Saturday, May 10, 2014

Tulip Toad - Saga Six with Streit


In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd share a fun short story written by my mom.  No doubt, a tribute to me, her No. 6.  Or at least I like to think I was her inspiration...  Happy Mother's Day to all; especially to my Momma.


Another in a continuing series of dramatic vignettes…

Tulip Toad - Saga Six with Streit

Written By 
Georgia H. Nichols

Her mind wasn’t on the outdated “People” magazine she was idly thumbing through as she waited for her turn to see the doctor. 

“I’ll kill myself if I’ve gained any weight this time.  I haven’t even had an appetite, and the rabbit food I do eat sure can’t produce any pounds.  Let’s see, I wore the lightest weight clothing I own and made sure I went to the bathroom first.  Plus I haven’t had as much as a drink of water in the last 22 hours.  Maybe I even lost”

“Tulip Toad?  This way please.”  The nurse led the procession of two to the weigh-in room.

Tulip exuded confidence as she stepped onto the scales.  But her momentary elation was short lived.  The pound weight pushed the bar down at 134, 135, then 136.  The nurse flicked it a few more increments and it rose only a fraction before the weight bar balanced.  “One thirty six and three quarters.”  Four pounds in three weeks—again!

The dazed patient reeled as she stepped backward off the scales.  “Impossible,” she wanted to scream.  “A recheck, please!”

But she had seen the scale herself.  Could it be that there was some kind of conspiracy to make her depressed every time she visited the doctor?  A four pound jump every time was beginning to sound suspicious.

Tulip was numb as she followed the nurse down the hall to the examining room.  Where had those pounds come from?  She was still numb as she stumbled onto the table and mentally reviewed the weight progress in the five previous pregnancies.  At this present rate she could top out at 180 pounds and be a blimp for the rest of her life.  Before, she had been upset with a weight gain of a pound or two and an occasional jump of five pounds but this was too much.  She thought of her husband’s attempts to console her.

“Don’t worry.  I’ve head all of this before and the weight has just dropped off after the baby is born.  It will again.”

But things were different now.  She was 36—and over the hill.  An old woman.

Tulip ruminated over the two alternatives she might employ to get rid of the hated pounds: never eat again or take a knife and cut out a pound of flesh here and there.  Neither sounded like a plausible solution.

Her thoughts were still picturing herself in the before photo of an Ayds ad, when Dr. Streit came into the room and began checking uterus size and listening for the baby’s heartbeat.  “Just about right for 20 weeks,” he announced when he had finished.  “Everything seems fine.” 

“But I’m not 20 weeks.  I’m only about 14,” Tulip intercepted.

“Hmmmm.”  The doctor looked at her chart again.  “Let me take another check.”  This time the probing was more intense.

“Maybe there really is some reason I’ve gained so much weight,” Tulip silently hoped as she waited for the doctor’s second observation.

“First of all,” the doctor began, “an oversized uterus is not uncommon in pregnancy.  It doesn’t mean twins, or even that you’ll deliver early.  It’s just a condition we see from time to time.”

“But I also weigh more at this point in any of my previous pregnancies.”  Tulip seized on that thought hoping it clarified the situation.

“Doesn’t mean a thing.  See you in three weeks,” the doctor reminded her as he left the room.  The door closed.

She’d heard it all before.  So she was just fat after all.  It didn’t seem fair.  It wasn’t fair, she was starving!  Another agonizing three weeks ahead of her.  “Yeah, and since I’m going to weigh 145 pounds by then I intend to eat hearty and enjoy myself.”  Her words bounced off the walls.

Tulip couldn’t resist a wicked glance at the scales as she walked to the receptionist’s desk.  Two could play the weight game as well as one could.  Next time there would be a reason for the four pounds.  Already she was beginning to look forward to supper. 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

This Kid is Eight Months Old. EIGHT Months!


Shortly after Roosevelt was born my mom asked me if I could remember what life before Ro was like.  With zero hesitation I answered, "yes!"  Those first several weeks were difficult.  It was hard adjusting to my new life.  It was hard learning the ropes of parenthood.  It was hard taking care of a new baby.  So of course it was easy for me to remember what things were like before Ro.  And admittedly, there were some times - very few - that I actually longed for things to return to how they were before.  Of course I didn't want to lose Ro, so I knew those memories were to be just that - memories.  But here we are eight months later and I can barely imagine life pre-Ro.  How did Wyatt and I survive, just the two of us?  Parenthood, though still very difficult, has been the most rewarding thing I've attempted.  


It seems as if Ro is slowly coming out of his shell.  When strangers speak to him, instead of staring at them like his old-self used to do, he actually smiles back!  Of course every time he does, each stranger squeals with delight.  I know I'm his mom, but it is pretty cute.  In fact he generally tends to smile more than he used to.  Maybe it's just a phase...maybe this is the new Ro.  Either way, it's been a lot of fun to watch.  

Papa Lou

Ro and I flew to Colorado to visit family again.   It was a really good visit.  I helped my mom prepare for her garage sale, along with cataloging some items she purchased in East Germany while my family lived in Berlin.  I'll be posting those on eBay.  Since we were so busy working, I didn't venture far from her house.  Which was really nice since doing anything with a baby is a million-times harder.  Or more accurately, I'm a million-times more lazy now that I have a baby.  

 Aunt Judy and Uncle Brice

 Cousin Cameron (it is soooo cute to watch my niece play with Ro.  Totally uncharacteristic of her.)


Ro was in love with my sister's dog, Butterfly.  She was tolerant with little interest.  She'd let him "pet" her if he was near her.  Which really is quite remarkable since she has very short hair and Ro has a pretty tight grip.  So pretty much it was Ro grabbing wads of her skin in his tiny hand.  Truthfully, we had a bit of a love triangle going.  For whatever reason Butterfly had taken a liking to me.  I couldn't care less about her, I was just interested in what Ro was up to... And of course, Ro didn't care about me.  He just wanted to be near the dog.  That dog.  She totally reminds me of the dog from the Amazing Stories episode, The Family Dog.  She is so skittish.  

 Grandpa and Grandma Nichols

Aunt Burgandy 

Ro's top teeth are really coming in.  I was right about his incisors, they are growing.  Though Wyatt retracted his statement last month and agreed that it looked as if they were cutting through the gums.  You can't really see any of his top teeth until he gives you a giant grin.  And even then, you have to be at the right angle.  Otherwise it's only the bottom teeth you notice.  

Momma G 

Ro listening to Momma G serenade him 

And shortly after I said that Ro wasn't making any consonant sounds...he whipped out his B's.  It's currently his favorite letter.  


Swim lessons were canceled last week.  And we had Wyatt to ourselves(!).  So we decided to take advantage of the family swim time at the local community pool.  Which as it turns out we practically had the whole place to ourselves!   Ro still loves the water.  This time his favorite part was being able to standup in the water, holding onto the one-foot ledge.  He loved this! 






Notice Ro's hair?  It's super fine and toe-head that you can hardly tell he has any until you're up close.  Only when it's wet can you tell he has any from a distance.  I was a toe-head too when I was a baby.  Imagine that.  


With the anticipation of nice weather, we bought a bike seat for Ro.  He wasn't sure what to think about it.  I think after a few more goes, he's really going to love it.  At least he better.  The swim park opens in five weeks!!!  How else are we going to get there?