Auntie Rachael 1.26.1973 – 8.31.2010

Time as I’ve known it
Doesn’t take much time to pass by me
Minutes into days turn into months turn into years
They hurry by me

Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

Dreams full of promises
Hopes for the future
I’ve had many

Dreams I can’t remember now
Hopes that I’ve forgotten
Faded memories

Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

And I love to see the morning
As it steals across the sky
I love to remember

And I love to wonder why
And I hope that I’m around
So I can be there when I die
When I’m gone

I hope that you will think of me
In moments when you’re happy
And you’re smiling

And that the thought will comfort you
On cold and cloudy days
If you are crying

And that you’ll love to see the sun go down
And the world go around
And around and around

Words and music by John Denver

I was finally able to get a picture – not a good one, but at least a picture – of the first two toofers, which made their debut about two weeks ago.  I can also feel number three on the top!

Help Tia and Mike Buy A House

My friend Tia, her wonderful husband Mike, and their two lovely girls Sophie (10) and Rosie (3) need a place to live.  They have been renting a duplex for several years, and have recently discovered that the other half of the duplex is running a meth lab (on top of their already awesome violent domestic disputes).  Why doesn’t the landlord get involved?  He doesn’t care – the house is about to be foreclosed upon, so he’s not doing anything, including fixing the washing machine.  But Mike and Tia still have to pay rent, cause, you know, there is at least ONE contract still being enforced.  It may be that they don’t have until the end of the foreclosure process to move – because of the rodent infestation that the landlord also won’t take care of, the city may condemn the house.

The family has been looking for a new rental property in a nice, safe neighborhood that will still be close to Rosie’s daycare and Sophie’s school.  It’s hard to find a place though – Mike has been out of work for almost two years (although he just got not one but TWO new jobs last week!), and Tia is a full time nursing student (she wants to be a midwife).

By some sort of luck, they found a beautiful house in a lovely neighborhood of NE Mpls (the very best neighborhood in town, IMHO)…and the owner is willing to work out a contract to deed with them.  They have half of the down payment saved, but need another $2,500 to $5,000 to make this happen….and that’s where you come  in.

I’m asking all of you…my friends, relatives, and random passersby…to donate $5 to Tia and Mike’s down payment fund.  Seriously, I spent more than that at Starbucks yesterday.  I bet you did, too.  If we can get 404 more people to donate just $5, their new home will be a safe, happy reality.

I wish you  knew (and loved) this family like I do.  Tia helped me bring Liam into this world (she was my doula) and Mike broke the laws of time and space to get her to the hospital in time.  Sophie is turning into a beautiful and thoughtful young woman, and Rosie is just the funniest little girl you’d ever meet (you can follow her on Twitter:  RosieQuotes).  They are good, decent, hard working people, who contribute greatly to their community, their church, are active in the local political scene, and are a rock to their friends.

Please, please, take a minute to click on the link above, and throw a few bucks their way.  I did – now it’s your turn.

Thank you.

Exactly 38 weeks ago.

February 14, 2009 – The First Official Gut Picture

March 16, 2009 – Our first walk as a family.

March 17, 2009 (Our 2nd wedding anniversary) – It’s A Boy!

April 7, 2009 – Mommy’s 34th birthday

May 10, 2009 – Mother’s Day

June 4, 2009 – A BPP, and Daddy’s 41st birthday.

June 20, 2009 – On the back deck of our hotel room at Mike and Alison’s wedding.

July 20, 2009 at 5:21 a.m. – Jeff showing me Liam for the first time.

Pure Happiness.  Unbelievable Love.

Daddy and Liam

August 13, 2009 – Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Linnehan, and Uncles Matt and John.

September 5, 2009 – Raspberry picking with Sarah, Dave, Paige, Alice, Auntie Rachael, Uncle Steve, and Jared.

October 31, 2009 – Liam the Giraffe’s First Halloween

November 27, 2009 – Out little guy smiling.  Picture by Wright.

December 24, 2009 – Our little Santa at his first Christmas.

I have always been a little bit afraid of having a routine or schedule.  What if I have a schedule, and something better comes up?  For a long time, I refused to take a class at night after work because, OMG, there might be something I miss by doing that.  I finally got over that when my old roommate and I took swing dancing lessons – I learned that having solid plans one night a week wasn’t the end of my social life.

It’s part this, and part bad experience that has kept me from making a chore schedule.  In the past, with people I’ve lived with, we’ve agreed to a chore schedule, and then it falls right apart.  The other party won’t do their chores, so I won’t do mine in retaliation, and it all goes south from there.

I think Jeff and I would both agree that, since we have lived together, I have done most of the housework.  There are a couple of reasons for this:  for the last year and a bit I have been home full time.  If Jeff is having to leave the house once a day and wear real pants, I feel that I should do most of the housework.

And honestly, I care more about the house.  It makes me happy to have a clean, well organized abode.  I like decorating.  I like cleaning.  I like running a house.  And since I care about it, and Jeff doesn’t as much, it seems only fair that I do what I care about.  He’s not going to let us live in squalor, but he’s not going to line the pantry shelves with pretty paper.  And I don’t think it’s worth the stress that it puts on a marriage to make him do things that he doesn’t care about, house-wise. He doesn’t make me watch football, I don’t make him re-organize the salad dressing alphabetically.*

A few months ago, when we were preparing for Liam, we discussed that Jeff might have to do more of the house-type stuff.  He had already been doing all the laundry and other heavy things (the minute I got pregnant he decided I could neither lift nor go to the basement), but I thought I might need some more help with the things that I usually take care of.

He told me that he’d feel more comfortable if we put together a chore schedule.

My inner hippie totally came out.  Dude, you’re harshing my mellow.  I didn’t know I was married to The Man.  Don’t you oppress me with your “schedule” and “grid”, man.  We can just let things happen, man.  It will all work out, like nature intended, man….

And then this happened:

He’s adorable, but takes a lot of time.  And my house is a sty.

It makes me a bit cranky.

A couple of weeks ago, I told Jeff, I’m not doing s’good with the house thing.  Schedule?

He agreed.  Schedule.

So for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to put together a schedule.  And it’s hard.  Not because I don’t know what needs to be done – oh, I do! – but because I don’t want to have to do it.  I want the gnomes to come out of the woodwork in the middle of the night and mop the living room floors.

I have a lot of woodwork, people.  There is some nice living space for gnomes in there.

But it’s not happening.  So tonight I am, for certain, sitting down and putting together the chore chart.  And we’re going to try to follow it.  And I’m going to try to let go of some of my control/go-with-the-flow issues.**

Wish me luck.

*I’ve never done that.  CDs, however, are another matter altogether.

**Does anyone else find it interesting that I want things in my house a certain way, but I’ll do them in my own damn time?  Me, too.

And I thought why not me? My kid is cuter than theirs.  I can write a mean blog post when I put my mind to it.

Oh, right.  I almost never blog.

Whoops.

So, in an effort to get back into the swing of blogging, I’m participating in this year’s National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo).

Get ready for some cute.