Friday started Shane's vacation. It was wonderful to sleep in Friday and get up and have coffee together before waking up Kateri to put on a load of laundry. We had no plans for anything, just whatever we wanted. About four hours later it started. The pacing. The feeling of pent up energy was palpable and I could tell he was getting restless.. He started talking about getting out of the house, going on vacation. To Canada. Banff, in particular. A 12hr drive did not sound appealing to me at the moment, but we let it roll around a bit. Then he thought maybe the rain forest on the peninsula. I looked at some of the available lodging and most were RV parks, or cabins with central bathrooms and showers. I think I have already expressed my not-fondness for camping, especially being almost 6 months pregnant. My bed and shower sounded so much more appealing.
Finally I convinced him to work on moving wine as he has some bottles that won't fit in the fridge and we had had a few warm days and he had expressed concern for long term storing options. He would like to build a nice cellar of some sort, but was feeling time was of the essence and looked for more immediate options, finally settling on re-packaging the bottles and moving them to a cooler location. It took him the rest of the day, but at least I could focus on the laundry and cleaning out the storage area behind the machines. All the while finding projects for Kateri to do, as she suffers the same restlessness Shane gets when sitting still more than two minutes.
Luckily, the neighbor kids were home and invited her over for a bit so I got to work at my own pace for awhile. Not before we made another batch of cookies, of course. And did more laundry. She is hard to keep up with, and now that I am feeling like slowing down, a lot, she wears me out even faster. But she does help me keep the house, and cookie making, current. I just sleep really, really well. Which after having some insomnia issues earlier, I am thankful for.
Yesterday morning I was very thankful we were not travelling north, when Cyril threw up. It was kind of surprising as I didn't think we were at risk for getting a stomach bug, but for 8 hrs he was mostly lethargic and I was on the lookout for signs of the next victim. I also really appreciated that I was not preparing to be up all night with a sick baby and I could relax a little with the knowledge that all the kids are able to get themselves to the bathroom in a timely manner now and that I probably won't lose too much sleep over it. So far no one else has come down with it. Cyril helped with the yard work and is eating fine today. He did have a bad headache yesterday too, and I am wondering if it was just an extension of that. Either way, we'll take it easy and just plan on being home for the Fourth of July.
Today Shane felt inspired to work on the garage and make a run to the dump. And, seeing I could use a break, he took Kateri with him. (Two for one!)Not before she helped me finish cleaning out and bagging up lots of items from the storage area and then cleaning out my car. I helped with the storage area. The car she did on her own. Shane also got the yard work done.
I did have him remove/replace a ceiling vent cover for me so I , actually Kateri, could wash it. I have no idea what I can come up with for tomorrow. Actually, now that I cleaned out the storage area I can see how I would like it to be fitted with shelves and other storage. So maybe we can work on plans for that.
Shane can be still sometimes. But if he is not doing hard, manual labor or his mind is not thoroughly engaged in something, he feels like he is spinning his wheels and wasting his life energies. Fortunately, my brother-in-law, I think, pointed to these history classes from a Yale professor and we have been going through the lectures when we can. I really enjoy the professor and so far he seems very scholarly and not biased. He does not blame the Church for the fall of the Roman Empire and tells the class there is going to be much discussion about the Church and heresies etc. because they were what were shaping the culture and the empire. (As a side note, one thing he pointed out was how the Islamic Conquests ended up overtaking large portions of the empire where the monophysite heresy was taking hold and effectually helping slow its spread. Thank you, Mohammed).
Each of the lectures, of course, leads to other topics, people, books to look up so it is keeping Shane very busy. It is also fun because not raised Catholic, he brings a whole new perspective to things and recognizes early heresies and how they got repackaged and are now have an entire denomination based on it. So we have coffee and cookies after dinner and sit down for a lecture or two and get our fodder for the next day's discussions and research. Actually, he does the reading, then tells me about it. I'm still enjoying the new washing machine. It feels a little early, but I think I can finally wash the baby clothes now. Kateri will be so excited.
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