Foiled

Noah came down with some sort of digestive thing. He's home from school. I'm not very gracious about it, because today is my day to get stuff done kid-free while Mattias is at the parent's day out program. Now I'm doing laundry on the sanitize cycle and half-heartedly playing school with Noah instead of the general house cleaning that really needs to be done. If Noah were sick enough I'd set him in front of the television, but he doesn't seem very sick at all, other than his occasional dashes to the bathroom. I've diagnosed him with Ate The Wrong Thing.

[sorry, photo removed!]

I'm pregnant. I feel big and kind of ache-y. I'm tired of being pregnant already. Twenty-eight weeks. Yesterday, the baby had a foot (or something) under my rib, and I told Fritz that I simply must take a bath instead of putting the boys to bed. Thank-you-very-much-Fritz-Goodnight-Boys. Fritz is a trooper about putting the boys to bed pretty much every night, but he was all: What does taking a bath have to do with dislodging a foot from under your rib? I was fast on my (own) feet, and I said a bath would relax my muscles and then the baby would move her foot. Sounds pretty credible, right? I thought so. Don't worry; the bath wasn't too hot and that foot (or something) DID get out from under my rib. For about 15 minutes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of toys to extract from under the sofas. And that foot is still under my ribs. Maybe crawling around on my knees will dislodge the baby's foot as effectively as a bath. Or - OR! - I have to go get Noah to do the toy extraction. Hmm. Yes, that sounds like the perfect task for him, while I go take another bath....

Skiing!!!!

I'm not an athletic person. I like to sit on the sofa and read books with a cup of hot cocoa. There is but one single athletic endeavor for which I will abandon my cozy cocoon: downhill skiing.

The first winter Noah was walking, we strapped on the skis and took him outside to the nearest snow. Poor kid. He was about 20 months old:

[this used to be a silly photo of a kid barely standing on skis]

It made a funny photo, but this was the reality at the actual ski slope:

[this was a photo of me in winter weather gear, hauling Noah around in a hiking backpack]

We've persisted in trying again each year.

[this was a photo of Fritz trying to teach Noah to ski]

And you know, it's getting better. But we're slowed down by things like a younger sibling, a pregnant mother, and finding the time and patience to drive to the mountains.

[this was a photo of Noah actually standing, somewhat competently, in skis]

This year appears to be a bit of a sweet spot for Noah. He's developed the muscle strength and endurance to actually spend 3 hours at a time on the slope. He's still 5 years old, meaning that his lift ticket is free. He can manage the car ride to the mountains and back. And he's figured out how to stop on a slope without falling over (Hallelujah!). It's so freaking exciting. We're scheduling up his weekends to get in as much slope time as possible this season.

I can't wait until we all can join him!

Friday Mishmash

I've decided I'm not as good at reading blogs when I'm posting every other day. I'm still reading - but I'm not commenting or thinking about what I'm reading quite as much.

I miss that.

***

I'm experiencing a very strong nesting instinct lately. I have a list of about 20 things I want to do to the house. Every other time I've been pregnant, we've moved shortly after the birth (1 month after Noah was born and 6 months after Mattias was born). Both Noah and Mattias were born while we were living in rentals. So I've never much given in to my nesting instinct before. It always seemed like a waste. This time, I feel differently, seeing as we are living in this, our own house, indefinitely. But I'm really having trouble prioritizing what I should do given limited time and resources.

I'm coming up on the third trimester. I'm thinking how I've been – sort of...indifferent? – about this pregnancy. Maybe giving into my nesting instincts is just what I need.

***

Okay: some Friday distraction. Have you heard about the smog in Bejing? Fritz sent me this article from der Spiegel. If you follow the link (the article is in German) scroll down a bit to see the interesting part: they took photos of the same scene, one without the smog, one with the smog, and then put a little slider over the top, so you can see the same scene both ways. Yuck. Serious yuck. It's Bejing - but it's all going into the same pot of Air Here On Earth. Yuck again. I think I'm going to show it to Noah, but I still need to think a little bit about my lesson plan and purpose in showing him.