Has Anybody Seen My Ass?

Well, if you have, then you know it's time for me and my ass to get back on the Fat Losers wagon -- or rather, walk beside it to earn some AP's. So I went to my first Vancouver meeting this morning and was surprised to observe actual energy emanating from the group leader -- she knew people by name, was enthusiastic without being smarmy, and didn't mention church functions or people she knew from church or being on the way home from church and seeing a donut shop and resisting the urge to stop and inhale a dozen or any other use or insinuation of the word "church." The whole meeting was refreshingly free of religiosity in any form.

I didn't have to take Delia with me as Julianna stayed home today due to a sort of mix-up concerning picking up a bed someone gave us, which she was going to take down to her sister Amy for one of their urchins to use. It turned out not to be a good day for visiting Amy so the bed could have stayed where it was another few days but by then we'd already arranged to pick it up, so I ended up getting it after my dentist appointment. (Nitpicky details: it's a woman from church giving it to us, but I hardly wanted to mention that in light of paragraph 1 of this blog post. And I'm seeing the dentist to have a crown replaced. Fun!) Shannon would have watched Delia for me and J could have gone to work, but maybe it's better she stayed home. She was sort of tired and grouchy all day because she's coming down with a cold or something. Of course, it might have been better for me if she'd gone to work, but I'm sure she would have returned home in a really fabulous mood...

Delia is growing like a weed, she eats everything now just about -- we were being all careful and not giving her anything potentially allergenic at first, but in the course of eating out and at others' homes she's had most things now, like egg whites and tomatoes and dairy producst and stuff like that. But not peanut butter since I am exceptionally allergice to nuts and mildly allergic to peanuts. She loves seasoned food (vs. baby foods which are oh so bland) and so for dinner she had black beans, taco meat, and cheddar cheese. I ground up the beans and meat in a food mill and added the cheese to it, nuked the whole shebang long enough to warm it up a little, and away she went. Followed it up with peach slices and a few bites of what we had (pasta). So now I put away little tubs of leftovers from our dinners in the freezer and we are slowly phasing out the little gold-plated jars of specialty baby food. She loves spaghetti, pizza, homemade turkey soup, you name it. She's amazing.

In another few weeks I'll start watching Shannon's baby Josie two days a week. Shannon is still a little twitchy over the fact that we won't let her pay us for this, but really we just want to trade. It's only for about six weeks until the school year is up, so that's twelve days, so it won't be that much really. I figure, since Shannon's off for the summer she can watch Delia here and there while I run errands or go for bike rides or work out or whatever. We can schedule it for times that Shannon doesn't have other things going on so she's not paying all summer long for twelve days of child care. Then next school year we will look into whether I'll be watching Josie some more, and possibly Thomas before/after kindergarten. I think it'll be fine, really -- and I am absolutely the last person you'd think would say that, but really I mean it. I'm sure some days will be not so great, if one/two/all of us get sick or are just tired and grouchy or whatever, but it feels like the right thing to do, for all the kids, Delia included. Shannon can spell me during the summers, maybe even -- gasp! -- take Delia overnight once in a while once she's old enough to tolerate such a thing. They'll save money, the kids will all be able to hang out together here on Beaver Cleaver Street, it'll be a good thing. I'm sure the neighbors will all get a kick out of watching me hiking up the street with Delia in the stroller and Josie in the front pack...