Ode to My Mommy Peeps

If there's one thing you need as a new Mom, it's other Moms to commiserate and compare war stories with. Luckily, I work with three fabulous ladies who fit that bill. We have all had babies within one year of each other. Having the three of them to rely on to get through this whole becoming a Mommy thing while working full-time and juggling husbands and households has made all the difference in the world. Together we've been through morning sickness, pregnancy growing pains, labor, birth, breastfeeding, early AM feedings, etc, etc, not to mention the demands of full patient loads at our hospital. We've been puked on, peed on, come to work with snot on our shoulders and breast milk on our pants, cried in private and together, all while managing our self-inflicted guilt and missing our cute little munchkins we don't get to be with during the day. In short, let me just say--I could not survive this without them. Allow me to introduce the group.

This is Erin S. She's our resident Mommy-expert, as her darling daughter is the oldest of the group. (She also loves having her picture taken.) She's my go-to gal for questions like, "did your daughter sleep with her butt in the air too?" or "have you ever seen poop that color?" or "she hit her head kinda hard but she's acting normal so she's probably ok, right?" Not to mention the endless "how old was your daughter when she did ______?" questions. I've learned that I can save myself a lot of aggravation if before trying something new or different in my parenting duties I check with either my sister or Erin. Chances are they've done it first and can tell me what I'm about to do wrong. Erin is a gem and always, always has time for her friends--or anyone that needs something for that matter. She's a mommy pro and we're so lucky to have her with us forging the way ahead.

I was the next to roll through labor and delivery at our hospital and take home our Li'l Miss. Since Erin left her own office and joined our little cubicle group later, I was the first to perfect the use of the "cubicle cover." I swear we could market this thing. And what is it for? You guessed it--for pumping while sitting right in the middle of our busy nutrition office. One bed sheet, a little velcro and voila!--your own personal pumping station. We're pretty sure no one minds the soft "ree urr, ree urr, ree urr" noise throughout the day. We just had to make sure everyone in the office knew not to look over the top to seek out the source of the noise. Nursing and pumping day in and day out certainly has it's ups and downs, so it has been helpful to have so much support from each other in this regard--not to mention the smarty pants who came up with the cubicle cover idea in the first place--I think it was Kristin.

Kristin was the next to jump on our mommy bandwagon. She was the first to delve into boy territory with her cute little guy. That's her on the right, showing off her blue variety cubicle cover. (Oh, and they're not just for pumping these cubicle covers. They're mighty handy for a quick clothes change or a quick pout and cry at those times when it gets to you that work is tough and being with your kid on their worst day is probably more fun. ) Kristin's cutie is right behind Lil in the learning to eat realm, so we trade lots of stories about applesauce, bananas, and poop. (Sorry, we're Moms and dietitians so naturally you're going to hear about poop.) We also trade lots of "you do that too, ok good"moments. Kristin is so sweet and funny and always appropriately pleased at all the pictures I make her look at of Lil. Again, so lucky to have her around.

And finally we have Erin T., the last to round out the group and even things up with her cute boy. I think Kristin was a little relieved to have another boy in the group. There's just some things Mom's of girls don't know. Erin's on the left peeking over her fall-themed cubicle cover. Erin makes us happy that she's so happy to be a Mom. I was relieved the first time she came to me to show me the huge breast milk spill on her pants from pumping. I was glad I wasn't the only one who'd done it. She also makes me feel smart when she asks me baby questions, even though I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing. Erin keeps us laughing with all her impersonations of the sounds her little guy makes and it's so much fun to watch her make some of the same discoveries we made when our babies went through the same stages.

I truly love and appreciate these fine ladies and the huge support they are for me professionally and personally. I'm truly lucky to have them as friends. But, alas, some things must come to an end. We will sadly be seeing much less of Erin T as she is departing for part-time work at a sister hospital so she can spend more time at home. We are happy for her family, but sure are bummed out for our sakes. We will now be swapping stories over email or phone more often then over the top of cubicles. Our morning and afternoon pow-wows will just not be the same without Erin there, so we'll just have to find a differet venue I suppose. But let me just say to all of you, thank you. Thank you for your friendship, your supportive shoulders and for being the best cheering section and advice givers a Mom could ask for. I may be a mess, but I'd be even more of a mess without you!

