A Rather Full Day

Off to a... Start
Today started, for me, with a big bang! I awakened to a calf cramp, which is frequent enough to be unsurprising. The problem arose when I couldn't stretch it out and it kept hurting and hurting like the dickens! It hurt SO badly that I called Jess to help me. I figured if he could rub it, it might help. And it did, until he held near my achilles tendon and then it started the whole thing over again and worse. For whatever reason, though, this time I was able to put my foot flat (the normal solution) and it calmed the horrible cramping. So TOTALLY NOT a nice way to wake up! And it was at least 1/2 an hour earier than I'd planned to get up, so I was pooped to boot. BLAH!

Thankfully the rest of the day, while full, was easy. Until the end, that is.

Jess Forgot to Mention
that he had to leave for work early today. He remembered it about 20 minutes before he was supposed to be there. (ahwell) The girls got to watch a movie after his departure because he did reading class with Ria. I spent that time lying down. Normally I'd work on ChaCha during such "free" time, but today I felt REALLY run down since waking up. Not just tired: my head felt ever so slightly stuffy, I was more tired than normal, and I sneezed WAY too often. So, I made myself lie down even though I didn't sleep, in hopes that the rest would enable my body to hunker down with some healin! :) I did feel a little better when the movie was over. What a relief!

Ready to Go?
When the movie was over it was time to get ready to go. Departures, without Jess, take me quite a while lately! :-P One of the less attractive and enjoyable aspects of late pregnancy. But we were on our way in plenty of time thanks to almost complete cooperation from my girls. My right leg has been super weird today (the one with the calf cramp/Charlie Horse this morning). I can't hold my leg up on my toes (when seated) because my leg goes all jittery and shakes like crazy as if it's not strong enough to support itself. That is TOTALLY normal when I have a fever or I'm in labor, but MAN... it's weird when I'm apparently well in every other way. :( So, I took it REALLY slow on my walk to Mary Kay's house. (And still sweated when I was not walking!) Do you remember who she is?? Yep, Ria's PIANO teacher!!!

Piano Lessons Begin!
Today was the first day of piano lessons!! Ria was so completely excited. And I have to say I was pretty darn excited myself. Of course, Kit Kat fed off of all that excitement and was SUPER excited! Sweet toddler girl! She's just SURE that every class or activity we do is for her. Ria and I might talk about something, and here comes Kat, "ME, ME, ME!" And, of course, she is always involved at least a little. She's so funny.

Mary Kay and I (I think mostly me) had a few mixed signals, so I ended up there before she got home. I really think her hubbie, Tim, is wonderful so it was nice to chat with him since he was home reading outside. She called him while we were there and he conveyed that she would arrive in a bit. As I was thinking about it, I decided to leave so they could say hi without an audience and have a few minutes before their family time was barged in upon by piano lessons. I would prefer a few minutes to be home before guests. So, we left and went for a walk up to the beach.

In Love With the Weather
MAN! I LOVE the fall here! The weather is sooo cooled off and the wind... WOW! It's like the wind is wrapping you up in it's powerful gusts of excitement to welcome the change of season! I LOVE IT! Spring is also pretty windy, but not (it seems to me) as rowdily so. :)

We went to the boardwalk and I sat on the bench closest to the end (also only about 4 blocks from Mary Kay's street). A sweet lady, Marjorie, walked by and my SUPER social Ria was all about greeting her, which drew her in to chatting first with Ria and then with me. Kat was fast asleep or she would have made sure her greetings chorused with Ria's (as they usually do). We ended up talking for about 15-25 minutes. She was very impressed with my trailer/stroller and my eldest daughter - as most people are and was determined to remember the name (of the stroller) for her daughter. It was a very pleasant way to pass the time! By the end of our brief conversation she told me she considered me a SuperMom! Can you imagine? ME!??!?! Well, it certainly felt nice, though I would definitely not consider myself such! ^_^ So nice to hear, though!

By this point my hip had started to ache a little, which is why I was sitting on a bench near the beach instead of walking around for exercise.

We returned to Mary Kay's house for Ria's piano lesson after she called us, which went really well. Ria is SO excited and happy about her class. I was able to pay attention to most of it, which is really important to me so that I can properly guide Ria in practices at home. It was lovely to spend time around Mary Kay as well and talk with her afterward. She has a strong, confident, peaceful, and generally pleasing spirit and feeling about her AND in her home!

Exchanging Services as payment for lessons
Because of my time chatting with Tim, Mary Kay knew about my ability with hair AND she's going to let me teacher her how to cut it!!! I'd been racking my brain for things we (Jess and I, or just I) could do as service exchanges. I'd told her about making meals for her (Jess and/or me), teaching her crochet, but had managed to forget that I do hair. Weirdo, right? Well, I noticed that Tim's hair was getting long just this past Sunday, I think. It really looks quite good on him, but I figured it would be useful for Mary Kay to know how to cut it herself if she didn't already know how. So I asked him... she doesn't already know how, he shared our conversation about it with her, AND she's going to let me teach her! I'm so happy!! Also, she's going to accept recipes as a form of payment... not sure how that will work out exactly, but I'm definitely going to work on that one (and work on getting Jess to share some of his private stash!).

The Hip Flares
We returned home, which walk was very painful for me. My right hip was in full-on throbbing cramps at points. And I still had to make dinner! Ria and Kat are so used to this sort of thing by now, which I'm SUPER grateful for! I can only imagine how scarry it would be if I started crying the way I did tonight out of nowhere! They were quite worried this morning, though... Ria has this sweet funny thing she says to me when I'm having a BIG pain. She says to me, "At least it will be over sometime! Remember, it will end sometime." SO true and it helps a great deal to hear that EVERY time! :)

Thankfully lying down to help Kat fall asleep has calmed the pain a little. Now the pain in my calf is more apparent. Well, I suppose a dull throb is better than extreme cramping throbs! :-/

Thursday
And tomorrow is another one....