From time to time...

...when I get done doing the dishes, I say, "Dishes are done, man," as if I am Kenny in the movie Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.  I did so tonight.  I got the girl into bed by 8 (which is funny because I can hear her playing her musical giraffe as I type this, so I know full well she has been sitting in there for almost an hour awake), then I put away the laundry, picked up toys from the living room floor, and did the dishes.  This is a pretty typical evening routine for me, but today, MY HEAD HURTS.  I've had a really horrible headache for most of today.  I had coffee this morning (caffeine usually helps), went to Aerofit for about an hour to "workout" (getting back into the habit again, so I can't really call it an actual workout yet), took Riv to the "park" (the tiny little playground in our neighborhood), went to both animal shelters and looked at the cats and dogs, ate lunch, did some laundry, had a cup of tea, worked outside for a bit, watered the yard, had dinner, and began the nightly routine of putting Rivers to bed.  I suppose I thought that if I kept busy, it would go away.  At no point has this headache diminished EXCEPT for when Rivers made me laugh.  Here are a few of the funny/interesting/incredibly silly/charming things she did today:

When Rivers wakes up, either in the morning or from a nap, she is usually pretty chill.  She lies there talking and singing, just waiting for someone to come get her.  Today after her nap, when I opened her door, she pointed to the poster on her wall and said, "That's Nirvana.  I like Nirvana.  There's Kurt Cobain.  I like Kurt Cobain.  And there's Dave Grohl.  I like Dave Grohl.  And there's Mommy.  I like you too, Mommy."  So I laughed and said, "Thanks, Rivers, I like you too."

There is a large framed portrait of John Wayne in my garage.  It used to hang in Chisum's room, but I have yet to re-hang it, so it is sitting in the garage.  Today, on our way to the gym, Rivers says, "That's John Wayne; I like The Duke."   So apparently, Chisum has taught her that. 

During dinner, Rivers was playing on her Leaptop and pushing the music buttons.  She danced and danced for me and then, since of course we were watching Elf, the song "You Make Me Feel So Young" came on, and Rivers gave me a serenade.  She also narrated everything Buddy was doing for me:  "Buddy's spinning and yelling!  Buddy's running!  Buddy's dancing!"  I guess you get the picture.  Chisum thinks it will be funny for us to encourage this activity so that she will do it until she is like 16 or so.  It would be pretty funny...

When the bath was over tonight, she was not ready to get out.  I got her out anyway, so she started a "temper tantrum."  Her tantrums are pretty funny because she doesn't really cry....BUT she always tells me she is.  So she was hollering, "I don't wanna get out yet!  I'm crying!"  I laughed at her and said, "No, you're not crying."  Then she looked at me like she thought I must be onto her and gave it up.  That's the general extent of her tantrums.  I guess I'm pretty lucky for that.  At least for now.  She's not technically two yet.

Those have been my highlights from today.  Those and talking to Chisum on the phone.  Now, it's time to rest my eyes and my brain and perhaps have a glass of wine...or two.  And at least I can go to bed knowing the dishes are done, man.

Back in Aggieland!

It's been a crazy couple of months in the Womack household.  We have moved back to Bryan, and we are finally (mostly) settled back into our house.  It feels wonderful to be HOME.

Rivers seems to have handled the move well.  Before we moved here, I kept telling her we were going to live in the "big house."  Luckily, she has no frame of reference for that other than a house that is large. Otherwise, she might have been hesitant... I know our house isn't huge, but it's sure is bigger than either of the apartments we lived in most recently.  If you ask her how she likes her room, she'll tell you "Cousin Lindsey painted it!" She also LOVES playing outside.  We go out every day to check on our plants and to play on the deck.  I bought an outdoor rug for the deck, and it's green, so if I'm in the backyard, Rivers sits on it and hollers to me every now and then that she is still on the "green rug."

Chisum and I are really glad to be back here too.  It's nice to be able to paint our walls and hang up all of our pictures and really live somewhere again.  Also, I have missed my kitchen SO much.  Both of our apartments had the tiniest galley kitchens I have ever seen, and I'm pretty sure that I had to leave at least 10 boxes of kitchen stuff in storage.  I don't know how I managed to actually cook for us, but I know that often, the kitchen table was employed in the task.  Unpacking here was like opening gifts on Christmas morning.  I found things I had forgotten I ever had.  Now I can COOK again too!  (So if you ever want to come for dinner, just let me know.  I'll be happy to accommodate!)

Chisum is working pretty hard at his job these days.  He spends 3-4 days a week on the road.  Rivers and I get to read, play, watch movies, go for walks, have tea parties, and run around town together, and it is a blessing for me to get to spend so much time with her.  But we really do miss Chisum so much when he is away.  One of my favorite sights is watching Rivers run out of the garage into the driveway to greet him when we hear him pull up after having been gone all week.

Right now, we are just continuing to settle back into things.  Rivers and I are going to get a schedule down for activities.  We are going to have a park/playground day, a walking day, a library day, swimming when we can, and once we join a gym again, we'll have some of that too.  If you have any suggestions of things to add to our list, please send them my way.

I'm hoping to get back into listing my good stuff from each day here, so I'm sure I'll be posting more often.  But for now, it's off to bed to fall asleep to the sound of all of this wonderful rain.  Our lives are really and truly blessed right now, and we could ask for nothing more.