which is why he was freaking out. They have to jump in the water, roll over onto their backs and float for 10 seconds as their first main goal. My friend has a tendency to exaggerate things, so I didn’t know how traumatic this would really be. I knew another friend pulled her kid from the class because she thought it was way too traumatic. I didn’t want it all to be a total shock.

Anyway, I shouldn’t have worried. They did make him jump in the water, but it was not traumatic in the least. I have a feeling the friend who pulled her kid out of the class didn’t like the fact that they discipline the kids. Her child is pretty obnoxious and she never has a clue what to do about it. They have some very specific rules and are not afraid to hold the children’s feet or hands if they are kicking or splashing when they aren’t supposed to be. They sat one boy in time out because he was goofing off. Basically, they act like teachers and authority figures and expect the kids to behave. I’m all for that!

Erik decided the swim class was the most fun thing he’s ever done in his whole life and he wants to do it every day. As you can imagine, I was very relieved. I didn’t know what I was going to do if he was screaming and throwing a tantrum with his teacher and refusing to get in the water. He actually did really well and will probably be able to do the first goal in just a couple of sessions. Once he figures out to stick his legs straight out and relax I think he’ll be able to float.

I did make a major mistake. My friend showed me where to put our bags down, but I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the surroundings. I ended up putting my bag down right next to the shower drain, so when class was over I pulled out Erik’s clothes and found his pants, underwear and socks were soaked. At least it was in the mid-40s instead of the mid-20s, but I still felt pretty bad. Obviously I left the socks and underwear off, but he had to have pants on.

The class is held at a gym with a swimming pool. For awhile I was considering switching to the gym just for the pool, but now I’m glad I didn’t. It costs waaaaaaay more than my current gym. It looks a lot nicer and feels a lot fancier, but they don’t have much in the way of equipment. I was looking at their group exercise schedule and was shocked. I’m used to choosing between 3 or 4 different classes each morning–usually yoga or pilates, a cardio class, a weight lifting class and maybe an abs class. That’s not counting the spin classes. This gym had one class at 9:30 every day. That’s it! Well, they had early morning and evening classes, but again just one per day. So would I really want to pay triple my current monthly fee and have less options just because the building is prettier?

Now it’s time to hunker down and expect to be home for the next three days. I hate being home bound. At least Mike might possibly maybe be able to work from home tomorrow, but I’m not betting on it. I don’t think the snow is supposed to start until 10 am.

It snowed a few inches last night, which meant we had a snow day today. No reason for it. It was warm. The roads were clear. But oh noes! Snow! Must not send the children to be educated!

Our county has totally run out of money for snow removal. They are still removing it, but the budget it empty. This was the third snow storm of the season. I suppose that tells you how much snow this place usually gets. This weekend we are supposed to have a storm that tops the Blizzard of ’09–the 21″ we had just after Christmas. Bah.

Since the county schools were closed, the gym daycare was closed, our MOMS Club meeting was cancelled and Erik’s preschool was cancelled.

We were both going stir crazy. I hate being stuck at home all day.

I did take the boy out to the little hill at the end of the cul-de-sac. Thankfully there was a nice group of tween boys who were really kind and sweet with Erik. They let him ride on their sleds and build their ramp and such. I am so glad I didn’t have to trudge up the hill and help him push off. We have a really stupid plastic sled that doesn’t work all that great. It was free since I never saw the point of buying a sled for a once per winter storm. Ha! What do I know? This afternoon we even went to the stores looking for sleds since we are supposed to have several more storms in the next few weeks, but they are long gone. I looked online for some clearance sleds and about choked. Who in the bleepity-bleeping hell spends $50-$200 on a kid’s sled? I couldn’t believe it! His bike and scooter combined didn’t cost that much! I couldn’t find anything other than what we already have in a reasonable price range so gave up on that idea.

I’m really glad I decided to outfit him for winter. The idea was that he would be able to play outside in Sweden. It never crossed my mind that winter pants and boots would be necessary here. Guess what? He didn’t need them in Sweden, but they’ve seen good use.

Anyway, Mike is home! He got home in time to give Erik a bath and do the bedtime routine, so I was very happy. I feel like I’ve been working my ass off cleaning the house all day, but for some reason it is still a horrible pig sty. Erik was on my last nerve. I was very, very defeated and just wanted to sit in a corner and cry. I am so glad he made it home before bedtime so he could take some of the pressure off.

At least Erik did one sweet thing today. When we were at Target he spontaneously decided he wanted to buy Elsa a present. He asked if we could go down the baby toy aisle (I didn’t know he knew such an aisle existed) and he picked out a little pink teddy bear all by himself. Awwwwww! He says he is going to surprise Elsa with it when she pops out of my tummy. I am so relieved he is on board with having a sister. He talks to my belly all the time and tells everyone we meet that he’s going to be a big brother. I know the adjustment will still be hard, but it is really a joy to see him so excited, especially after his total meltdown and denial the first few months.