The Green Room

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Libby — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:42:49 +0000

I just found out that my doctor’s office has been bought out, and the new clinic will no longer provide obstetric services, so my doctor is leaving. Grr boo hiss. I love my doctor. She’s a real family doctor. She takes care of me and Hanna and she’d take care of Ryan too if he ever went to see a doctor about anything. Plus, she was pregnant when she delivered my baby, which I still think is just the awesomest thing ever. I hope her new clinic is still somewhere I can get to, because there is no way I am giving her up.

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Libby — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:42:53 +0000

Y’know, I am getting really tired of looking like a teenager. I’m sick of people asking me what school I go to, and when I tell them I’ve already graduated, have them ask well, which high school did you graduate from? I hate being out with Hanna and feeling all the dirty looks people are giving me because they think I’m an escapee from a home for unwed mothers. I had a woman on the bus this morning get right in my face and try to give me a talking to, because it’s ok to yell at teenagers for making the bus crowded. I’m going to be 30 this year. I’m ready for the world to start treating me like an adult.

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Libby — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:42:17 +0000

Yay, I can type again! Which means I have to go back to work, but whatever, I’m glad to be getting over that stupid HFMD thing. Those were some awful blisters.

I knew it was Hanna’s bedtime tonight when I tried to take the nail clippers away and she had a full-on meltdown. (She is fascinated by personal grooming tools. She will cheerfully brush her teeth for half an hour and be mad when I tell her she’s done.) To which I replied, “Hanna, that is a disproportionate response to the severity of the situation.” I find it deeply satisfying to use elaborate words when talking to Hanna. It helps keep me calm and maintain my sense of humor when she’s screaming.

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Libby — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:06:56 +0000

Hanna has been a very busy girl today. This morning was our second swim class, which went much better than the first one last week. Last week she cried for the entire time, first because of the noise, then because of the chlorine, and then because it was time to leave. This week she got a bit shaky in the changing room because there were lots of kids running around and everything echoes, but once she got in sight of the water everything was fabulous. She wanted to jump right in, and she didn’t like it when I told her we had to wait our turn for our class to start. She wasn’t afraid to put her face in the water this time either. She’s still pretty fuzzy on the kicking her feet concept but she can splash her arms with the best of them! After we got home and had a nap, we decided to go for a walk because it was such a nice afternoon. We live about 8 blocks from the park, and Hanna walked the whole way over all by herself, ran around the park chasing kids and dogs like a madwoman, and then walked about halfway home before she finally collapsed and let me carry her. Now, however, that she’s had a chance to sit down and have a snack, she’s decided it’s time to go run around again. She just put on her rainboots, hung her sweater around her neck, and shouted, “Bye!” I wonder where she thinks she’s going this time?

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Libby — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:15:04 +0000

Well, that was an exciting Easter. We just got home from Hanna’s first ER visit. She woke up from her nap this afternoon unable (or unwilling) to move her left arm, and she would scream every time we touched it. She was wiggling her fingers a little, so we waited a little bit to see if maybe she just slept on it funny and it would wear off, but it didn’t get better, so I called the doctor’s office, and they told us to go to the hospital. Several heart attacks later for mama, the nurse takes a look at her and says her elbow is popped out of joint. He showed me how to fix it so if it happens again we won’t have to come in. It was amazing, he just twisted her arm around and I could feel the pop as her elbow went back together. Hanna immediately started moving her arm around, and even held the lollipop he gave her in her left hand. (Because, as he said, sugar is the best analgesic.) I was all preparing myself for her to have some rare neurological thing, thank goodness it was just a popped elbow! She’s sitting in her highchair now, having an extremely late dinner and singing to herself like everything is fine. Which, it is. Allelujah.

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Libby — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 05:12:46 +0000

Talking about Joseph Campbell tonight, I realized that Ryan is interested in the structure of stories, while I am more interested in their meaning. This explains why we never enjoy the same movies.

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Libby — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:57:30 +0000

Things Hanna likes to say while marching topless around the living room:

-Okee! Dokee!
-No, Dada!
-Rarr!
-Kitty!

She will also stop sometimes and blow kisses. Toddlers are amazing.

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Libby — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:37:31 +0000

Despite the fact that my knee is still throbbing, I managed to get the last of the rose bushes pruned back today. The yard debris bin is very tall and it makes a nice crutch. I’m trying to do at least one thing in the yard each weekend, and I’m glad I was able to fulfill my promises despite the limping. I am looking forward to enjoying my garden this summer. And now I have my leg up again and Ryan brought me a Guinness. Today is full of win.

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Libby — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:50:19 +0000

I’ve spent most of the day on the couch with ice on my knee. The pain has been getting worse all day, but I hadn’t realized quite how badly I’d hurt myself this morning until I noticed the blood seeping through my leggings. I don’t think it’s broken or anything like that, since I was able to limp around the grocery store with my Dad, but I really hope I’m feeling better tomorrow. The worst part is trying to explain to Hanna why she can’t climb on Mama like normal. She doesn’t understand and she just starts howling.

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Libby — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:14:33 +0000

The baby gates are no longer the object of comfort they once were. First Hanna figured out how to open the ones upstairs, and now this morning I was trying to put away my backgammon set and the gate by the linen cupboard attacked me. Well, more like I was trying to put the backgammon set back in the linen cupboard and leaning over the baby gate to do so, which would have been a simple enough manouevre, if the puzzles hadn’t started sliding down, which meant I had to lean over even further to catch them, at which point the baby gate fell over, and me with it. I did something awful to my knee and started crying, which got Hanna very upset, but I calmed her down (and myself) by telling her she needed to come give Mama a hug and that would make it all better. It definitely did help. Now I’ve got my leg up, and we’re out of frozen peas so I’ve got a bag of frozen cheese tortellini on it. I know it wasn’t really the baby gate’s fault, but I’m still seriously contemplating taking them down. They don’t really slow Hanna down anymore, and they’re just creating an obstacle course for her tired parents.