5 guys, 2 bros, 1 lady and a baby

This past week we had a special visitor. My brother--the pilot (little family joke there) had an overnight layover in Dallas, so we got to head over to hang out with him one evening. We partook of a few 5 Guys burgers and fries (yum!!), may or may not have ambled over to the ice shop down the block, and shot the breeze for a few hours. It was darn hot and the streets smelled like cooked garbage, but good times were had by all. We're glad you came by Matthew, it was so fun to see you!


I'm pretty sure we made it home with Lillian's cute little skirt, she just didn't happen to be wearing it by the end of the night.

Yep that's me, the lamest blogger ever

Once upon a time I went on a vacation and didn't blog about it--like two months ago! Once again I can assure you that I write excellent blog postings in my head in the morning when I'm getting ready for work. Somehow they just never make it to the screen. And may I also say that I love and appreciate so much all my fellow blogger peeps, and yes I do blog-stalk your blogs without commenting because I'm too lazy to actually log in. Pathetic. Perhaps a shorter username is in order. Anyhoo, thanks for anyone who actually checks this darn thing and anyone who chooses to comment, even when I fail to reciprocate. Really, I'm just intimated by all of you and your wit and on-top-of-it-ness. I am somewhat underwhelming.

But--now for the update. Warning, this blog is semi-boring, but I feel the need to at least give a highlights update of sorts before moving on to more scintillating blog subjects.

Yes, all the way back in May, Lil and I took a trip up to Utah to see the family. It was oh so lovely. True to form, I took hardly any pictures to document the trip. We stayed with Jess and she was a wonderful hostess. She kept us fed and comfortable. Even with all the chaos those cute boys can create, I never fail to feel safe, comfortable, and at peace in her home and in her company. Oh how lucky I am to have such a sister. I shudder to think what life would be like without her, but I digress. Her boys of course couldn't get enough of Lil. She was the perfect toy--could keep them entertained for hours. I think she was quite fascinated with all the activity going on around her. It's a bit quieter at our house.

One highlight of the trip was taking Lil for her first swim. They have an awesome community pool right near their house that we all went to one evening. Of course, I don't have any pictures of Lil and I together, but with four busy boys and a baby to keep track of in the water, the three adults in attendance did not have enough hands to spare an extra set for much picture taking. Lil squealed with delight the whole time.


Jess and I also got to spend some time with by brothers. We had dinner a couple of times and had a big family dinner at Dad's one evening as well. I cherish the time we get to have all four of us together as, unfortunately, it doesn't happen all that often. We always have so much fun together. This was Jason and Matthew's first opportunity to meet Lil too.

(No picture, sheesh!)

We met up with our buddies Johnny and Randi and had lunch one rainy afternoon.


One night I also got to go to dinner with several old friends from high school, including my best bud Alicia. Here's me with Alicia and her cute baby bump. It turned out to be lucky timing because Alicia was in her last week in the U.S. before she and her husband left to move to Australia. It was fun to see everyone in their grownup lives and to hear all the old gossip from the Kaysville scene.


The week of course went by too fast and before we knew it we were back in the swing of things in Dallas.

As for the rest of the update, um, well I work. A lot. And Ian, he works too. A lot. We are never together enough, in fact we mostly see each other in passing, and we definitely don't get enough time with Lil. She is a true joy and I miss her every day I have to be away from her.

Oh the cuteness!
Our best news in recent weeks is that Lil is finally in the daycare at SMU. BIG YAY! She is now just a hop, skip and a jump away from Ian all day and the daycare is so good, it's almost as good as having a nanny. Big sigh of relief there for the next two years or so.

And last but not least Lil is starting to walk this week. Aaagh, we have a toddler on our hands! We've had a lot of laughs watching her try to keep her balance, and she laughs right along with us. Sigh, like I said, just not enough time with my favorite kid in the whole world.

Well enough of updates. Perhaps there will be something more interesting soon.

