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Interesting - nay, FASCINATING - tidbit from the September/October issue of Psychology Today:
"People now drink so much coffee that it's started seeping into the environment around us. In fact, caffeine shows up in hundreds of the nation's rivers, lakes and bays - as well as in treated drinking water." - from the article titled StarBucked by Taylor Clark
Who da thunk?
When the girls were small, I always marvelled at the myriad friends and relatives who were so willing to hold/change/feed/rock my babies, even volunteering to give me a break for a few hours, etc. Typically, they were people (mostly women) whose own children had passed that stage of my-wish-is-your-command. After all, they didn't HAVE to, so why would they?
New Nephew is helping me to understand. Every twitch, squeak and blink that issues forth when he's in my company prompts a memory: when Oldest was X, she did this, Youngest used to like it when this happened, Middle always made this face when...
Blink, and you miss it - that's what they told me. So I tried to cherish every moment and didn't blink, and I didn't miss it.
But oh, how I miss it. Now that they're walking/talking/driving all by themselves, it's hard to remember what it was like when their every moment, every milestone, happened before my eyes. Having a baby around, even for a while at a time, is like taking a little walk down memory lane.
Except the girls never peed straight up in the air when I was changing their diaper.
...so I guess I oughta blog. Thanks to Kim for such a sweet post over on her own blog - what a nice surprise! V. sneaky of her to include a picture - can you tell I wasn't even aware of the camera? It's one of those pictures that causes me to say "Dear dog, is my chin really that jutty?!" Time to renew my efforts to put on ten pounds or so.
The posting has been sparse around here, I know. Lots of adjustments happening in our household that have caused blogging to fall lower on the priority list. For one thing, we have a daily visitor here - a newborn nephew that is quickly becoming very spoiled by his uncle and his auntie, (but mostly his uncle). Regulars around here will be shocked to hear that most mornings I'm up and at it by 8 a.m. That takes some getting used to.
And the kids are back to school, and I'm getting back into some volunteer work, and I've had some assignments I'm working on, and what with one thing and another...oh, who am I kidding? Let's just blame it on Facebook and be done with it.
But. In the midst of it all, we have also celebrated (because this is celebration week after all) 18 years married. And as we go through our days, tag teaming this brand new boy, and raising our girls and falling into a rhythm of working together, that, right now, feels like the coolest thing of all.
Happy annibirthary to us!
Got an email from my little brother today, which rarely happens. Here's the gist:
I am only 200 hits away from out Googling you...
Guess I'd better get productive!
Ok, there were no anchors. But there was a boat, if you're the sort that calls a canoe a boat, (it floats on water and is used to move people and things to other places, right?) and I am that sort.
I have a hard time sitting still under the best of circumstances. It's particularly difficult when I have a lot on my mind. It's as though the more I need to still my mind, the harder it is to still my body.
I have a lot on my mind these days. If I had to put them under topic headings I would list such things as "Parenting", "Money", "Parenting", "Teenagers", "Parenting" and "Parenting".
Canoeing is not high on my list of "things I like" particularly for this reason - you have to sit still in a canoe. Other than paddle and look around, there's nothing to do. Nothing. But many of hubby's family like canoeing, and the girls do too, so that's how I ended up in a canoe last week, paddling across the Detroit River to Peche Island. And since we had three and four to a boat (four boats!) I got to just sit and watch the world go by for quite a while.
Americian readers will be happy to know that the US Coast Guard helicopter was watching our little flotilla very carefully, particularly when we put ashore on a ten-foot square patch of sand on the American side of the island. (perfect - I go from doing nothing but sitting to doing nothing but standing because with fifteen people hugging the edge of the brush there's no room to even pace restlessly)
I made this grand sacrifice because it was the WHOLE family - all our kids, plus cousins. Unless you have teenagers, particularly teenagers with jobs, you have no idea how rare this can be: everyone all together with no screens, no cell phones (in case of tipping, people will eventually dry, cell phones won't). No gift shop. Nothing to do but interact with one another. Interaction that doesn't involve "pick up your socks" or "did you eat" or "what time will you be home?"
It was good. We eventually stopped at a second, larger beach, and the kids played at the egde of the water and we ate a snack, and looked at "the home shore" which was only several hundred yards away. For one brief afternoon, we were all able to step outside of the noise and activity and busyness of an average day.
OH, and I stepped out of my flipflops and into the canoe as we paddled away, and didn't noticed I'd left them on the island until we were back on shore. That's how good I got at sitting still.
If you happen to come across them, don't worry about returning them. Losing them has given the kids something to tease me about for a lifetime.
