The kind of holiday you can sleep through.

November 30, 2008 at 8:20 am | In Holidays | Leave a Comment

Ben celebrated his first Thanksgiving dinner by sleeping through it. Babies don’t quite understand that even when exhausted you simply have to smack yourself awake, pile the food onto the plate and eat to the point where even your undergarments feel snug. It’s ok, though. I ate enough to make up for his absence.

Prior to that, he was enjoying himself immensely at his Grandma’s house. He crawled around on the floor, played with food in the refrigerator (selecting a plastic container of thyme as his favorite toy) and even noshed on some of the warm biscuits as they came out of the oven.

He was asleep by 6 o’clock, if I am not mistaken, which allowed Adam and I ample opportunity to eat multiple pieces of delicious pie while reclining on the sofa watching Hot Fuzz. Twas a good holiday!

Also? I kinda miss my Mama friends.

November 24, 2008 at 8:49 pm | In Mamahood | Leave a Comment

Following Ben’s birth, I diligently assembled a very nice crew of online and offline Mamas and I’ve been so busy as of late that there has been little time to connect with them. I miss the genial, easy camaraderie forged over discussions about infants and teething and crawling and feeding and sleep deprivation. I’m not sure how to make time for these friendships when I am already living a 16-hour day, yet it seems a real shame to not cultivate these relationships. Most of them are stay at home Mamas and I am just not one of those anymore, but I still want to feel connected to this Mama circle. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how to balance school and work and family and non-Mama friends and Mama friends. I’m already mainlining caffeine as it is.

Suggestions?

A lesson on thinking things through.

November 24, 2008 at 8:39 pm | In Mamahood, Quickie Update | Leave a Comment

So I learned a lesson over the weekend. I should say, I learned a lesson a few hours ago, but the events causing said lesson occurred over the weekend. If you were to walk up to me in a store and tell me to tote around a 26-pound bag of cat food for 15 minutes, I’d tilt my head and look at you quizzically. I’d smile, because I’m polite like that, but I would graciously inform you that such an action would not be a good idea because it would (A) hurt my back and (B) be thoroughly unnecessary as someone, somewhere invented this awesome thing called the shopping cart. This wheeled device is where you put your heavier items as you trump around a retail establishment. They’re great, really. Point being that I would not actually carry a heavy item around when I could more easily cart it about.

For some reason that escapes me, though I would not carry a 26-pound item to be purchased for any length of time, I seem inexplicably willing to carry around my similarly weighing son for 15 minutes. In fact, I had to walk PAST the shopping carts to enter the store. I reasoned that I was going to make a quick trip in to get diapers so why go through the hassle of actually placing the child in the cart. Except that this logic was profoundly flawed because I have never once failed to meander about a store at a leisurely pace. I did go straight to the back of the store to grab a pack of diapers but, discovering that they were out of stock, consoled myself with a lackadaisical loop around the periphery of the store.

I didn’t really think much of this decision until about 2:40pm this afternoon. This was the point in which my shoulder muscle seized so violently that I could barely turn my head to the side. These jabs of pain were followed by equally sharp jabs of pain radiating through the small of my back and down the sides of my admittedly hidden abdominal muscles. Having now doused myself with ibuprofen and multiple heating pad treatments, I can safely say that the worst of the experience is over. I have also returned full functioning to my shoulders and upper torso. But the next time anyone sees me making a beeline towards an item with child in arms, casting nary a glance in the direction of the shopping carts, stop me and talk some sense into me, please.

In other news, Ben’s Nana was in town for a few days and we all had a wonderful time. Ben showed Nana all his new skills and fancy new tricks and we even spent some time at the Museum of Science and Industry on Friday. Ben likes to keep his grandparents on his toes, a fact both his Nana and his Grandma can attest to.

Today was a lovely day.

November 16, 2008 at 10:29 pm | In Newness | Leave a Comment

We have many nice days around here, but today was particularly lovely for some reason. Everyone was just in really good spirits. I was happy because I had only a little homework to complete and I knew that I didn’t have to feel the pressure of trying to fit in a lot of homework with watching Ben. Adam was in good spirits because it was a fairly light cleaning day. And Ben was in good spirits because he … well, he usually is in good spirits.

So we started the day with a nice breakfast and a lot of exploring around the apartment. The child refuses to stay contained in one little room, so I am quickly trying to make the whole apartment more baby friendly. We have a ways to go on that one. But he enjoyed farting around on the ground and playing with a paper lunch sack. Oh, to have such simple pleasures again.

