One in the Sun

“We did it, honey! We did it!!”  I exclaimed as I snatched Baby Jane out of her crib and twirled her around. It was the morning of her first birthday.

I’m not sure for which of us it’s the greater milestone. That first year is a doozy. An entire 365 sleep deprived, anxiety ridden, is-she-breathing-now-what-about-now-now? days. (Wait. It was a leap year. Make that 366.) It’s an irrational fears roller coaster highlighted by bouts of indescribable joy–enough to cause heart palpitations and motion sickness in anybody, but thrilling enough to make you want to get in line again. I really do feel like I’ve just gotten off a roller coaster. There should be a large sign as you exit the maternity ward: You must be this tall. The next 365 (or 366) days may be wrought with fast speeds, jarring turns and heart dropping moments. If you have a heart condition, back or neck problems, or may be pregnant, please be advised. Well, at least we could check that last little item off that list.

But we made it. We’ve gone from a helpless infant+my-milk-just-came-in weeping mommy odd couple, to a happy baby+maybe-just-one-more dynamic duo.

I know full well this next year will only be a different seat on a different ride, but it feels good to have that first loop-de-loop behind us.

Happy Birthday my sweet Jane.

Life’s little victories

Jane found my keys! I repeat: Baby Jane found my keys! They were buried under all the tablecloths in the linen drawer in the kitchen. Why didn’t I think of that? If she hadn’t been in her “empty every cabinet and drawer I can reach” phase of life, they would still be lost today. And that library DVD that’s four weeks overdue? The one I couldn’t find anywhere? Stashed and abandoned under the mountain of no-longer-needed snow clothes clogging up the hall closet. Of course it was. Because if you need to put away a DVD, that’s where DVDs go.

The point is, I can saunter into my library today with my head held high (and my checkbook out.) We are reading Rick Riordan’s 39 Clues for our bedtime reading ritual and I simply must check out the next clue quick or we will be stuck in this cliffhanger forever. We need resolution!

As if the recovery of these lost items wasn’t enough to give my mommy-step a little bounce, the mom in charge of my oldest son’s soccer practice last week stopped me in the street to tell me how “obedient” and “on-task” my son was at practice the other day. She didn’t sound sarcastic. In fact, I was too gobsmacked to respond. I wanted to say, “My kid? Are you serious?” But that would’ve sounded too harsh. After all, he is a good boy. Just a bit like a hyper dog that needs to be walked a lot.

To put this in perspective, I recently transferred our old home movies taken with those tiny Hi-8 tapes to DVD. As we were watching a little four year old Andy, a two year old Kate and a barely walking Luke tumble around the screen, my husband and I found ourselves saying things like, “Sit down Andy, we can’t see. Leave her alone Andy, we can’t hear. Settle down Andy, or we’ll have to turn this off.” As we were repeating these old-hat warnings, we heard our own, younger voices reverberate through the speakers those exact same phrases–only six years earlier: Sit down Andy. Leave her alone Andy. Settle down Andy or we’ll have to turn this thing off. It was as though nothing had changed! When we realized the stark parallel, we burst into laughter, half out of amusement, half out of a nervous fear that things would never change!! Whatever we’ve been doing, our parenting tactics are obviously not working!

So to hear from another mom that my boy was “obedient” and “on-task” in an environment where it would be very easy for a ten year old boy to run absolutely wild (in an open, hot field with half a dozen other ten year old boys with only two moms running the drills because their coach couldn’t make the practice,) well…it was good to hear.

There are no performance reviews, raises, or opportunities for promotions for us moms, so we need to bask in these little victories when they come our way. Like today, I can’t wait to drive to the library and lock the doors with my key chain (beep-beep), return the lost item and thereby put a stop to their nasty little overdue e-mails once and for all, and all the while breathe easy knowing my oldest is probably being “obedient” and “on-task” at school today. Yes, life is good.

I’ll think about the mystery of my lost frying pan tomorrow. Seriously. How do you misplace a large frying pan? It was my favorite too.

Photo 101

Okay, so I’ve been clicking away around here with my big ol’ camera set on “M” for manual. The big joke is Jane must be the most photographed fifth baby in the whole wide world–I’m gonna need to purchase an external hard drive soon. Anywho, I thought I’d showcase a few of my 101 beginner’s favorites for y’all. What are blogs anyways if not self-indulgent?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean at the park

 

 

Here are my neighbors who wanted to have a few portrait’s done for their parents’ anniversary. I thought they turned out nice:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve got another shoot scheduled for this afternoon with one of Kate’s darling friends. Wish me luck!

The Lost and Found

I still can’t find my car keys. It’s amazing how much of my life hinges upon that one tiny jagged strip of metal. Lose it and my whole world dissolves into chaos. I lost my car keys over a week ago and I’ve been having to use my spare set ever since, hoping the originals with my favorite key chain and that remote clicky beep-beep thing would magically appear once I got around to all that deep spring cleaning I’ve been meaning to do. They’ve yet to surface.

First of all, it’s amazing I even knew where my spare set was. Thankfully, a friend of mine taught me a few months back to keep my spare set of car keys in the pocket of my 72 hour kit. Genius. Makes so much sense, doesn’t it? I mean, the last thing I want to be searching for in our mad dash out of the house while an imminent, mortal threat nips at our heels is, “Where did I put those blasted keys!!!” And thanks to my idealic childhood, I never did learn how to hot-wire a car. Thanks a lot Mom and Dad.

So let’s just hope there are no mortal threats in our community until I can put my spare set safely back in their emergency pocket where they belong.

The keys aren’t the only thing I’ve lost recently. I have a DVD two weeks overdue at the library and for the life of me, I can not find it! I’ve searched everywhere, in all the logical places. The trouble is, when you have toddlers in the house, your search cannot be limited to “the logical places.” That DVD could be anywhere. Trash, septic tank, crock pot…(I’ve checked there too.) I’ve even offered a generous reward for it’s safe return: A large Wendy’s frosty (I didn’t think our usual 50 cent size would bring any results.) I set the bounty in my most pleasant Snow White voice so as not to scare away any possible confessions. Still no luck. I just hate feeling banned from the library.

But my keys and that DVD just have to be here somewhere, right? Right? I’m not so certain anymore. There are other things we’ve lost throughout the years that I was sure would reappear “when we moved.” With every drawer cleared out and every bit of furniture out of the way, surely they’d reveal themselves. They didn’t. I’m convinced somewhere out there there’s a little discontinued King Arthur action figure watching my library DVD wondering why those keys don’t work in his minivan. 

There are other things I lost too, years ago, like my sanity for instance, that I’ve had to learn to let go. My patience, my grip, my care-free attitude, my youth and that intangible “it.” All lost. But that’s okay. Because somewhere between losing action figures and racking up overdue notices at the library, I found just what I was looking for:

People to call me Mom.

 

The Dye is Cast

He calls it, “The Egg of Destiny.”