Read It All
I wrote this a while back and never published it. I suppose I was saving it for a rainy day. With BabyLoves here, and the world’s longest recovery, a little food for thought on character building that maybe someday we will be successful at! And no, I’m not going to quote Calvin’s dad from my favorite comic strip by Bill Waterson (still love reading Calvin and Hobbes), though he always told Calvin that doing X undesirable chore built his character. These are two Catholic sayings we grew up hearing that I think we’ll pass along to our children as well. I don’t think you have to be Catholic or Christian to appreciate them–as their properties of helping children become less self-focused are universally applicable through religious, spiritual, and moral beliefs of all kinds. 1) Offer it up. Yeah, does that one sound familiar, my Catholic friends? It means to stop complaining about something and instead, offer up your suffering for others. It’s like a Catholic version of sharing karma–like I’m suffering, but I’m going to channel my pain for someone else’s gain. This was frequently told to us when we whined in the car about not being there yet, whined at the dining table about not liking what was for dinner, or whined in bed because our sibling was hogging the covers. So is it just a polite, thinly veiled religious way of saying shut it to your kids? It could look like that, but I truly think it that…
Read More
Music used to play a much larger role in my life. I sang in several choirs, one touring, and had private voice lessons in high school. As a child I even had my own rap group called “Nell, Inc.” Our signature (and only) song went something like this . . . break it down now, puttta, puttta, oh. And all my new acquaintances in high school, college, and law school would share music love with me–introducing me to new tunes, rocking out to well loved tunes together, making music, you name it. Now that I’m a mommy. And a mommy blogger at that. I have little access to the music scene. I’m too busy listening to Scythian’s Cake for Dinner or Burl Ives. Or classical music on Minnesota Public Radio. But when I made a playlist to stream from my iPhone during our third’s birth, I re-countered all these artists and songs I had forgotten about! Listen your heart out. And thanks to sweet people like my BFF (hi, Sarah!!) for continuing to introduce this old lady set of ears to new tunes. Don’t be shocked at the variety. It’s the spice of errr. . . birthing? When you say nothing at all . . . Alison Krauss It was my love song for my horses–because I don’t speak horse, of course. Wild world . . . Cat Stevens My sister Molly loved him as a young teen. Me too, duh. Donna nobis . . . choral arrangement directed by a dear deceased…
Read More
It’s happened. Stop the presses. Wait–roll the presses & print this hot off the press: Nell owns a minivan. Nell will be driving said minivan. Around town. Toting & hauling her three kids. Driving to both the coop & Costco. Moms group & date night. You may wonder why I have mixed feelings about the minivander. This is a change from my years of hatred. When I was pregnant with SuperBoy, AA and I bought our first car together. We walked around the lot with an over eager salesman. He showed us a minivan with a huge grin on his face. Boy, we were his target audience. Pregnant woman, young couple, car shopping, of course we would spring for the vander. In a moment’s flash, his face fell as he realized I would rather die a death of serf in the Middle Ages than drive a minivan. He moved on to the Rav4 Toyota with a third row. Why? Because we had researched the heck out of it and AA found the one Rav4 in Minnesota that had a third row. Why the third row? Because we could fit four kids in there! Maybe even five! And two adults! Clearly I had never actually seen what sized child could fit in the very small third row. In our few weeks of having three kids, and shoving SuperBoy in the third row, squeezing SweetPea into the second row, and shoving the driver’s seat forward, ahhhhhhh. You see where this is going. But…
Read More
I get an email out of the blue–Parenting.com featured our article on 5 ways to cut down on whining. Wow! Where is all this internet love coming from? First Design Mom {our house}, then What to Expect.com {5 worries to let go of when you’re pregnant}, then Verily {5 signs your boyfriend will be a great dad}, and now Parenting.com {5 ways to cut down on whining}? Feeling like the internet gods are enjoying cackling at my blah blah blahing. So there you have it. Right here, a little love from this sweet writer, Sarah Sager. Check out her other columns here. And just because it’s a quick post, here’s a quick update on the chaos of having three kids: Sometimes SuperBoy tries to feed his brother baseball cards. Literally. And SweetPea rocks her brother very violently in his bouncy chair while I am trying to clean up something. Like maybe the glass from my mom’s hatch-back that smashed to smithereens when I accidentally backed it out of the garage with the hatch-back up. What is WRONG with me? As if my poor mother hasn’t suffered enough, what with me being so slow to recover and my children practicing and perfecting their naughty routines now that mama is trapped under a nursing baby. Or our trip to the allergy doctor for poor SweetPea’s eczema which spiraled out of control in the last few weeks. That ended up with her screaming down the hallway in just her undies, all the way to the bathroom, and then…
Read More
You betcha. We love our dads around here. Why does she always have her finger up her nose??
Read More
How do you like my fancy captioning? The black typeface looks very ominous. POSTPARTUM INFECTION. Well, it is ominous. And something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. If you’re looking for the short shortcut story, here it is: I got a bacterial infection in my uterus after the birth, spiked an insanely high fever, was hospitalized for two days on IV antibiotics and am supposed to really take it easy and just rest for the coming weeks. — Here’s the shortcut version: One week out from BabyLoves’ birth, I felt my worst. Is this normal? After a week of a few different healthcare provider opinions, it was determined I should go see an OBGYN and find out what the heck was making me so sick. The OB was fabulous. Oops–this is the short version. She diagnosed me with “endometritis”–no, not endometriosis–but an infection in the lining of my uterus that’s very uncommon for vaginal births. She wanted me to go to the hospital ASAP for IV antibiotics to prevent, or treat if it was already happening, sepsis. Two days later, BabyLoves & I were happily discharged, bacteria-free. And now it feels like I’m just starting recover from his epic birth. — Longer version? Details on how awesome the OB was and how fabulous our nursing care was at the hoppy? Here it is. BabyLoves’ birth was great and hard. Wonderful labor. Terrible pushing & tearing. But his girth worked in his favor for a great latch from second one, great sleeper,…
Read More