Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Blackout Days

First, never underestimate the power of flowers: So Eduard went out today to run a few errands and when he came back, he had, surprise! flowers for me. Not just flowers, gorgeous , bright yellow, happy sunflowers, my favorite! And seriously, I believe those sunflowers are so magical that they managed to make me remain calm and semi-productive as we suffered through another whole day blackout again! (yesterday, I gave up and took the baby to my parents' place, where I could lay under a nice ceiling fan and talk my afternoon away).

So, on to said blackout. 7+ hours (shorter than yesterday's 9). Wow. In the middle of the summer. I mean, it's not quite unexpected here in little tiny moving-backwards country, but seriously, I had gotten used to having 24-hours of electricity again. Dumb me. Plus, our inverter's batteries are just about dead and we will have to invest in new ones, as soon as we can so about 30 minutes into the blackout the power completely died. Normally, I would have started freaking, especially since baby is not only teething (and I think he has more than one tooth coming in at the same time) he is also experiencing his first cold. The poor thing is a little congested, with a slight fever that comes and goes and generally not feeling good. But somehow, I got baby to sleep on his playard and put the playard near the front door where a nice breeze was actually coming in, and decided to see how I could best use my time since I couldn't do anything that needed electricity.

Well, first I did all the breakfast dishes and cleaned up the kitchen some. That done, I peeked at my desk area and realized that I really needed to clean it up and organize it. I think my writing has been taking a toll because my desk has gotten so out of control! I kind of started to clean and organize it, but with the exception of that front door area, my house is an oven, so I quickly gave up and decided to wait for my fans to be working. But, my desk area should be finished and organized in the next few days. I did put some new pictures of baby up on my wall in my desk area, though. And that led me to spend quite a while organzing and labeling photographs so they can be ready to be put in albums. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while--like for four and half years! Yes, I'm embarrassed to say that our whole courtship, marriage, pregnancy and baby's life til now is all there, recorded, but not organized at all! Well, now it is, and I also figured out what other pictures I wanted to have printed so I can complete my albums. All in all a very progressive day.

Meanwhile, the blackout continued. After baby woke up, Eduard literally sat in our front gallery area, where there is a breeze, on a blanket on the floor with the baby. For hours. Because it was the only cool place to wait out the blackout. Eduard did get a little desperate at one point and called the electricity company to find out when they expected the blackout to end. Their answer: We really don't have a time because this a country-wide situation. What?!!!! Yes, that's the kind of answer he got. 3 times. Because he called back and talked to different representatives just to make sure. And then I talked to my parents, who were out in our hometown in the center of the country for the day and apparently, the people at the electric company were not lying, because there was no electricity there. That gives you an idea of where I live.

And the blackout continued. I finally got up and made some lunch for us, though by that time it was closer to dinner time and we were not really hungry (due to the fact that we had become sloths in the heat). And I was still not upset! (Very out of character for me). Everytime I glanced at those bright orange flowers brightening up my living room I got happy.

And my sick baby? Oh wow, I do have the sweetest baby in the world. And I'm not saying that because I'm his mother (okay, maybe a little because I'm his mother). He didn't complain, not once. The poor thing coughed and sneezed and you could tell his little throat hurt a little but generally he sat on that blanket on the floor and played with his dad or on the playard and played with his toys and when he was too tired, he did want to be in mommy's arms, but only til he fell asleep. You would have never known he was sick!

Ah, the electricity did finally come back when I was finally beginning to lose it a bit.

On a little sad note though, I realized today that we're pretty much done with breastfeeding. I feel really sad about it though due to some health issues, we were never sure I would even be able to breastfeed, but I made it to 7 months. The last 3 weeks or so, my production really dropped and baby asked for the breast less and less and just drank his formula happily. He still wants the breast but only to fall asleep (he'll take it for a few minutes and fall asleep). I hate losing that bond that I felt we had. Eduard tells me it's okay. The baby is already 7 months and I made it past 6 months, which was my goal when we first thought I wouldn't be able to breastfeed. Still, I'm sad. I guess it'll take a little while to get used to it. But it's weird that my baby would get sick just when he's pretty much drinking formula instead of breastmilk, so there's some guilty feelings involved in that too. :(

Anyway, I'm hoping tomorrow is not another all-day blackout, but I kind of know the answer to that already, so I'm going to try to rise ridiculously early (for me, now) and see if I can get a few things done before the electric company does its thing again!

No comments: