When we were pregnant with Aidan in 2011, the entire year was one of stress, transitions and major life changes. During the 9 months of his pregnancy we lost a job (5 months after buying a house and starting said job), had our only car totaled (while it was parked on the side of the road--we were on vacation at the time), went car shopping, underwent a nation-wide job search knowing the possibility was we could move anywhere, moved back to LA, Charles started a new job at a new church where we worked to get to know a whole new community of people, we sold our house long distance, changed doctors at 30 weeks, moved in with a family we hadn't ever met, apartment hunted, moved again, and finally got settled in December for Aidan's arrival in January. Absolutely nothing about that year was easy, so our goal this time around was to simply stay put! To enjoy this year, cherish the time we have with Aidan, spend our free time taking him on toddler adventures rather than you know, packing and moving 3 times in 9 months. The good news, is that 2011 showed us we really can handle anything. When we announced our first pregnancy, it was the same day Charles lost his job, and we were all of a sudden no longer a part of a church community to celebrate with. This time around we are surrounded by people who love us, who adore Aidan, who were so so excited to hear our news. We have incredible friends, several of whom have either just had babies or who are also expecting, lots and lots of friends to share baby clothes, play dates, meals and support with. We are so so grateful and while our families are far away this is where we want to be--right in the midst of this rich community of people whom we love. What a difference 3 years has made!
Working Mama: This time around I'm also "officially" working--as in, for a real paycheck! Most people have been really excited for this job opportunity for me, but a few have let me know they think I should be at home full time, and not employed outside. I totally respect their opinion, but here's what I have found in the past 2 months of my new job. I am home WAY more with Aidan and have hired baby sitters WAY less in the past 2 months that I've been employed than in the previous 2 years of intense volunteering. Saying yes to this job means that I have stepped away from all the volunteer commitments I had previously, commitments I loved, but that took me away from home usually one night a week for meetings or events. Now, I have 1 evening meeting a month instead of about one per week. I work a full day on Fridays which is Charles' new day off, so he gets a full day home with Aidan each week to go take him to his baby gym class, out to pizza for lunch, share nap time with him and have play time with. In my view that is so so important. I work a half day Tuesday and we have an incredible young woman come play with Aidan for 4-5 hours, with me arriving home before nap time. Aidan adores his "Sammie days!" and she loves him. I love seeing him so excited when she rings the door bell. A sitter used to put him to bed about once a week, I think the only time we've had a sitter do bedtime lately was a week ago when I had to run into urgent care at the last minute and we needed someone to stay with Aidan. I have WAY more free time now, instead of trying to cram all kinds of volunteer things into his nap periods or frantically doing emails after he goes to bed. I love having a set work schedule and then being able to say "it's Thursday, I'm not at work today, I can wait until my office hours tomorrow to respond to this since it's not an emergency." I think it's actually given us a better life balance (I know it's helped our evening commitments and schedule!) as a family having me develop a set work schedule and say no to other committees, meetings, volunteer opportunities etc in this season. I am still thrilled to be involved in MOPS, but instead of coordinating this year I get to participate, and serve as an adviser of sorts as the staff person directly responsible for the ministry. It's definitely been a fantastic transition for our family and for me as I've been able to use Aidan's nap times to rest and nap myself during the extreme first trimester exhaustion.
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Adventures in Cooking: My little guy's very favorite thing to do these days is to "help" Mommy in the kitchen. The second I say "I need to start dinner" he immediately drags a chair over and says "I help!" He taste tests everything, wants to smell every spice or seasoning I put in, loves to pour, dump and mix ("I do it all by myself!") and tells me what he thinks needs to be added. Not too many 2 year olds will say "Mommy we need a teaspoon of rosemary!" even if we're making, you know, pancakes... He is learning the numbers on the measuring cups ("we need one with a 1 and a 4 on it!") and we count everything we put in the bowl. Getting to cook something by myself these days is a huge treat, but I know how important it is for his learning to be part of life in the kitchen (you are welcome, Aidan's future wife.) We're also growing tomatoes, basil and rosemary for the first time ever and every single day he tells me, "Mommy, I need to go check on my potatoes!" "I pick the red potatoes!" He loves taking his bucket out to "harvest" our tomatoes of the day. And we're working on learning to only pick the red ones...Reading Reading Reading: I have actually started reading for fun again and making time for that each evening, which is something I got out of the habit of for awhile there in a spring season of a ton of evening commitments and busyness. The best books I have read this spring were:
- The All You Can Dream Buffet, a fun story of 4 friends who meet up on a farm outside McMinnville, OR to each find healing in life. A great story of friendship, love, food and the northwest!
- The One Hundred Foot Journey. I saw a movie preview recently for this book, it's coming out in August, and looked so good, so I picked up the novel. Parts of it felt slow to me, but overall I really loved this story of food, the clash of cultures (traditional Indian family moves to France), and the coming of age of the main character, a young boy with an incredible gift of cooking. The movie looks like it will be really really good, with Helen Miren playing one of the main characters. Definitely would recommend it!
- Girl at the End of the World. This true story is the memoir of a woman who was raised right here in California in a religious cult that her father essentially runs. Parts of her story of spiritual and physical abuse are difficult to read, but it's an important story, one of hope, redemption, and her incredible strength.
- Carry On, Warrior. This would be my #1 recommended book this year I think. It's our MOPS summer book club book and a fantastic read by Glennon Doyle Melton, author of the Momastery blog. If you're a mom especially, this one is a great one to pick up. The chapters are super super short so you could read one a day even while nursing a baby or before falling asleep. Definitely recommend it!
Listening: Both Charles and I are newly obsessed with the band Needtobreathe and would listen to them all the time if the munchkin didn't demand the Frozen soundtrack every time we got into the car. Powerful lyrics and great sound.
Traveling: It's been a season of surprisingly little travel for me! I know, so strange! In June I took Aidan to my parent's for a week while Charles was in Costa Rica, and in August we're going back to Minnesota for a quick 4 day weekend to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday with my aunts and uncles and grandparents, but otherwise we haven't gone anywhere since my trip to Colorado at the end of March. No wonder I am feeling antsy these days!
That's about all we've been up to lately! It's been a season of exploring a few new places in LA, delighting in Aidan's new grasp of language (the other day he told me the airplane came around the bend and startled him...) and thinking about this new little one's arrival into our family as we enjoy the summer evenings playing with friends.
