And lo, a weekend
Coming into the weekend Alice and I were getting pretty tired of being on our own, but fortunately the reinforcements arrived on Thursday in the form of my cousin, Ashley, and her boyfriend, Alex. We had a fun dinner at Mifune and I got to hear about some of Alex' adventures as a set designer for movies and television. Unfortunately, something Alex and Alice ate (we suspect the beef) did not go down well and they both had rough nights. Avert your eyes now if bodily effluvia is a squick factor.
I had heard Alice having a coughing fit, but she didn't cry out, so I figured that's all it was. When I went up to bed, she had thrown up all over her crib, poor thing. I hated to wake her, but it seemed wiser to clean her up than to let her sleep in the muck all night. I couldn't face changing the crib sheet, so I just put her in new jammies and took her to bed with me, figuring she'd been asleep again for over an hour and was probably done. After an hour of sleep, I was awoken by her gagging and managed to scoop her up and get to the sink before she got much on the bed. Another round of cleaning up ensued and then I put her down in the co-sleeper (she hasn't actually slept there in months, but it's still attached to the bed as a bed rail). She fell asleep standing in the co-sleeper, with her head on the bed. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again she had one leg up on the bed, still sound asleep, and the next time I blinked, she'd gotten all the way up. So apparently she could climb out, she just needed a nap between steps.
On Friday A&A went off for a day of wandering Harvard Square and Newbury Street and dinner with bex77 and audioboy. Alice and I had a hard day--even before the previous night's adventures she had been off her feed for a few days and mealtimes have become major exercises in patience. But we survived and A&A came back about the time that muffyjo was arriving for pizza and laundry and we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit. I shamelessly won and when Alex wanted to play again I suggested that I just dump my pieces and we keep going...and I won again.
When I woke up on Saturday, Jason was home and in bed with me and all was right with the world. He looked after Alice all day, while A&A went off to spend the rest of their visit with Anne & George. I puttered around and finally managed to get some traction on a task I've started three times previously and then we joined dpolicar and earthling177 for dinner at Alfresco, which everyone had been praising to the skies. The food was reasonably good, but they were overrun and the service suffered to the point of Jason not only being served the wrong entree, but never being brought the correct one. The waitress was fairly nonchalant about the whole thing until I asked her to take the wrong entree off the bill and then the owner came and made sufficiently effusive apologies that we came out thinking we probably will go back, but maybe on a Tuesday. From there we went to celebrate hotpoint's birthday at his lovely home and I gorged myself on cannoli. Most exciting of all, Alice took her first unsupported step before realizing what she'd done and sitting down. Now the trouble really starts!
Today I did a big run to Whole Foods and then came home and cleared enough stuff out of the fridge to make room for the groceries and made lunch before setting to work on dinner. I made a quadruple batch of Hungarian mushroom soup. I think that's the largest I've ever done and chopping seventy mushrooms reminded me why I don't do that more often. I did remember to use my snorkel mask for the onions this time, which is a major win. I got a nap and then the hordes (Anne, George, Ashley, Alex, Mom and Dad) descended upon us and we had a very pleasant evening, dining on soup and bread and the wonderful salamis that Jason had brought home from Salumi. Unfortunately, something hit Jason really hard a few minutes into dinner (possibly the clam chowder he'd had for lunch) and he's spent the rest of the evening Very Unhappy™. After dessert (ice cream and brownies--I tried wattleseed for the first time!) everyone else left and I spent some time with Alice before getting her to bed right at ten. muffyjo called on her way home from NJ to say that her car's problems had piled up to the point that she'd like me to meet her at our dealership, so she could leave the car there without stopping again. So I got to see her for a few minutes and hear about her weekend adventures.
And tomorrow I get to have rehearsal again!
I had heard Alice having a coughing fit, but she didn't cry out, so I figured that's all it was. When I went up to bed, she had thrown up all over her crib, poor thing. I hated to wake her, but it seemed wiser to clean her up than to let her sleep in the muck all night. I couldn't face changing the crib sheet, so I just put her in new jammies and took her to bed with me, figuring she'd been asleep again for over an hour and was probably done. After an hour of sleep, I was awoken by her gagging and managed to scoop her up and get to the sink before she got much on the bed. Another round of cleaning up ensued and then I put her down in the co-sleeper (she hasn't actually slept there in months, but it's still attached to the bed as a bed rail). She fell asleep standing in the co-sleeper, with her head on the bed. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again she had one leg up on the bed, still sound asleep, and the next time I blinked, she'd gotten all the way up. So apparently she could climb out, she just needed a nap between steps.
On Friday A&A went off for a day of wandering Harvard Square and Newbury Street and dinner with bex77 and audioboy. Alice and I had a hard day--even before the previous night's adventures she had been off her feed for a few days and mealtimes have become major exercises in patience. But we survived and A&A came back about the time that muffyjo was arriving for pizza and laundry and we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit. I shamelessly won and when Alex wanted to play again I suggested that I just dump my pieces and we keep going...and I won again.
When I woke up on Saturday, Jason was home and in bed with me and all was right with the world. He looked after Alice all day, while A&A went off to spend the rest of their visit with Anne & George. I puttered around and finally managed to get some traction on a task I've started three times previously and then we joined dpolicar and earthling177 for dinner at Alfresco, which everyone had been praising to the skies. The food was reasonably good, but they were overrun and the service suffered to the point of Jason not only being served the wrong entree, but never being brought the correct one. The waitress was fairly nonchalant about the whole thing until I asked her to take the wrong entree off the bill and then the owner came and made sufficiently effusive apologies that we came out thinking we probably will go back, but maybe on a Tuesday. From there we went to celebrate hotpoint's birthday at his lovely home and I gorged myself on cannoli. Most exciting of all, Alice took her first unsupported step before realizing what she'd done and sitting down. Now the trouble really starts!
Today I did a big run to Whole Foods and then came home and cleared enough stuff out of the fridge to make room for the groceries and made lunch before setting to work on dinner. I made a quadruple batch of Hungarian mushroom soup. I think that's the largest I've ever done and chopping seventy mushrooms reminded me why I don't do that more often. I did remember to use my snorkel mask for the onions this time, which is a major win. I got a nap and then the hordes (Anne, George, Ashley, Alex, Mom and Dad) descended upon us and we had a very pleasant evening, dining on soup and bread and the wonderful salamis that Jason had brought home from Salumi. Unfortunately, something hit Jason really hard a few minutes into dinner (possibly the clam chowder he'd had for lunch) and he's spent the rest of the evening Very Unhappy™. After dessert (ice cream and brownies--I tried wattleseed for the first time!) everyone else left and I spent some time with Alice before getting her to bed right at ten. muffyjo called on her way home from NJ to say that her car's problems had piled up to the point that she'd like me to meet her at our dealership, so she could leave the car there without stopping again. So I got to see her for a few minutes and hear about her weekend adventures.
And tomorrow I get to have rehearsal again!