Down Under

Let me tell you, after yesterday and today, how I am so glad my husband is on the big bird, on his way back to the States.

The kids were down for a nap today, and I finished a painting for my new office. I still had about an hour before they were scheduled to wake up so I thought I'd lay down. I took the finished painting on the back deck to get some sun and dry, and I passed out in the bed for an hour.

A while later, the monitors went off with both kids crying, and I popped up, ready to do the nighttime routine. I wandered out into the living room... and gasped, as I saw the back door, wide open.

I thought, I really cannot take much more of this.

There it was. The door stood wide open, and the wind was blowing into the house. I could hear James and Stella rustling around upstairs, and I thought, oh my God, someone is in my house.

I dashed back into the bedroom and grabbed the handgun. As I crept around corners, opening doors and closets and the garage. I went upstairs, checked every nook and cranny. Nothing. No one was here.

One solid heartattack later, I realized, I must not have locked the back door when I took the painting outside, and the wind must have just blown it open while I was napping. It made sense - happens all the time, if the door is not shut properly.

Still, does not make me feel any better about my household management skills sans husband.

I'm glad you are your way home, honey. If not for the sheer fact that I miss you... but then, for the fact that I cannot remember to shut doors and I almost lose children down hills while you are gone.

Another Reason to Become a Hermit

Jason is in Australia, and I braved an outing with James, 2, and Stella, 1, to the Mall of Georgia. Surprising uneventful. I even managed to buy some jeans, and have the right side of my hair accosted by one of those straigtening-iron people at a booth in the middle of the walkway. (Why, oh why, do not ask me.)

The weird thing is that I wore my sneakers to the mall. I never do that. I find it fashionably offensive (even though my ugly black clogs are usually no better). But today I wore my sneakers, and now I know why.

I was feeling pretty good on the drive home, feeling like a good mother who managed to take the circus on the road, and feed the kids a reasonably healthy lunch. I was patting myself on the back as I pull into the driveway, and let James out of the car. Holding his hand, I walk him around the other side to get Stella. I pin him between my knees as I pick her up. But as I close the door, and reach for his hand, he takes off running.

Our house has a reasonably steep, but short hill towards the left front, the bottom of which leads to a small creek recently filled and rushing from the heavy rains. James was making a mad dash for it. Holding Stella, I run after him screaming, "No! James, nooo!" At this point during any typical mad dash for anything, he usually turns around and gives me some you-know-what-eating grin, testing me...but he always stops or comes back. Today, he didn't stop. He didn't even turn around.

With Stella in my arms, I take off running, thanking God that I'd been on the treadmill twice this week, and for giving me the strange intuition to wear my Nikes to the mall. I am so close to grabbing him, but I clearly see I'm not going to make it. I scream No! in a panicked voice, which I can still seriously hear ringing in my ears, and without stopping, he runs slap off the edge of the hill and disappears.

For a milli-split second, my mind must've thought: drop Stella, hope she doesn't follow and go for James? run Stella to the grass, and then go back for James? or just tuck and tumble immediately, and go?

It must have only been a second pause, but I opt for tuck and tumble. I pull Stella into my chest and we both head sideways, rolling down the hill after James. Seconds before I reach him, I see him land at the bottom of the hill, three feet from the rushing water. Luckily, he was pretty stunned, and didn't venture any further. When I reach him, I grab his foot and yank him to me, and we were all safe.

Covered in mud and leaves, I sit in the wet grass covering both babies for what seemed like ten minutes. James is sobbing, Stella looks like she might have actually enjoyed the adventure, and I am am shaking beyond words. What in the hell just happened? This could have been so much worse. If I'd had been wearing my crappy non-running shoes... if he had run for the street....if he'd rolled three feet further. I was not even slightly careless... I wasn't texting or talking on the phone, I was pinning my son between my knees and pulling his sister out of her carseat, and in process of reaching for his hand to go into the house. Just run-of-the-mill careful parenting, and my son could have ended up in a creek.

As if I needed another reason to become a hermit...

On the Mend

Our baby girl bruiser is on the mend. After falling and hitting her forehead the day after the eye incident, and then tumbling and knocking a bruise into her cheek the following day... I think we are standing upright and on the mend (at least for today), and enjoying the fruits of being a big girl.

www.atwoodbabies.blogspot.com

Sweet Baby Bruisers

Last night, I swore the Atwoods were on hidden camera. But not the funny hidden camera. A new kind of freaky hidden camera where all the pranks are so not funny.

First, James managed to squeeze his grubby little fingers in the door jamb...then those little precious fingers were shut in the door by Jason (accident, of course). James was hysterical for about five minutes, but the fingers swelled down nicely and he was fine rather quickly. Crisis 1, averted.

