We spent Thanksgiving in the hospital. Elizabeth thought she might make an early appearance, but we foiled her plans - I'm sure it will be the first of many plan-foiling attempts, and we're looking forward to it. ;-)
Baby, Brian and I are all perfectly well. E-Beth is still safely tucked away in the Elizabelly, and we're still holding out for a February debut.
My doctor has told me, however, to "take it easy." I'm allowed to sew and work here at home still. I'm allowed to sit. I'm allowed to sleep. I'm allowed to eat.
That's it. My life has become a spectator sport.
No worries, to those who have orders coming - I am still able to sew, fill orders, and everything is right on schedule. Once I finish my current orders, I will be going on maternity leave. I plan to spend a ton of time reading good books, eating bon-bons and getting my feet massaged.
Just kidding. Doc would kick my ever-expanding buttocks. I'm not allowed to gain any more weight for the duration of my pregnancy. He says 30 lbs is enough.
Bleh. >:-(
Back to Thanksgiving: As luck would have it, the day I was released from the hospital, Brian noticed a funky stream of water puddling down our basement walls.
"Funny!" he said. "That's right next to where the septic system is!"
I, however, did not see the humor.
"Can ya give me a flush?" he asked of me. Nasties bubbled and burped their way to the surface of our crunchy, dead, brown lawn.
"That's not the kind of Christmas decorating I was hoping to do today, babydoll." I explained.
He called our neighbors to ask if they might know *exactly* where our septic line might be, and by the next morning, ALL of our neighbors were assembled on our poo-covered lawn, digging, helping, and fixing our broken septic line.
We cannot figure out what we did in our lifetimes to deserve these amazingly helpful and kind people as neighbors. We're kind of afraid we've wrongly been given someone else's good karma. Either way, it was a TRUE Thanksgiving weekend. Every once in a while we need something to shake up our lives and make us realize just how grateful we should be for all the good things going on right now and the good people who help make things happen.
Sure, our sewer exploded and covered our yard in floating turds. But we got to spend a day joking around with some of the greatest people on earth, and ate some delicious pizza with them too.
Today my family has been emailing back and forth to work out the Christmas gathering schedules, and I asked Erin if we would be having a meal at her December 26th celebration or just snacks, and if so, what should we contribute to the food pile.
Her response:
----- Original Message -----
From: Erin
To: Heather and the rest of the clan
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004
Subject: RE: The Holiday Schedule ...
Meal? On Christmas? Are you nuts? You'll eat candy canes and miniature chocolates like Jesus intended, damn it!
You should definitely bring a homemade chocolate and/or peanut butter cheesecake to round out the food pyramid.
Erin