Grounded with Gratitude

How can a person not be grateful for this beautiful face?

We have such a wonderful little boy. I am working on being appreciative and expressing gratitude for the ...what is the right word? If I were a religious person, I would call him a miracle, even a blessing. But I'm not. What would be the atheistic version of that word? Either way, Reed is fantastic.

Some days are so difficult. I get stuck in my own head with my own thoughts. That can be a pretty dangerous place. I get wrapped up in this stay at home mom thing, and I wonder how I am going to finish school. I miss talking to adults. I miss my vices. I miss the relationship I used to have with my husband.

But most days are wonderful. We wake up. We nap. We go to the beach or we walk at Green Lake. Check Reed taking a fantastic nap at Golden Gardens. This was also taken the day that I managed to burn one quarter of my face. It was awesome. I wish I had a picture of that.
The other day we went to a Thursday Mother's Day Movie at the Bellevue movie theatre. It was fancy. We saw Harry Potter. It was good, but I felt it deviated to greatly from the book. That same day we went to the aquarium, where Reed really enjoyed the fish. I think. Then we went to the Spanish Table and got some delicious machego and rice for Paella. Then we had a lovely evening with our Peps group. Days like that are fantastic reminders to stop and remain grateful. Today we had an amazing day at home, filled with naps and domestic chores. And it was an even better reminder to enjoy every day I have with this incredible child.

I am working on appreciating every moment.

Nothing to Procrastinate

The original intention on this blog was to have something to do instead of homework. Its summer break, so I have nothing to put off. I suppose I could blame it on the baby, but he goes to sleep at 7:30 and pretty much stays that way for eleven hours...I hope writing that didn't just jinx us! Anyway, I could easily blog once he goes to bed, but I just haven't.

So much has happened in the past month! Reed went on his first two plane rides. He was a superstar, people around us complimented him on both flights. I was so proud. He met so many new people, including his Great Great Aunt Ruth, and really bumped the numbers up in his fan club. He turned four months old and got his shots. Once again, he was far braver than his mama. The White family came up to visit us from Vegas and Reed has a new girlfriend in Anna.  He also got to meet his Great Aunt Patty and her Seattle native boyfriend Ken

What else, I managed to take and pass once class. That's great, cause my goal was to not fail. I was very happy with my B+. We'll see how it goes in the fall once I start back full time.  We still have to figure out childcare. Although it hasn't been confirmed, it seems that we will not be getting the childcare subsidies. I am pretty concerned about this. Maybe I should have a bake sale or a carwash to raise funds. Or maybe I should look into that email I got from Nigeria...

My triathlon plans have been somewhat derailed. Apparently it has been postponed till next year due to bridge construction or something along those lines.  I can't say I'm not a little tiny bit relieved. Phew. Anyway, I have entered a couple 5K races to keep the dream alive. I'll have to more actively look into finding another tri. I'm currently reading a book called "Slow Fat Triathlete: How to Achieve your Fitness Goals in the Body you Have Now" Very funny. I recommend it.

Our upcoming plans include trips to Los Angeles, Danville, and Portland. We have visitors heading up from those same places. We are looking forward to an exciting summer.

I will post some pictures and videos in my next blog. Hopefully that won't be a month from now!

Likes and Dislikes

Here is a partial list of some of Reed's preferences...

Dislikes

1. Not being fed. RIGHT NOW.

2. Sleeves. Just like Michelle Obama.

3. His swing, much to his mother's chagrin.

4.  Being strapped into anything - car seat, moby, ergobaby, miracle blanket, diapers,

5. Second hand tofu

6. Staying still.

7. Being startled by farm animals.

8. Papyrus, the font.

9. Neglect as a result of Facebook.

Likes

1. Eating, all the time.

2. Standing up.

3. Dancing on Daddy's desk. 

4. Being naked, and then peeing on closest parental unit.

5. Did I mention eating?

6. Long walks

7. His friends, the pillows.

8. Rolling from his tummy to his back.

9. Public Enemy.

Take A Deep Inhale

And exhale.

Three months. Three months. How could it have possibly been three months? I barely recognize the baby in that picture. That baby is so little and fragile. He is hardly the robust little man we spend all our time with these days.

I realized that it was one year ago that I was watching Kirk Cameron talk about his wife's pregnancy test on the View, when I decided that I had nothing better to do, and that I might as well pee on a stick. I thought it might be fun (ask me about the time I peed in a mug just to practice for an upcoming doctors appointment). When that little pink plus sign appeared, I ran out the door to buy more pee sticks, calling Hill for support on the way. When the next THREE tests came out positive, I called a nurse asking if I should take a real medically sanctioned test administered at a doctor's office. She told me that the at-home tests were extremely accurate and that a false positive is extremely rare. So, when I asked if three positive tests probably meant I was pregnant, she laughed in my face...or she would have, had we not been on the phone.

Anyway, here we are, with a giant baby who laughs and smiles and squeaks and cries. He is asleep now, so I am drinking a white Russian (we ran out of wine!) with the homemade Kahlua that Julia and Zach made, while I blog, take quizzes on face book, and thumb through my Real Simple magazine. He is sweet and funny, with really keen comedic timing, particularly for any scatological humor. Few things are rewarded with such a big smile as pooping in a brand new diaper, leading to yet another trip to the changing table.

The balancing act is a challenge, but I am slowly getting the hang of this. I registered for a full schedule in the fall, so I certainly hope we've got an even better handle on it by then.

