Trish’s Blog

When I woke up this morning the thermostat read 63 degrees F inside the house. I decided to bake the rest of the gingersnap cookie dough I had in the fridge to warm up. I always hate turning on the heat since we spend most of the year trying to cool down the house. It just seems wrong somehow. My mother would laugh at how I make everyone bundle up until we actually see our breaths (only then will I submit). She used to tell us to “bundle up!” and we were forbidden to touch the thermostat in our rooms. But this was in Northern Idaho, so she really was cruel. My brother once got totally busted for having his room temperature reach 90 degrees F. What a rebellious child… and all I did was steal the car (at 14 or 15 years old) and drive 30 miles over the border to Washington. I actually got away with it until my stepdad got in the car to go to work the next day and the mirror and seat were all kapakahi. They marched straight to my brother’s room to question the culprit while I hid under the covers wondering what method they would use to kill me. Lying was not an option, so they were shocked that the culprit turned out to be me. My brother went back to his sauna of a room while I got grounded for the whole summer one week before school let out.

Mom wasn’t that cruel, after all she did let me go to the library and I would spend my days and nights reading. And luckily, we had planned a month-long family vacation to visit my Aunt’s summer home in Rockport, Massachusetts. So I did actually get to see the light of day… it’s hard to confine your kid to the house when the house is not yours. And then shortly after that, I went to Southern California to stay with my dad for the rest of the summer. My punishment was not all that bad when I look back. And now we laugh about it. “Remember when you stole the car?” Ha ha ha ha. One thing my mom doesn’t know, however, is how I did not know how to downshift. So when I reached that one big hill that overlooks the city, I was going 30 mph on a 65 mph highway. Cars were honking and passing me and I couldn’t figure out why the car was slowing down. Let’s just say that if my daughter ever pulls a stunt like this one… Josh will be the one to deal with her because I will revisit my imagination on methods of killing.

I’m actually quite proud of Sarah right now. She missed a week of school and did almost all of the make up homework last night. She reported to me what else needed to be done and how she was going to get it done before she went back to classes today. I was really amazed at how she has learned to organize her time and use the bus ride to school as a study hall. I was worried in the beginning of the year when she wasn’t turning in her homework. Middle school is a new experience for her and she found out that no one was going to be checking up on her at every turn to see if she has done the work. Now she knows that we will check up on her eventually and that there is a reason for report cards. Her biggest issues on that front is fluctuating from an A+ to an A- or B+. They use percentages and not letters, but I can’t help thinking of them in that way. Currently, she is a straight A student… as is her brother, Zack.

Zack is excited to be doing his first science project. He’s going to find out “Which fruits can ruin your dessert” by making jello and putting in two fruits that are listed on the box as “do not add”. He chose this experiment so that he can eat the results. Sarah, Seth and Zoe will be happy to help him, I think.

Zoe had her first birthday yesterday, but she is young enough for us to sneak it past her. We are trying to slow everything down and speed them up at the same time. We’re keeping her from walking on her own so that Daddy can hurry up and come home from his business trip in Vegas. She took a few steps on her own before he left, so we know she’s on the verge of a breakthrough. He called and sang Happy Birthday to her while I had my phone on speaker. It was cute the way she showed a response… like that she was even alive. Poor thing came out positive for strep throat yesterday and we were waiting for her prescription to be filled. So she was kind of a bump on a log, looking at me with droopy eyes. I hope she will always get lights in her eyes at the sound of her daddy’s voice. She’ll be like me in that sense.

I really can’t believe she has reached a year old. I’m usually contemplating weaning about now, but it hasn’t even crossed my mind. We all want her to just stay small. I love to hug her and breathe in her baby smell. It goes away all too fast, and it’s hard enough to share her. Pretty soon she’ll be stiff-arming all of us so that she can walk, run and climb on her own. She tells us all of this in her baby talk and we just can’t understand yet, but I know she’s saying it. The things she does say that we can understand are: bup or bup pup pup for UP, mo (while doing the sign for “more”) for more, bah for bye, hah da-e for hi daddy, and shakes her head for no. Oh and she says mama—like it’s a sentence… “mama ma mama mamamam”.

So when Josh gets home tomorrow we’ll celebrate Zoe’s birthday. Or maybe we’ll wait for the weekend… I’m so behind on work right now. My deadline is tomorrow and I’ve got 31 emails from my office to take care of. This is the story of my life. I endeavor to get things done early, do things more spread out, but so far this year, I’m still cramming and pulling overnighters to get it done. I’ll survive.

Going to go put some socks on now because I just looked at the thermostat and it only reached 64 degrees F. Oh, well. At least now I can bundle up and eat cookies, too.

Posted on January 13th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids, Life