Good Morning! Well, Morning!, anyway.

Some mornings are more interesting than others. Mine began slowly, as I was up too late last night helping Phil build a prop. This morning, Glady had to get ready for a field trip to the zoo, in addition to all the other morning stuff. So, let's see... hat, water bottle, lunch, snacks, money for souveneirs, binoculars, jacket... can't find the sunscreen, but it is overcast and likely to stay that way. On to the rest of the morning routine. Snacks for Juliet and lunch for Dad. Breakfast, vitamins, coffee and chocolate milk. So far, so good.

Then the bus shows up almost ten minutes early, with Phil and I wrangling with Juliet (who was dilly-dallying and needed a little push to finish tidying her room). Fortunately Glady caught it and ran screaming out into the driveway, "Bus! Bus!"

So I grabbed Juliet's backpack and ran out... but where was Juliet? The bus driver called an apology for her early arrival... still no Julie. Finally, she come running out, still sniffing because she was in trouble and because she almost missed the bus. After the girls got on the bus I heaved a big sigh of relief, fed Phil and the baby, and started to pack the show.

The new trick Phil put in Good Friends, Bad Bullies involves a sharp-shooting duck with a water squirter, so now my morning involves being squirted at by a giant thumb, a rubber duck (like a rubber chicken, not the cute bath toy) and finally, a little bottle that could be concealed in his hand. You know you are a magician's wife when there is a rubber duck drip-drying in your bathtub.

Show packed, Phil preparing himself, I go out to load the truck. Well, Dad used it last night to transport bees and didn't take them out this morning. So now, my morning involves dealing with about 30-40 sleepy, grumpy, confused bees clustered on the tailgate. They all fall off on the driveway and lay there humming sullenly when I open it. (Gingerly, with a giant leap backwards as I release the catch.) I unload all the equipment with no incidents and go on to get loaded with Phil's stuff.

As I re-enter the house I notice that Pippa has lost her pants somewhere and is now dressed in shirt, panties, and a gold lame cape because "some magicians wear capes to do tricks". OK. Moving on. I load the bunny and what not in the front, then go around to the back where I have left open the cap hoping the last bees would leave. They are mostly gone, with only a half dozen wandering around inside, still confused and lost. As I am loading, one orbits my head briefly, but not hostilely, and then two land on my head. The one in my hair departs quickly, the one on my forehead has taken up residence. I try to think calm thoughts, knowing that the smell of fear will upset her. Finally, I end up spending three minutes walking around the garden smelling flowers before she bumbles off me.

Well, the day has hardly begun. Hopefully the rest of it will be peaceful... but not likely!

So much to do, so little time...

Let's see. I'm typing one-handed while nursing Johann, so please forgive typos. Phil is home, as you may have guessed/heard (Johann, attend to your business and stop kicking my arm) and is mostly on bed rest with his feet elevated. All this lying still is driving him crazy at this point. The doc told him yesterday that his ulcer may be healed in a month if he keeps doing things right.

Glady had her fist grade concert last night. She was very cute singing and playing with her classmates. She is such (all right! Johann is in his exersaucer and happy with some o's) a social butterfly. They had the kids up on a tiered stand and she was busy talking to and flirting with all around her, from her quiet little best friend Taylor, to her energetic Connor who she likes a lot. Good grief. It reminds me of my sister Manya at that age. She always had little friends and had a boyfriend at Glady's age. I have discouraged the girls from having "boyfriends" explaining that although their friends talk about such things, they are too young for it. Nana and Bopop were able to come for the concert, and they took Glady off to Wendy's afterward.

Phil was at home with the two little girls, and he was pooped by the time I got home. Poor guy - he's sound asleep now and I want to keep him that way for a while. Well, I need to eat my breakfast and clean up this messy house, it never seems to get where I want it.

Mixed Day

Well, there was good news and bad news today. The bad, of course, was that Phil won't be home until Friday. This makes life this weekend even more complicated. Oh, well, I am doing all right carrying on. He is coming home, that much I can count on.

On the upside, I actually finished a story. Even got into a good authorial trance for a little while. But now I am going to set it aside for a day and the edit before I shop it out. I'm feeling pretty contented about it right now, though.

Badges of motherhood

I wanted to wish my Mother, my Grandmothers and my Great Grandmother a Happy Mother's Day!

