Don't worry, Jack Bauer

There may be four nuclear suitcase bombs at loose in LA, but Evelyn is on the case.




(And before you ream me for letting my baby watch 24, I wasn't really. I just wanted to get her to crawl, and she was much more excited to get to the computer with moving pictures and noise.)

Proof that it wasn't a one-time thing . . .

* * *

Friday, Evelyn had her first bandaid-worthy owie (shots not included). How do you get a 8.5-month-old to keep the bandaid on, though, especially when it's bleeding and messy?

June 21 - family dinner aftermath

Refrigerator madness

In my inbox when I got back from my midday walk*:

Dear Emma Prete,

Thank you for your order with homedepot.com. We are pleased to inform you that we have shipped one or more items in your order W062670913 to:

Shipping Address: xxxx

Using: Special Delivery

Shipping Date: Jun 19, 2008 1:11:08 PM EST

Order Confirmation #W062670913

Order Date: Feb 18, 2008 12:11:26 PM EST
______________________________

1 Compact Stainless Steel Refrigerator with Bottom Mount Freezer

_______________________________________

Um, what are the odds that the refrigerator
{-you know, the one we waited 3 months for before they told us the earliest delivery would be mid-July

-at which point we discussed and discussed before deciding we couldn't wait that long

-and then found a different refrigerator that cost twice as much}

would ship two hours before I called to cancel the order?

Luckily, a very nice man named Calvin says I can just refuse the order when they call to schedule delivery and then call Home Depot to get a refund. In his words, "Looking at this history, honestly, I don't see how they could NOT refund your money." However, this was only after I was transferred twice, one person told me they couldn't even find my order, and another person told me there was no way to cancel once an item has shipped. I had a mini panic attack. As if renovating isn't expensive enough. I'm SOOOOO not paying for two refrigerators.

* * *

June 17

June 18 - back in the saddle again, so to speak

June 19 - Evelyn's favorite thing to do right now is to pull herself up to a crouch. She can't reach high enough to pull herself up on the furniture, but a bumbo or a stray parent's leg is low enough to allow her the leverage she needs

*Running was out since I practically pulled my shoulder out of its socket grabbing the railing while falling down the stairs the other day (about half a flight); my arm completely refused to run and push the stroller at the same time.

Funk

June 12

Ever since Charles went away with the car, I have been in a serious funk - withdrawal, as predicted. Thus, almost two weeks and nothing of serious consequence to post. Evelyn has her first post-weaning* cold, and whether or not bottle-feeding has anything to do with it, this one has lasted much longer than past colds. Six days and counting of constant fussiness is enough to make almost anyone crazy, I think. Combine that with a mild case of food poisoning on my part, and the early stages of colds for both John and me (probably from Evelyn), and we've been pretty pathetic over here.

Thankfully, Evelyn and I had given John his Father's Day gift a few days early. We went to see a Yankees/Blue Jays game (no bleachers seats this time). Evelyn did pretty well considering the fact that the game started at her bedtime. I think we made it through 2 hours or about 6 innings. Not bad.

The next day was our last day of car freedom in the city, so we took advantage by going to ABC Carpet and Home in the Bronx to pick out an inexpensive rug for the living room, then continuing on to Ikea. Evelyn was very impressed by their selection of curtains, as evidenced below.

That weekend, we accompanied Charles to DC. We got to hang out with John's cousin Trevor and his family. Barb and Trevor are the best hosts ever. We love visiting them, and little Katie is a great babysitter in the making. Trevor even took a family picture of us on Sunday. In hindsight, I wonder why I thought it wasn't necessary to brush my hair that day? Oh, well.

Last week was full of errands and cleaning up in general. On Thursday, Evelyn and I waited for Shakespeare in the Park tickets (Hamlet). Luckily, Evelyn partially redeemed herself for her behavior the rest of the day by waving for the first few times (to people in line who waved at her, it's still hit or miss though) and figuring out how to click her tongue, which was kind of hilarious. Originally, Dan was going to come watch the Evelyn after I put her to bed while Caitlin and I saw the show that night, but Evelyn was so fussy that I didn't feel like I could do that to him. Also, I was exhausted from dealing with a crying baby all day, and Hamlet is long (although I believe they did a shortened version, it was still over three hours). So, I sent Dan with the tickets and some advice to enjoy his remaining child-free evenings.

