Random Act of Kindness

Being a parent is hard. Being a parent of 2 is twice as hard. I have friends and family with children closer together in age than we have, and of course my siblings and I are closer in age than Rachel and Jacob. Our situation has its own set of challenges, but I am so glad that Jacob is old enough to help. Rachel has thrush - a yeast infection in her mouth that she and I can pass back and forth during breast feeding. She's cranky, gassy, throws up and doesn't want to eat because it is sensitive. This is round two of the nasty little infection that grows everywhere. We're both being treated with medication.

Jacob is going out of town for 3 weeks starting Thursday of this week. I will miss him greatly, but I am also glad to have the break. Today was supposed to be "cleaning day". Doing the laundry and cleaning the house for our impending departure.

I had 2 appointments this morning. All is well with me. 100% recovered. Then we went by my office to say "hi". We came home and I fed Rachel. We skipped out for some lunch. We saw one of Jacob's friends outside and I told Jacob he had to finish cleaning his room before he could go play. That I was not going to clean his room while he was on vacation. A fight started and I ended it with swats and a 5 minute time out. After which we went to the grocery store by our house. It is about 1/3 mile away. We can go through neighborhoods and never hit a well traveled road. I offered to have Jacob ride his bike to and from - parking it in the back of the minivan, while we got laundry detergent and the prescriptions Jacob will need while he's out of town. Rachel slept on my shoulder. He needed to burn off some energy since he wasn't able to go to Tennis Camp - due to my doctor appointments. It was fun.

We got home and Rachel was hungry again. I fed her and Jacob played. I needed to get the dry cleaning before Michael left for his interviews (12 interviews in 4 days at American Marketing Association's academic job conference in DC). I also needed to go to the Post Office and mail the birth announcements that were done (52 of 95 are ready to go...I'll get to the rest hopefully tonight- after the laundry, dinner, dishes, etc...). As I was getting ready to go, I swabbed Rachel's mouth and accidentally induced her gag reflex, which of course resulted in a white wave that doused my left ear, shoulder, hair and area rug on which I was standing. I sent Jacob outside with the area rug and he hosed it off. I bathed a baby - sponge bath cleaned mommy - and dressed us both. I was stressed out. No milk in the freezer to replace what just splashed out of the baby, due to the thrush. The real time repositories had just been depleted. I had a grumpy 7 year old and the cleaners that closes in an hour. I gathered all the supplies and left. Fortunately the experience tired out Rachel and she slept. Jacob rode in the back with the pacifier on the ready just in case.

We arrived at the post office. The poor man behind the counter had no idea who he was dealing with when I placed the 52 envelopes in front of him. A cranky, tired, thinly stretched mother of a newborn should be helped quickly and efficiently. He picked one of the envelopes up and held it to the template of acceptable mail sizes. He measured it again and again, went to the back to get a second opinion. He tried it through the mail slot. Each time the blasted envelope made it within acceptable guidelines, much to his dismay. Meanwhile a very curious Jacob was quizzing me on why the box in the poster was incorrectly packed, what perishable meant, did wine constitute a hazardous shipment, etc. Arggggh. Finally he rang us up and had the nerve to hand me 52 stamps, rather than metering them. I took them. I had Rachel still on my shoulder. I very patiently said to Jacob that we would set up an assembly line.... I'd stamp and he could put them in the mail box. A complete stranger, a well dressed, approximately 50 year old, woman came by and very sweetly said, "Would you like some help with those stamps? I remember what it is like to juggle with one arm the simplest tasks of the day....". With that she took the stack of envelopes and began with the self-adhesive stamps, making chit chat with Jacob and me. She was lovely. It completely restored my attitude. A random act of kindness was exactly what I needed.

cute kids... proud mom

Red, red wine

I had forgotten how drinkable a good glass of red wine is. I just opened a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Merlot. It is delicious. It has been close to a year since I had a drink. Not for any other reason than alcohol and pregnancy don't mix. When you are trying to get pregnant, there is a span of time when you have to act like you are pregnant, until you know otherwise. Since we tried for a few months before having success, the count is nearly a year.

My in-laws have been visiting. They are divorced. My FIL came for 3 days. The following day my MIL arrived. They are individually nice people. They are very loving to our children (there is that plural again). They are both quirky in their own right. I am sure my husband would say the same about my parents. It is just that I've had 39 years to adjust to my parents.... and only 15 to adjust to them. Of course that is really just spread over visits and holidays. The added stress of special occasions and holidays makes it an unusually strained time. Hence, my glass of red wine.

I just need to vent for one minute however. If you are going to play the card of "...oh woe is me..... I can't afford to come visit - I can't afford to stay in a hotel - I'll sleep on the futon in the living room - I don't mind the fact that it is in the middle of the house, with the TV, Computer, Kitchen, traffic for middle of the night feedings in the nursery..." and get some member of the family to buy your plane ticket and another to foot the bill of the hotel - you forfeit the right to complain about the distance or quality of the hotel in which you are staying or the travel woes of airline delays.

Ok, I feel better... thanks for listening. I'm going to go finish my glass of wine.

KIDS!!

It is odd to say, it is odd to hear but we have KIDS. The neighborhood has kids, my cousins have kids, the census says there are 2.5 kids in every family... we always had a kid, a child, a boy - not Kids. It is something that just sounds more responsible. It is like turning 30 vs. being 30-something (ok, almost 40). One is at the beginning of being old and responsible, the other is in the midst - no turning back - not that having 1 kid or being 30 really had an escape route. It is just semantics I know. It is just in my mind. It is all psychological.

I've got to get used to saying things like:

I'm taking the kids to the store.
The kids want to go play with the dogs.
Do you think the kids will like that movie?

Weird.

I'm already the mom that says - no more candy for you little one. My husband is the old man on the street that says stay off the lawn. What happened to us? When did we become so middle aged? Yes... we have 2 dogs, 2 cars, 2 kids - standard student loan debt, a mortgage and life insurance. All of it is wrapped up in that silly word... Kids.

I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy 4th of July

We hope you all are having a good holiday. We are having a nice day here. Jacob went to Tennis camp today from 9-11, just like he will every day for the month of July. He's getting to where he can put the ball over the net pretty consistently. We've had lunch and are hanging out and watching "Hoosiers". Later tonight, we'll drive out to Littlefield and see the fireworks. It is a great display but has very little traffic associated with it. We've gone all 3 years we've been here (last year we were on the beach of Kauai...)

Rachel is doing great. She weighs 7 pounds 4 ounces and grew to 20 and 1/2 inches. I really like our pediatrician, she's been very good about keeping it personal and not just a number that's come through the door. Hopefully we've found the same type of atmosphere - personal and caring - in the daycare we picked for Rachel. Most of the daycares have a room lined with cribs and they methodically care for the infants - changing and feeding them on a regimented rotation - so they all get their turn. Well this place does that too, but also has a very cuddly, caring atmosphere. The times we've visited, the children have all been in someone's lap, or playing on the floor or in an exer-saucer, or in a swing -not just in their cribs. Jacob went with me to take a tour yesterday and we found out we have a spot for August 13th! after having been 8th on the waiting list. Yeah!

I've got the birth announcements ordered - here is a preview of the picture we're putting on the front. I think it is really cute.

Light a sparkler for us :)