My whole life, I’ve felt like I was obtaining random skills and taking up random hobbies for just my own pleasure. I am one of these ever-curious people who likes to try new things, learn new languages, make new circles of friends. I like the liberal arts approach to life, reading Gray’s Anatomy one week, a graphic novel the next, and splicing my Paul Krugman/ Malcolm Gladwell with Jane Austin fan fic.
I always thought that my lifestyle put me at […]
It’s not until you have kids of your own that you realize how DIY this whole child-rearing thing can be. Parenting just seems so simple in theory (love them enough and they will turn out fine) and so ridiculously complex in practice (should I let her hold the pen for a few minutes while I watch her, or should I preemptively pull it from her hands for fear she might sprint off with it and have it lodge firmly in […]
I have an old shoebox I keep close at hand these days, and I pull it out when Quinn is self-entertaining for a minute or two, or when she is asleep and I’m not. Inside is a needle and thread, tiny jinglebells, gold glitter, a red felt stocking, and felt shapes that I drew and cut out. I am a terrible sewer: I usually just wear a coat with a button missing rather than repair it, and I couldn’t even […]
Ever since I got pregnant with baby #2 four months ago, I’ve gotten hints of what’s to come for my first baby: Immediate move to “big girl” status on or around June 3, 2011, even though she’ll only be 23 months old. That thought makes me really, really sad.
The crazy thing about toddlers is they seem so much like little kids, but they still have so much baby in them, too. I really think that’s as it should be, and […]
Never has the difference in my life pre- and post- Quinn been quite so stark as these last few snowy days.
Before Quinn, I would have been stressed at the sight of the snow, knowing it would mean queuing for an overcrowded bus and hoping to leave work early to get a jump on the long commute home. I would only ever see the snow in the darkness. The snowy days of early 2009 were especially miserable for me: pregnant with […]
Today, at the toy store, I did something really scary: I held up two baby dolls with different skin colors, and I explicitly pointed this difference out to my daughter. “One baby has black skin and one baby has white skin,” I said. “But they both seem like very nice babies. Should we take this one?”
Then I pushed the black baby doll into Quinn’s hands and we gave her a kiss and brought her to the clerk. And I succesfully […]
When I was pregnant with Quinn, I had myself convinced that I was keeping her safe and healthy by being so hyper-aware of her. I knew on an intellectual level that my body was doing all of the things it needed to do to grow and nourish her, but still, I assumed that my passion about the process was playing a major role.
I see now, as I think a lot of moms do the second time around, that I’m really […]
When Quinn was just a newborn, we brought her out to my parent’s cabin in Lake Chelan. One day, we went to visit a neighbor (and dear family friend) who was having a terrible week: His mother, who lived across the country, was dying, and he was getting painful hourly updates from family members at her bedside.
None of us knew exactly what to say, but we slogged along anyway. At some point in the conversation, he reached out for Quinn. […]
Who knew it would be a bad idea to travel across the country in my first trimester? That it might not be too bright to take a tiring flight with my toddler and then drive up a canyon to a cabin that’s about 8,000 feet above our house in Seattle?
Well, I knew. I knew that my morning sickness, already making me miserable, would most likely get worse. But Todd and I planned this trip to visit his family in Colorado […]
This time around, I will tell who I want, when I want.
This time around, I will not run to the bathroom every five minutes to “just check” my underwear for red.
This time around, I will not Google every little symptom or read the “complications” chapters just to freak myself out.
This time around, I will fight nausea to the death.
This time around, I will breathe more, worry less, and enjoy my growing belly.
This time around, I will be due in “early […]