wealhtheow

Lessons

• The coffee table now belongs to the boy, but mama needs a drawer for herself too.
• A runny-nosed child can keep the whole house up at 1:30 am--but mom and dad still need to be nicfe to each other. 
• When baby doesn't feel good, there's just no substitute for mom.
• Dancing always makes everything a little better--just like ice cream 
• There is no measure of how much I love my baby boy, but I never appreciate my sweet gentle quiet cat as much as when the boy is fussy and wakeful. 

Things I Have Learned

1. Air conditioning kicks ass, but if you dress the baby in a shorty sunsuit, you can get by without it.
2. My household would run far more smoothly if I used Sam's naptime for chores rather than for farting around on the internet. But my cat will run far more smoothly if I use naptime for some croodle-love instead.
3. Snippets of Nixon tape conversations are really annoying, but I can put up with it to have my husband spend time next to me while working on the diss. 
4. My vast experience with blackouts has prepared me well for dealing with one--I ordered dinner before everyone else realized we'd be out of power all night, and I gathered together all my candles and matches well before the gloaming set in. 
5. When a small cat is lonely enough, she'll sleep upstairs with her mom and dad even though it's hot as blazes up there. 

Things I've learned this week

1. Goat's milk is much better for my kiddo's digestion and skin--and tasty too!

2. When commercials talk about a french dip "with au jus," the redundancy really pisses me off.

3. A swing will sooth a cranky baby down to sleep almost as well as my shoulder, and it lets me get some laundry down--or some internet playing done.

4. Going to a movie that's reserved for other moms and babies gives me an awesome guilt-free morning.

5. ALWAYS assemble the diaper bag the night before. Otherwise, you'll forget something crucial and will be embarrassed in front of the doctor when your son ralphs all over his outfit and you haven't brought a change of clothes, so he just has to sit there in his sodden little outfit while you feel like the world's worst mother.

6. Mac and cheese and chicken fingers isn't the most glamorous meal, but you'll still have a grateful husband when he comes home to dinner in the oven.

7. The boy likes a new route to walk almost as much as I do.

Question

Will someone please tell me why I paid $4.25 for a gingerbread latte today? That is just outrageous.

Pro-Choice is Pro-Life

This morning we were driving in* behind a car that had a bumper sticker reading "Smile! Your mother chose life!"

I'm really grateful that my mom did choose life. But I'm no less grateful that she had the choice. One of the mottos of the pro-choice movement is "Every child a wanted child." I think that's something we can all get behind.

*Yes, I've given up the ghost and we're taking the car in for my last two weeks of work. I'm too huge and cranky to deal with public transportation and the incessant awful delays that plague WMATA.

nursery decorations

I work an average of 45 hours a week. I commute at least 2 hours a day. For some bizarre reason, I'm not having a huge burst of energy in my last month and find myself needing 9-10 hours of sleep each night.

The nursery. IS. NOT. GETTING. DECORATED.

If this bothers you, feel free to come over to my house and do it your damn self.

If one more person asks me if we're painting the nursery or putting up decorations I am going to burst into tears. Thanks for making me feel like a failure as a mother before my baby's even born, world!

complaints

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 87 degrees. What the hell? I guess I'm not getting out of hitting the end of my pregnancy during a hellacious heat wave. When is autumn coming?

Shameful secret

Remember that movie that came out maybe a year ago that looked like a remake of The Craft, only with boys?

I really want to see that.

What's your shameful secret of the day?

#5 Be a Sage

I'm cribbing shamelessly from Mighty Girl.  Here are my favorite pieces of advice.

There are two sides to every story. Make sure you've heard both before you make your decision.
When I was a wee thing my grandmother filled out one of those Grandmother Remembers books. There was a page in there for my grandfather to write a few words, and this is what he wrote (also that he loved me and would always be proud of me). It is bar none the best piece of advice I have ever received in my life. I don't always follow it, but I should.

If this is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you're damn lucky.
Not so much advice, but a maxim for living from my grandmother. This has gotten me through some ugly situations.

Life is hard.
I remember reading this during one particularly hellacious winter, and instantly my whole body just relaxed. Yes, I thought. Life is hard. This is okay, this is normal. Life is funny and wild and unpredictable and full of joy, but life is also hard. The universe doesn't owe you an easy path. The earlier you learn this the more prepared you are to deal with that reality.

random stuff

• I never seem to sleep anymore. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.
• Sometimes I think this baby is going to forgo labor entirely and just kick his way out of my uterus.
• The cat has been exceptionally sweet lately--and by lately, I mean from the day I entered the third trimester, creepily enough.
• If I never ate anything other than chicken cesar salad from my favorite take-out place and ice cream, I'd be unbelievably happy. But I don't think that would go over very well with the man.
• I will be 7 months pregnant before the goddamn escalator at my Metro stop is fixed. This escalator has been out of commission since the beginning of my pregnancy. It is difficult not to take this as a personal slight. Fuck you, WMATA.
• I'd probably get fired if I curled up under my desk and took a nap, right? But on days like today, it seems worth the risk.