Drip Drip

Pittsburgh is melting. Big chunks of ice slide off the roof and crash to the ground, puddles of water collect around street corners where drains are still blocked by plowed snow. Every homeowner in the city is making it a nervous habit to check the ceilings around the eaves and the corners of the basement. Rain is headed our way and it's not going to be pretty.

We made the mistake of going to the Trader Joe's this afternoon, when all of suburban Pittsburgh seemed to have made it down to East Liberty to shop. You can always tell because people from the suburbs bring their whole families...men, grandmas, children of all ages. It's more of a tourist event than grocery shopping. I took Laurel because she usually falls asleep when we go out, but there was way too much action for her. And there was not a parking spot to be had in front of that store. We parked closer to the pet store, so M could take a peak at his favorite...the English bull dog. Although, we found the French bull dog to be awfully cute today.

Hopefully things will start to get back to normal around here. The sidewalks are still really icy, and I'm afraid somebody is going to get conked in the head by a giant icicle on our driveway. It's going to be either me or the mailman.

We had a nice weekend. My parents came down to babysit on Saturday and M and I went out and wandered around the South Side, enjoying the rare sunny afternoon. I found a pair of jeans at the Goodwill in exactly my size. We bought a pastry brush at Sur La Table.

This morning I went to the Friends' Meeting on Ellsworth, and M baked a loaf of bread that didn't work out as well as the amazing loaf he baked yesterday. Laurel peed and pooed on everything all morning and afternoon and I had to do more laundry. Laurel and M are on the couch right now...they both dozed off during a curling match on tv.

Our house is messy in the way that only a house with a new baby is. Unfolded laundry on the bed, baby toys scattered, and burp rags draped over the backs of chairs. M's work and my work stacked in piles in various locations around the house, where we started on some project or another, and then abandoned to change a diaper or rock the cradle. The days seem to pass very quickly and very slowly at the same time.

Last year at this time, I had just discovered that I was pregnant, and we were getting ready for a funeral. Life...coming and going, as is the nature of things.