keeping nothing down

friday 16th:

going to bed around 2.30am but not managing to get under the duvet before mr smear spiked a temperature and we couldn't determine whether it was caused by hot pjs and his duvet or by illness

tedious dreams and up a little later than usual

a slow start to the day with uninspiring videos, a mechanic visit on a gorgeous morning, getting a little sprayed oil in my eyes, meeting airplane and family for cooking competition coffee, back home for nap time

a little battlestar galactica, a walk with my mom and mr smear to the lighthouse during a magnificent sunset but turning around as the temperature dropped and the wind came up

a quick shopping and a really nice friday night dinner, mr smear spiking a fever again and throwing up the meds then demanding more sleep-food for a LONG time before we eventually acquiesced; a little man of steel and rls medication before turning in early

saturday 17th:

dreaming hard: military training with mr smear, fighting gym, gd and i swimming against massive waves and using everything we had to climb up to the promenade, a religious army musical number and dirty coffee grounds staining my good pants

reading rainbow, the farmer's market with my sister, nephew and her friends - one adorable new friend for mr smear, one completely ridiculous "health advisor" who my sister trusts for no understandable reason

the delicious vegan cake that made me realize that i really don't need to eat cake any more

straight to my mom's coffee shop for tea with my great aunt and her daughter, an exhausting but amusing chase through the mall and a shrewd saleswoman convincing us to buy an awesome but expensive "friend" for mr smear

coming home praying for a nap and getting nada, a chilly pharmacy run, the prince of egypt, a surprisingly straightforward bedtime

learning the origins of ani couni

rice, marshmallows, man of steel

sunday 18th:

restless but tired, getting up at 5am, setting up my workstation, making a cup of tea and then spending the next hour trying to get mr smear back to bed (about half an hour of feeding, cough / sinus meds and diaper changing, the rest because by that stage he was thoroughly awake) before giving up and beginning the day with the phantom menace and washing dishes (at least now gd appreciates my disappointment in chapters 1 through 3)

nerve pinching, arm weakness, and gratitude: the fact that i walked away (or limped) from my 2014 snowboarding accident was miraculous, and the fact that all i have to deal with is sciatica is a blessing

finally throwing in the towel with the science of star wars, resuming night of the jabberwock which was a breath of fresh air

a long time cleaning the kitchen, then emergency shopping and going back for garlic then going back for mushrooms then going back for milk

does *anyone* find it helpful when the cashier places coins on top of the receipt on top of bank notes???

a pleasant morning hosting my cousins, mom helping to jump start the neighbour's car while his wife went into labour, mr smear falling asleep after everyone left, napping until i awoke with a headache, waking mr smear to go to the car rental agency to extend the contract, returning home for allergy meds then walking down to the promenade for a stunning sunset

bedtime prep, a little bit of trouble getting him to sleep and everyone passing out waiting for the protests and singing to die down

monday 19th:

mr smear throwing up on the bed with no protector (again), and there's nothing like a hyperactive boy at 4.30am stomping on lego like he'll squeeze out more than (daddy's) whine; he was enthusiastically counting, though, and he spent the next three hours calling for his teacher and trying to go outside while i tried to rest but not sleep or cry

coffee to drive him safely, a quick and painless drop off, getting good work accomplished and hanging paintings, taking a first step to improving our cleaning lady communications, picking up mr smear, and almost waking him during the drawn out drama of getting him to nap

night of the jabberwock and ramen, a short nap, failing to feed mr smear, gd hurting herself in an entirely unnecessary rush to playdate with a family downstairs; the kids having a great time, the parents getting along and only a few stressful incidents (we got over the small stuff like mr smear rolling in dirt fairly quickly)

shopping, home for bedtime prep, being utterly exhausted and incapable of joining in an interview, indulging in chocolate milk, chocolate and marshmallows, reading a little more and finishing superman: man of steel... the writing failures were obvious and easily remedied, but it was so much fun to watch it really didn't matter

the surprise story of my brother-in-law's steak surgery

making progress, but interrupted constantly by mr smear's struggles (coughing fits)

tuesday 20th:

turning in relatively early
generally restless

things non-praying people pray for at 4.30am: that their children have actually gone back to sleep and not just for five minutes

sleeping uneasily until the alarm, dreaming:
1. standing on a futuristic tank with a magical yellow force field protecting it, the enemy attempting to get at me with a poisoned cake
2. running down stairs with gd and mr smear and him falling many floors down to a hard surface; by the time i got down there he'd been taken to the hospital and was apparently doing alright
3. steampunk / magic expo, needing to stow any tech for security reasons and placing my watch in the box but everyone was in a hurry and i'd need to copy encryption mentally in order to lock it; a wild chase through the expo to escape a witch i simply couldn't hide from

an unpleasant morning, working well, mr smear needing a change and grabbing other kids' food as i rushed to get him to his doctor's appointment; apparently nothing more than allergies (again), stopping by piazza st. john's for a great lunch and some book shopping before mr smear threw a proper tantrum in woolworths. not only did a well-intentioned clerk interfere at the wrong time (i had to tell her "please don't" a few times before she backed off), and a wheel locked after i finally got him in the stroller and smacked into a trolley a man was resting his head on, but when gd came out and the tantrum was still going she whipped him out of the stroller and instantly undid all my efforts.

