Up-Chuck E. Cheese's

I went to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time ever last week. I also went to Chuck E. Cheese's for the last time ever last week. Sorry kids. You'll just have to try to "be a kid" at home. Somehow I think you'll manage.

Not only is it way too expensive for the sorry food they serve, the games are pretty lame and you could have a seizure from the overexposure to kids crying and parents nagging. Then there are the germs you pick up that have left my poor little girl throwing up and slumped over my lap for the past couple days. Thanks a lot you mutant, virus-laden rat.

The kids had a reasonably good time there and I would probably have taken them back some time down the road, but it's kind of like when you're in college and you have a few too many white russians to drink and the next day you realize that you will never be able to look at another one without wanting to hurl.

So if you're headed off there anytime soon, let me know and I'll send you our leftover tokens. I'll be sure and douse them with Lysol first.

Firsts

I guess I'm not too old to learn new tricks. Just a few things that I did this weekend that I'd never done before:

*Had an overnight date with my husband without the kids.
*Sang Benatar's Heartbreaker to a room full of people, most of whom I did not know. And I hadn't even been drinking.
*Drove a minivan for the first time.
*Purchased a minivan for the first time.
*Had a dream in which Willem Dafoe was my housemate. Still trying to figure out that one.
*Spent a Saturday in which I neglected to lift a finger in my kitchen all day, despite the annoying mess. Probably the most liberating thing I've done in a great while.
*Sat down with a half-empty tub of a half-gallon of peanut butter chocolate ice cream and DID NOT consume the entire contents. A first indeed.

And So It Begins

I'm not dead, nor have I gone missing. I haven't been blogging, but not for any reason other than I just don't seem to be making time for it. I'm not quite ready to do away with it altogether, but I am sloooowing down. I am hunkering down. Not so much for a long, cold winter (mostly because the thermometer here in NH suggests something other than winter) but for the last three months of my pregnancy. I feel like I am finally realizing that yes, another child is indeed on the way. She's coming, ready or not and suddenly I'm thinking, oh... I'm not ready.

But of course I am. Ready as I'll ever be, anyway. As ready as I was for one and two. But this time, instead of finding myself folding baby clothes and washing blankets, preparing all the baby "gear", I find myself installing new knobs on the kitchen cabinets and re-arranging furniture and pictures throughout the house. Wondering how long it would take me to build a storage bench for the living room.

I have no idea what I'm doing, but maybe I'm having a feng shui baby and this is how she would like me to prepare for her homecoming. Or maybe I've been reading too much "Real Simple". Maybe I'm avoiding getting ready all the baby stuff because I'm a born procrastinator and find putting things off as natural as breathing. They're all likely scenarios.

Anyway, all seven of you who read my blog can probably anticipate sporadic postings from me, and more pictures as I find less and less time to actually write. I imagine once the baby comes I will just redirect you to Ernesto's site, as he will most likely have frequent short posts and lots of baby footage. I will be the tired but happy one holding the little munchkin. Betting will begin in March as to what color hair this child will have and how many weeks will pass before we break down and buy a minivan. Not that we'll be going anywhere for a while.

So bear with me folks. I'm heading into the home stretch and the longest (and shortest) three months of this year. G'night!

Doh. I just realized no one is here to help me out of this stupid chair.