A Cold, Wet Butt

(What a title! But it's true)

Before Christmas I was able to attend a Ladies Christmas Tea, hosted by Grace Fellowship Church, held at Tinelli's Hathaway house. (Our wedding reception was held there. Very beautiful and excellent service and food) The speaker, who happens to be my mother's cousin, Kathy ended up with an extra ticket. She kindly thought of me.

On the night of the tea I met my Grandmother, and her sisters Sidney and Joyce, and we headed off to Tinelli's, which is out in the middle of nowhere, think one or two houses in sight and a 20 minute drive to the nearest "town". As always with my Grandmother's family, we spent a lot of time laughing and making sure Aunt Sidney knew where she was going in the dark.

The evening was wonderful. The music beautiful, skit funny, speaker excellent as always, and the food decadent - chocolate fondant, bread pudding with black berries and oranges, and a carrot cake with pears! It was a nice evening out with family.

The end came, as all endings will - too soon. We gathered out coats and gloves, this is Christmas in Central NY after all. It had been raining the whole time we were at the tea. Aunt Sidney went to get her car and we waited, talking with other family members who were there and friends.

I helped Grandma and Aunt Joyce down the stairs and then got in the car myself. The seat was a little cold, but I figured it would warm up quickly. In only a few moments I noticed that my pants were a little wet. I thought it was b/c I had kept the door open for a few seconds before getting in. My pants proceeded to become wetter and wetter, and my underwear was also starting to feel a bit damp.

I reached my hand under my butt and low and behold the seat was not just damp, but sopping wet! My Grandmother's seat, on the passenger side of the car, was also damp, so was the middle. After trying to figure out where I could sit that would save me from becoming wetter, which there was none, and discussing how the seat could have gotten so wet with the door "closed", I finally decided to sit in the wet seat and have a very wet, very cold, butt.

My Grandmother and her sisters had a great time on the way home about me and my wet butt. I made it home and quickly went upstairs to change. Where upon my husband thought I had had a terrible time, since I rushed upstairs and didn't say anything to him.

Shots and Christmas!

What an odd title you might think. After the day I've had, it makes perfect sense.

The day started out normally, for us. Hope woke up, wandered into our room, and bugged us to take her potty. Matt groggily walked her into the bathroom, where she of course wouldn't pee. Took her back to bed only to have her appear at our bedside again to go potty. A more reasonable time too quickly arrived and she finally went pee on the potty. Matt decided he needed to stay home because of a bad cold.

We got the kids up, dressed, and fed. Then came the fun of dragging all four of them to the doctor's. I should have woken Matt up and left Hope home. The kids are forever trying to convince us to get a puppy. Often they play at one or more being puppies. This morning they all were puppies, except Amelia. I walked out the door to the accompaniment of barking "puppies." This set off every dog on our street, because everyone's windows were open.

The examine rooms in the pediatrician's office echo. My children know this and thus our stay is pierced by high pitched, loud noises. A normal visit for us. Amelia had her 9 month check up. Samuel and Elizabeth had their school physicals. Then came the shots. Samuel received one. He took it well, although he gave the nurse a disgruntled look. Amelia started screaming when the nurse wiped her leg with the alcohol wipe. She calmed down shortly. Elizabeth I had to hold down and she did not calm down for a long time.

It is a terrible thing to hold your screaming child. While the whole time they are begging you not to do something to them. It almost broke my resolve. I couldn't let her see me cry and I couldn't back down. I've seen how horrible viruses can be if you are not vaccinated. While I may hate myself still for causing her pain, she's forgotten all about it and proudly showed her sparkly band aids to Daddy.

To de-stress I started working on a Christmas present. I've found that playing the piano or working on needle work is relaxing for me. Playing the piano used to be, now I play a quartet, not relaxing. I'm making most of my Christmas presents this year, which I've found I enjoy. It's not necessarily cheaper, but more rewarding.

Now onto something currently stressful, writing. I feel immense pressure to get everything out, but it does not come very well. I equate it with giving birth, at least the horror stories of giving birth. I've never been in labor longer than 8 hours from first contraction to holding the baby. There is something inside of me that is wonderful and it needs to come out. I'm built to get it out, but it's not very easy.