Next, there were several tantrums and random spills - from milk to exaggerated falls on the floor. Both kids, dropping like flies. What the....? Stella down, then James, then Stella again. No big crisis at this point, but the house was just so loud in these moments, crying and wailing...with an air of strange tragedy looming.

Finally (and the worse of all), Stella picked a fight with the television table. She lost, and sacrificed her left eye area. Horrible. A real, live shiner. I cannot bear to look at that sweet baby face. She was also hysterical for five minutes and then, she was fine.

Now, Jason and I are another story. I was a mess after seeing Stella's black eye, and Jason felt so bad about the door jamb situation. All of this happened (no kidding) within a twenty minute period. After the kids' were snug as bug, Jason and I both fell onto the couch and stayed there for about three hours - in bed by midnight (three hours past my old lady bedtime), and not even a prayer for waking up on time to miss traffic.

Friday has been (so far)... not quite as freaky as Thursday. Thank goodness.

Happy weekend, ya'll!

Untitled

"When you are right you cannot be too radical;

when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Princess & the Frog

Baby boy James and I went on a date today to see Princess & the Frog, the new Disney cartoon. Much like Alvin & the Chipmunks outing, we ate crackers, saw "friends" sitting behind us, and devoured ice cream after the show. I like having a "boy" versus a "baby," the new interaction is divine. He leapt all over the movie theater seats, like a frog, but he was good for the most part. Just a two year old boy turned froggy. Ribbit.

Stella girl is traveling at the speed of light. She runs, not walks. The fights between James and Stella have begun - "mine" and "no, Sissy." I imagine this will not stop any time soon. She loves her Daddy best, just as little girls should. The Princess, and her daddy.

As for me, I feel I require an update from the last post. This week was bizarre. And I don't think there's been a five minute period where I haven't wanted to throw up.

I have resigned from my current job as a litigation attorney to pursue a new career opportunity. As I am cleaning out my office and wrapping up my responsibilities, I cannot believe that these changes are happening. Nothing makes sense, and yet, it all makes perfect sense. I loved my job. And yet, I have submitted my resignation. I know why, but I am still figuring out the how...while at the same time, it's all worked out for me. The why, the how. It's fine.

Prior to this rapidly changing course, I had been reading a book by Po Bronson, appropriately entitled What Should I Do with My Life. Part of the introduction hit me like a ton of diapers, as follows:

"I learned that it was in hard times that people usually changed the course of their life; in good times, they frequently only talked about change. Hard times forced them to overcome the doubts that normally gave them pause. It surprised me how often we hold ourselves back until we have no choice. So the people [within this book have] suffered layoffs, bankruptcies, divorces, evictions, illnesses, and the deaths of loved ones, and as a result, they were as likely to stumble into a better life as they were to arrive there by reasoned planning. They made mistakes before summoning the courage to get it right. Their path called into question the notice that a 'calling' is something you inherently know whnere you're young. Far from it. These people discovered in themselves gifts they rarely realized they had."

And while my new "path" is not too far from the old one... it is definitely a change. At the bare minimum, during this week I have learned much about myself... that I am the type of person to take a leap. But when I think back, I've been leaping all along, from one weird vision/experience to another.

And to make matters better, I married an even BIGGER froggy. My husband - he's the Frog King. I've never seen leaps like he's taken, and I'll probably never reap the rewards like him either. But perhaps, I'm taking cues from him. Ribbit.

Hmmmm, maybe we're all frogs in this family. The Frog Family.

Well, actually... I think Stella is probably still a princess.

Love to you all -
M

Snow and Sadness

Tonight it snows. Big news for the Southern folks. A 25 mile drive from work... I'm probably "snowed" in tomorrow. Two years in Atlanta has taught me: 1) do not attempt to drive with idiotic ATL snow drivers; and 2) bring home a pile of work each night in case of inclement weather. Check, check.

I hope for a big play snowday, sometime between drafting a motion for summary judgment and preparing for court on Monday. Snow day. The best part of being the South. Bundled babies, snow, a camera. Delicious.

Tonight, things are changing professionally, life is changing. I know it. I sense it, and I know it, and I cannot speak of it (because I really don't know what the heck is going on). Things are about to be different, and I will face this fact by noon on Monday. My limited information knows that things are in the works...and my 7th sense knows that things will never be the same.

When I was small, I never understood what the "peace that passes all understanding" meant. Now, I feel it in my veins. God has a hand, an infinite wisdom. My personal life is in the peace. And the rest.. it's all in the stars. But if half is at peace, I consider myself a lucky ducky.

Love to all -
M

Proof that Stella Walks