I tried to send each of you an e-card, but my computer kept locking up on the site, so instead you get this - thoughts on motherhood I wrote about three years ago. Today, it was mashed bananas from Johann. I also got to play tic-tac-chec with Glady (a chess training game) and Family Fluxx with all three girls. I feel mothery today.

Phil was told today that it could be another week before they let him come home. I don't know if i can go on that long without him. And when he does get home we have to change things - but I don't know what.


"There are many signs of motherhood. Today I wore, for a while, a badge on my shoulder and reflected about other badges like it that I have worn and will wear through my life. My youngest banged her head, and as I held her in my arms and murmured to her, she buried her face in my shoulder and sobbed. A few minutes later, after I had put her down and she was playing happily, I realized she had left a patch of tears and snot on my shoulder. One more in a succession of such spots. They started with the spit-up from my babies, and will progress to lower marks of banged knees and elbows, from cuddles at an age where they are usually past such comforts. Hopefully, when my daughters are teens I will be mother enough to shoulder their tears over every little heartbreak. And when our lives have come full circle it will be spit-up again, from their babies. All my life I will be proud of my badges of motherhood, but I prefer to wear them invisibly. Pardon me while I change my shirt. "

update

Phil is going to be in the hospital until Monday. Poor guy is getting bored stiff, but he's still sick enough not to be pushing to come home quite yet. I miss him so much, though. Even though most of what I have been doing is stuff I would normally do, he supported me in things like keeping the girls in line and holding the baby when he felt sick. And I just miss his presence. It has been a long time since we had to be apart for any length of time and we were in a bed place in our relationship then. We have grown so close that having him away and not being able to see him every day is hard.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, they have meant much to both of us.

Legs

Phil was admitted yesterday for cellulitis in his leg. We had gone in to have an ulcer on the back of his leg looked at - he's had it for almost a year, and finally let me get him set up with the doctor to see it. Then Saturday he had a balloon gig where he was on his feet for almost 7 hours straight, and his leg got really bad. So he is in the hospital for at least three days, possibly more. If he is still off his feet Saturday and Sunday I will have to come up with babysitting and do his balloon gigs on those two days myself. We couldn't afford to cancel them.

He's flat on his back with his feet over his head, and dopy with morphine at least some of the time. But still, this enforced absence from his family is going to drive him batty. I won't be able to go see him, as the van is down with bad brakes and my Dad's truck won't hold us all. Fortunately we have the phone.

I am holding down the fort here at the Farm, with groceries stocked in, and lots to do to keep me busy. The kids have school, and I found a ride for Juliet to get home from school tomorrow at least. (I am never doing half-day kindergarten again!) Sharon, God Bless You, has been an enormous help. Yesterday would have been miserable without you.

I am going to go get everyone's morning rolling now. I just printed out a bunch of pictures to send in to Phil.

Ears

Well, yesterday was an eventful day. In the morning, Johann had a discharge from one of his ears, so I called the doctor. While waiting for her to call, It was decided that Sharon would take Pippa and Glady with her to Spacetacular, Dad would run errands, and Phil of coure was performing. Dad came home bearing blueberries and arborvitae, and while we were planting them the doctor called and asked us to take Johann to the hospital to be checked. Four hours later, we got home with amoxicillin and eardrops. Whew. not much happened, but it took a long time.

The girls had a great time with Sharon and Co. and then when they got home before us, Sharon did laundry and dishes that I hadn't gotten to yet. Friends are such a comfort. Poor Phil is coming down with this, though. He woke up last night with a fever. He's exhausted from yesterday, but I have to go and get him ready for another show now.

Keep us in your prayers, please. This is the first time any of the kids have had an ear infection.

Baby's sick

Poor little spud - he's been running a fever and coughing, and to add insult to injury when we took him in for his check-up yesterday he got three shots. Last night he didn't sleep well at all, so today both of us are tired. He sounds so sad when he cries, since he's hoarse. His sisters have been particularly solicitous of him, but he only wants me right now. I've spent most of yesterday and today holding him. Puts a serious crimp in my housecleaning, but he needs me more.

Tomorrow Sharon, Rachel, and Brian are coming up so they can go to Spacetacular. This is a fun event at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, Phil has twisted for them for three years now. She may take along the girls, but I think Johann and I will stay home. And Sharon and I were going to ride the gyroscope, too! Oh, well, probably betternot, anyway.