first cold

hey chicas,

sorry have been absent for a while. we found out we had to move so ethan and i have been looking at houses for a while. lots of getting him in and out of the car. we decided to buy, so it is a huge process, but we found something! moving to woodinville. the search was just too much for ethan who got a cold. oh that sad little sick cry -- like a weak little wail. heartbreaking.

love the pics lysa! here's a recent one of ethan:

coffee stains and laptops

Seattle has more to boast of than espresso genius: check out Michelle Goodman's Anti 9-to-5 Guide, a blog devoted to "women who think outside the cube." Cubicle, that is. She used to work for "corporate America," but decided at one point that she resented having to don pantyhose over PJ's so early in the day. So she switched careers: she took a pay-cut but a raise in the quality of her life.

Not a mother herself (and with no intentions of ever becoming one), she also has some great stuff for moms who work and who can have it all.

Off to work in my PJ's....

california dreamin'

Aidan and Oma, March 2007

The thrill of having a baby doesn't end with the immediate family unit. It extends to the rest of the family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the family cats. This sentiment resonated throughout our second visit with the Bump to Southern California last week. One of the many wonderful things about loving grandparents is their boundless energy. Seriously, Aidan's Oma and Opa (that's Dutch for grandmother/father), had more energy than I've had in months. The two of them took, no joke, over five hundred pictures and sent us home with two CDs and one video of the stills...which are g-g-g-gorgeous.

This visit was particularly special because the day before we left I got a job offer from a school I had all but written off (and which was my first choice prior to embarking on this hectic journey)! It was so nice being able to celebrate the good news with family.

Some snapshots of our Spring Break with The Fam (tie-dyes courtesy of our good friend Megan):

all mothers are working mothers

Play Date

Never again will I wonder why moms talk to their babies so much in public. A mom now myself, I understand all too well that craving for adult conversation, for human connection, for just plain spinning a yarn every now and then with somebody who can actually talk back. Granted, I am no longer a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM in postpartum parlance), but I do remember very vividly those all-day stretches where it was just me, NPR, and The Bump. I couldn't wait for Dear Hubbie to come home, not so much because I needed a break from childcare (which I did), but because I just wanted to talk, to gab, to get confirmation that I was still a functioning adult who had important things on her mind. Who had, I swear, a mind!

This brings me to my point (I do have one): I used to think SAHM's were the lucky ones, the ones who could afford the privilege of spending every waking hour (and we new moms have plenty of those) with their little bundles of joy. But now I'm not so sure it's that simple. To be sure, the SAHM is fortunate enough to enjoy the privilege of not having to work. But the same could be said for anybody, mom or not, who is in that socio-economic position.

I'd like to complicate the stereotype, if you will. SAHM's are not what they appear folks: they are working, all the time, and much harder than any corporate job out there, I'm convinced. Sure they don't have to put up with the tedium of office politics, the drudgery of administrative duties, or the pressure of deadlines. But they do have to deal with energy-depletion, sleep-deprivation, staying hyper alert and motivated all day long, and the art (and it IS an art) of maintaining just a semblance of sanity on those rare moments that find them among the living, among the adults, in the so-called "real world" that often looks upon a mother and her newborn as an inconvenience, an invisible dyad that shouldn't be in the "adults only" cafes and restaurants in the first place. (I'm not bitter, just making a point about how exclusionary some places can be when they see I've got a rambunctious baby in tow).

In other words, hats WAY off to all SAHM's out there. Never again will I say to a new mom: "Oh, you get to be a SAHM!" I'll be a bit savvier than that: with a smile, a knowing nod, perhaps even a light pat to the arm, I'll say: So, you're staying at home. How's it going? How are you?"