It's a Cotten life: December 2011

When I was a sophomore in college, I went to school in Chico, CA for a semester. I loved it. But it was different. Just subtle things. I remember flying home to Syracuse in December. From 60 degrees to snow and cold, missing everyone and not sure about leaving. As I was walking through the Syracuse airport, I saw three people walk by with LL Bean book bags. And that song popped into my head and made me feel ridiculously happy. Happy to be back in snow. Happy to be back in familiarity.

This song has been on my mind a lot today. It is a Pam Tillis one. I feel like I have suddenly emerged into a bright and shining world, despite the rain, mist and sleet outside. It is a wonderful feeling. I ran errands with the kids in Malone today (first time in over a month and a half!) and then didn't even wait until Justin got home to carry all the groceries in and put them away. Then I made supper. I did dishes. The kids are bathed. I am woman here me roar! And now I am mixing songs.

In case you didn't notice, I think I have hit the second trimester.

And now, to do a little catching up, here is a bit about Thanksgiving.

The night before we left to go down to Whites, Gilbert did a swan dive off the diaper changing table, hitting his head on the hard tile tub side as he went down. He went all stiff, then slumped, then whimpered, then immediately fell asleep. Not reassuring. So we took him into the ER. I hate the ER. Unless you are bleeding, gasping, or in mindless pain, I generally think you are better off waiting until the doctor opens the next day. So as we were zipping to the hospital, I remembered my lovely cousin, JoAnna, who is a fully qualified ER nurse, and is therefore uniquely equipped to diagnose any and all of my emergency medical problems from 1,000 miles. Poor JoAnna. She advised just keeping an eye on him. So when we got to the hospital, we decided to make sure Gilbert's eyes were dilating as they should and go home. He promptly started projectile vomiting. So we took him in. One and a half hours later, we were finally allowed to go home to keep an eye on him. Argh. For entertainment though, they have a computer screen in each room, which lists the last names of all the people in the other rooms and the tests they are ordering and how long they have been waiting. I spent most of the time speculating on whether that Scarf was related to the kid I went to school with, who had a broken leg, who was getting blood drawn, and who had been waiting the longest. Does this not seem like a huge privacy concern? Whatever, it kept me from going crazy.

Gilbert is still alive and fully functioning.

On Wednesday, we left for Whites. Since it was snowy, there had been an accident in Keene Valley that involved 5 jack-knifed tractor trailers. Keene Valley was closed. In case you couldn't see that coming. We went Plattsburgh way, making it to Ellenburg (an hour) before the car started shimmying and shaking and clunking like a malfunctioning Elvis doll. We decided to make it as close to home as we could before calling the tow truck. And the contrary car drove all the way home. We went down to Whites Thursday morning in Mom and Dad's van.

Our car is still going and fully functioning with nary a shimmy and only an occasional clunk.

We are very anti-climatic around here.

After all that fooling around, Thanksgiving was wonderful! First though, we got to enjoy a sunshine-y, snowy drive down. Since I was driving, Justin took all these pictures.