I will be doing a triathlon in August. If I write about it here, I have to be accountable to everyone who reads it, right? It is a fairly short tri, a half mile swim, twelve mile bike ride, and 2.5 mile run, and my only goal is to complete it. I don't have any fancy notion of doing it to win. While I know I can do all of these things individually, it is the sequential nature of a triathlon that makes me nervous. So I am running (read jogging slowly) every other day, and once I get my bike fixed/exchanged for new bike I will start that. I really need to get some practice with some open water swimming. I won't have any walls to kick off of in Lake Washington. 

So, here is my little man today, on his three month birthday. I am hoping that we are past the age in weeks business, that requires far too much remembering. Am I a bad mom because I let this fall happen? Not just let it happen, but documented it, and then laugh every time I look at it? I hope not. It's not like our couch is made out of razor blades and shards of glass.

Wha' happened?

You Can Call Me Al.

Is there anything better than driving your car with the windows down on a beautiful day listening to a little Paul Simon and singing at the top of your lungs?

No, there's not. The past few days have been beautiful in Seattle. I'm sitting on my couch right now and I have an amazing view of beautiful Mt. Rainier in the distance and an adorable sleeping baby. Not a bad day. Rob is coming home early and I get to go to school.

One class is just the right amount of class. One class is almost a manageable amount of reading and there is only one project to stress about. That will change in the fall when I go back to school full time. I am excited and terrified by that. We have to figure out what to do with the boy. I am hoping to either join a nanny share or find a neighborhood daycare that takes infants. I also hope we qualify for UW's childcare assistance...that will definitely help out the cause.

I am so excited for summer. We are going to get a zoo membership because we are just four blocks from the zoo. I know that Reed is still really little, but I really like the animals. And since its so close, I can make it a part of our daily walks. I can just pop into the zoo for a minute, say hello to our animal friends, and then go take a nap.

I am excited to restart my running program. It is called "Couch to 5k". It's an eight week program designed for running novices. I got to week five before I found out I was pregnant and got too tired to move. But I think it is about time to get back on that. I have goals of 5k and 10k races.

I am excited about the project I am working on for school, increasing the graduation rates for kids in the foster care system. It's really interesting and a little depressing. We are really failing these kids. What can we do to support them? That's what we'll be looking into.

What else...I don't know. I am just feeling really good about a lot of stuff right now. I'm looking forward to visitors and to bringing Reed to California next month. 

So I have plenty of adventures in store, school, running, zoo trips, more writing, figuring out daycare, not to mention, cleaning, cooking, and finding time to go grocery shopping. Logistics become a bit more challenging when you add in a third person. Even a tiny one.

Two Months is a milestone, right? or Therapize this!

Wow. Two months. It really seems like every day is a victory. A victory over what? That I don't really know. But every day we manage to keep a baby alive or not fight with one another or actually fold that pile of laundry feels like a day of accomplishment.  Never mind that the sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, we'll get to that later.

Reed is starting to tease us with long stretches of sleep. Twice in the past week, he has slept from about 7:45 pm to 5 the next morning. If only we could get ourselves to bed before the sun sets we would be in a good place. Speaking of a good place, I have had just a bit of an issue with that dreaded pregnancy problem of the post-partum depression. There were definitely some signs that I was heading towards a bad place mentally, so we took some preemptive action before I could spiral too far into this place. I have started seeing a counselor and that along with a small dose of medication seems to really be helping. Who knows what causes ppd? Or why it strikes some people and not others. I think in my case it had a lot to do with the less than perfect labor coupled with some outside stresses that just happened to coincide with some crazy ass hormone fluctuations. Whatever the cause, the other day when Reed peed in my mouth, spit up in my hair, and then pooped on my hand, all I could think was "Thank goodness for the Zoloft."

"I'll pee in your mouth if you're not careful!"

The turtles are back out at Green Lake.

And since it has been awhile...here is a picture of downtown on a lovely spring day.

We're growing up so fast around here.

First, a little bragging.

Reed is six weeks old today. Over the course of the past week, Reed has learned to flip himself over from his tummy to his back. According to babycenter.com's development chart, this is something that is generally mastered around the three month mark. Clearly, Reed is very advanced. He can also hold his head at a 45 degree angle. Apparently that is also a developmental milestone. Who knew we would get so excited over seemingly simple things. 

Second, Reed has finally kind of started to like sitting in his swing for small amounts of time. I really hoped that Reed would take to his swing and we could go about our business. That has not been the case. Up till about two days ago, the swing only encouraged very loud screaming. Very loud. But, the other day he stayed in it long enough for me to make, and get this, EAT my spinach salad. It was indeed a luxury.

Third, we went to a PEPS meeting. It stands for Parenting something something Support, or something like that. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Only three of six couples brought their babies. At six weeks, Reed was the oldest baby there. And with the other two little girls each weighing in at under seven pounds, he looked like a behemoth! According to my super accurate Wii Fit scale, he weighs about 11 pounds. He was 8.12 when he was born, so he is really packing it on.

And finally, School starts again next Tuesday. Eeek. There is something I am unprepared for. I already have homework for the class I am taking. Also, I learned that one class is actually twice as expensive as I thought. Apparently, I was looking at the undergrad tuition scale in preparation for the class. Maybe if one can't read a chart accurately that person is not really ready for graduate school. Ooops.  

So, I should probably stop writing this, turn off Days of our Lives, and maybe stop messing around on the internet long enough to read the assigned articles. Oh the non-stop excitement of a stay-at-home graduate student/mom.