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So, my freakishly tall husband may have to go to Spain for work. He went earlier this year for a conference, and now he may go back again for a week after Thanksgiving.
"How long was I there before?"
"You were only there from Sunday night to Friday. Not long at all. I TOTALLY remember because I was counting the days til you got home. I couldn't wait to tell you I was pregnant."
"Well...let's see..Sunday night I flew in, Monday was the first day of the conference, and then I had a meeting..."
"You were there til Friday. I know."
"Tuesday we had another meeting..Wednesday I had dinner....(thinking...thinking...)"
"You came home on FRIDAY."
"Wednesday I met up with the regional manager, Thursday......"
(I'm rolling my eyes and sighing here)
"Oh yeah. I took a flight out on Thursday night because it was going to snow. You're right. I came home on Friday."
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This is almost the same conversation that I had with those jokers in California:
"How old is Aiden?"
"He's four."
"Are you sure? No way."
"I'm sure. I was just at his FOURTH birthday party."
"Noooooo....hmmmm let's see...he's the same age as Chloe...."
"He's four."
"Well then how come Chloe is six?"
"I don't know why Chloe is six, but I do know that Aiden is four."
"Noooooooo..let's see, at the Sherps wedding, Chloe was like, one and half."
"Yeah! And Jenny was PREGNANT. Aiden is FOUR, GODDAMMIT. I was JUST AT HIS BIRTHDAY PARTY."
"Oh wow, Aiden's only four. You're right."
Assholes- all of you.
Dooce has suffered a miscarriage.
When I read her blog entry, it took everything I had in me not to cry, for the pain of losing a baby came rushing back. The blood from my head gushed to my feet, and I felt helpless and useless all over again. The yin and yang thing about it was that I actually had a dream last night that I was pregnant, and whether it was Ryder, or a new baby- I remember feeling the baby kick in my dream. It felt like it was real. And then I woke up- and I was in awe that it really happened to begin with- that Ryder was once inside of me.
Here's to all my girls, and my girlfriend's girls- who have felt the horrible sorrow of losing a beating heart. Keep trying, keep persevering- because, after all, Ryder is only here with us because we had the courage to try again.
Shine on, Dooce.
It's been brought to my attention that Bumbos are very dangerous seats if you're not watching your baby when they're rockin out to Baby Einstein on the kitchen counter. Here's the link to the recall of my beloved seat.....how many of these seats did I give away as presents? I do believe five.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21472055/?GT1=10450
Thus, I have contributed to putting the lives of Ian, Dylan, Olivia, Jonas, and Luna in danger. Oh, and Jackson is sitting naked in Ryder's very Bumbo- as we speak.
Watch your kiddies, that's all I've got to say.
But in the meantime, if you're scared of using the seat now (and I wouldn't be), you can always click on the "Babies in Bumbos" link to the right.....and just see how many of us have put the baby in the Bumbo and the Bumbo on the counter-coffee table-kitchen table. Kudos to the mommy that put the baby in the Bumbo on the floor.
That mommy wasn't me. My freakishly tall mathmatistical ceramical husband said that the odds are in our babies favor. Only 28 children of a million have fallen out. Not to worry.
Exhibit E: Babies in Bumbos
To put these two artists on the same blog post.Go to:
My past blog post about Everest.
We should definitely have viewing parties for this!
"Quietly while you were asleep...
I'm reading yet another wonderful self-help book on Motherhood, called: I Was a Really Good Mom Before I had Kids: Reinventing Modern Motherhood. An easy read, I managed to finish it in one evening while Ryder was sleeping. The thing about these books is that they help to make you feel as though you are not alone. Your girlfriends are certainly supporters of you- but they can only support so much of you- as they have their own children- or if not children- LIVES that they need to live.
While this book is about motherhood, there are certain parts of the book that (I believe) apply to all aspects of living, whether or not you're a mother, a husband, a girlfriend, a fiance', a student, or a man looking for love in Mexico. Here is an excerpt:
"Without getting too philosophical, in a very real sense now is all we've got. We can't change the past and we can't predict the future. Today is the only time we can control, so we might as well devote as much as we can to what we're doing in the present. As Eckhart Tolle, best-selling author of The Power of Now, has said, "We spend our days dwelling on past mistakes - why did I have to eat that double cheeseburger? - or fretting about the future - the high school reunion is coming up, and I just ate that double cheeseburger." Lost in all that worrying is the present, the only period we can actually experience and enjoy at any given moment. "The now is the only thing there ever is, you can't get away from it," says Tolle. "But the voice in our head keeps us either in the past or in the future, treating the present moment as if it were the enemy."
"Yes, yes, we know: Children by their very nature encourage us to think about the future. And every parent does need to plan ahead. But sometimes, dwelling on the past and worrying about the future take over our thoughts - and our actions as well. Wouldn't it feel better to have a great moment now instead of thinking about one that may or may not happen in two days, two weeks, or two years?".
"But let's get real: Playing with horses is not always that compelling. Most of us would probably prefer to read the latest issue of People rather than slog through Curious George once again. So we'll say the unspeakable thing: More than occasionally, we retreat from our children's activities not because we can't do them, but because we don't want to. Part of the reason we don't live in the moment is that the moment before us is not really what we want. In truth, the moment before us is often not our moment at all, but our children's moment, and we resist it."
"It helps to remember that this moment, whatever it is, is fleeting. This phase will quickly pass, especially with young children. Just when you think you've got it down, everything will change."
And so, on this first day of October (as it's getting cooler, and the leaves are beginning to change their colors, and it may be time for bangs and turtlenecks and dark nail polish), I'll start living in the NOW. I'm already making the most of this day, working, blogging, and thinking of my wonderful son at school. He'll be learning how to treat his friends nicely, how to share, how to eat on his own, and maybe a little bit of Spanish and sign language. I'm going to appreciate the decision that I've made on sending him to school because I can take care of myself today, and someone will teach him some things that I couldn't- or don't know how- or don't have the patience to- teach him. I'll go to the gym, get that laundry done, and just take care of myself. Because- as the book put it- you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. This is the same reasoning that is implemented when a plane is going down: "Secure your oxygen mask on you first, and then assist small children."
And once I'm done taking care of myself today, I am going to live in that moment when I go to pick him up...to watch is eyes light up and face shine as he runs to me with arms wide open. It just won't get any better than that.
