A Good Weekend

Isn't there some saying about dreading something only makes it come faster? There has to be, because it certainly is true.

My internal medicine inpatient month starts tomorrow. I'll save you a bunch of cliched similes about how excited I am about this.

Although maybe many of you are right, and it won't be as bad as I'm dreading. After all, I just found out that I only have 3 nights of call all month! Yeah for 28 day months!

It's a good thing that I had such a great weekend.

While I kept hearing about snowstorms on the East coast, the weekend here was clear, sunny, and, well, cold. We just got our heating bill which testifies to exactly how cold it has been. Hubster opened it while driving, and nearly drove off the road. New rule...no bill opening in the car.

Friday night, we took the boys ice skating. After the huge success we had skiing, everyone was feeling up to new activities. We laced up the ice skates and let the boys teeter around next to the benches for a while. They were delighted about how well they could stand on the skates.


And then we got onto the ice.

And the fun ended.

Bug was so convinced he was going to fall, and then apparently die, that he didn't once relax his death grip on my hand. If he didn't feel he was adequately constricting the blood supply to my fingers, he would scream and lunge for the railing. We made it a quarter of the way around the rink before he was in full terror mode. He was crying and saying this was the worst thing we had ever done. He hadn't fallen once. I even pointed out all the other kids who were falling right and left without any apparent long term damage. Neither of those facts comforted him. He wanted off that ice. NOW!

By this time, Hubster and Monkey had been around the rink once and came to stop by us. Hubster offered to trade children, which he did with a smirk.

Turns out Monkey, while not terrified of the ice, insisted on skating only between our legs and only with our arms under his. Which meant horrific back spasms half way around the rink for me.

Sound fun? I thought not. Which is why, 20 minutes later, when I'd given up all hope regarding our "fun family evening" and suggested we leave, and the boys started crying and asking for just one more time around the rink, I looked around to see which alternate universe I'd been sucked into. But insist they did, and give in we did, and went around one more time.

We then went home, Hubster and I with aching backs and numb hands, and Bug and Monkey talking about how much fun the whole thing had been.


Hubster spent Saturday volunteering at Habitat for Humanity. We took advantage of the mommy-boy time by checking out the local library. First, both boys were re-instructed about "library voices." We then went to the front desk and filled out the forms for library cards. Bug is now the proud owner of his very first library card! We were then directed to the children's section of the library.

We turned the corner into the children's section and you could almost hear the boys' jaws drop. Closed off from the rest of the library were rows upon rows of children's books, separated by play stations filled with toy dishes, bead mazes, rocking horses, and puppets. The entire section was full of children, who were definitely not using library voices.

We walked to find some new Mo Willem books, past chairs filled by parents, reading to lapfulls of children, past television centers where children were watching all sorts of movies with headphones. There was even a "secret" way in via a slide. Bug's and Monkey's eyes kept getting bigger and bigger, as did their smiles.

Our library back in Utah had three, maybe four rows of children's books, but no where to read them. This place was light, colorful, and busy. And fun.

We left with huge stacks of books, which we then spent the rest of the afternoon reading, while snacking on Rice Crispy treats.

And today wasn't a quiet, stay at home day either. Monkey slept dry for 5 nights last week. And if that doesn't deserve a celebration, complete with going out for ice cream, I don't know what does.

And now, we are settling down to Wii Bowling in front of our fireplace, eating white chocolate popcorn. (Yes, I know. Between that and the Rice Crispy treats, the ice cream, and the baked apple French toast I made for breakfast, I can say good-bye to that 2 pound weight loss.)

So even if everyone is wrong, and inpatient wards are just as bad as I've built them up to be in my mind, at least I had an amazing weekend before hand. And at least when this month is over, so will be February, and spring will be right around the corner.