(one year anniversary pic)
if there is one thing i've learned during the first few weeks of motherhood, it is that crossing things off of the to-do list rarely happens. one of my friends told me that when making a to do list, put "nurse" and "diaper" on the list 10 times between every other goal. nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, nurse, diaper, laundry!, nurse, diaper, etc. it's vital not to beat yourself up for not getting everything or anything you intended to do throughout the day done. if the baby is happy, healthy, and fed, then count it a success. that is my excuse for deviating from the blog agenda (although thank you all for the excitement of upcoming entries). by the time i write about elizabeth edwards, everyone will have forgotten about her interview with oprah, oh well.
so random thoughts from tonight:
1. went golfing for the first time since i had parker. yay for golf season!
2. i've secretly wanted a set of new callaway irons for over 4 years. they are expensive, but i plan on using them my whole life, so it's a justified investment. the big bertha driver dramatically improved my game, so i'm hoping that new irons and a few hybrids help even more.
3. we just put gutters on our house, which were about the same price as a set of irons. i guess gutters were a more urgent need with all of the rain, but still.
4. when parker's ss card arrives in the mail, we're taking a chunk of money and setting up his college savings fund. somehow this trumps my desire for new irons as well.
5. james wants to put up a rod iron fence in our yard. this is where i draw the line. the fence serves no purpose other than keeping up with the neighbors who all have fences (we have no dog = no need for a fence). new irons > new fence, end of debate.
6. i hope parker thinks his parents are cool and will include mom in his boyish activities like golf, poker, watching football, etc.
7. today we enjoyed the sand and sunshine at lake michigan.
8. i am dreading driving 12 hours home on sunday even though the trip up here went surprisingly well (thank you car adapter that makes pumping on the road possible).
9. since i pumped nearly every bottle on our trip, i kept track of how much parker eats in 24 hours (32 ounces!). he is a growing boy!
10. i love thinking about nature vs. nuture in relation to child development and plan to read more about it.
11. it's easy to get cocky when you have an "easy" baby and think that something you did caused the infant to behave well. at the same time, it's hard to believe that our actions do not have any affect on our infants. for instance, sometimes i pridefully think that the reason that parker has not goten sick (yet) is because i nursed and exposed him to many people, environments, etc. early on. however, i know that there are many breastfed babies who get sick despite the transfer of antibodies, so i need to be thankful for parker's health and not give myself too much credit.
12. parker never had any trouble taking a bottle of pumped milk, formula, going back to the breast, using a pacifier, etc. again, i wonder if this is mere luck or if my actions somehow helped (like waiting two weeks to give him a pacifier, which i don't think was really necessary).
13. it's my mother-in-law's 50th birthday.
14. i went out to lunch with her and her 3 best friends and someone randomly brought up the cosleeping deaths in the milwaukee area. i wanted so badly to state my full opinion about cosleeping, but it didn't seem like the right place or day. i overheard two of the women sheepishly mutter to each other that they coslept with their infants, so the one thing i said is that i read one of the deaths was from alcohol abuse, and then the woman who brought the subject up said another death was from cosleeping while overdosing on drugs. why do people always fail to leave out these parts of the stories?
15. we are cosleeping with parker at my in-laws, and i'm pretty sure they know. not a word has been spoken about it although i'm waiting for it. we will see.
16. a new season of the bachelorette starts monday (yay jillian)!
16. i know one of the bachelors. an old friend from high school called today. i picked up because i thought she was going to tell me she got engaged, but instead she said, "you'll never guess who is one of the bachelors--caleb kuhl!" one random night of high school caleb and i stayed up talking to him until 3am at his parents' house in kc, but i haven't seen him since then, ha! not really that cool, but it's the closest i've come to knowing someone famous since lisa was on elimidate.
17. parker's been asleep for an hour and a half and if i want any sleep i should probably call it a night.
love!!
meet your best friend, the carseat. i can't believe you were content to sit in this for 12 straight hours, twice! good job, bud!
meet your cousin's boyfriend, "ya boy skittlez." dad and i happened to park behind big skittlez at aunt kathy's card party. yes, skittlez is white.
meet your uncle paul and great-grandpa kehrli (92 years old). uncle paul IS matthew mcconaughey in "ghost of girlfriends past." some day you will understand.
meet the beautiful flowers you gave me for mothers day. thank you! too bad grandma kehrli is (apparently) allergic to lilies and grandpa kehrli threw them away the day after you gave them to me. no, i am not bitter even though the flowers grandpa kehrli gave grandma graced the dining room table all week, grrr...
grandma kehrli's flowers
lastly, meet your other best friend, the bottle. you were such a champ taking the pumped bottle all week.
love you!!
ahhh much better!
one of my favorite parts of each day is when