Walking Backwards

I went to the Cafe Java Christmas dinner tonight at Seanna's house and had a super time. Nicholas was really upset at first and I was almost at the point of going home after only thirty minutes when he calmed down. I wanted to give him a chance to play with Aiden since he gets so little interaction with children his own age. In the end, they were so cute together. Nicholas would hand anything he could find over to Aiden and feed him food. He just loves other babies. I hope this carries over later into his life and he doesn't turn out as shy as I was. So far he only seems timid in unknown situations and adjusts fairly quickly, as long as he isn't tired or hungry. The party was a great situation for him because the house was childproofed and there was so much for him to play with. I was also happy to be there. Ever since I left the cafe I've really missed all of the people, even though I see a lot of them at least once a week. It isn't the same being on the outside of the work crew. They are able to discuss work problems that I don't have any knowledge of or couldn't contribute anything to. Everyone that works there is almost like family. I got to make my cranberry relish, which I love, and everyone else brought goodies. Annie made what she calls her "white-trash" dessert, lemonade pie. It was so yummy and sour. Nicholas even enjoyed the one bite that he got. Patrick brought antipasto salad with all kinds of roasted vegetables and cheeses and mushrooms. I love food! Now I have dinner for the next two nights in my fridge and poor Seanna must have enough to feed an army. It was so much excitement that Nicholas is now passed out on my bed prior to a bath or dinner (he did snack a lot). I know this does not bode well for tomorrow morning.


I got the bill today for all of the charges for repairs to our apartment. They want us to pay $700 to replace all of the carpets in the house that were damaged. I have no idea where this money is going to come from. I have to go talk to them on Monday to find out if they are charging us for the damage caused by the pipe leak that they knew about and let fester until it ruined the carpets in the hallway and in the dining room. That should be their responsibility, not ours. There isn't much we are going to be able to do if they say we have to pay them, though. I'm just hoping that they are nice enough people. Somehow I doubt that they are. This is a bad time of year to be asking us for extra money, too.


Still have a lot to do to get ready for the extended family experience we are about to have. My to-do list is about three miles long. How much of it I get done is still questionable. I am hoping that Joe gets the time off of work he requested so that he can help me get ready, but I'm not holding my breath. Even if he does get the time off, I would much rather spend enjoyable time with him than labor tediously just to make my family think that I'm not a slacker. They'll think that no matter what I do, but I like to minimize the things they might complain about. Amazing that they (my mother, that is) think that I should be able to keep a pristine house even though I have a toddler that I have to take care of by myself the majority of the time. I just want to keep the mess at a minimum and find someplace to put all of the boxes we haven't unpacked after living here for three months. I would prefer to unpack them, but my standards aren't so high as to discount the advantages of putting them in an out of the way closet.