Busy, busy

This week has been rather hectic, to say the least. We've skipped or postponed most of our regular meetings and obligations so we can concentrate on the things we need to do around here.

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We're trying to get caught up on laundry and cleaning between shopping, list-making, refilling my vitamin prescription and packing, and arranging for the house- and pet-sitters, along with all the other things involved in getting ready for a trip.

My big project at the moment is sewing raincoats. I made a mock-up out of scrap fabric yesterday to check size, then got the kids' three coats cut out. They are going to be perfect--water-resistant, but lightweight enough to fit in a pocket.

However, the pattern calls for two-part zippers, and I can't get very far in the sewing process without them. Both stores I went to last night didn't carry separating zippers in the sizes I need, much less in the right color. I'll make one more attempt this morning and if I can't find them I'll either have to improvise with buttons on a pattern not designed for them, or start over with a different pattern (poncho) that calls for normal zippers.

I wanted to sew myself a couple of nursing blouses, too, but I'm running out of time. I think I'll have to make do with the few I have, even if we have to find a laundromat halfway through the trip.

I did find a long, lighter-weight piece of knit fabric and "made" a less bulky baby wrap out of it to take along. I put quotation marks around the word "made" because I actually didn't do a thing to the piece of fabric. I may serge the ends eventually, but for now I'm just using the piece of cloth as is, and it works great.

Tomorrow is AJ's 5th birthday, and the next day we leave for Mexico. We'll have a simple cake (chocolate, at AJ's request) and a small gift at dinner tomorrow night, but we've told AJ that we're going to Mexico for her birthday. She knows it's also a family reunion, but really she thinks the whole trip is solely to celebrate her.

I'm not sure how much if any internet access we'll have while we're gone, so posting may be light or non-existent for a while.

P.S. Baby E has been sleeping through the night (midnight or 1 a.m. to 7 or 8 a.m.) almost every night since we moved her to her own room. My main thought about this: "Why didn't we do this sooner???" However, we'll all be sharing a room during the trip, so we'll see how that goes.