swimming for home

Shhhhh.  Juniper is napping in her crib for the first time since she was, oh, 4 weeks old.  Holy heaven.

And Osa is outside barking at a drowned mouse in her kiddie pool.  I think it just happened, the mouse suicide.  I'm not looking forward to plucking the bloated body from her pool.  Secretly, I wish she would just eat it.  She won't.

Mice aren't the only creatures drowning around here.  No, in the last couple of weeks these here parts have seen two tragic human drownings, a handful of bear maulings, and lightening strikes resulting in one dead and 16 injured.

All that news is complicating what is now becoming my obsession at finding a house.  I am borderline OCD about finding a house these days.  I run the options in my head several times a day and ask myself the,  In town or out of town? question at least every hour.

And then there is the 6th sense one develops after becoming a parent.  The worry sense.  It's borderline absurd.  Okay, it IS absurd.  Worry.  It lurks in the back of your mind like a yellow-toothed predator waiting to pounce.    

How about the house by the river?  But Juniper might drown.
How about the house bordering Forest?  But Juniper might get plucked out of the backyard by a grizzly.  
How about the house out of town?  But Juniper won't have any friends.  
How about the house in town?  But what if the neighbors are meth-heads?  
How about the house on the ridge?  But Juniper might get struck by lightening.  


Yeah, I know.  I told you.  Normally, I don't listen.  We are who we are.  And my man and I happen to be people who love rough rivers and big bears and mountains where lightening walks.  Maybe we should ask ourselves, What kind of house would we want if we didn't have a june bug?  What has changed now that we do have a june bug?  And of that, What really matters?


So here I am, swimming through a sea of MLS listings, trying to pin down our future home.  It will happen.  But I could use a little more patience and a little less worry.

:: Juniper, on the other hand, is swimming her way into the last week of lessons.  My man was able to go with us last week and took some photos.  So fun.  What did we ever do without a kid?

The instructor is really quite impressive.

Now that she's figured out how, J bug loves to sit pool's edge and Kick, kick, kick!  (The little girl next to her is 2 and a pro--she often shows Juniper the swimming ropes.)

Every class the little fish line up on a step and splash, splash, splash! and kick, kick, kick! and the older fish dip their faces in the water.  But what always cracks me up is how Juniper is way more interested in watching the other girls.  Often, she reaches out to touch their faces.  It is so damned cute.