Going Back Home, Babies, and the Last Box

I headed home to Ithaca this weekend, to meet Laila and Emily -- babies born four days apart to two of my dearest friends. These lucky girls were the recipients of all the baby stuff in my house before I packed and moved.

It was a whirl-wind weekend of holding babies and having them sleep in my arms, going out for drinks with former work friends, getting frozen yogurt in a Porsche, and celebrating Hope's birthday in exactly the way we would have if I still lived there -- Hope, Heather and me at Viva.

Saturday afternoon with Emily...

 the yumminess that is the "pancake" shot -- Jameson's and Butterscotch Schnapps, followed by a shot of orange juice. De-lish!

...and Monday morning with Laila.











At Emily's "welcome to the world" party on Sunday, her grandmother hugged me tight and said, "you'll have this too someday." And right then, I knew. "No I won't." And I won't. I said I wouldn't make a final decision for a year -- and I won't -- but I think I know in my heart, that I don't want to be a 43-year-old single mother to an infant.

It hurt to say good-bye to Emily, and hurt to stay there and continue to stare at her beautiful face. And when Jill's cousin hugged me and said, "this must have been such a hard day for you," it was nice to have someone acknowledge that it was. I hadn't thought about it being hard, but it was.

And so I got out of there, and took a shower back at the hotel, and washed the day away, and waited for a friend to come visit me. We went for a ride in his Porsche and got frozen Greek yogurt with Reese's Pieces and rainbow sprinkles on top.

And when I went to see Laila the next day, there was much less hoopla, much less "all about the baby" talk, and it was very enjoyable, even as I put her in the sleeper rocker that I had bought for New Jersey.

In a lot of ways the weekend was too short -- I didn't get to see everyone. And it was too long -- I'll just leave it at that.

Today, on my bonus day off in PA, I finished unpacking. Finally. I didn't think I would need my over-the-toilet shelf I had in Ithaca, but with a two-bedroom apartment, one does not get the storage space of a two-bedroom townhouse, and so my former neighbor got it out of my place in Ithaca and I picked it up this weekend. My bathroom is "my bathroom" again. 


And I was stretched to the limit with my organizational skills, but once again, came out ahead. The closet doors in the second bedroom close, there is a space big enough to buy a full-sized futon for guests (though I had hoped for an actual queen-sized bed), and all the boxes are unpacked. The very last box, which I will use to send a proper baby gift to my friend Kim in Georgia.

Happy birthday, America.

I spent the day doing very American things -- I worked out this morning (more on that later), laid in the sun and took a dip in the pool (my new favorite thing to do on days off), shopped at Target, made peanut butter and jelly for lunch, watched the Yankees on the MLB Network, and took a nap.

I've really been enjoying the pool at my new complex. I'm using SPF 30-50 and limited myself to 90-120 minutes a day. Slow and steady, I might actually get a tan this summer. Either that or my freckles will just join together to give the appearance of a tan.

I started Jillian Michaels Body Revolution on Sunday. It is kicking my ass. It's kind of like P90X, but I'm guessing not quite as intense. Although, I will say that after the first two workouts, my inner thighs were sore. We'll see where things are in 90 days.

The apartment is slowly shaping up. And I bought a bird feeder for Casey today. I'm hoping that a little more nature activity on the patio will lift her spirits. It's tough moving when you're 16, and I'm not quite sure she's loving the new homestead.

I'm looking forward to weekend visitors this month and next -- some girlfriends coming to visit and we can really do up Doylestown.

Work is going great. I'm busy, and energized, and already feel like I'm making a difference. This week, I published my first blog post about the work my office is doing.