Things change when you have kids. People tell you this. All your friends who have kids already will tell you how much things change. "Sure, sure, " you say. You can theoretically understand that there are now little people entirely dependant on you from everything from spiritual guidance to shelter to food to entertainment to education to ... You get the idea. You think you get it. But you don't. Case in point - I give you exhibits "weekend"...
---
Friday night, 9 pm, pre-kids... You will find us either all dressed up sitting at a fancy dinner at a swankified restaurant about to start on a second bottle of overpriced but delicious wine OR hanging out with friends over drinks OR loudly playing music and attempting to be brilliant Wii masters without killing the dog.
Friday night, 9 pm, post-kids... We are paying our taxes. Bo-ring. We are also thinking about turning in soon. After all, it's super late. Should we have a second glass of wine? Probably not, after all, we may have some downtime, but we're still on call.
---
Saturday daytime, pre-kids... Sleeping in. Hiking in the mountains. Exploring a new part of the city we've never visited before. Trying to understand the new art exhibit at the museum. Playing sports on a team of adults. Taking the dog to the dog park.
Saturday daytime, post-kids... Getting up earlier than you would on a weekday. Hiking up and down the stairs. Exploring new avenues in potty training. Trying to understand an angry toddler. Playing blocks and cars. Taking the kids to the park to just get out of the house.
---
Sunday evening, pre-kids... Talking to family. Preparing a leisurely dinner together. Relaxing in front of a good book. Taking time to talk to each other. Really understanding how the week will look.
Sunday evening, post-kids... Talking to family about how stressed you are. Preparing meals for the entire week so that you don't have to cook in the few hours between getting home and bedtime. Relaxing... HA! Taking time to prepare all the kids' junk for taking to school. Having NO IDEA what the week ahead looks like.
---
I wouldn't trade it. But I do miss the sleeping in.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Unconventional
What do you mean I'm wearing a WOMAN'S SOCK? They told me pink was very "now"...
Yel-woah. Yel-woah. YEL-WOAH! (Apparently the best color EVER. Period.)
N rocking some spikey hair in the shower.
Seriously Dad, I think you should consider the combover - it's an awesome look. Check out my hair. Ka-chow!Friday, January 21, 2011
Half a decade
A lot can happen in five years...
- Two people saying yes
- One reception
- One honeymoon
- One tiny apartment in a scary part of Aurora, CO
- Two jobs
- Weekly happy hours and weekend trips
- One slightly larger townhome in a less scary part of Aurora, CO
- One European vacation
- Countless mountain trips
- Numerous weddings of friends and family
- Endless visits to Chatfield State Park and Reservoir dog park
- One dinner club per month
- One major moving decision
- One new city to explore
- Two new jobs
- One new home
- Countless home renovations
- One major family decision
- One beautiful baby boy
- Endless hours learning and executing being parents
- One more major family decision
- One additional beautiful baby boy
- Three baby surgeries, four baby hospitalizations
- First baby boy now precocious toddler with endless vocabulary and Myna-bird like skills at mimickry
- Second baby boy healthy and happy and slightly cheeky with a special affinity for rolling
- Boundless joy at the life ahead of us
It's been a busy five years. Happy anniversary sweetheart. I love you more than you know.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Embarrasing?
An exchange this week after I finish squatting in an office (currently unused) to pump breastmilk instead of hiking across the campus for the nursing mother's rooms...
---
Me: Exiting a currently unoccupied office carrying breastpump in thinly disguised bag supposed to make people think I'm carrying a shoulder bag but everyone knows better.
Senior technical engineer (male): What are you doing in there?
Me: Er...
Senior technical engineer (who I highly respect): That's not your office.
Me: Uh...
Senior techical engineer (who I aspire to be like): Looks at my "shoulder bag"
Me: Ah...
Senior technical engineer (now mortified): Nevermind, I get it. I get it. They ought to give all nursing mothers offices with doors. Looks at floor. Good work in that meeting earlier. I'vegottogobye.
Me: Oh...
---
There's something especially mortifying about pumping breastmilk at work. I know it's amazing for my baby and nature's perfect food and all that. Plus you get an automatic 10-15 minute break where you can try to relax and not think about work (ha). Not to mention it's a great diet - weight seems to fade away when you're feeding someone else. (My mom even called me "bony" the other day - and not in a good way!) Despite all of this, I find pumping at work to be one of the worst parts - nay, the absolute worst part - about being a nursing mom. B is reaching the 6 month mark, so we're starting to stop breastfeeding, and I know when the day comes that he eats only from a bottle I may tear up. My last baby, his last nursing, will likely make me cry, just a little. Regardless... Pumping is horrible. And the above example is just one reason.
I still can't believe my baby is almost 6 months old.
*Sigh*
Time is passing too quickly and too slowly all at once. Is that possible?
---
Me: Exiting a currently unoccupied office carrying breastpump in thinly disguised bag supposed to make people think I'm carrying a shoulder bag but everyone knows better.
Senior technical engineer (male): What are you doing in there?
Me: Er...
Senior technical engineer (who I highly respect): That's not your office.
Me: Uh...
Senior techical engineer (who I aspire to be like): Looks at my "shoulder bag"
Me: Ah...
Senior technical engineer (now mortified): Nevermind, I get it. I get it. They ought to give all nursing mothers offices with doors. Looks at floor. Good work in that meeting earlier. I'vegottogobye.
Me: Oh...
