Joy is a rolling machine. If she wants something—a toy, my iPhone, Mommy, a VHS cassette of Titanic—she simply rolls toward it. It is no longer safe to let her lie on the bed alone for more than 1.3 seconds. Two and a half rolls on the bed means she is no longer on the bed. So we like playing on the floor now. Joy has several very beautiful blankets and quilts that are perfect for floor play, physical therapy, rest, and sleep.
Crawling is still a challenge for her. She seems to be able to scoot backward ok, but forward motion takes a while. We procured two swings on Craigslist. One was ten dollars. The other was free. She can scoot out of both of them when she isn’t buckled in. But the swings are six inches off the carpet, and she extricates herself from the swing about an inch every three minutes.
We love Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and friends and neighbors who are getting rid of stuff that the baby (or we) might need. We love free and almost free. I’m sitting on a free chair at a free desk and typing on my nine-year-old HP laptop using Word 2010. I’m listening to Rachel Maddow through the free MSNBC app.
Right after Joy came home I blogged that she was a great deal—zero dollars down and $95.15 a month. She continues to be a great deal—the best deal ever (although formula, diapers, and baby food add up to a bit more than $95.15 now). She gives me more love and joy by 6:45 a.m. than I could have ever imagined. I don’t want to be up at 6:45 a.m., but there’s no way I’m going to miss out on my mornings with Joy—the smile, the laughter and giggles, the “talking,” the arms around my neck. She loves to greet me and Deb in the morning. It’s like she hasn’t seen us in two weeks.
The best things in life are typically free—kisses, hugs, smiles. But what about almost free?
Deb and I may like “almost free” a little too much. We are spending too much time trying to get “almost free” furniture to upcycle. And we have dipped our collective toes (figuratively speaking) into the world of storage locker auctions. Yes, we went in on an auction a few weeks ago. We were the highest bidder. So we had to arrange a truck and sort through what was essentially a lot of junk to get to the treasures. And there were a couple cool items. But we are working on a better system—poring over the photos looking for clues to what has been left behind.
In the meantime, if you have and still use a VHS player, we have the ultimate collection of movies for you. It’s free!
Joy Elizabeth 