Pureed Sweet Potatoes and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction

You know that old adage, "be careful what you wish for"? It tends to ring true. Time goes by so fast with a baby. Ten (yes ten, not nine) eternal months of pregnancy give way to five life altering months with a new baby that seem to have been on fast forward. Like any mother, I could not wait for my baby to sleep throught the night, and I was lucky in that it happened relatively early and easily *knocks on wood*. I also could not wait for my little boy to start eating "people food". Breastfeeding is healthy, it's economical, it is a bonding experience. It is also convenient - no bottles to warm or scrub. What they don't tell us is that sometimes it is a tiny bit inconvenient, like when your baby nurses every two hours for an hour and you have to try to get your grocery shopping done between feedings. I now grocery shop at the mercy of an invisible timer. Yes I am rambling. The point is that my baby has finally started solid food. The first step was rice cereal. I quickly learned to strip my poor child down to a bib and diaper for meal times to save on laundry. Cereal has made its way into clothes, on the carpet, in my hair, and on the cat. Some may occasionally even find its way into Aiden's mouth. At least it is white. The second step is to add orange vegetables. I am proud to report that today we got through an entire jar of sweet potatoes - and an entire roll of paper towels. I later found remnants of sweet potatoes behind Aiden's ears.Where did my newborn baby go? My life lessons for today are: 1.) Do not wish your child's babyhood away; the stages come and go way too quickly, and 2.) Wearing a white fleece while feeding your baby orange sweet potatoes is really not a bright idea.

NoT aLwAyS EaSy...

My son tends to wow people with his (mostly) easy going personality. From those who see him occasionally as well as from people who have never seen him before in their lives, I get comments like, " Oh, you don't know how EASY you have it!", and " He is such an EASY, QUIET baby". Now, let me be clear: I am very lucky and blessed, and Aiden is a sweet boy. Although he does not nap much, he started sleeping through the night at six weeks old. Yes, I know I am lucky. But, the infamous comment, "He NEVER cries!" is not true, and it would be odd if it were. Aiden does cry- he cries and he screams and he even kicks. Of course, he also smiles and laughs and squeals, which makes every fussy period a small price. Parenting is a lot of things. It is joyful, it is rewarding, it is terrifying, it is fulfilling, it is amazing, but it is not always easy and please please don't tell a mother that it is. And please don't speak in absolutes. Thank you for admiring my son's behavior, but the fact that he is in a good mood for the half hour you spend with him does not mean he is ALWAYS that way. My dad always used to say, "things are never absolute. Nothing is ever always or never". Actually I think it would be, "things are rarely absolute". No matter how difficult or easy each day is, we never stop loving our children. When he smiles, when he cries, when he sleeps like an angel and when he wakes at four A.M., When he throws tatrums as a toddler and draws me pictures in preschool, when he is a teenager and long after he moves out, I will always love my son. That part is always easy.

Running Away From Home...Then and Now

When I was about six or seven years old I decided to run away from home. Since this wasabout two decades ago, I forget the exact reason, but I am sure it had to do with something my parents made me do or would not allow me to do. I decided running away form home would grant me freedom. I packed up a backpack full of toys and a loaf of bread (seven-year olds don't think to pack clothes or soap), grabbed the dog and announced that I was running away. I made it to the corner, stopped and waited for my parents to call my bluff and come running after me, promising me all of the ice cream I wanted if I would just eturn home (unbeknowest to me, they were watching from the window the whole time, no dout laughing their asses off). I was not allowed to cross the street on my own and I was still afraid of the dark, so I decided to turn around.

Twenty years later I admit I still have fantasies about running away sometimes. Don't get me wrong, my life is extremely fulfilling, but I would like to think that we all have "running away" days. Why else to people go on vacations, go to movies, or bars for that matter. Anyway, I do not have running away fantasies for any profound reason. It has been raining for two weeks straight, my downstairs neighbor is apparently hard of hearing and makes a hobby out of blaring his music at four A.M. (my five month old does not wake me during the night, my neighbor does), and the garbage collectors broke my garbage can and then had the nerve to leave a note on it demanding that I replace it because it was too difficult to put it on the lift. The baby is teething and has learned the joys of screaming at the top of his lungs. Every time it rains rain water drips in through the top windows. Did I mention it has been raining for two weeks. So I wrestle the carseat down the stairs, load the baby in the car, and thank God that Starbucks has a drive through. Yea, I know, I should not be spending four dollars on a latte. Then I think, what if I filled the car with gas and just kept driving? Where would I end up? Hopefully somewhere warm, where it does not rain. How about the desert? You have to admit it is a liberating thought, leaving without a plan, going someplace where no one knows you. When I relayed my fantasy to Jim heb asked if I'd miss him. I told him I would text him our whereabouts. Needless to say, I did not run away. I drove across the street, paid for my over-priced latte, and returned home. At least this time I made it accross the street.

You Know You Are A Mom When...

1. You wear spit up more often than makeup.

2. You spend way to much time tracking someone else's bowel movements.

3. You consider 6:15 A.M. "sleeping in".

4. You would give away your savings for a nap.

5. On the days you do get a chance to shower you are left with itchy skin because you did not get a chance to rinse all the soap off before the baby demanded to be removed from his bouncer.

6. You have a new appreciation for coffee.

7. You can add "stain removal expert" to your resume.

8. You consider going to the bathroom by yourself with the door closed a mini vacation.

9. You think diapers are the best gift.

10. You used to look forward to parties and booze and now all you want is a shower and a snooze.

New At This

So I am now an official Mommy Blogger. This is my first attempt. I have joined the ranks of diaper changing, spit-up cleaning, onesie washing, cereal making, stay at home mommies. So I blog. May I just say that grocery shopping in the rain with a five-moth old who is teething would be way too easy without having to wait at the deli for twenty-five minutes while an eighty-year old lady orders six pounds of five different kinds of meat and uses words like "whatever", only to be treated rudely by the deli man. I am sorry I did not rmrber the exact name of the turkey, okay? May I also say that being with a five- month old thirteen hours a day is both the most rewarding and exhausting job I have ever had. May I also say that when people make comments like, "Oh, if he sleeps well at night it is ok that he doesn't nap" I want to throw a post-cereal diaper at their heads. Ahh the joys of motherhood. I do love my little boy.