Life is crazy at the moment

I've been working at my newest job for almost two months. I must like it, because my record is to leave after one month. It's a great job with great people, but it is a mighty change going from stay-at-home mom to working-full-time-mom. I get two hours at the end of the day to spend with my family, but that includes making & eating dinner, preparing lunches, and bath time. Sometimes, I slip in a load of laundry. I can't seem to find time for my beloved Real Housewives series on Bravo. Usually, I have to catch the marathons on the weekends. However, I always, always have time for TRUE BLOOD on Sunday nights. Mondays are always manic anyways, why not add a bit of tiredness.



One day, while I was at work, the mirror in the bathroom fell down. Then, a couple of days later, the picture in the dining room fell down and broke. Jake pooped upstairs two times, and my plants are droopy. This is what happens when you change your life suddenly.



And to make matters just a tad bit more complicated, I go back to school in 28 days. Two nights a week.



But I'm excited about life right now. I love my kids, my husband, my family, my house, my garden, my job, my friends, and my skills (specifically knitting). I'll be spreading myself thin adding another thing, but it's something I've always wanted and if I don't pursue it, I'll feel like I've gipped myself. I've had so many dreams and I've actually followed through with none of them. Like how I was going to join the Peace Corps. How I was going to travel the world. Become a famous photographer. Have a sheep farm. I still have time, but this I can do now; I want to do it now. And so I will.



I'm going back to school to become an interpreter. I have a background in Deaf Studies and sign language and after a student internship at a Deaf school, it was kind of put on the back burner. Since then, I've participated in language groups and studied my books, but never fully got back into it. The weird, weird thing is ... I signed up for the program and the next day I met my awesome friend, J Stilx, who is Deaf. At the nature store, where we both worked, I was able to interpret for him. It made me so happy. His friendship has made me so happy! I feel so exhilarated when I am with him. And for that, it made me realize that I was on the right path.



Anyway, I thought it only fair to let y'all know what's up in my world at the moment. Of course, knitting is not at the forefront, but knitting is still a big, big part of my life. I realized the other day that knitting soothes my soul; calms me down; gives me time to think. So, I think I will always need knitting in my life. And even though I only get a few rows done at a time, I knit practically everyday. I'm trying to come up with a trademark pattern at the moment, so I knit and then rip, knit and rip, knit and rip. Therefore, no pictures to share. Sorry.



But hey - the other day I was knitting during my lunch break and my coworker said, "you're knitting? With orange yarn?"
"UMMM, YAH!!!" Seriously, some people do NOT know cool, do they?



Anyway, no pictures of knit stuff, but I hope you've enjoyed the other pictures. See the chicks? Yes, to add to the crazy of my life, my dear son has decided to build a coop and adopt chickens. Not yet! We were just checking out someone else's. But that gave him the idea. wink wink. He'll build his coop this fall and order the chicks next spring. I know, crazy. But honestly, if he follows through, I'll be a proud mama. He's going to Junior High, ya know. He's like my lil baby chick becoming a rooster, AWWWWWWWWW.

Peace out y'allz.
xxoo,
Gilda

Fun times.

My kids were actually getting along (playing bicycle):



We bought a pool:



And I've been gardening!:



I've got the knitting bug again, too. So, look back for more pics and posts on that ;)

7-7 birthday post

Today, my oldest turns 11. eleven. He might as well be a teenager. He sure acts like one. Mysterious. Brooding. Funny. Smart. Independent. He's coming into his own. More than half way to graduating and then off to college. Wahh, why do I do this to myself? I want to remember my kids as babies forever. So...with that, here is his birth story.

My daughter was born on the coldest day of the year, but my son was born on the hottest day of the year. Go figure. No wonder they're so different.



I should start with the pregnancy. It was a fabulous pregnancy. Wow, what an amazing feeling to have this being growing inside me. Sometimes, I would get chills of happiness when his feet poked through my skin and I could tickle his feet. I'd never felt so in tune with myself. I knew he and I would be kindred spirits.

I was a new mother to be. I didn't know anything except that a c-section was bad, and drugs, too. I wanted a hippie mama birth. Except I didn't know anything about home birth at the time. I found a midwife and wrote up a birth plan. It was such an easy pregnancy, I'd figure it would be an easy birth. My birth plan was 4 pages long. No c-section, no drugs, no suction, no blah blah blah....

Then, the day I went into labor, I remember it being early, early morning - about 5am or so. I was sleeping and having awful cramps and I was thinking in my dream, "oh how I hate when I start my monthly." Then, it dawned on me that I wasn't starting my monthly, I was in labor!

I was two weeks late. I had an induction date scheduled just 3 days away. Who woulda thought I'd finally be going into labor? Not my mom, who decided to hang out with her buddies and have a little drinky. She sure regretted it the next day when I woke up at 5am. "You gotta be kidding me," she said.

The contractions were very close and started to suddenly get more erratic, painful, and frequent. I called the midwife and she said to go in right away. So, at 6am, there we were pulling into the hospital parking lot. One thing I noticed about being pregnant and then being in labor - people move out of your way! So, easy as pie, I made it to the room. There, they said I was dilated already to 6, I think.

It all becomes a blur after this. I remember them saying I would be having the baby within the hour. In fact, the overnight nurse stayed on to see me through. I took a bath and that sped things up. I was in so much pain, I started to get crazy. The pain was so unbearable that I started to distract myself by opening drawers and closets and when I couldn't take it anymore, I demanded drugs. Right now, I want them RIGHT NOW. But my birth plan. "I don't care about my birth plan, I want drugs." And so they gave me a narcotic in my veins. Which slowed everything down. And made my contractions even more erratic. I was already dilated to about 9, but they still had to give me pitocin to get the contractions more steady.

But the drugs. Oh, they tamed the pain and I was in and out of sleep, mostly between contractions. But everything slowed down. When I arrived at 6, they had said 'within the hour,' but now it was almost noon. Finally, I was dilated to 10, so they had me push. And I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. For FIVE hours straight. They kept saying, 'we need to do suction, we may need to do a c-section.' But I held on to the one thing I had left. I had already taken the pain killers, I couldn't let go of my other wishes. But finally, they brought in a team to take me to an operating room, and when they moved me on to the gurney, out popped my baby. Just like that.

He wasn't crying, so I screamed, "is he alive?" Or maybe I was thinking it. But they turned and told me there had been meconium so they had to suction his lungs. Then, there he was on my chest, all bundled. And I remember thinking was, "it's so nice to meet you, mister."

And that night, as I slept with my baby in my arms, I had the weirdest dreams. I was walking through water and saying goodbye to ghosts.

It had been so hot when I brought my little guy home that I spent the first night sleeping upright in a chair next to the air conditioner.

So, 11 years ago today, my life changed. And he truly did turn out to be my kindred spirit. Happy Birth-day to my baby boy <3