It's been well over a year since I've posted the goings on o' the tribe. Life with 2 children, highly interruptive. I now have thousands of pictures just hanging out in the hard drive, on an external drive, and, of course, the iPhone. And what would I do if there wasn't Instagram?! What can I say? Me love the photo aps. Anyhoo...the photos are all organized by dates but with no
(mind BLOWN)
5 years has HAPPENED, MAN, since that day I transferred my heart and mind to another human being and pushed like a beast that 6 pounder (and 14 ounces thankyouverymuch) with a vacuum assist out of my body. 5 years since I last saw that free-wheeling out for ME ME and ME ain't no car seat in this pimp ride, yo -I got time to KILL and WASTE AWAY -let's SLEEP UNTIL NOON BABY!
I now have a 5 year old...still weird a bit for me but I'll take. Hell, some days I'll take 18 years: GO DO YOUR OWN THING WASH YOUR OWN LAUNDRY CLEAN YOUR OWN DAMN BATHROOM. You wanna watch 5 hours of t.v. while eating Doritos with your other hand down your pants? HAVE AT IT!! Here let me get you your 5th glass of Orange Juice!
And call your mother every once in awhile of course...
But I know all of that will happen. Some say at lightning speed, blink of an eye, before you even know it....
But we all know, as parents -as people- that "enjoying every moment" is ridiculous and impossible.
Witnessing a newborn become a toddler become a talker become a finally sleeping through the nighter who FINALLY is out of diapers become a big brother...
I've grown into this parenting gig with you, Milo, as you've slid into and out of phases of your first 5 years. Every age has become "my favorite age." Listening to you talk and attempt sense of this world I invited you into, it's my favorite past time.
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| Milo, 3 months |
I still remember your birthday, the original one. A story I haven't told on this blog.
Long story short, Your birth scared the shit out me.
(But I'm going to tell the details anyways...)
My water broke with a big 'ol POP, waking me up at 3something in the morning. I was 36 weeks and one day pregnant. I assumed you felt my "I'M SICK OF BEING PREGNANT" vibes reverberating through the uterine walls. I had been to my 36 week appointment 2 days prior and the doc du jour at Navy medical cheerfully waved me off, "see you at your 38 week appointment!"
So when I found myself drenched in amniotic fluid and contractions thundering on the mountain at a rapid pace I could think of nothing but FUCK! GET ME TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL! Of course we lived 50 miles away....
Your dad, aka Superman, had us there in 30 minutes. Thankfully it was WAY EARLY IN THE MORNING and there was no traffic. The beltway circling D.C. is well known for its crazy rush hours.
We go through the security checkpoint quickly...One look at moaning about-to-pop mama over here and the guard waved us through without so much as an id check. We park the car and head into the hospital. Although we had been here nearly every month for 8 months...we had very little clue as to where the actual maternity ward was, despite the tour we took a month earlier...The hospital has a tricky layout and as luck would have it....not ONE person we passed could tell us where to go. NOT ONE. I had given up on caring about the "just pissed myself" look and was feeling each contraction harder and harder as more and MORE fluid gushed out of me.
Yeah. NICE.
I always thought that water just broke ONCE. But mine kept GOING. For, like, HOURS.
(haha, yes this is YOUR story baby boy...)
We managed to find the one tricky out-of-the-way elevator that leads to the magical land of epidurals. I was moaning and leaning across the nurse's station like a drunk sorority girl at her first fraternity party. The pain had gotten so bad I was sure I was dying. And that it would NEVER end. And that I was dying. And that it would NEVER END.
The check-in was mostly done by your dad because the questions kept coming. I felt myself on the verge of crossing into CRAZY TOWN. I did -nicely- give one nurse some feedback, "You know, you guys ask the same questions over and over. I've had 3 nurses ask me the SAME THING." (smile)
"Yes, we're aware of that."
Well what THE FUCK then...
Ugh...Navy medicine. Anyways....
5 centimeters and an epidural later (I was THIS CLOSE to making out with the dude who hit my back up with that amazing nectar of NUMB. I didn't care how pregnant and married I was...he took that pain BYE BYE) I was settled nicely into my room. Making phone calls, watching the Today show...and wondering when I could order some food.
Because I WAS STARVING.
I quickly progressed to 10cm but I didn't feel "the pressure" just yet so I laid low. By 10am, the pressure and then my anxiety was turned on and it was time to PUSHity PUSH! With knees drawn up and a room full of interns (yay teaching hospital!) I gave it my all. We took breaks every few minutes to view your heart rate and to roll me to my side to ease the pressure. The doc decided to put a vacuum on your head to get you out quicker since your heart was stressing over the contractions. But that's all I needed to motivate me at the last moment and you were out quickly.
10:35am
July 18, 2008
6lbs 14oz
20 inches
Doctor's first words? "He bit me!" Yes, you were a fighter! You were probably just as surprised as I was that you had arrived a month ahead of schedule. As I've always said when telling this story..."It didn't hurt my feelings he wanted out early!"
Easy to say when you were born healthy and beautiful.
3 months
They say the most rapid phase of a child's development occurs in their first five years of life...
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| 1 year old (Ocean City, MD) |
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| 2.5 years old |
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| 3.5 years |
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| 4.5 years |
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| 5 years |
Dear Milo,
You've brought a tremendous amount of LIGHT into my life. You've opened my consciousness in ways that only you could do. From those restless, sleepless nights with you in my arms or laying next to me, to your sweet, spontaneous hugs when you say, "Mommy you wanna play with me?" Your eyes will be the death of me. They say everything and inspire me to be better, to do better.
In a couple of months, you'll be starting Kindergarten, and you are SO EXCITED. Just as I wrote on your first day of daycare way back when you were 19 months old, your world is about to get bigger. You're village is about to encompass a whole new set of people, ideas, energy, and spirit. Know that you're family will be here and you will always be surrounded by love...
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| Ocean City, July 2013 |
Love you baby boy,
Mama
