This was mostly a sucky weekend. We were going to have a yard sale Saturday, but there were supposed to be thunderstorms all day long so we canceled it, and then it didn’t rain.
The stuff really had to be out of the way for the sheetrock crew coming this week, so we had a yard sale on Sunday instead, since it wasn’t supposed to rain. But it DID rain: just little bursts of it now and then, just enough to make things damp and unappealing. We made seven dollars in three hours, and at that point we just put out a big “free” sign and gave up on the whole thing. That was the utter suck—although we DID still get a ton of stuff out of our house, which was good.
One of the things we cleared out, though, was the exersaucer, and that made me sad: we bought that when Rob was a little baby, so it’s been in many a baby picture.
Elizabeth
Edward
Henry
I said to Paul, “But if we have another baby, we’ll just have to buy a new exersaucer.” And he said, “I’m willing to take that chance,” in a tone that communicated he felt it was a very low risk indeed. So THAT was suck.
Plus, this morning I was startled awake early by a loud cheeping alarm sound in the kitchen, which I couldn’t locate. Until I realized it was coming from a bird, which one of our cats had in his mouth. I’ve never had to handle that situation before. I didn’t know what to do. I’m pretty sure I picked the wrong way, but I’m pretty sure ALL the ways were wrong ways, because all of them involved the bird dying. I felt sorry that we owned and petted a cat.
What is your deal? There was PLENTY of Iams in your dish.
And then all weekend the two older boys were SO GIDDY, and Edward has started this screaming thing where he screams whenever he’s even slightly unhappy, frustrated, or thwarted, or if any of his siblings argue with him. And Henry is obviously and tactlessly preferring Paul, which on one hand I love (“Oh, he wants YOU! Guess I’ll have to hand him over and go read some blogs!”), but on the other hand I don’t.
And then Paul accidentally spilled my fruit fly trap (i.e., rotten fruit and apple cider vinegar—thanks to Twitter peeps who gave me the recipe when I shrieked about having fruit flies) down in the crack between the counter and the fridge.
But then I got the news that I’m going to be an aunt. I mean, clearly the real news here is that my sister-in-law Anna is going to be a mother and my brother Erik is going to be a father. But still! Aunthood for me!
Congrats on the aunthood! Boo to the rest.
Yay! Congrats! That makes up for a LOT.
Auntie Swistle! Congrats.
Ok weird thing…I have a brother named Eric, too…..
Yay! So happy for you. I mean, them too. But yay for being an aunt!
OMG! Aunt Swistle! You’ve been looking forward to this for so long! I hope everything goes well for Anna & Erik. Do they live close to you? Will you be able to get good Auntie snuggles?
Congrats to you all!! Aunthood is the best-you get to have revenge for all those noisy annoying toys they gave your kids through the years! ;)
Are they going to let you name the baby???
Oh, yay! And see, your nagging WORKED!
Plus, let me tell you, it is a lot of fun to be close enough to a person get to obsess over their pregnancy without actually having to BE pregnant. I am learning this right now, with three pregnant friends, and for once I am not knocked up. So I can talk names and clothes and room decor and labor options and never once have to throw up or gain weight or NOTHIN’!
And since this comment is already long… I just wanted to say that my kids ADORE my sisters. Being an aunt is a very lofty position in a kid’s world, so you DO have claim on part of this baby, and have every reason to be excited!
Kristin- It’s a pseudonym—but we chose one that my parents had on their list. I think it sounds really good with our name, don’t you? Kristin/Kristen and Eric/Erik is a nice combination.
Erin- No, they are far FAR away! It is very sad! Now that I’m done nagging about them having a baby, I can turn my nagging powers to getting them to move closer!
Shelly Overlook- Wouldn’t that be GREAT? It is so, so hard to wait patiently to hear what they decide!
Desperate- I totally agree. It is SO GREAT to just have all the FUN parts: the anticipation, the talking—with no BARFING!
maybe paul just meant that buying another exersaucer wouldn’t be a big deal?
also, aunthood – yay!
