Still busy, and therefore still boring. Deadlines are hard and writing is hard and I have to remember that it won’t be like this forever even though the recent past and the recent future are the same as the now - busy busy busy.

This weekend, however, I learned an important lesson. One: Baba O’Riley is so strong, wrestling with him when he wants to be held but also stand up, be cuddled but also explore, and generally trying to keep him safe and not screaming is a very difficult burden on one’s spine. Hubby and I are both feeling the strain of wrestling the super strong Baba, but at least I know it’s normal. He’s just about to start crawling, so he’s extra clingy. Plus he’s cutting teeth top bottom left and right, so I’m sure he’s feeling the need for comfort even as he wants to get up on his knees and hands and take off.

Two: if it’s nice out, go outside, because it’ll rain later in the day. Both Saturday and Sunday started clear and beautiful, and we took the boys for long walks in the morning. We hadn’t showered, I particularly looked rather awful, but we didn’t give a shit - because later in the day it poured and we were inside the rest of the day. But the sunny morning start really made my day. I have to be aware that I can’t take the good weather for granted, and even if my hair is a violation of international peace, I should go outside and enjoy the sun.

The kitchen is still not done. I think it might not ever be completed. But, progress is imminent, and someday I’ll reteach myself how to cook again. I wonder what I’ll make in the new kitchen first. I already have plans for sourdough starters, baking gingerbread cookies and letting Baba and Freebird go wild with icing, mini cupcakes… and roasted chickens, roasted tomatoes, and all manner of salads.

Man, I miss cooking. I also miss the rest of my house. Living 100% in the living room just bites. It’s a nice reminder how miserable we’d be if we lived in NYC apartments, though. Hubby and I would not be able to hack it at all.

Since I suck at actual paper record keeping: Baba O’Riley? Crawling.

On Thursday last week (May 8!) his daycare teacher said, “Did you know he’s crawling?” Commence look of complete horror: “No!”

“Oh, yeah. He was on his belly, I turned around, and he was across the room. He’s belly scooting.”

Sure enough - Saturday morning when Hubby got up with the boys, I was informed, “Mobile Baby is Mobile.” He belly scoots and pushes himself across the floor using his legs, which are very strong - he LOVES to stand up and prefers to be held in a standing position so he can practice standing and jumping - and he can MOVE. When he gets going, he’s a fast little dude.

We are facing big changes. And having a house that’s under renovation with a crawling baby? Not going to be fun.

Happy belated Mother’s Day. How was yours? Mine was quiet. Hubby took the boys to CT to see the in laws and I stayed home to work. Not my idea of the most fun in the world, but it had to be done. I woke up with a migraine, which I blame fully on the storm that’s hanging out off the east coast this morning, and by the time the painkillers had kicked its ass enough that I could function, I had had to wake Hubby up from his morning to sleep in so I could lie down and hide from the daylight for an hour.

So the upshot of my mother’s day is that I have the best husband in the world, because not only did he arrange for Baba and Freebird to give me adorable gifts, but he also gave me beautiful bracelets featuring their birthstones, a degree of opulence which I was not expecting. He got up when it was his turn to sleep, he took care of me, he made me breakfast, and he then took the children by himself to his parents’ house so I could get work done.

It about broke my heart when Freebird said, “See you later, Mommy. You have to go work!” I’d much rather have played with them all day, but right now that’s not an option.

Ultimately, of all the things that contribute to my being a mother, Hubby is one of the elements that makes me better at what I do every day. I can’t think of a better person to parent with. Thanks, Hubby. Happy Mother’s Day.

And now: another journal entry in the life of “I’m up in the wee hours of the morning and it’s so not exciting but I’m writing it anyway.

I am seriously exhausted. Baba woke up between 12:30 and 2am, and half the time he was cooing in his sleep, which required Hubby or myself to rush in there and shove a pacifier in his mouth, simply because if he keeps up the sleep-cooing, he’ll wake himself up and be majestically put out. So we’re both tired.

But on the whole we had a good weekend at home, which for us has been a rare thing lately, because our home, in the midst of renovation, is not always pleasant. I bought Freebird a much-adored toy on eBay, so his weekend was made extra more awesome by the electronic stylings of the Wiggles play along guitar. Baba was happy to practice sitting up and playing with his baby toys - he’s of an age where he’s into toys. Oh, the long slide that begins now.