---
There's something especially mortifying about pumping breastmilk at work. I know it's amazing for my baby and nature's perfect food and all that. Plus you get an automatic 10-15 minute break where you can try to relax and not think about work (ha). Not to mention it's a great diet - weight seems to fade away when you're feeding someone else. (My mom even called me "bony" the other day - and not in a good way!) Despite all of this, I find pumping at work to be one of the worst parts - nay, the absolute worst part - about being a nursing mom. B is reaching the 6 month mark, so we're starting to stop breastfeeding, and I know when the day comes that he eats only from a bottle I may tear up. My last baby, his last nursing, will likely make me cry, just a little. Regardless... Pumping is horrible. And the above example is just one reason.
I still can't believe my baby is almost 6 months old.
*Sigh*
Time is passing too quickly and too slowly all at once. Is that possible?
Monday, January 3, 2011
Winter cleaning
I'm a bit of a purger. Not so much as some people, but I really really hate to have stuff we aren't using. There's something about having clutter that makes me kind of itchy. I just like things to be simple-ish, and having a bunch of stuff we don't need doesn't qualify as simple to me.
After B's recent surgery we found ourselves in the throes of holiday madness, but in all of this we had about a week of time at home just for B (and us) to recover. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to purge ourselves of things we didn't need and get a head start on spring cleaning.
E and I tackled a cabinet in our playroom that was stuffed to the gills with extraneous electronics. Seriously. Lots and lots of electronics that haven't been hooked up in years. After pulling everything out, we found that we had the following: one Wii, one Xbox360, TWO Nintendos (the original), one Sega Genesis, three sets of headphones, two wires that we didn't know what they went to, a set of speakers, a VCR, a ridiculous number of CDs we no longer listen to, an ungodly number of DVDs we don't watch, and a small subset of VHS tapes (many duplicated on DVD).
After purging all of the VHS tapes, the Sega, the wire, the speakers, a good number of the DVDs, we were left with a dilemma. Should we keep ANY of this stuff?
We agreed the Wii and the Xbox360 could stay. Those are relatively modern technology that we'd LIKE to play, if only we had time, hooked them up, and decided to use our free time for that. The Nintendos and VCR, however, proved to be a point of contention.
Me: Let's donate the VCR and Nintendos to charity.
E: You can't BUY a Nintendo anymore!
Me: Sure you can - on eBay.
E: Looks at me as if I'm crazy. But we've already got it here now!
Me: Do we really need TWO 8-bit gaming systems that aren't hooked up?
E: What if one breaks and I want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?
Me: Do you want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?
E: I MIGHT! Fine, what if I get all the Nintendo stuff into this box and put it in the closet for safekeeping? I think the boys might like it when they get bigger.
Me: Realizing he's got me with the boys argument. Okeydoke. We can at least donate the VCR.
E: What if we want to watch a VHS tape?
Me: We don't OWN VHS tapes anymore - we're donating them all. If we wanted to watch any of those movies we could stream them on Netflix. I don't even know where to get a VHS tape anymore.
E: What if my dad gives us a set of old home movies on VHS and we want to watch them?
Me: Your dad has old VHS home movies?
E: He MIGHT!
Me: Seriously, we need to just get rid of this thing.
E: Fine. Pouts.
I look away to sort other miscellaneous junk.
E: I'm going to put this box in the closet. Grabs VHR and throws it on the box and scurries away to the storage closet.
Me: *Sigh*
E: You'll thank me later!
After B's recent surgery we found ourselves in the throes of holiday madness, but in all of this we had about a week of time at home just for B (and us) to recover. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to purge ourselves of things we didn't need and get a head start on spring cleaning.
E and I tackled a cabinet in our playroom that was stuffed to the gills with extraneous electronics. Seriously. Lots and lots of electronics that haven't been hooked up in years. After pulling everything out, we found that we had the following: one Wii, one Xbox360, TWO Nintendos (the original), one Sega Genesis, three sets of headphones, two wires that we didn't know what they went to, a set of speakers, a VCR, a ridiculous number of CDs we no longer listen to, an ungodly number of DVDs we don't watch, and a small subset of VHS tapes (many duplicated on DVD).
After purging all of the VHS tapes, the Sega, the wire, the speakers, a good number of the DVDs, we were left with a dilemma. Should we keep ANY of this stuff?
We agreed the Wii and the Xbox360 could stay. Those are relatively modern technology that we'd LIKE to play, if only we had time, hooked them up, and decided to use our free time for that. The Nintendos and VCR, however, proved to be a point of contention.
Me: Let's donate the VCR and Nintendos to charity.
E: You can't BUY a Nintendo anymore!
Me: Sure you can - on eBay.
E: Looks at me as if I'm crazy. But we've already got it here now!
Me: Do we really need TWO 8-bit gaming systems that aren't hooked up?
E: What if one breaks and I want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?
Me: Do you want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?
E: I MIGHT! Fine, what if I get all the Nintendo stuff into this box and put it in the closet for safekeeping? I think the boys might like it when they get bigger.
Me: Realizing he's got me with the boys argument. Okeydoke. We can at least donate the VCR.
E: What if we want to watch a VHS tape?
Me: We don't OWN VHS tapes anymore - we're donating them all. If we wanted to watch any of those movies we could stream them on Netflix. I don't even know where to get a VHS tape anymore.
E: What if my dad gives us a set of old home movies on VHS and we want to watch them?
Me: Your dad has old VHS home movies?
E: He MIGHT!
Me: Seriously, we need to just get rid of this thing.
E: Fine. Pouts.
I look away to sort other miscellaneous junk.
E: I'm going to put this box in the closet. Grabs VHR and throws it on the box and scurries away to the storage closet.
Me: *Sigh*
E: You'll thank me later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)