The belle of the line

Saturday, we began what we hope will be semi-regular tradition of having all the assistant stake clerks and the stake executive secretary, along with significant others, to dinner. This allowed us to break out the leaves on our dining table for the first time, and it went pretty smoothly all things considered. Sunday was Father's Day, of course. Sappy posts about what a great father John is will have to wait until next year, unfortunately. You know how I feel, babe. We were both a little under the weather. Luckily, Julia and Eric had us to dinner, so not only did I not have to cook, but John got a better Father's Day dinner than the reheated Saturday night leftovers for which he otherwise would have settled. Now that I've failed to provide any actual meals on his birthday and Father's Day, I guess I can't justifiably expect much when the comparable days roll around.

And yes, that is my child, eating baby wipes.

* Evelyn decided she no longer wanted to nurse about a month ago (as evidenced by screaming and refusing to eat unless I walked around and bounced up and down while feeding her - a bit awkward in restaurants and other public places). So, I figured I'd give child-led weaning a try and stop forcing the issue. We are both much happier. That feeling of bonding people say nursing gives you with your child? I don't think I ever felt that until I started feeding her bottles. I will hopefully nurse future babies, but hopefully it'll be a little easier next time.

Day trippers

We have soldiered on in our quest to make use of the car. You already heard about last week's beach trip on Wednesday and Sleepy Hollow on Thursday. Friday, Ruth and I went to Costco, sans kids. Ruth took Abbi to day care for the day (note to self: put signing Evelyn up for back-up day care on my to do list), and Charles kindly agreed to watch Evelyn. He even changed a poopie diaper, although I'm guessing he wouldn't want me to advertise that fact. He doesn't seem highly inclined to do it again any time soon. Saturday was our unfortunate trip down to Bryant Park. We had thought about going to Atlantic City (we've never been) or Philadelphia, but I decided I wasn't up to 6 hours in the car with Evelyn.

May 29 - Evelyn getting ready for a day of fun in Sleepy Hollow

May 30 - Charles shows Evelyn how to wear pajama pants in style - as a toga, of course.

May 31 - We're not going to Atlantic City. And you lost my stroller. This is not a good day.

June 1 - In all sincerity, can any toy ever compete with a hanger?

This week, the car has been a double bonus. It has allowed us both to get out of the city and to hang out with Kaedi and Sydney. We miss them so much since they moved to their new hood, but it turns out, as long as traffic isn't bad, it's an easy trip to pick them up in the car. Then, we get onto the freeway up by them, which saves us some waiting in traffic on that end. Monday, we went to the outlets. I find shopping for Evelyn much more exciting than shopping for me. It's easy to buy stuff because she doesn't have to try it on and she looks adorable in everything (of course). Additionally, her outfits are always cheaper than mine. Because of this, I think she's now fully stocked through this summer, next fall/winter, and next summer. Basically, a year's supply. If only I were this on top of my food storage.

June 2 - Excited for a day of bargain hunting at the outlets

Yesterday Kaedi, Syndney, Evelyn, and I returned to Costco. The girls had a fun time not looking at the camera when we tried to take pictures of them in the cart. A few people asked if they were twins, perhaps noticing the twinner sets of sandals we bought them the day before at the outlets? Oh, yeah, and the fact that they're only 2 weeks apart in age.




In addition to freedom in the form of car, Charles's visit has given me freedom in the form of going out at night, a treat I rarely enjoy. I almost feel like a grown-up again, walking around the city when it's dark outside, listening to random and often hilarious snippets of adult conversations, and of course, scoping out the plates of people in local restaurants' sidewalk seating areas (how else am I supposed to know if I want to eat there?). It's going to be hard to say goodbye. We're off to DC for a final road trip this weekend, but we'll be taking the bus back. I think I might go into Charles/car withdrawal next week.