Randomness and FREAK OUT!

Photo editing by Jo Anne

Randomness:
Not much to write about except that I'm down to a week in Texas left. And of course, I will ruin the last few days here thinking about packing and logistics and how I'm going to have to adjust the straps on the car seat I left in Alaska because the baby has grown...and how will I do that in the middle of the night in the airport parking lot where its zero degrees? Fun things like that....

And, what gift do I give to our neighbors who have watched our house for the last 3 months? They went over there nearly every day to be sure the pipes weren't freezing. Geez! Its been three months? Actually it went pretty fast! The first month was very slow and terrible, but then it picked up a bit.

And, what is the deal with the cost of heating fuel oil? Our January bill was for 643 dollars. Just. For. The. Oil. That is not including electricity! Hello. ExxonMobilShellBP-- or whatever the hell its name is now-- can just suck my butt. Bastards.

Anyhoo...not much going on here. I'm just trying to scrape together all the detritus of three months of babyhood--and three months of my clothing, which has changed sizes a few times since coming here--scattered around the house and cram it in to two suitcases.

Becca is doing more and more cute things. Just when I start to mourn the passing of one stage, she does such cute things that I forgive her for growing up! She loves her changing table. She loves grabbing her feet. She rolls to her tummy the minute I lay her on her back. But, she's forgotten how to roll back off her tummy and gets frustrated on her tummy. She tried a friend's exersaucer yesterday and went BONKERS. She loved it! I think she is outgrowing her love of the swing. She looks so muchl like her daddy that sometimes I call her "lil' Johnita!" Yadda yadda yadda...baby...baby...baby, etc.


Now for the FREAK OUT:
I was never too too much of a germaphobe--I would feel grossed out in public restrooms and not touch the doorhandles without paper towels, and would get irritated when kids picked their noses. I was always a little skeeved out by elementary schools. But, Becca's birth has unleashed a monster. I make all children wash their hands before touching her (not adults, just children. Very rational, I am). I just heard about some kind of mumps outbreak that is being spread through air travel. Ummmmm.....WHAT? WHAT? Isn't mumps like polio and small pox? Like....gone?

...hold me....