I love when it rains at yard sales. That’s when you really start low-balling people.
Woo hoo for being an aunt!
Also, sorry about the garage sale–that does suck! But getting rid of stuff = total non-suckiness.
And there’s always my new method–bascially listing some of your hubby’s plethora of stuff on ebay when he’s not around and can’t stop you.
So, if you know anyone that needs a new golf club, lol…….
http://www.houndrat.com/2008/08/03/how-to-sell-your-husbands-crap-on-ebay-and-not-tell-him/
Congrats to all of you!
And also congrats on getting rid of a lot of stuff. I brought a carload of stuff to Goodwill this weekend, and I feel so much happier about my house!
Well, that was a terrible-sounding weekend. Right up until the last! And you’re right – That makes up for all of it. Congrats to Anna and Eric and Big Congrats to you!
About Edward and the screaming, my daughter does that and it drives us CRAZY. She starts kindergarten in three weeks and I’m afraid she’s going to be expelled.
Do you have any strategies for dealing with that behavior? We’ve tried ignoring her, time out, attempting to reason with her (ha) all with no success and are out of ideas.
Congratulations, Aunt Swistle! And of course to Erik and Anna!
Yay for Aunthood!
Also, I will definitely have to try that fruit fly trap method. I’ve tried apple cider vinegar with a couple of drops of dish soap to trap the fruit flies, but it has only been ever so slightly effective. I’ll definitely have to try adding rotten fruit. It seems rather obvious after the fact, but I never would have thought of it myself. And it seems much more reasonable that my idea of just not coming home again until the fruit flies are gone.
Congratulations on becoming an aunt!
The lamp with the silver dangly circle things in the picture…why must it go?? :)
Auntiness! And more importantly…new babies!! Full of smallness and sweetness! Yay!!!
Emma’s mom- Right now I’m trying the widened eyes and surprised expression with the stern/dismayed voice: “Edward! Don’t yell like that!” followed by asking what he needs. It works in that it stops that particular yell—but it doesn’t seem to prevent future yells.
Yay! Congrats!
my GOODNESS you make cute babies. i mean, i already knew that, but all at the same time like that is overwhelming.
sorry to hear about all the craptasticness. but HOORAY for being an aunt!!!
Congrats on becoming an aunt! That is great.
I loved the baby pics. I’d love to see some of Rob and William, too. Did they all look alike as babies?
I WANT TO BE AN AUNT!
But this is not about me. Congratulations!!!!
Shoeaddict- It would have been so cool to have pictures of all five in exersaucers! I didn’t go digital until the twins were babies, and I don’t have a scanner. I tried taking photos of photos, but those came out…poor. William and Elizabeth looked quite a bit alike as babies, although William was more of a plump marshmallow. Rob looked more like…well, probably like a combination of Henry and Edward, but less smiley than Henry.
Yay for not sucking! Our weekend was kind of up and down like that too, but it all turned out good.
Sorry to hear about the bird situation. With our cat, it’s adorable, gray, baby mice. Thankfully it all stays out in the yard, but it makes walking barefoot through the grass a dangerous prospect.
Ugh, birds. I will never, never forget having to dig a dead bird out of Baci’s throat as he frantically tried to swallow it whole. UGH. At least the poor thing was already dead, though!!! What did you do?! Chase the cat outside?
That Henry is still the cutest kid on the planet. Can he be my baby’s first boyfriend?
I want to be an auntie! Get on it, sister! (But sorry about the other lousy stuff.)
Yay! We made a post! Seems like I do *owe* you some aunthood, what with all the nephews/niece you’ve provided ME.
The cheeping bird= sad.
The fruit fly trap=DOES THAT REALLY WORK?! We actually bought a venus fly trap but so far it seems it isn’t very hungry or something.
Anna- Hard to say. It DID catch fruit flies, but we keep bringing in MORE fruit flies, I think.
Congratulations on the aunthood. Be sure to take advantage of the built-in clutter reductions that comes with it (ie. hand-me-downs to the new baby); I know I’d be shoveling stuff out my door and into their house as fast as possible. :)