Two really cool things happened today. The first was that we all went to Chipotle as a family and for the first time ever, we ordered Ben a little something. So as we were noshing on our burritos, he was tucking into tiny pieces of a cheese quesadilla. Very cute. And I even gave him some water to drink through my straw.  I had to use suction to suck the water up into the straw and then I placed the straw in his mouth and let the water dribble out. But still, I was colored most definitely impressed.

The other cool thing that happened was that Ben pulled himself up all by himself and stood that way for a few minutes. I got some video of that, so I’ll make sure to post it because it was pretty exciting.

I have to constantly remind myself that Ben is always going to keep me on my toes. I always think that it is going to be ages until he can do something and then one day he up and does it with no warning whatsoever. Charming when said referenced activities are rolling or sitting or pulling oneself up to a standing position. Considerably less so when said referenced activities include pulling all my DVDs onto the floor or slapping me across the face with an open palm.

Obligatory future humiliation video.

November 15, 2008 at 6:47 pm | In Videoz | Leave a Comment

I apologize in advance for repeating the phrase “tub tocks” like seven million times. I am rendered a babbling fool when a recording device is in my hands.

In the interest of giving myself five seconds to breathe…

November 15, 2008 at 3:08 pm | In Mamahood | Leave a Comment

I’ve decided that I am going to commit to posting all things Benjamin once a week. Every Sunday. Any more than this and I’ll be cutting into valuable “stare off drooling” time. Anything less and the sheer cumulative exhaustion resulting from our 16 hour days will render any memories of the neat things Ben has done obsolete.

I’ve been to Indiana four times in two weeks. This may not seem like much, but it has added up to about 15 hours of driving. I’m in the last few weeks of classes, so all my papers are coming due. I’m not exactly sure how I am going to make it through the next month. Coffee? Yes. Copious amounts, thank you very much. I’m also leaning heavily on Adam and trying desperately hard not to let the fatigue make me snappish. It’s temporary. Remember this, Stephanie. IT’S. TEMPORARY. Soon classes will be over and then you’ll have a whole month to not have to worry about assignments. And the holidays are always fun – more so this year because Ben will be experiencing everything for the very first time. And then you’ll only have ONE class in the next semester.

OK. I think I can now make it through the next three hours without weeping.

And then there is that little matter of the election.

November 8, 2008 at 9:22 pm | In Quickie Update | Leave a Comment

I made the decision early on that this was going to be a website about Benjamin and our family. We’d talk personal, but not politics. And I am sticking to that decision, even though I have many things I could say about the subject. Email me and I’ll wax philosophic on it.

But I will say this. I’ve been thinking that, unlike all the previous generations preceding his – mine included – my son will grow up in a United States where an African-American was President. It won’t even seem abnormal. It will just be. I think that is really something. And I’m not talking politics here. It’s just a very different experience for most of us to live through, but for him, it will be the norm. It’s this before and after scenario in which his parents are squarely in the Before and he falls  into this newly created After.  It’s interesting.

The first week back, recounted in various poetry forms.

November 8, 2008 at 9:02 pm | In Mamahood | Leave a Comment

HAIKU:

Sleep does not come easy

When the baby does not at all care

About the 6am wake-up time.

 

LIMERICK:
There once was a chick from Oak Park

That smiled as she sat in the dark

She’s been up since the morn’

And her patience was shorn

But her son’s little wit made her spark.

 

EPITAPH:

Here lies my free time.

 

SONNET:

I leave with little time to spare,

With wrinkled clothes and dampened hair;

I fail to eat my breakfast, though

I often grab it on the go.

I arrive about 12 minutes late,

A sharp remark I do await;

And yet I find, without a doubt,

I am the only one about.

We spend our days before a screen,

And ply ourselves with warm caffeine;

I Google ‘til the day is done,

Including me to have some fun.

I like it but I’ve oft confessed,

I like the going home the best.

 

ACROSTIC:

Though I find my work both interesting and fulfilling,

Hardly any time goes by, and

Understand that I say this with all due

Respect, but I didn’t quite realize,

Silly me, how much I would

Deeply stress over lengthy

Absences from my son.

Yes, I have Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but it’s not nearly enough.

 

CINQUAIN:

Mama

generous, exhausted

exploring, conversing, sharing

Requires lots of skills.

Employee

20 hours and ticking away….

November 2, 2008 at 1:15 pm | In Mamahood, Quickie Update | Leave a Comment

So, the new life kicks in soon. In just a little under 20 hours. I have so much homework and so many other things that I have to do in preparation, but I kinda want to just lay around with Adam and Ben. Normally I am really busy on Sunday with homework, but I never felt bad about it because I always had the rest of the week to catch up on Ben time. Just a few moments ago, though, I realized that tomorrow I’d be gone all day and I won’t really be catching up on Ben time until Thursday.

Thursday, people!

This is going to be very, very different.

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