Quarantine

Todd is almost home. And that sound you're hearing? That's the sound of angels singing.

With Todd off in Missouri and Pennsylvania, Micah took the opportunity to come down with his first cold. He's been a hacking, snot-ridden ball of misery for about three days. It wasn't a total surprise, since on Monday the infant room at daycare sounded like a tuberculosis ward, but still...this was so not what any of us needed. Especially since I think I've caught it now, dammit.

To be fair, other than his frustration with his inability to eat and breathe at the same, Micah's really been taking them whole plague thing pretty well. He's miserable, but he's still a sweet, smiley baby most of the time. Since I was home with him, I took the opportunity to document his current stage with a few pictures.

Micah is currently four and a half months old; he'll be 20 weeks old tomorrow. Today he weighed 14 pounds, 4 ounces. His birth hair is completely gone on the top of his head - all that's left is a patch on the very back and a ring from ear to ear. New hair is finally coming in, a soft, short fuzz that looks more brown than red. His eyes are still a bright blue and people comment on them all the time. He smiles at everyone.

Good times!

The husband's been in Alaska all week.

Some Things I've Learned From This Experience:

• Single parents are superhuman.

• There's no use crying over spilt milk, unless it happens to be milk you spent time and effort (not to mention pain) pumping from your boobs, and carelessly knocked over while preparing bottles. Crying over that makes perfect sense.

• The cat will always barf on the rug while you're too busy to clean it up. And hours later, you will always step in the cold, squishy pile of forgotten vomit.

• But the dog will always be there to helpfully clean it all up.

• ...And you will honestly be grateful to him.

• The temptation to drink heavily is inversely proportional the amount of time you actually have available for drinking.

Dude, this is EXACTLY how I feel.

This is new

We just finished watching President (PRESIDENT!) Obama's swearing-in and inauguration speech.

I am so incredibly happy that the last eight years are behind us, and I'm cautiously hopeful about the next four. I've been so displeased with our government for my entire adult life, so this feeling of hope and goodwill and unity is completely foreign to me. I mean, for the last eight years there's been exactly ONE speech by our president that didn't make me want to stab him in the face. Listening to our leader speak without grinding my teeth is totally weird. But weird GOOD.

Also, THIS is the best sight ever. Just more proof that Bush is gone, Obama is in, and now, maybe, we can get back to what's important.

Time to update the resume

I just participated in the ASCE Engineering Income & Salary survey and found out that I'm being paid about $15,000 less that the 25th percentile of respondents in the Southeast with my level of experience and my job position.

(It's closer to $23,000 less when compared to the average, but since that includes places like Atlanta, we'll just ignore that.)

I've always joked that you don't work at my company for the money. But DAMN.

Ice Fall

This morning we stopped by the new Kelly Cove subdivision so I could take some pictures of the fountains at their entrance.

It's been below freezing for three days, so the amount of ice built up was pretty impressive. Now that we're finally above freezing, I kind of wonder how long this will all take to thaw.

So I don't forget

Last night, it was freakishly cold for Northern Alabama. Micah's room is located on the opposite end of the house from our 15-year-old, none-too-efficient heat pump, and with temperatures in the single digits, his room, predictably, got pretty chilly. And so the baby woke up at 3 AM.

After three nights of uninterrupted sleep, getting up to feed him was hard. I staggered into his room in a stupor (while Todd blearily focused on NOT accidentally putting the diaper on Micah's head) and sat down to nurse. And the child was WIDE AWAKE. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, even. He finished his meal and he was STILL awake. I laid him down in his warmed crib, tucked his blankets around him, and crawled back to my bed, hoping he'd settle back down. Thirty minutes later, he was still happily talking to himself. Not upset, not crying. Just having a good ol' time. AT FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING.

Finally, it clicked that his room was probably still too cold for him to sleep, and I brought him back to bed with me. I tucked him in beside me, and he turned his face up to smile at me in the dark. I curled around him, and he pushed his ice-cold hands into my stomach and snuggled his face up against my chest. Then, slowly, he fell asleep. A little warm bundle, dressed in paw-print fleece, his chubby fists locked on the front of my shirt, his breath tickling my bare arm. And as I fell asleep, all I could think was how lucky I am, and how I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

Great timing

Apparently I wasn't the only exhausted one in our house. Last night Micah slept from 8:00 PM all the way to 6:45 AM, forgoing his usual 2:30 meal. For that, he totally gets a cookie. Which, since he obviously isn't eating solids, means I get a cookie. WIN!

Now if I can just manage to catch back up with his milk-guzzling, we'll be okay.

Asleep standing up

Okay, this may sound stupid, but for the last month, this whole going back to work thing has seemed sort of temporary in my mind. It's like I kind of forgot that this is how it's going to be now. I keep thinking there's a break ahead, and guess what? There's not.

Get up, get ready for work. Wolf down breakfast, feed baby, get baby ready to go. Drop off baby, go to work. Pump while working. Work some more. Go feed baby. Go back to work. Pump while working, wolf down food while working. Work some more. Go home, eat dinner, bathe baby, feed baby, put baby to bed. Get stuff ready for next day. Collapse in bed. Wake up, feed baby. Collapse back in bed. Rinse. Repeat.

I feel like I haven't stopped to breathe since last week. Our Christmas tree is still up. People are wondering if I'm dead or alive, because they haven't heard from me in weeks. There are a million unanswered personal emails, the Christmas cards are still in the packages they came in, my friends haven't seen me since October. My desk looks like a file cabinet exploded.

Some days I feel like I've got this under control. Then the cats start puking, the dog can't stand up, the daycare people spill four precious ounces of boob juice, the baby wakes up at midnight, I can't find any clean clothes, work goes batshit crazy, and I find myself wondering just how long I can do this before I lose my mind.

Oh, Monday. Now you kick my ass more than ever.

Monte Sano Fog