I took the day off from school vacation today and Ben stayed home with the kids. I went to work and got a lot done. I came home to a broken window but that’s a small price to pay.

Up next, a trip to the zoo with Aliya and Adlani. It should be fun if I can keep Adlani out of the animal pens.
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We started Day #3 with an appointment with Dr. Bob (chiropractor). I had serious lumbar issues but he fixed me all up (until the next time). Aliya read to Adlani during my adjustment and Dr. Bob commented that they were VERY well behaved.

We stopped at my office and the kids got another “atta-boy” from one of my coworkers, who also said they were being very good. The incentive for their good behavior was the chance to choose a snack from the snack-shelves at my office, but hey – whatever works.

After that we went to Drumlin Farms where we renewed our annual membership for $29…what a bargain! The weather was gorgeous at that point – sunny and about 60 degrees, so we went on a 1/2 mile walk on one of the trails. Aliya is really afraid of the woods – too much exposure to Ben’s Crime-TV I think. We visited the rescued crow, hawks, turkey vulture, quail, and owls, and we arrived at feeding time so not only did we get to see them eating their yummy rats and mice, we got to chat with the caretakers. I didn’t realize birds live so long! The turkey vulture was found as an injured adult in 1977!

Adlani was obsessed with going on the tractor ride so we went straight to the tractor stop but it was the tractor man’s lunch hour, so we sat and had a snack. At some point I realized that I was staring at one of the other moms because I knew her somehow. It turned out that she was the midwife who “helped Norah come out”. It was really great to see her except that 1) she was a witness to the IUD incident (see the post below), and 2) I had to confess that I took Norah to day care today because I was too lazy to chase her around and fight with her.

While waiting for the tractor ride we visited the tack shop, the cows, horse, pigs, chickens, goats & sheep including lots of babies, mice, and skunk. They also had some really cool solar sculptures and we saw 2 deer in the deer pen and heard some wild turkeys. We finally got on the first ride after lunch and the first raindrop fell as we got off the tractor. We stopped at Dairy Joy for lunch and the first soft-serve of the season, and headed home.

I’m so glad I finally broke down and ordered a new point-and-shoot camera last night. Something has been wrong with mine for a long time and you can clearly see the problem in the photo below. The left side of the image is always fuzzy. Annoying!

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When I wrote the post about seeing my midwife at Drumlin Farm, I looked for a post that talked about my I.U.D. experience so I could link to the story rather than embarrassing myself all over again. To my shock and amazement, I never wrote about it on the blog! I know it happened before I started the blog, but I was sure I had relived it at least once. To get the full effect, I went back to my email from November of 2006, when I described my experience to Karen:

“You won’t BELIEVE what happened. I had an appointment with the midwife at 2 to have my IUD put in. I think I told you, I got her to write me a prescription so I could buy the IUD from a Canadian pharmacy for less than half price. That turned out to be a big controversy with their billing departmant, and the midwife got in a little trouble for writing me the prescription.

At 12:30 I laid down to feed Norah and I fell asleep. I woke up at 1:15 and panicked a little because I had to leave in 15 minutes. I changed, put everything I needed for the midwife and my office in a bag, and ran out the door thinking about how starving I was and what I was going to eat. I got to the midwife’s and realized that I forgot the bag. I was sooooo upset.

When the receptionist told me she’d have to reschedule for 11/28, I started crying. She told me she’d go check with the midwife and the midwife said that her 3 o’clock appt. had come at 2, so I could go home, get the IUD and be back by 3. I cried halfway home because I was so mad that I had wasted the hour to drive there and back. I feel like every minute of my time is double-booked and it just really upset me.

So I went back to the midwife’s and when she came in to see me I apologized and said, “I hope you don’t think I’m a sexaholic and can’t wait 2 more weeks to have the IUD put in.” She said the thought never crossed her mind and when the receptionist told her I was crying she knew it was because I’m really busy and was upset that I drove all the way there without it.

Anyway, I can finally cross ‘Get IUD’ off my to-do list. It has been on the list for 2 years. It wasn’t bad at all.

– Lori “

For the record, ordering the IUD from Canada cost me $264 and my midwife’s office charged $585 for the exact same one. I went even farther back in my email to find a poem that I sent to Karen when I got the surprise of my life and found out that I was pregnant with Norah. Karen had recently tripped over some of the kids’ crap and broken her ankle, so with the subject, “A little poem to cheer you up…” I sent the following original poem:

“When I heard you’d hurt your foot, I felt so sad for you,
Hobbling on just one leg, it’s hard enough with two.
So much to do, it all piles up, the work is never done,
When you’ve finished your to-do list, there’s no time left for fun.
At least you didn’t procrastinate, you got your IUD,
If you hadn’t done that, you might be pregnant…like me.

Now, doesn’t that make you feel better?

– Lori”
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Last Friday morning, Aliya, Ben, and I donned our Morocco-wear and did 3 presentations on Morocco for the first grade classes. We brought a bunch of our Moroccan paraphernalia, a Powerpoint presentation, and a Moroccan snack (orange salad), and the kids really seemed to like it.

Aliya is going to do a simplified version (in Spanish) for Adlani’s class after vacation.
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