My three days spent at Bouchercon with mystery/thriller readers and writers.

I didn’t have to say a word to feel at home among the 1800 readers and writers who spent Thursday-Saturday mingling and laughing together.  I saw and chatted with Lee Child, Charlaine Harris, Daniel Palmer, Linwood Barclay, Karen Olson…  Chelsea Cain gave me the finger (more on that another day).  I got to hang out with Taylor Stevens who even told me a secret (I’d tell you but she told me I’d be dead to her if I did, ;)) I’ll be sharing more of these fun stories throughout the week.

So, I came and enjoyed and, surprisingly, worried little about Gage at all.  Is this how moms with jobs feel?  Since Jason and I came and left downtown together on Thursday and Friday it was a real eye opener to me.  I now understand better why when he comes home he is not always 100% enthralled with the daily minutiae of my day with Gage.  He has 2 1/2 hours to soak up all the (almost) 2-year-old antics that I take in over my 11 hours with Gage before he arrives home.

I am so grateful for the time spent with adults, talking about adult things and I needed it more than I realized before I went.  Stay at home moms can get lost in the little things.  While appreciating a banner day in dirty diapers is very interesting, there is a world out there that goes on without us, one that I was able to savor this week.  I feel almost interesting again.

On Saturday I didn’t feel guilty about the time away, I felt guilty about how I didn’t want the vacation to end.  I wanted to go on mingling with the superstars and fans, my peeps.  But as all vacations must, it came to an end.  I’m home and my parents will be leaving soon and when Jason goes back to work tomorrow I know Gage will look at me and be just a tad bit disappointed that I can’t morph into more people to entertain him.  I am very grateful to my parents for babysitting all day long so that I could go play.  They are the best parents ever.

Fall, my favorite season, has arrived.  The cool, crisp air, the leaves starting to change colors, the football, and the personal holidays all make this a happy time of year for me.  Gage loves to be outside so we’re trying to soak up every last bit of sunshine before it’ll be too chilly for the playground.  An added bonus of these two pics is that you can see Gage’s post-nap hair on steroids from the wind 🙂

Any other fall lovers?

Max is nine years old.  We rescued him from a shelter when he was somewhere around one.  He is a terrier mix with lots of energy.  He has been a great dog and we love him very much.  Unfortunately, when two high-strung characters live in the same house sometimes it’s just too much insanity.  In March I wrote about some of the problems Max was having with a running Gage and I tried my best to keep them relatively separated unless I was right there.  A few weeks ago I was right there when Gage decided to fall onto a resting Max.  Max jumped up and growled and bared his teeth in Gage’s face for what seemed like forever.  I yelled, Gage cried, and Max was confused.  It was later that I would cry as I saw the need to try a separation.

Max loves Gage, but he has his limits.  Gage will be two next month and doesn’t understand limits.  So, I asked my parents if they would be foster parents for Max until spring and they said yes.  Knowing that Max will be spoiled and loved is a big consolation, but the bigger one is knowing that I can change my mind anytime.  My parents visit often and now Max will be visiting with them and we’ll see how it goes.

This was last Sunday before Max left.  They can be friends and I want Max back home as soon as possible, but that being said, not having the constant stress this week has been nice.

The house feels empty without Max and I miss him, but it was the best decision for right now even if it was a hard one.

Gage loves his books.  He has an extensive library (his dad has sadly accepted that our house will always be overrun with books) and spends a lot of his day looking through his favorites.  Our one ritual is a night-night book.  It’s the last thing we do before going to bed and the book must end in the chance for Gage to say night-night.  Here are the three usual suspects…

The Bed Book by Harriet Ziefert was sent to us in a box of books from the most awesome Jill of Rhapsody in Books.  The illustrations are completely dated and I wasn’t too impressed with it.  At least at first.  Gage loves this one.  He can recognize and name most of what he finds in the pictures.  I actually think this will be a great one to teach him to read since there are simple words often repeated.

Gage’s absolute favorite was sent to him from the lovely Kathy of BermudaOnion’s Weblog when he was born.  Baby Baby Baby by Marilyn Janovitz has repetition that asks for action, “Bitsy bouncy baby On a bumpity lap Mommy’s little baby likes to CLAP CLAP CLAP!” It’s long and there’s lots to do.  When it’s time to Dance, Dance, Dance, he’s loves to laugh at mama dancing her silly head off.  Our copy is very well-worn from use.

And the last book is The Big Sleep Book by Guido Van Genechten that I picked up at a library sale.  This one has great illustrations and lots of animals.  Gage likes to tell the rhino laying on his back to get “UP!”  He gets a little bored in the middle but he still loves it.

So, is there a good night-night book that you’d recommend?  (we had Goodnight Moon, but haven’t seen it in months?!)  And aren’t generous bloggers awesome?

So Gage and I have been reading IT for the IT-along.  After about 5 minutes this is what happens.  Do you think he’s too young for IT?  Do you think it’s wrong for me to exploit my child this way just to be entered for a prize?  Discuss.

And over at Marce’s for Thrill Week she has two mystery teasers.  You should see if you can figure them out.

Gage will be back next week all rested up and hopefully not too scarred by his time with the clown.  Here’s my fave Gage photo of the week…

(Hey, look at what dad lets me do!  Is that poison ivy?)

As some of you already know in April we found out that Jason would be out of a job by October 1.  The reality was August 1.  After eight years he was back on the streets with the job seekers.  We weren’t worried (really!).  The company provided a nice severance package and we were looking forward to the family time. This month has been great for us all.

Jason is able to enjoy some free time.  This is great for a guy who’s had some kind of job since he was 14.

I am a much better mother when I have support.  Suddenly it isn’t completely up to me to entertain the little man.  We can split some of the time and share others.  I am better rested, much less stressed, more patient and happier.  I don’t know how single moms do it.  Jason was gone from 7 am-6:15 pm and that was a long day, but to have no live-in support would be very hard.

As much as Gage loves his mom he may love his dad just a bit more.  Daddy loves guy stuff, is way more lenient than mommy, and doesn’t seem to stress out as much.  It has been heartwarming to watch the two of them together.  Gage loves that we are both home.  He likes seeing us both come in and get him in the mornings and after naps.

When people told me they were worried for us I smiled.  We were enjoying every minute!  But good things can only last so long and Jason has a new job he’s really excited about and he’ll go back to work at the end of the month.  (sigh)  We’ve been blessed to have the month and equally blessed that Jason found a job in Cleveland, so we don’t have to move.

I don’t know who will be more sad when Jason goes back to work, me or Gage, but I’m pretty sure that first week back will be an adjustment for both of us!