That feeling when

you’ve been replaced, first by the baby, then by the jug of milk!

The indignity. 

(My mom is here, say yay, say yay. It took the two of us an hour to get Lionel and Geneva and ourselves packed up for the grocery store. THANK GOODNESS SHE IS HEEEEERE.)

Lionel Justice

I had a baby! His name is Lionel Justice, he is very small. 

I used to read old-timey novels where an invalid would finally feel well enough to sit in a chair in the sun, and I’d be like, How hard is it to sit in a chair in the sun. And now I’m like, Oh.

That third c-section really takes it out of you! My uterus was allegedly transparent in parts, so it’s a good thing I didn’t go into labor, or want any more children, or end up having twins. 

We have been home almost three whole days. Joel took the girls out this morning, they have been gone for HOURS, because he goes back to work tomorrow. I have been spending the day lying under or near a baby, or unstacking the dishwasher, or eating snacks. I did a load of laundry. Everything is so much, so I only get one day like this with this newborn while he is new born. It has been glorious. 

My mom moves in for a while tomorrow, and then is Christmas, and then Eleanor turns six, and then Joel is off work again, and then school starts back up and by then, Lionel is nearly a month old. 

But for now he is new, and he is so sleepy and warm. (It completely goes without saying but I’ll say it: the girls love him so, so much. They cannot stop telling him how much they love him. It is so, so much. 

)

Gingermansion forever

We started the gingermansion last week because I feel like there is SO LITTLE TIME LEFT and we love it. We got as far as making the dough



(molasses is SO INTERESTING)



and then we lost days of our lives to that ferocious 24-hour bug that was going around. Can I recommend you don't.



So I and then Eleanor were sick in succession, the gingerdough went into the freezer, the kids went to my parents' place for the weekend because Joel and I had TWO (2) holiday parties to attend



and then suddenly it was Sunday morning and we were all home and healthy and had the day ahead of us. GOOD THING I HAVE THIS MASSIVE ISLAND IN MY KITCHEN NOW.



My job is to roll and cut out the gingermansion pieces, but also to monitor what's in the oven(s) (good thing I have two ovens now) (this house is amazing) and also roll out Geneva's dough-pile when she gets frustrated, while these two jokers WHIP THROUGH an innumerable amount of gingerbread cookies THEY ARE BOTH SO QUICK AND COMPETENT NOW I had to use all six of my cookie sheets, even the two sub-par ones I mostly keep around for chicken nuggets.



And then everyone went down for a quiet time and usually that would be it for the day



but I was feeling ambitious and also a little behind, and Sunday is a LONG DAY YOU GUYS so when they woke up, we decorated our walls!



Geneva still decorates like a toddler



but Eleanor has discovered PATTERNS and also RESTRAINT and I'm a little bit *weeping emoji* about it.



We save one wall for Joel, and he has to make due with the candies that are left.



WALLS GALORE.



Monday I assembled the house while the girls were at school/napping, and the rage this induces in me is just part of the tradition now. I literally do none of the shingling, though.



Nor the snowing.



I was shopping for candy decorations without the kids, which means I had no one to exercise restraint in front of, which is how we ended up with these gummy penguins.



Look this li'l creeper.



We jusssssst had room for a path this year, in addition to the logpile and lollypop forest. I need a BIGGER BASE. I want to turn some ice cream cones upside-down and make them into trees!



We were riddled with setbacks, like any major building project, but we are DONE and we are DELIGHTED.

*blows dust off*

Oh yes, hello! How about that NoBlog November. I am still pregnant. I HAVE BEEN PREGNANT ALWAYS my face is fat, my hands are fat, my feet are fat. 'I will read a book to your fat feet,' says Geneva.

Newborns are so difficult and I'm deeply unenthused about getting a needle in my back and being cut open and then recovering while also nurturing new life, but we have so much help at hand this time, and the beauty of late pregnancy is that it's so awful. You KNOW things are about to take a steep dive but you don't care, you're so done. I'm SO DONE.

Besides. Look at these two I already made.

I can't help but be excited about another.