mr smear acknowledging his behaviour both by saying sorry, and then by saying "naughty" when he hurt gd and that's a word we never used before

big anger that wouldn't go away

trying to soothe it with some hacknet before mr smear woke up, getting through the evening and a call from an enthusiastic recruiter - i don't know how many times i've been pitched the same company - eventually putting mr smear to bed then picking him up to administer asthma meds, his response being to hurl everywhere

watching gringo, the john mcafee documentary

working hard into the night, struggling to find a node rabbitmq package that works

wednesday 21st:

the joy of being dragged out from a warm duvet at freezing o'clock in the morning when you're nowhere near alarm time and your child wants to play

breakdancing videos and eating his unwanted breakfast, dropping him off at school and hitting the hardware store, returning home to some "me time" (hacknet), dropping gd off at the acupuncturist, coming home, picking her up and driving out to the car rental agency again to pick up a license disc; back to the school in time to park inside and pick up smoothies, gd's was delicious and mine tasted like kale-flavoured water scooped up from a field

picking up mr smear, visiting three supermarkets before giving up on finding the groceries we were looking for, stopping at home for a quick nap (mr smear's, we had ramen and tea) before heading to the temple to meet with two rabbis and resume gd's path to converting. during the course of a few conversations it's become clear to me that the "progressive" movement in judaism is the one that embodies the original principles of jewish history, faith and philosophy; i've complained for decades that "orthodox" has lost its way and i'm glad to find a home for national / religious ideology.

an interesting meeting, dropping gd and mr smear off at home and borrowing my cousin's drill and buying the second-to-last panel heater in the store and installing it and taking soup and jelly to my mom and picking up a phone she needed help with while avoiding contact with whatever she'd been down with

home, gd's amazing leftover concoction, mr smear naughty but adorable (i couldn't help but laugh at his scarily realistic fake cries, between which he giggled hysterically)

stabilizing bedtime, duct-taping the balcony door, two hours of meeting and presenting my work

thursday 22nd:

a nightmare of coughing becoming throwing up everything including the allergy meds to the point where we headed out in the cold, wet and windy night to the hospital; entering the emergency unit immediately rendering me semi-conscious, weak and on the verge of passing out, when we walked out two hours later i immediately felt better (still tired, but functional)

back home in the rain (with help from a security guard and his umbrella

about two hours of sleep before the nightmare resumed, mr smear still struggling and us exhausted to the point of hallucinating; returning the drill, dropping off mr smear at school for the last half hour once we were sure he'd be okay, picking him up and getting his mid-year report (we're super proud, but we were anyway, and the teacher requested that if we have any more kids we bring them to her as well), leaving gd for an acupuncture appointment and hitting the bumper when parking, a good treatment screwed up as i returned home to gd who'd been struggling alone with his worsening symptoms and rushing him to see the doctor, another medication change and getting mr smear sorted out and sleeping very early

getting excited for SxS's last few days before his kid's born, eating and crashing as soon as possible

friday 23rd:

another vomiting episode at 5am, but other than that mr smear and i both slept through until 9am, and of course he woke up warm and with green mucous and of course the pulmonary specialist could only see him on the following monday so we braced ourselves for a surprise double-long weekend

aiming for the bucket, mr smear refusing to be held by anyone but me, gd making a huge brunch instead of separate meals, applying for her conversion programme, trying to get some work done during nap time

after many hours struggling with node and rabbitmq, finally getting it to work and it's really simple :/

a chilly attempt at a walk, mr smear throwing up just as i was putting him in a swing

skipping my first evening in shul, a clingy mr smear refusing gd's dinner, a long goodnight and a shower forced by a particularly uncomfortable (for all of us) bowel movement

relatively short goodnight, dinner, chocolate, marshmallows and the end of gringo (holy cow), working until i felt myself tired and a little confused, then holding mr smear for more than an hour's coughing fit until his second cough med dose kicked in

saturday 24th:

up at 4am and suddenly feeling violently ill, mr smear up at 5am for a full family register of sick people

a couple of hours of mr smear stretching out my shoulder in a painful and interesting way, jumping up dizzy for an irrelevant alarm

mom coming over to help out, a day spent resting and feeling like crap

eventually getting mr smear into bed and watching a couple of episodes of battlestar galactica before crashing

sunday 25th:

1am party two floors up waking everyone and after two minutes banging on the door i get a "we didn't realize", followed by traumatizing mr smear with cough syrup and at least half an hour of tantrum that ended in him throwing up his dinner

mom helping out again in the morning, followed by me taking mr smear out for an hour or two to pick up diapers, learn how to dribble a ball, swing gleefully, go down a slide without climbing up it first, borrowing a bike and breaking a wheel by taking it off-road, ruining a long romantic moment with a cute girl by coughing in her face, then coming back home to a long wait for mr smear to nap

a great nap, a little work, mom coming over again and her visit ending with mr smear hurling his day's eating all over her... and then once again hurling after i tried feeding him again post-emergency shower...

an unpleasant long goodnight, finally sitting down and getting tricky work done, watching the human experiment in the background and being surprised to find that it wasn't a bunch of crap