Ugh. I have a sore throat and have a couple of sores on my tongue. Yes, I think I have a relatively mild case (for now) Hand Foot and Mouth disease, caught from my little one who had it last week. We really didnt know what was wrong with her (something viral), but she had the sores in her mouth, and she slept poorly and was feverish and off all week. She’s back to normal now, but now I’m started and J. is complaining of similar symptoms. On top of that, Jaaanav is sick with the same thing, so we have that subtle but real our-child-gave-another-child-a-disease guilt.
There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day for what i want to do and what I need to get done. Work is especially busy, with work booked out for months and potentially a year or two for several of my clients. Which is really a good thing – especially with J. going on unpaid maternity leave for a couple of months – but they both seem to want things sooner rather than later. I might even have to hire a couple of people for some of the work, which is a headache in and of itself. Besides work, J. has been miserable and tired especially this last trimester, and she’s so uncomfortable and drained by the end of her workday that it’s all she can do to make it up the stairs. So a lot of the house stuff (cooking is usual, but even the cleaning and the laundry) defers to me for now, as does all of Annika’s baths. I try not to make her feel guilty about it – hell, I can’t do what she’s doing! – but every so often my grumpiness filters through and then *she* feels guilty which in turn makes me feel even more guilty about it.
Luckily, this is temporary at least. We also have house stuff that we’d like do/need to do, such as putting up a fence (got the HOA approval, got a survey done, picked out a vendor, doing it the week after next), beefing up our attic insulation (sorely needed, if the temperature differentials in the house are any indication), as well as puttting in a brick patio. (Going to attempt that one myself, or with some pizza-and-beer help.) We already had to deal with a failed compressor in one of our HVAC units. Luckily we got a 1 year warranty with the house, which has been somewhat of a pain to deal with , but we got a new compressor out of it. We also had plumbing issues creep up (turns out, after much debate and investigation, we have a bad pressure reducing valve PLUS our system didn’t have a thermal expansion tank which we really need, given our size of water heater.) That just got fixed today. It’s always something though.
I swear, sometimes I feel like this whole being an adult thing is a bit overrated. It would be nice (sometimes, say once a year) if I could turn to somebody I trust, curl up into a fetal ball and ask someone else. “Can you deal with it?” At some point in our lives, that really isn’t an option anymore.
Of course, there are so many more things I want to do besides what I’m doing. Writing. Going to the gym. Working on wotthy new business ideas that need infrastructure built to support them. Spending time with friends. (Codekitten came to visit last week, and it was really so quick. With the babies, feeding, and the drive, it was understandable, but the days of carefree hanging out are over.) Grow a new garden (wait, have to get a fence and build my patio first.) Luckily I get a chance to fit in some significant amount of reading. That’s thanks to my Nook and the fact that I go through books like underwear. (I actually wish I read slower, it would mean that I might be able to savor something a little longer than I do.)
Today was Jyotsna’s last day at work, so we’ll now be in “waiting for the baby” mode. Her mom is here as of last night, and now that J. is off we don’t really have to worry about the “What if the baby comes during X?” question, since now “X” will basically consist of being home. This time is considerably different than last time, in so many ways. I think the romanticism of the whole process has been tarnished a bit. Not completely, but I’m not as hung up on it. As long as the baby and J. are healthy and Annika adjusts okay, everything else is just gravy.