Our air conditioner stopped working after what has already been a super unfortunate summer, and I decided that we needed to blow up the birth pool and cool off. The AC has been hanging on by a wire (seriously, a coat hanger wire) for years now and was thankfully brought back to life by James, his dad, and his dad’s Greek friend just in time for the ice maker to stop working causing the outlet to short and the fridge to turn off. At this point, everything and everyone falling apart is so beyond ridiculous that I can’t for a second believe it to be serious. Thank goodness my mom has stayed a bit longer making the last part of this summer far more palatable. Also, James is home from the hospital and can take care of the ant and rat problem that is enough of a problem that it is now a song I have to sing to the girls every time they try to bring any food item into the living room (“the ants and the rats, the ants and the rats, keep ’em kitchen, got to keep ’em in the kitchen”). So, life keeps coming, but we are in this window of ignorance right now that feels pretty special. I’m hoping we will be able to linger awhile in this liminal moment of post James’ hospital stay and pre life altering medical debt/life consuming insurance warfare that is in our inevitable future.
While filling the birth pool, Chuck got in and made a smudge from her wet foot on the bottom of the pool. She asked me if it was my poop (from the birth). I assured her it was not and that the pool had been cleaned out after the birth. Chuck did some jumps in the pool, and Winnie pretended to make me soup. Roland laughed and squealed. I have a hard time keeping up with him these days. My mom told me he was grasping for things and needed some toys out. I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t noticed. When she mentioned it to me, I started to notice all the different ways he was trying to get attention though. He’s been squawking more, and he lights up when anyone pays attention to him. I realized through these pictures that he is bringing his hands together, a milestone I had completely forgotten about. He’s so easy that it’s too easy to overlook him. I knew this summer was going to go by quickly…but I was not expecting all the additional drama it would bring and how unfair it would be to overshadow Roland’s rapid growth and development. I’m constantly reminding myself to pay attention to him. Stop. Hold him. Look at him. Smile at him. You won’t get this again. Ugh. Why does it move so fast at the beginning. Summer is nearly over, and we have had far too few summer evenings outside like this. Lucky for us, we live in Georgia, and it will at least feel like summer for a lot longer.
Also, I want to remember everything about Winnie at this age. Goodness.
All Mountains and Molehills 
american health system’s sxary, hope everything will go well