Newlymom

There are quite a few ways I can tell I'm still in the "newlywed" phase of motherhood.  It's a mental and emotional place that all new mothers inevitably find themselves.  Being a new mom doesn't just mean you don't have a clue what you're doing and will have many stories to tell your oldest child about how she or he was your experimental kid.  It also means you've had a Grinch experience and you're adjusting to the new size of your heart.  Each mom probably exhibits different symptoms.  Here are some of the ways I know I'm still a "Newlymom."

• After Joan is in bed for the night Dan and I always end up looking at pictures of her, watching videos of her, or both.  Never fails.

• At 5 months I finally left her in nursery for some of the church service.  While I was sitting in the service all I was thinking about was how she was doing, if she was sleeping or eating or crying or what.  I kept looking for a good time to go back and check on her and had to use all my willpower to keep me from doing that.  When we reached the end there was a 5 verse hymn!  I leaned over to Dan and asked if we were really going to sing all 5 verses, he didn't think so.  I was happy that he was right and immediately when the song ended I was out of my seat and pushing my way past people to fly to the nursery. 

• It is difficult for me to talk about much beyond babies.  I realize that some people don't just want to hear about sleeping, eating, pooping, bathing, playing and whatever else my baby has been doing lately.  It takes a certain amount of concentrated effort to think outside that box and ask questions that would pertain to another person's life.  And just when I think I've got something, I'll be distracted by a funny face, silly sound, or fuss from the baby in my arms and have to start all over in thinking of the right thing to say.

• I can't imagine my sweet little baby ever being manipulative or disobedient.  I know she will, I just can't imagine it.

• I take pictures and/or videos almost everyday.  

• Many of the cards or e-mails I send contain pictures of Joan.  In fact, she's getting close to having her own greeting card line with my growing Photoshop skills (read: putting text on a picture).

I'm sure there are many other ways to tell that I'm a "Newlymom," but as I said in my fourth bullet I try to think of things that don't just pertain to me and my baby.  So here's my pertinent question...  hmm...  oops.  I don't have one.

To blog or not to blog

I have half a mind to start writing on this blog again.  Well, most of the time I have half a mind these days so why not go for it, right?  One of the ways I can tell I'm not fully with it is my lack of observation about my surroundings.  Here are some examples:

1. When my brother-in-law was here to visit Joan for the first time he moved the birth announcement of his daughter from the side of the fridge where we have all our pictures to the front.  It wasn't until he was back visiting in March and pointed out that he was the one that moved it that I noticed it was on the front of the fridge and used to be with the rest of them.

2. When my friend was visiting at the end of January she put a little mini rug looking coaster on a nail left in our living room wall from the last tenant.  It was in this awkward place that nothing should have been hung, but I left that coaster there until I noticed it when I had all of my small group girls over here in March.  I had forgotten it was hanging there even though I saw it all the time.

3.  Joan was given this great toy owl from my aunt for Christmas and it was so cute so we put it as decoration in her nursery since she wasn't playing with toys yet.  Just the other night I was in the nursery and saw it and realized it was a toy and not a decoration and I should get it down for her to play with.  Duh!  The advantage of my absentmindedness is that it was a new toy for her now and she's just reaching the age where the old toys don't always keep her interest for long.  She's been really enjoying the owl the last couple of days so I'm glad I realized it was meant to be played with.  haha

As for cooking, it's a lot easier for fewer people.  That about sums up the difference between cooking now and cooking in Jerusalem.  :)