Brain dump

Lack of posting doesn't mean lack of activity or things to stew over/ rant about. I am clearly behind on the posting. With many topics and too little time, I'll do the best I can to catch up. My exhaustion continues, but now I've added leg cramps - charley-horses the likes of which I have never experienced. Definitely pregnancy related - I'm all hopped up on magnesium,. potassium & prenatal vitamins, and am still limping during the day from the last incident on Sat night. One bonus is that my left leg, with the fused ankle that is the source of so much pain and annoyance, seems to be exempt from the cramping. An unexpected bonus.

1. Homestead Mama and I celebrated a belated Valentine's Day to make up for the one we missed due to illness by going to see Solomon Burke in concert.

http://www.thekingsolomonburke.com/ He's been one of my favorites for years - I wooed my sweetie to some of his music, so it was fitting to go see him for V-day. He's aging, and I hope I remember to write up a piece on his concert; we were awash with both exhilaration and joy and a little pity. Very interesting. Bottom line? He performed his butt off. Hottie friend babysat for a few hours. She is the BEST babysitter - how many parents get regular text-messaged updates & pictures of their happily playing or sleeping babe throughout the night, plus a handwritten log of activities awaiting them upon return home? Yup. We're lucky. Funny thing about novelty, though. Pequita can stay in one outfit for a couple days (or more, if Homestead Mama is supposed to changer her clothes). If it is clean, we aren't opposed to her staying in what she has on. Hottie friend changed her while we were gone just for the fun of it. Very cute. (And she picked out a winner outfit!)

2. My parents came for a visit from Boston for a long weekend, and what a grandparent joyfest it was! They wanted to keep up with Pequita's growth & development, as well as the belly I am sporting. They expect to come for another visit before I deliver in June(ish), aiming for a visit every 6 weeks or so. They are very concerned with giving equal time/attention to both their grandkids, which is pretty noble given that one lives 30 mins away and we are six HOURS away. Much fawning happened all around. My mother is getting over a knee replacement surgery, and amazingly after only 3 weeks was up and walking a bit with no crutches. She did great with the baby. She still remembers (most of) the songs she sang to us when we were little - it was lovely to hear them sung to my kid.

3. We allowed Pequita to accidentally tumble off the couch and hit her head, luckily on the colored foam playmat we now use as a living room rug. Still, the thump was heard around the house, as was the screaming. Horrible. Afterwards, when we had watched for concussion, checked for damage & injury, and nursed her into oblivion, the stories of other folks kids being dropped came our way and helped assuage the guilt we felt. I had hoped to have NO falls, but clearly that is no longer a goal. Homestead Mama and I are permanently traumatized. Pequita seems ok, still drooling out of both sides of her mouth evenly and still chipper and tracking visually quite well.

4. Something weird happened to Pequita, probably in daycare, that we have no explanation for. Pequita came home on Friday with a rash of broken blood vessels around her eyes. We took her in for a checkup on Sat to confirm that it wasn't something we have to treat, and the nurse confirmed my worst fears, that she probably cried/ choked/ strained hard enough to cause it. It is very worrisome in the big picture, although all seems ok on the whole. Our daycare lady told Homestead Mama upon drop-off this morning that Pequita just hasn't been crying lately, and she is unaware of any incidents that could have caused it. I need to further investigate the possibility that a fill-in caregiver might have been there when it happened when I do the pickup tonight. *If* it happened at daycare. All I know is that in her 21 weeks with us, Pequita has screamed her head off, pooped her little heart out, and had more than one incident of choking on breast milk/ bathwater/ etc., not to mention FALLING ON HER HEAD without developing broken blood vessels. What the hell happened this time? I'll figure it out, but being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) is looking better and better, and soon.

I don't like Mondays.