The Holiday Coma

The Monday before Christmas I made a list of all the random things I could get done with the ample amount of free time I would have from 12/24 through 1/5.

The Wednesday before Christmas (Xmas Eve), I threw the list out.

Why? Well, it has a lot to do with the fact that as soon as my brain became aware it would not have to exert itself as it normally does, it went into a state of hibernation. Case in point: On the night my vacation began I went to sleep at 11pm and woke up at noon the next day. (For all of you not great at math, that translates into I slept for 13 hours.) Weirded out that I had slept so long, I checked my clock to see if the time was wrong (it wasn't), took my temperature (perfectly fine), and then took an extra dose of vitamin C pills. Nonetheless, after I'd gone out and spent 3 hours doing some last minute shopping, I laid down on my couch... and promptly fell into a nap. It wasn't until Jaime called me an hour later to remind me we had a family party to get to, that I was even aware I'd been snoring gracefully. I shook myself awake and headed out.

Although I doubt bouncing a 3 year old on my lap for 15 minutes really causes any sort of fatigue, I was dead tired after midnight rolled around and everyone wished each other a Merry Christmas. Jaime's family thought I might have some kind of bug. I was whiny, I didn't want this to be the way I'd spend my entire Xmas vacation! I thought getting to bed would put the worst of it behind me. Yeah Right.

Christmas day, although we woke up at a decent time, it wasn't long before I was back asleep for a 4 hour nap. What was worse was that Jaime had now come down with whatever I had and joined me on that nap. What could it be that we were experiencing?

A couple of days later we headed to Virgina. Lots of food, lots of lounging and lots of chatter didn't change my bad sleeping habits, but those things did add to a great time with my family. Together we watched three Golden Globe nominated films: Benjamin Button (somebody explain to me what made Pitt & Blanchett's characters fall in love, I missed that somehow), Milk (very good if you're into politics, ok if you're not) and Slumdog Millionaire (awesome! especially the random dance break at the end -oops! spoiler. kidding, it happens during the credits.) We did not watch these at a theater, we were able to view them from my godmother's couch and I am not at liberty to say how :). Family time = fun.




While in Virgina, we were also able to visit a friend of mine who has an incredibly beautiful home and an even more incredible amount of land. What better way to travel over the extensive acres than by ATV?


Lauren & Jaime's ATV Adventure
Uploaded by LaydeeRiv

After 4 days of being in VA we traveled back to NY but on the way stopped to see my goddaughter Imani who is growing so quickly I think her chicken nuggets are injected with growth hormones.

As you can probably tell with the way this story has been going, NYE ended up being very low-key: just me, Jaime and a countdown with the tube. Pretty wonderful if you ask me :)

So WHAT was the cause of my ongoing coma throughout the vacation break? Well, once I returned to work, I was back to normal (i.e. not closing my eyes every few hours.) And that basically means my body just took (extreme) advantage of the downtime. Now that I'm up and running, I'm fully energized to take on 2009. This is a year of change. I can feel it.

Happy New Year :)

Godmothering 101

"Lauren, DO NOT LOSE IMANI!" was the advice my mother gave me the night before I left to Pennsylvania to pick up my 4 year old goddaughter. By the time I arrived in Allentown I was terrified of a possible abduction while on my watch. As Imani bounded out of her house, a ball of energy, I quickly strapped her into her booster chair before someone could run out and grab her. I was being ridiculous.

"Where's Jaime?" was the second thing that came out of Imani's mouth (the first had been "Titi Nina, do you want to see my sexy bathing suit?) I explained to her that Jaime had to work and that she'd see him next time which caused an instant pout on her part. I distracted her with music that made her shimmy in the backseat as I drove the ten miles to Dorney Park. My GPS guided me to the administrative office of the park instead of the main entrance. As I did loops, Imani made a point of telling me, "Titi, we've already been here." She's four and already a smartass... I love it.

After finding a parking spot, I lugged her and our bag of essentials to the park entrance. Once paying the entry fee I thought it would be best to have her give the bathroom a visit before heading to the wave pool. With incredible focus I watched Imani like a hawk watches a field mouse, scooped her up and rushed into the bathroom. Jumping in the first stall, we each did our business and all was well until I heard a man's voice.

At first I thought maybe the walls were thin. Maybe this guy's voice was really loud. Or, the not so great theory, maybe I was in the men's bathroom. I peered out the crack of the stall door and was quickly shown that my latter theory was the winner. The irony that I hadn't seen one male when I entered the wrong bathroom and now it was overly obvious as 3 men stood at urinals (which I hadn't seen either) and one man stood in the stall next to me. I turned such a deep red that I looked sun burnt and then started to giggle, which sent Imani into a fit of giggles and which was picked up on by the guy next to me who had figured out what was going on and giggled. I picked Imani up, told her to bury her face in my chest and ran full speed out of the bathroom and as far away from it as possible. When we were clear of the bathroom Imani was still laughing, and I was still embarrassed.

After that I vowed to relax and stop being so paranoid that I would lose the kid, or else I'd end up in a shark infested pool instead of the wave pool. The rest of the day went on without any serious injury, loses or tantrums. Imani asked for googles which she is wearing in this pic on the left, but then quickly tore them off saying they hurt. Kids.

After hours of water rides, and some kiddie attractions on land, I was pooped. Imani, on the other hand was ready to keep on. Either I'm getting really old or this kid's DNA is mixed with the Energizer Bunny. It's probably a mix of both. But after the day I had, I'm well aware that I'm still very much in favor of the child return policy (when they don't belong to you, you get to enjoy them and then clock out at the end of the day.)

One day I'll be ready for my own... I'm thinking 2018 maybe. For now I'll continue my visits with this adorable little girl and pay more attention to bathroom signs.