new mommy rituals

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I am not a "ritual" person. Not really. I should be. I went to Naropa, after all. Ultimate home of rituals. But I'm not. Although, I am realizing that I am becoming the type of person that needs to do things at a certain time of day, everyday. It helps the owlet go to bed, for one thing, if we have our nightly ritual of bath time, story time, nursing time, rocking time and crib time.

After he goes to bed, however, I now have my own set of rituals.

1. Finish the glass of wine that I started to have at dinner. Perhaps pour myself a little bit more.

2. Wash the bottles, pump parts and bowls. (This is my least favorite part of the nightly routine.)

3. Eat cookies while checking up on facebook, law-momma and rants from mommyland.

4. Get sucked into some cheesy movie or long time fav (tonight it's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

5. Become totally exhausted by 8:30

6. Head to bed, determined to read for longer than 20 minutes, but end up getting too tired to get in more than 10.

7. Cross my fingers that the owlet sleeps for longer than another hour so that I can get some much needed sleep.

Are these rituals, or is this just routine? Are they the same thing? I honestly have no idea. It was a ritual that we "bowed out" at the end of every class and meeting at Naropa, and because it was a ritual, it also became routine, in that when I graduated and started a job, I wondered why we still didn't bow out of everything.

I guess it doesn't really matter, so long as I still get my nightly glass of wine.

productivity drainers

I love mom blogs. I love knowing that there's other mammas out there who are as wacky, crazy, frazzled, fried and just doing the best damn job that they can as I am. I also love that they are incredibly talented writers who make me laugh and occasionally make coffee come dangerously close to coming out of my nose. (For reals.)

While I've listed a bunch of blogs that I stalk over on the side there, these are the new ones I'm loving right now:

Smacksy I love this blog so much I actually went all the way back to the beginning of the blog and started reading from there. That's rare for me. It's also an amazing time suck. But this mom and her son Bob are just too cute and funny for words. I hope that my owlet is half as cute and insightful as Bob is. And I hope he loves Harry Potter as much as Bob loves Star Wars.

Mommy's Pen I just found this site the other day. Actually, I think this site led me to Smacksy's site, but maybe not. Do you ever just start clicking on the little links on people's pages and then wonder how you got where you were? Anyway, this site is great. Another incredibly well written blog about the joys of motherhood.

Look Mama Graphic Designer and mom. Awesome posts, great art. You'll be in stitches. Plus she's from Australia. She makes me want to talk with an Australian accent, but every time I try it comes out Bostonian. Ever notice how Australian accents and Bostonian accents are similar? You haven't? Ask someone who's not from New England to talk in a Boston accent and just watch in amazement as it comes out sounding like an Aussie.

So there you go. Three awesome blogs I'm loving right now. And for fun, this little gem.

Corgis Playing Tetherball

random thoughts/confessions

I have a fussy owlet this morning. We started our day with him throwing up all over me as I was making breakfast. Its been a long time since he's thrown up so much, pretty much since I've cut out dairy. I can only think it was something I ate yesterday, but I feel badly. He got one good 4 hour stretch of sleep last night but was then up every 2 hours after that. I've taken to holding him on my chest very early in the morning so that we can both get a little more sleep but I'm realizing that this week will be the last time I'll be able to do that, except for weekends. I'm going to miss it.

I am desperately searching for a new job. This is no surprise, but I'm finding it hard to find something I'm actually qualified for, since my entire work experience consists of therapy or retail, neither of which I want to do right now. I feel like I'm applying for anything and everything that I am remotely qualified for, that pays well and that has part time. Something's got to stick, right?

I have not put laundry away in 3weeks. Part of me wonders if we will ever have clothes put away, since once I return to work I will want to put it away even less than I do now. I also haven't swept or vacuumed in almost as long. Not cool. There seems to be a small dog growing in the corner of the living room with the amount of fur that is accumulating there.

And, we have survived the first week of the hubs' new work schedule. It has only resulted in 2 meltdowns by me, which I think is pretty good, considering. I think its going to take a loooong time for us both to get used to it, but we're hanging in there.

So instead of tackling the number of things that needs to get done today, I think I'll just curl up with lil man on the couch and enjoy this time while I have it. Everything else can wait.

visiting friends and family

We've had a busy week last week! Alexander had a visit from his Grandparents from NH (the other set). It was so great to see him interact with my dad, the look on his face the first time they saw each other was priceless!

I like watching Alex interact with other people, he loves studying faces right now and he almost always smiles at other people. It's also kind of neat to see my little guy being held by someone else, it's like it gives me a different perspective on him, since I'm so used to holding him close or having him right next to me.

Alex also attended his first wedding this weekend, and he had a grand time. Mommy, on the other hand was a little worried that he would cry during the ceremony (he didn't) and that all these people would try touching him (they did.) But it was great to get out with friends, they love Alex almost as much as we do, and they've just met him. This is probably a good thing, since they've agreed to be his Godparents.
While it was great to be out and visiting with friends and family, it wreaked havoc on our sleep schedule. Poor Alex was very fussy for the past couple nights, and I feel like it's taking a while to get us back in the swing of things. I'm worried now about how we're going to deal with the holidays, how to get a consistent bed time, how I'm going to manage going back to work in 3 days. Ok, so that has nothing to do with sleeping, but since I worry about it all the time, there you go.

The First of the Firsts.

Alexander has hit the 8 week mark. I know it's still not *quite* 2 months, but I don't care. Everyday I am amazed at how much I love this little being, how I see more and more of myself in him, and more and more of who I think he might become. I have so many hopes and dreams for him, but really all I care about is that he is happy and healthy and does what he loves. I think he's going to love animals though, because I am going to force it on him nurture it in him.

Plus this morning i woke up to the sounds of him "laughing and talking" to the owls on his mobile. Not only was it wonderful to wake up to that noise rather than him screaming because he was hungry, it solidified it in me that this kid is going to be an animal lover. Maybe all that work I did with the raptors and at the zoo while I was pregnant with him really did pay off.

Speaking of the zoo, we took our little owlet to Boo at the Zoo on Halloween weekend. I cannot believe how crowded it was, or how cute Alex was in his zebra costume! He got lots and lots of compliments.
I mean come on, how can you not love this little guy? Someone asked me if I thought he would remember this Halloween, and I said no, but that I would. I mean seriously. He was 7 weeks old. Do they really expect him to remember it? He also couldn't eat the candy, but that didn't stop me from trick-or-treating with him in the Bjorn.

So many "firsts" for Alex and our little family this year: first Halloween, first Thanksgiving and Christmas. While he will still be way too young to remember any of it, the memory of all these wonderful firsts will be burned into my memory forever.