Wide Awake

It's 3am and I'm completely sleepless. We have guests coming tomorrow for dinner so we spent most of the afternoon and evening getting the house in order, eating leftover Chinese food, and watching the Leafs lose in a shoot-out- with a side trip to get new shoes and a carseat (finally) for the van. Ginny Grace was absolutely a whirl-wind of crazy...when we loaded her into the van (her first time since we got it a couple of weeks ago) she got this look of terror as if she thought we were giving her away to strangers- then it clicked and she was fascinated by the lights. Then at the shoe store she walked up and down the aisles, randomly jabbering to the bemused customers- she's still in the 'cute, not annoying phase' I suppose instead of the 'bothersome, someone get this kid away from me' phase... As we were at the front paying for the shoes, I was holding her and all the ladies in the store were doing that 'oo and ah' thing and she was eating it up. "Isn't she cute" one lady said. "Don't you want to stay" said another. Someone made a joke and started to laugh and Ginny Grace cackled too which set the whole store a-twittering. When we got home, Shell was making pumpkin scones, making the house smell great- even though I hate the taste of pumpkin I love the smell...anyway, I was on the couch watching the Leafs and Gracie decided it was time to read "Where's Maisy?" her current favorite book. She requires it be read at least 8 times with full sound effects on the "oops, not here" parts. If we're lucky she just wants to read the book, if we're NOT lucky she wants to stop and kiss every animal on the pages. She kisses lots of stuff...okay everything- the dogs, her toys, her books, the baby in the mirror, her koala bear slippers from Auntie Lauren in Australia... She's such a flirt. On the birthday front... Apparently Shell has decided she's taking me somewhere. It's somewhere I want to go- so she says- and I have to dress semi-nice. I've grown way too comfortable in my non-working, stay-at-home time (which I swear is coming to an end within the next 2 weeks hopefully). The most 'dressed up' I get these days is when I go to class and that consists of my jeans with the holes in the back pocket and my Falcons jersey- clearly I'm in need of a makeover...Most of the time I'm in my comfy running shorts and t-shirt so I don't know WHAT I'm gonna do now. There's a long rambling political essay in my head that I'll be soon putting to keyboard, maybe tomorrow night after our guests are gone. I just want to say a special thanks to Ange, Kim, and Sarah for their new friendship...it's been a real help to read about their parenting experiences, and occasionally get some feedback. Sometimes as a new parent you start to get the feeling that your in this lonely battle, handling this little new creature that you can't always figure out. It is wondrous to know that, indeed, you are NOT alone and share experiences and lessons make much easier- so thanks ladies.