Wanna love your Moby? Maybe I can help...

This is my attempt to get other moms to love their Moby's as much as I do. I'd appreciate feedback, if there's anything I could improve. If the response is positive, I'll try and demo other holds as I learn them. I'm not convinced that this attempt is any better than what's already out there, but it's worth a shot!

Look Ma! I'm one of the cool kids.

Man, peer pressure is a bitch. My kid had to have the latest in exersaucers. No longer a saucer, but a hybrid toy that looks like a johnny jump up did it with an exersaucer. It's plastic heaven. And thanks to friend Jen, we got it for a great deal off of craigslist.

I really love buying used. It was at first out of necessity, pinching pennies and all that. But now I get a real kick out of doing everything we can to reduce our footprint a bit.


And then there was Sophie. All the rage among parents of infants. Chubby, little hands that glisten with drool, wrap their little fingers, daintily, around Sophie's (the giraffe) neck. And sweet, patient Sophie only utters a darling squeek, much like that of a dog toy. I kid you not. My child, be without Sophie?! Never! And our toy-fairy godmother must have heard Leo's darling little pleas in his sweetest of dreams. Please, please could I have a Sophie too? (insert millions of thanks to Laura here)

He's got a bumbo too, which Jack never had. And to be honest, I don't know how Jack ever learned how to sit up. Ah, sarcasm doesn't read well I suppose. But it was only $14 off of craigslist, so if he hates it, it's not a total bust right?!

Didn't cave babies just bang rocks and sticks together?

Portland, Gustafer, and shining moments in parenting

Well, after much debate, the husband and I decided we'd go for it, and drive the 2 hours up to Portland, ME for the second year in a row, to see the Gustafer Yellowgold concert. With sick baby in tow, we loaded up, bickered, and hit the road.

The ride up was deceptively easy. Even though Leo stayed awake the whole time (insane right?!) Jack got a good nap, and despite the ridiculous amount of money we spent on tolls (there and back) we arrived in one piece, managed to find a good parking space and unloaded. We had a bit of time to eat before the show, so we headed to subway (which of course was an experience in itself). And then onto the show. Jack picked his rug square, I wrapped Leo, and we got seats. The show rocked.






Next, back to the car to feed the meter, and then to J's for the best clam chowder ever. Well, this picture of me probably says it all. And if it doesn't then I'll say this. Small restaurant, over tired 3.5yo and 3month old equals us inhaling the chowder, sucking down our beers and running out of there as fast as we could before we all spontaneously combusted.

There was some happiness and laughter en route back to the car, which quickly ended when Jack fell into a tantrum and Leo started screaming. Load everyone back in the car, bicker about how to get back to the highway, find the highway, breath. Well it was a pretty quiet 15 minutes until Leo started screaming. Pay a toll, get off highway to nurse, get back on highway, pay another toll just to get back on the highway and cross our fingers.

Well, Leo screamed through all of New Hampshire and some of MA. Meanwhile, when asked if he was glad we decided to go to Portland, Jack replied simply "No". Well, great. BECAUSE I FEEL THE SAME FUCKING WAY.

No, in all seriousness, it was our first trip as a family of 4. I remembered back to last year and our first Gustafer concert. Not one family there had only one child, and I was fresh off two miscarriages. This year felt great. Our complete (for now) little family, and when that music started I knew Jack was having a great time, despite what he might say.

Finally home, two kids in bed, sleeping. And I barely had enough juice to blog.

Success!

Did I forget to mention that we are using cloth diapers with babyLeo? Well, we are. We started initially with Jack when he was about 2 years old, and really liked it! Unfortunately, we got lazy when we moved from Quincy to Medford and then potty training followed. When I got pregnant again I was determined to do cloth diapering. So, we registered for all the bum genius 3.0's we needed and were so excited when most of the new baby gifts we got were diapers!

So now we had all the diapers we needed, and all the supplies, and yet I couldn't do it. I was nervous they'd leak, or that we wouldn't wash them right, even though we were old hats. I've slowly been using them daily. And then there was the day that I realized babyLeo hadn't pooped in a while, and started to feel nervous about the prospect of him pooping in a cloth diaper. Well, sure enough his butt exploded in the diaper, and the diaper held! The last cloth diaper hurdle? Overnights.

BabyLeo sleeps pretty well at night (of course now that I've uttered it aloud, he'll start a sleep strike) and so I was nervous that the cloth diaper would feel too damp after 12 hours, or that it would leak, or be too bulky for him to sleep comfortably. Last night, we came to a crossroads. One disposable diaper left, and one cloth diaper clean. Which to do, which to do. And we went with the cloth. You know what?! He slept his normal 12 hours, woke up dry and happy. So that's it. We're all in. And it feels pretty awesome that I'm never going to buy a disposable diaper again.

Next up: making my own baby food.

So, that was awkward.

I can't say I've much experienced the pain and longevity of dating. One of the perks of getting married young. So I'm in the clear, right? Wrong. Turns out when you have a baby, there's a whole new cast of characters to add to the show. Mom friends.

It's actually quite harder than one would imagine to make new friends. I mean really, we've been doing it since preschool. But what if you don't agree on breastfeeding, or baby wearing, or letting your baby cry, or when to feed solids, or one of the many, and I mean many, other controversial topics that come up when you become a parent. I have to say it's taken me a while to get here. Lots of blind dates. But I finally feel like I am developing a pretty good crew. And it feels really really good. Better than I thought it would. Because really when it comes to being a mom, you just need someone who understands, to tell you you're not totally insane.

After a play date with my new mommy friends that included an afternoon outside and sipping glasses of prosecco, I have to say that the pain and awkwardness of dating was definitely, and finally, worth it.

Darling Leo

3 months ago today, I was doing this:


Ever since then, Leo has been doing this:



And all the while I have been falling more and more in love with him. The pain and heartache that Chris and I went through was unbearable. But it was all healed the moment we held Leo in our arms. I've often times tried to articulate the feeling of becoming a parent, and have never been able. While trying to figure that out, I became a parent again. The feeling of loving two people as much as I do my boys, is sometimes very, very frightening. It's such a joy to watch them both grow.

Q&A with Jack

So I borrowed this from my friend Laura's blog. She did it with her 4 year old.



1. What is something mom always says to you? Don't do that (wow. what a shining moment in my parenting career)

2. What makes mom happy? when I give you hugs

3. What makes mom sad? When I hit you

4. How does your mom make you laugh? When you tell me jokes

5. What was your mom like as a child? a baby

6. How old is your mom? 10

7. How tall is your mom? This tall (as Jack raises his arm only slightly above his head)

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play games

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? you clean

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? a tree

11. What is your mom really good at? fixing things

12. What is your mom not very good at? you're not very good at making a chart

13. What does your mom do for her job? you go to work and play with all those babies.

14. What is your mom's favorite food? celery. (hilarious, because there's nothing I dislike more)

15. What makes you proud of your mom? that you go to school

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? john and john from they might be giants here come the abc's

17. What do you and your mom do together? play games

18. How are you and your mom the same? we both have a drum

19. How are you and your mom different? I have silver and white and orange shoes and you have blue ones

20. How do you know your mom loves you? because you call me sweet pea.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? that he gives you hugs.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? the beach.