Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

 Parenthood is a difficult multidirectional journey.  In the first few months, unravelling from lack of sleep, you realize how selfish you actually have been in your pre-parenthood life, as you give so much of yourself to this new being that you begin to be untethered to who you once were. The postpartum period is not just a fourth trimester for the infant, but for the mother as well, for her life is even more tied to sustaining the baby than it was when the baby was in utero. I have never given so much for anyone as I did in that period, which seemed to stretch infinitely while I was in it, and only now seems to have finite bounds. I think all physicists should experience the postpartum months to grasp how warped time can become, because what holds more gravity than the beginnings of an utterly unique life just recently dropped into spacetime, dragging the parents into his orbit with such insistent yet basic demands? Strangely, as the baby gains mass, slowly leaving infancy, ...

 Nathan recently gave us colds, and because there is very little I can give him medicinally for his cough and ear pressure, we've been spending a lot of time every day in a steamy shower. The first couple of times he was pretty chill about hanging out in the tub, but after that he became quite wiggly and wanted to escape. What can I do to keep him in this homemade sauna? I know! We'll do science experiments. I let the tub fill with water, then collected various things--his newborn tub, a balloon, a massage ball, an empty water bottle--so that we could see which ones float and which ones sink. The balloon is big--do you think it will sink? Nope! It floats! The massage ball is small--do you think it will float? Nope! It sinks! Etc. Nathan really got into it, and grabbed a package of toilet paper to bring over to the tub. That's really cute, kiddo, and I appreciate your enthusiasm, but no. It's been several days since that "science experiment", but he continues t...

 I'm here to tell you that Sheila, Mark's car of 20 years, has died [more precisely, has been donated to public radio, but the fact remains that she no longer runs]. Mark was starting his drive home from St. Louis when Sheila just...stopped. He started her up again, and she reasserted her stationary status. He did a manual override to get her off the road [ie put her in neutral and rolled off to the side down the hill], and then called a tow.  And thus began the search for the ideal car . [Unfortunately, I don't think cars, or people, have achieved perfection on earth, but the pressure to find the closest-to-perfect still exists]. It needed to have safety features like a backup camera, curtain airbags, and superb crash test results. I stipulated that it needed to have air vents to the rear seat, as I had noticed that Nathan can get warm sitting back there in his carseat. We preferred a hybrid, for environmental and gas-price reasons. The car also needed room for his strolle...

 You may recall that I was an Activity Days person for  kids aged 8-11 for our congregation back in DC. Well, I may never completely escape it. Mark was asked to be the Activity Days person for boys aged 8-11 for our congregation here in Illinois, and he wanted me to help teach a First Aid lesson to them. Which I did. Okay, mostly Mark did the teaching--because he's good interacting with kids--but I prepared the lessons. Not sure the kids actually enjoyed  it (one of them asked at the end of the night "Are we doing anything fun today?"), but the parents must have thought it was useful, because we got asked to teach First Aid to the older boys [aged 12-17]. And by golly, I thought up some good activities, so we're documenting it. Heimlich Maneuver : I pinched off small pieces of bread and rolled them into balls that could fit in a bunch of straws, then lodged a bread ball into the end of each straw that I handed out to each boy to then blow into a tub. The idea is the ...

 I have officially experienced all trimesters, and I have to say the fourth trimester is the worst [although admittedly I didn't get very far into the third trimester, which I think means my fourth trimester was even longer]. At one of my follow-up visits, I told my midwife that the sleep deprivation is more miserable than labor/delivery, and she heartily agreed. I can't believe I was hoping for multiples. Anyway, the fourth trimester is over, but the sleep deprivation continues. I have discovered that I am both stronger and weaker than I imagined. I have been through a lot [read below!], and have only survived because of community--so for all my friends and acquaintances who went through the postpartum period without my emotional/physical support, I owe y'all some serious apologies.  Highlights [or really, lowlights] of the last 4 months: When Nathan was 6 weeks old Mark and I both got food poisoning. We are 99% sure it came from a soup mix that, ironically, had been sent ...

Much has happened in the past month. The most notable is that I produced a human.[okay, some of that was done in the preceding 8 months, but I mean that he is actually physically separate from me]. Quick highlights antecedent to the major event: -I had a virtual baby shower, pulled together with the work, time, and creativity of my family. It ended with the apartment fire alarm going off, because of course it did, that's just how my life goes. -I dressed up as a hippie for our church Halloween Trunk or Treat. It turns out to be the last time I was photographed prior to being in labor. -I got called into our church congregation's Primary [ie children's] presidency. I think that means I help out the Primary teachers, attend meetings, sub in as Primary pianist as needed. The job description in the handbook is kind-of vague. -My pregnancy had been the longest full-migraine-free period of my adult life. On the subject of migraines, a week before I gave birth, I had such a terrib...