January 25, 2012

Today was a wonderful, messy day. Olivia slept beautifully through the night (downstairs in the nest). I even had to wake her up to feed her. Figuring that two days of letting her sleep all day long was pushing my luck, I was in the middle of an internal debate about whether or not we should try Baby & Me Yoga when the decision was abruptly taken out of my hands. While Olivia was nursing, poor Paula, our rehabbing Husky, came into the room with a forlorn look. Unable to detach Olivia quickly enough, I had to sit and watch as Paula had wandering, explosive diarrhea all over the room. As soon as I could put Olivia down, I hurried the poor pup outside and set about cleaning.

One of the nice things about our house is that is has a fan which constantly circulates the air. Today, however, it was not nice. The smell of medicinal poop mixed with industrial strength carpet cleaner was immediately spread throughout the house - upstairs and down. Olivia & I, (I could see she agreed with me), decided to abandon ship. We got ready in a flash, packed an extra book and some toys, and got out of Dodge.

We headed straight for the Artisan's Courtyard where Infinite Yoga has its studios. This is the same place that I practiced prenatal yoga, and I think they are fabulous. Classes are held as long as the temperature is above -40, and even when it's pretty cold outside the studio is nice & warm - they have heated floors! We had a great time with the other mommies and babies. Our instructor, Gretchen, is just the best. She carried Olivia around for a little bit so that I could stretch. Her 2.5 year old, Ember, was very cute and kept a watchful eye on Olivia. Olivia was the youngest baby and the oldest was Ember. The babies could walk around and play and no one minded if someone started to cry (I suppose they would have wondered if the crying one was an adult) or needed to be fed or changed. I'm so glad that we went. We'll be going back next Wednesday. I highly recommend it. I hope that it begins a life-long way for Olivia and I to bond and relax.

When we got home the house smelled much better. (Thank goodness!) I was able to eat some lunch, then Olivia ate, and then we fed the pups. I scrubbed the carpet some more (there's probably still more to do but I'm done for today) and tidied the kitchen. Olivia obliged by taking some decent naps, one of which I shared, and by being easily amused. She stared at the mirror on the swing for a while. She read some of her books. She spent a long time staring at the map of Lewis & Clark's journey that hangs in the family room.

For dinner we had some more of Franziska's homemade lasagna and then cozied up for a nice evening on the couch. We 'saw' Daddy on Facebook, which is always a treat, and shared some pictures with him and chatted about the future. Olivia smiled a lot this evening, and it just makes my heart swell. When she smiles I hear The Temptations singing, "I got sunshine, on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I got the month of May." I know most mommies feel this way, but it's a whole new kind of love for me. It's the best.