Happy 4th of July, Dudes

This is the sort of stuff that goes on when Mom has to go to work and Dad is in charge. Rockin the Red, White and Blue. Party on ya'll.

You'll just have to take our word for it

Yes, we did have a new dress for Lil this easter. But you'll just have to believe me that she looked really cute. There's just no sittin' still for this kid. I give you--action easter shots.

(Insert quippy title here)

Wow, I am so very tired. So tired, in fact, that I'm just going to do the Reader's Digest version. No, scratch that, just headlines and pictures.

Husband hurts back. A week of no improvement but economic research continues.



(sorry, no picture)




Wife tired. Work blah--misses baby.



(definitely no picture)

7-month old eats, crawls, and stands unassisted. And spits up. And poops a lot. And is really busy. Oh, and is the cutest thing ever.

Irish babe

First crawl at 6-months. Yikes! She lives now in constant mortal peril.




Hi




Don't worry, Mom. I got this.





You were done, right?

My Angel

I was looking back at some old posts and read the one about how I was waiting for the Lil' Pill to become my little angel. Well--the angel has arrived. Complete with wings.

"I will never do that when I have kids"

Tonight I was one of those people. I went to do my grocery shopping, unshowered and unmakuped with my baby in tow. She was in a mismatched outfit, with a crusty nose, spit-up on her shirt and carrots in her eyebrows. At least she was wearing socks. And pants.

At the store I was carrying her around in my baby carrier so she could look around at what's going on and babble at passers-by. And you know, she's starting to get kind of heavy. While I was going around a corner, I noticed some pretzels that I liked better than the bag I already had in my cart. And do you know what I did? I traded them, right then and there and put the other bag where it doesn't belong. I never do that! I hate being responsible for putting things where they don't belong. So sorry shelf-stocker people, the baby was heavy and it was getting very close to bed time.

I will add that the trip to the store actually ended very pleasantly. I never accept help from the baggers to take stuff to my car. I always feel so awkward and I have no talent for small talk. But while I was muscling stuff into my car, baby still on chest, some boys walked by and offered to put the heavy stuff in the car for me. How nice! I love nice people. And on the ride home Beethoven's 9th was on the radio. That put me in such a good mood that the impatient Dallas drivers only made me a little bit annoyed.

And now I'm home, the baby is carrot free and sleeping and my fridge is full. Happy day!

(Doesn't she look happy to be home? Just promise me you won't look too long or closely at this picture.)

Legacy

I miss my Mom. Pretty much every day. It's usually something a little different every day that I miss her for. Like yesterday for instance--it was one of those days when I feel like I'm lousy at pretty much everything and most people I know are really just pretending to actually like me (why do we tell ourselves such things anyway?). I really could have used a phone call to Mom so she could remind me how wonderful she thinks I am. Self-deprecations aside, however, I have been thinking a lot about Mom and the legacy she left us, her children. I told Mom before she passed away (perhaps a little selfishly) that I was terrified at the thought of raising children without her around. But though she's gone, she did leave us with a lifetime of lessons I can share with my own children.

One thing I have of hers that helps me keep her close and reminds me of the person she was is her silver ring.

Many of you may recognize it. She got it in Denmark when my oldest brother was just a baby. I never knew her to be without this ring. When I was younger I used to like to study Mom's hands. I remember sitting in church and I would look at her hands and rub my finger on the smooth surface of the silver. Her hands represented to me much of what she was. They were soft, gentle, and calming, and yet there was plain evidence on them that they worked hard. A callus here and there, or a little left over stain from working in the yard the day before. I love to look at the ring and think of what it's accomplished on those hands. The bottom of it is worn very smooth, and there are little scratches all over it. Each scratch gained individually over a lifetime of wearing it everywhere. Even the sound of the ring hitting a counter triggers a memory of Mom for me. Sometimes now, especially when I'm doing something for Lil, I see it through the corner of my eye and I like to think of Mom's hands doing something similar for me when I was a baby. It's a small token, but it helps me feel like she's close by and it helps me remember that what I know of love, patience, endurance, and tenacity, I learned first from her. Thank you, Mom, for the life and legacy you lived for your children. I love you.