merry, merry, merry

navigating the Sunday Times

• Cursory glance at big headlines to see if there is something I'd like to read about in more depth
• Modern Love column
• the rest of the Sunday Styles section
• Book Review
• Week in Review
• the rest of the first section/National news
• NYT Magazine (read over the course of the week)

How do you read it?

two months in

I know. It's insane. Take a minute if you need to recover before reading further.

Well, more like 2 months and a week. We are still working on having things happen on time around here. In the two weeks that it has taken me to write this post Owen has been growing & developing in leaps and bounds. He's smiling at us like we invented the world, mimicing our gestures and 'talking' back at us with awesome ebullient gurgles and coos. He is, in short, amazing at everything besides sleeping.

(turn your volume up for full baby gurgle effect)

In that first bleary month there were so many wonderful friends who reached out to say "It will get better!" (thank you all times a million).

And they were right, sort of. It is better, but I don't know if it is easier. I think that "it will get better" is a code that experienced parents use to actually mean "you'll get used to it!" Used to tired, used to crying (mine, as well as his!), used to doing nothing but baby. And you will settle into it. It took a while for me to let go-- let go of expectations-- of dinner making, of diaper washing, or work doing, of anything and to just be present. And that letting go was the turning point for me, I think. That and the day when Owen decided that Adam could put him down to sleep too, it didn't have to always be me. The freedom!!!! I am drunk with it.

Verging on gratuitous amounts of baby cuteness in this post.

Anyway, Owen's not the only one developing mad skillz.

Since my hands are always full with the babe I have learned to do the following with my feet:

-open/close doors

-pick up phone from the ground

-open/close vegetable drawer in the fridge

-turn on bedside lamp

-change the channel on the tv

colors

Yellow

Green

Blue

Pink

White

open letters

Dear Owen-

It is not a good long-term strategy to try to survive on so little sleep. Believe me. It is making you nuts. It's making me nuts.

Don't roll your eyes at me!

Dear Fancy Baby Swing-

You are supposed to be the answer. You are supposed to be lulling this kid into the starry dreamland so that I can finally take a shower, so that I don't show up at the polls looking like I'm still wearing my Halloween hobo costume. Instead, he screams the minute I get him near you.

I don't think you're trying hard enough.

Dear Wonderful Neighbor Who Gave Us This Big Purple Exercise Ball-

THANK YOU. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

It is the only thing that works.

Dear Organic Fake Pop-Tarts-

You are not very good. And you are not very good for me. But you contain calories, and I can prepare and eat you with one hand.

For this I salute you.

Dear Whoever It Is That Decided That Drinking Coffee While Breastfeeding Is OK (in moderation)-

*sob* Marry me. *sob*

In other news:

I am currently avoiding eye contact with a December grant deadline.

I have made eye contact with two sets of manuscript edits, but they are still mingling on the other side of the party, so I'm going to just hang out over here by the hours de vours table hoping they don't make the trek across the room and try to engage me in conversation.

Nearly a month with this baby! Good thing he's so amazing in all other ways beside sleeping.

Don't be fooled. It looks like sleep BUT I ASSURE YOU IT IS NOT!

two weeks in

So in case you missed the rockets, the bullhorns, the tickertape parade, the airplanes toting banners o'er the sky: We had a baby!

His name is Owen and he is awesome.

Turns out it hurts a lot to birth a baby. Before & after. Maybe you knew that? I did, but not really. I made some cazy jungle noises & some words not fit to print. But in the end, totally worth every last unmedicated minute of it.

He is, of course, a complete genius and totally precocious. Today he rolled over-- twice! He is two weeks old! He came out of the womb with muscle definition in his legs and arms --which explains all the insane kicking that was going on in utero. Pretty soon he's going to be pulling those monster truck tires across our backyard, and tossing the girls over his shoulder at recess and running off with them like his Viking ancestors.

Like all intellectuals, he also enjoys a bit of light reading before bed. A true renaissance man, this kid.

Likes:

+nursing

+his owl

+family

+sunshine

Dislikes:

+wet diapers

+waking up hungry

+having boogers sucked out of his nose.

We've decided to keep him.

40 weeks. 31 years.

granite city, il

What do you do with your antsy pregnant wife on a cool dreary day?
First, feed her coconut cake.
Then take her to sneak into the scrapyards where the trains go to die.



Quote of the day, as we hurried back to the car before someone came to yell at us:
"Be careful, watch your step. If you fall here I'm not sure how we'll explain this to the doctor."

the perfect man

Things that are hot on dudes:

1. Black gingham dress shirts

2. Rolled up sleeves

3. Nice forearms

4. Leather cuff

Adam meets all of these criteria. Also, he buys candy for me.

classy or a clusterf*@k?

Adam: This QT is the JFK of gas stations.

Me: ... ... wait... the president or the airport?