The trip to Lubbock was good. I was busy the whole time caring for Joshua but I enjoyed seeing a few great friends and spending some more time with my mom. I spent the whole day of Christmas preparing for the trip. I packed my stuff early in the day then packed Josh’s that evening before leaving. I was lucky enough to get a couple hours rest late in the afternoon. I think that helped me at around 1am when I was crossing the panhandle towards Lubbock. I took the more direct and scenic route using 380 out of Denton and 114 into Lubbock. Along the way between Guthrie and Dickens I saw- not kidding here- nearly two dozen deer along the road eating grass, 3 coyote, 4 skunks (only one was alive and it was scurrying off the road side), and a hand full of rabbits. It was crzy and entertaining to see so many animals. My imagination kept expecting to see a deer standing in the road at any moment so I decided to sit up a little more, use two hands and flash my brights periodically to scan for more life. Obviously no animals were hit (or you’d had heard about it by now). I listened to an audio book on the way too: A Short History of Nearly Everything. It combines two subjects I am most interested in- science and history- starting with what’s out in space and how we came to find out about it.

My Mom is such a Grandma. Her voice changed an octave higher upon handling, seeing or talking to Josh. She played with him almost the whole time. And he had a darn good time! We went to the park the first day to swing and feed ducks but the lake was drained. Weird. My mom thought she smelled sewage as we neared the muddy remains of the city-made lake. I don’t know why the water was drained but it didn’t matter too much. Birds and ducks were still landing in it.

My mom’s house is slowly falling apart. Although she warned me, I was surprised to see the water damage on her ceiling in the living room. Her roof has a persistent leak that several roofers have been unable to fix. So she doesn’t want to spend the money on repairing her ceiling until the roof is fixed. Makes sense. In addition to water damage, she needs to paint the exterior, replace carpet and install a working dishwasher handed down from a friend. Inside she has appliances working well beyond their life expectancy. If her refrigerator was a person, it would have few teeth and severe cataracts. If her microwave was a person, it would be senile and require a walker everywhere. If her washer was a person, it would be dipping into retirement funds to make ends meet before the family gets involved. If her television/DVD/video system was a person, it would be alive by some miracle of science and have the impending doom that some day, any day now, it will die. According to Raymond, I am young and just don’t understand the value in older appliances that clearly need to be replaced. Bah! I support our economy by replacing appliances that are somewhat dysfunctional or greatly outdated.

During my two day trip Joshua had runny poo. I wasn’t sure if it was diarrhea or just persistent runny soft stool. When I get diarrhea I can diagnose it quickly. But with Josh always growing, changing, trying new foods, and having recovered froma recent cold, I wasn’t sure. To be safe, I got some LiquiLytes mix and called the pediatrician’s office to double check that there was nothing I could do. In two days we went through 16 diapers, most of them on Monday. He’s been pooing day and night, often just a little comes out after passing gas but that’s enough to require a new diaper.

So the whole motivation to going to Lubbock after Christmas was to visit with Matt, Oana and Emily over lunch. We met up at Jalisco’s Taqueria on Ave. Q near 19th street. They have really good Mexican food there. Oana, Matt’s girlfriend, is Canadian and this was her first visit to Texas. Having Mexican food for lunch was part of her tour. Emily joined us after driving all the way from Canyon. She didn’t know I was in town until she walked into the restaurant and saw me. Actually, I talked to her on the phone while she drove in making her believe I was in Dallas and wishing I was there to have lunch. She was quite surprised to see me (and Josh) but soon got over being tricked.

After lunch we went to Maxi Park to feed birds and let Josh play at the playground. By “play”, I mean we put him in the baby swing for a bit, let him hold onto some bars, I held him while Emily gently bounced him up and down on the toddler sized see-saw and he sat watching kids play for a little bit.

At the end of my trip I stopped by Raymond’s home to visit for a little bit before leaving town. I regretted that I only had an hour to spend there. If Josh was in an infant car seat or if I wasn’t leaving town that evening I would have been there at least another hour or more. He had over a friend from Boulder named Marsha who happens to share my birthday- September 18th. She and I had several quirky similarities including an interest in language and cultural anthropology. Anyway, Ray was glad to finally see Josh. The next time I’m in town I’ll need to make more time to visit.

The trip home was uneventful. Not nearly as many animals, only a few deer. Same as going there, I didn’t have any cars visible in front of me or behind me between Ralls and Seymour. After Seymour there was one vehicle far in the distant in front of me that I eventually caught up with at a red light in one of the small towns. Along Hwy. 380 outside of Denton I saw a shooting star which made me scan the sky for about 15 minutes in hops of seeing another one. By the last stretch I was getting very sleepy so I called my mom and we chat while I drove the last 30 miles towards home.

Wednesday is a blur to me. I was sooooo sleep deprived the next day after being home. Josh woke up constantly Tuesday night after we got home. I tried to nap and rest on Wednesday but he didn’t take any lengthy naps. Last night he was up a lot too. If it weren’t for a long nap this morning I would likely be in bed now exhausted instead of journaling. I hadn’t been so tired since Josh’s first and second months when it took forever to get him back to sleep each night. It seems like the more sleep I get these days, the more I want. Now that Josh can sleep 6 hours or longer in a stretch, you’d think I wouldn’t feel as tired any more. Sleep begets sleep and I usually wish I could be getting sleep! ;-)


Random thoughts…
New favorite quote from Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion: “Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted.”

Joshua updates- he learned to clap his hands this week, he can somehow growl/purr by passing air over a very relaxed throat and tongue, and he’s taken interest in biting my arms and shoulders when he’s excited. Biting is bad. He’s got the sharpest teeth!

Knowing my reading audience I won’t lament on my conversation with Emily about getting older. No matter how old you are or how much you weigh or whatever you are in life, there’s always a crowd to remind you that they are more so than you. I don’t talk about losing weight or getting older or my birth story unless it comes up in conversation b/c either someone had it worse and they’ll remind you that your situation, no matter how valuable it is to you, is nothing compared to their ordeal, or that you’ve got it so easy or so good that speaking of it is almost bragging. “Oh I’d give anything to be where you are…” I’ve heard that about weight, age, the newness of being a mother, and other instances. Anyway, we’re planning a small calm New Years Eve thing at our house. I bring up the age thing because a couple friends have mentioned recently how they don’t think they can keep up like they did when they were younger. They can’t drink as much or stay up as late or don’t get thrills from huge parties or get urges to do something crazy. While I always have the urge to do something crazy, I feel a winding down too. Being a new mom doesn’t help either.