Wednesday, July 30, 2008

And now the BAD news

Princess the Hamster is no more.

Genevieve was playing with her this evening when it suddenly dropped dead. No idea what happened. No adults were in the room, but it doesn't sound like Genevieve did anything to hasten its demise. It was moving around and then it wasn't. Poor thing. She is devastated.

As soon as I can decontaminate the cage (just in case it was a virus), we promised to get a new one. So stay posted...

First the GOOD news

After an agonizing two weeks of waiting for the CVS test results...

It's official, we're having a baby! It's chromosomally normal and male!

What a relief after last time... John and I have hardly been able to believe that it would really happen. Logically we knew it was extremely unlikely to have two trisomies in a row, but emotionally it has been surprisingly difficult. Now we can finally start getting excited about it.

The due date is Feb 3rd, which is so funny because that is both John's and my mom's birthday.

I am a little scared about having a boy, though. In the beginning it's not much different, but when it comes to sports and trucks and stuff, I don't know if I can do as good a job of parenting. Oh well, I guess we'll figure it out!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Flowers

I love flowers. I absolutely adore flowering trees and bushes. If I had my way, my whole yard would be full of flowers. Two things stand in my way. First, I'm not much of a gardener, and second, my yard is practically all shade (which I am learning is NOT good for most flowers). However, we do have a few really lovely perennials. One of my favorites is the profusion of orange day lillies that runs across the front of our stone wall by the street. Every year I look forward to them.
Ready for a close-up?

For the most part, I do not like flowers on my walls, though. We have some of the most hideous wallpaper in the 2nd bathroom. I can't imagine why anyone ever thought that 4" flowers in mauve, pink, blue and gold with giant green leaves would be attractive.
So yesterday I decided I couldn't stand it anymore and started ripping it off. Ahhh, that feels good. It only took me five years to get around to it! Look at the lovely blue paint they covered up with that awful stuff (yes, they even covered the medicine cabinet in their enthusiasm)!

Genevieve is mad at me, though. She doesn't like change, and assumes that anything with flowers on it must be pretty. I need to work on her sense of style.

Monday, July 7, 2008

2nd sleepover

On Saturday Genevieve had a playdate with another friend, Rachel. They had a good time at our house, and then went back to Rachel's house to jump in the bounce house. They were having so much fun they asked if Rachel could sleep over sometime. Sure. How about tonight? Um, OK, I don't see why not. They were so excited! Rachel grabbed a bag of stuff to bring to our house while her twin sister Danielle screamed and wailed that it wasn't fair. I felt bad about that, but Genevieve and Danielle don't get along as well, and when both twins are around it just causes competition and jealousy.

So they came back and continued the day's work of completely trashing my house. But it was so nice to have Genevieve occupied with someone else so that I didn't get demands for my attention every five minutes. We decided that this time they would sleep in the foldout couch downstairs. Everything was great up until the moment they got into bed. Then all of a sudden Rachel started repeating "I want my mom" in a really small voice. So her mom came and got her (with Danielle, who kept offering to stay instead).

Poor Genevieve was so disappointed; she cried and cried. It was not surprising to me that it didn't work out. I can remember several aborted sleepovers when I was little, and so can John. But Genevieve didn't get it. We'll see what happens the first time she gets invited to someone else's house!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Aunt Jessica

Last week my sister and her girlfriend, Kara, came to visit. My parents gave her their old car, so they are now driving back to San Diego. We only get to see her about once or twice a year, so it was nice she could be here. Genevieve was thrilled to have someone new to show off her hamster to.


Genevieve told Jessica that it was too bad she was unlucky and had never found a man. Fortunately Jessica thought it was funny.