But soon our weekends will be filled with one or the other of us traveling. I go to a conference in a little under a week; Hubby takes a long weekend in Vegas at the end of the month. In the middle is Passover, which, dammit dammit dammit, is on a weekend this year (BOOOOOO!) and through all that I have a mammoth writing project underway.

I’m looking into ways to train my body to need less sleep, but so far, my solutions are chemical, and too much caffeine tends to make a strung out nutcase out of me. I need to need less sleep, even as I need more sleep.

Last night, Hubby was up from 230 to 3, then I got up at 3 and relieved him so he could get away from the bleating of the unhappy Baba O’Riley, who had a fever, couldn’t keep Tylenol down, and was generally awake and miserable until about 3.45. I took him downstairs for the bleating period and was treated to the following.

Morag: Shhhhh. Shhhhh. *contemplates whether the pacifying effects of Baby Einstein: Baby Mozart are a good idea at 3am. Probably not.*

Baba O’Riley: I AM MAD. I DON’T FEEL GOOD. I AM HOT. I AM MAD. BLEEEEEAAAAAAT. BLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAT. AND I DON’T WANT YOU TO SIT DOWN. I WANT TO WALK AROUND AND BE HELD UPRIGHT AND LOOK AT EVERYTHING. I AM MAD! MAD, I TELL YOU! WAAAAAAAAAH!

Morag: OMG. It is 3 am and I’m carrying around a ~20 pound baby. I will probably not get any more sleep. I wonder how badly I’ll function tomorrow having started my day three hours early? Dude, you are heavy. SHHHHHHHHHH!

Baba O’Riley: WOMAN I TELL YOU AGAIN! I AM HOT! I DON’T FEEL GOOD! I AM HOT! BLEEEEEAAAAT! NO! NO SITTING DOWN! I WILL START TO FALL ASLEEP AND THEN I WILL KICK YOU IN THE ARM! WHAT A GREAT IDEA! KICK KICK KICK BLEAT BLEAT BLEAT KICK KICK KICK BLEEEEAAAAAT!

Morag: This sucks.

Eventually Baba passed out, Hubby put him in the crib successfully without waking him up, and we all went back to sleep. Six am arrived way too damn soon for us, and Baba, the lucky boy, slept until nearly 7.

I hope he does that sleeping thing, minus the bleating, tomorrow morning. 

1. Easter: “Freebird! It’s Easter! Some people celebrate today, and dress up and go to a special church service, and there are flowers and songs and celebrations of spring. And there’s chocolate.”

Freebird: “CHOCOLATE?!”

And there was chocolate (courtesy of daycare, who do beautiful baskets for the children) and all was happy in our world.

2. Except for the crusty, pus-evident ear that I suspect may be caused by a ruptured eardrum (if you’re keeping score at home, that’s 2 for Freebird) and a trip to the emergency clinic in Connecticut, plus a 102.9 fever Saturday night, and the general orneryness and sleepyness and long ass nap that made him stay up until 10pm last night so today he is something of a cranky mess.

3. But there was chocolate so all is well. Baba, for the record, is SO interactive and SO interested in talking to everyone, he gets PISSED if there isn’t enough attention directed his way. I don’t know if he wanted chocolate, but damn he wanted folks to tell him about it. So I assume that once he can eat, he will be all about the chocolate. Which is good and right.

4. Last night, one of us had gas. I’m not going to say which one. But at one point, Hubby said, “Was that a Blackberry or a really long fart?”

5. If you don’t get the joke: we keep our Bbys on vibrate.

6. The kitchen reno progresses. We still have no kitchen. BUT! We are hosting a crapload of dudes this weekend. How fun will that be? Commence ordering in. A LOT of it.

7. We are working on a redesign for The Other Site, and it’s going to go live soon. I am so excited. Seriously, so excited to see it.

8. Also, I had a great talk with Hubby about how to strengthen the business end of The Other Site so that I can figure out ways to increase revenue and offset my expenses while keeping the site attractive to advertisers.

9. Note to self: talk to Hubby more this week. We are like two ships passing in the harbor all the time, and we need to sit down and face each other. Not easy to do when you eat hunched over a coffee table.

Six months ago today, I went into the Hotel Percocet, aka the hospital, labored all day, watched Pirates of the Caribbean, experienced my blood pressure dropping to an absolutely delightful low that made me feel utterly craptastic, was wheeled into the OR, and one quick abdominal incision later, I had a big bouncing baby Baba.

Happy Six Month Birthday, Baba O’Riley. You’re awesome.