Fishes, Fathers and Strategy Games

 

1.) Father's Day 

Father's day was pretty nice. We got to spend the morning with my family after mass, and then we went and spent the evening with my in-laws. 

I failed in the "wife" department on it though, because try as I might, I couldn't think of a gift for Chris. I floated some ideas by him but they all flopped. And then Father's day rolled around and it was too late. 

He found a nice $70 dollar pocket knife lying in the middle of the road on the way home from my parents' house though that he's STILL really excited about, so I guess he got a nice gift from...God? His guardian angel? 

I dunno. It turned out to be a good day, at any rate. 

2.) Naptime 

As is normal for those who have given birth in the last two months, most of my day is spent sitting in a rocking chair holding a baby who seems to exist in an in-between state of sleep and wakefulness (except when she's DEFINITELY wide awake and WANTS TO BE HELD, MAMA). 

Despite this, I still find myself passing out more days than not for an hour or two while she naps. She IS still waking up a couple times a night. We've tried to convince the kids to have a corresponding quiet time where they read or play quietly-- it's a mixed success. 

3.) Chess

Little Boy has chosen to take up a new hobby. 

One of the gifts he received for a recent birthday was "No Stress Chess", a board game/tutorial designed to ease kids into the rules of chess gradually. 

He loved it. To the point that he turned on his interest to a level we like to term "like trying to drink from a fire hose." He wanted to play CONSTANTLY, narrating his thought process the entire time. 

While we were happy he loved it so much and wanted to learn, repeatedly playing chess games with an incessantly chatting young child is roughly tantamount to Chinese water torture. Add to that a still very much to be developed sense of good sportsmanship, and there's only so much you can take before you snap. 

Chris found a website for kids that basically does the same thing as the game and got him an account. So now he has a place to practice that he enjoys and that we're able to bear. 

Coincidentally, Chris has started to play a lot of online chess too. 

4.) Aquarium Upgrade

This fish situation has started to become ridiculous. 

It started with a 35¢ fish, a pickle jar, some gravel, and a red plastic plant. 

Then we added a filter and water conditioner. 

THEN we ended up buying a 5 gallon tank, which came with a light and a bigger, better filter. 

THEN it was decided that Gil the fish looked lonely in there. 

We're now up to two fish and three plastic plants. 

I'll let you know when we graduate to running a full scale aquarium. Won't be too long at this rate. 

5.) Well Update 

Last week, I mentioned that our well decided to stop working. 

Long story short, we basically ended up replacing the whole thing, spending about $1,400 in the process. 

Painful. But at least we know when everything was last installed now, and this shouldn't happen again in the foreseeable future. 

6.) Library Discoveries 

As with most things lately, Chris has taken the lead role on family trips to the library. 

And, as is normal when a spouse takes on a role that the other spouse normally handles, he has a pretty different method of approach on it. 

It turns out that the library's DVD collection, something I've only ever really looked at in the kids' section, has several movies and a couple TV shows that we're not able to get on streaming services. 

So far, we've watched all four Lethal Weapon movies and started watching the TV show Picard (updated version of Star Trek). 

The librarian has been amused at our abrupt change in DVD choices, "Oh, Lethal Weapon. Good family viewing right there." 

7.) Catch-22

My energy levels are starting to come back now that I'm no longer immediately post partum, which is nice in some ways but really frustrating in others. 

It's much easier to be ok with sitting in a chair most of the day nursing or holding a baby when movement is still physically painful and you're just tired. As I'm recovering though, it's harder to get the message across to myself that I'm not in a position to take on any projects or commitments. 

Case in point; I bought about four pounds of peaches during a family trip to the store. Even with a newborn literally strapped to my chest, I was still under the mistaken impression I'd be able to find the time to freeze or can them. 

A week or so later, a whole bunch of them have gotten moldy, and we're currently in a race against time to eat the rest of them before they meet the same fate. 

I did manage to cook dinner from scratch once, and I snuck away to sew a couple burp cloths out of some unneeded baby blankets, but I need to make peace with the fact that stuff like that is going to be the exception rather than the rule for the time being. 

Thank goodness I can blog one handed from my phone. At least that's one thing that feels productive. 

See the rest of this week's takes here.