Thursday, April 29, 2010

Communing with My Community

I'm excited to report that my neighborhood (and several other adjacent neighborhoods) has formed a new volunteer-run parent resource group. The focus is on both providing community for and with one another so that we know our neighbors and recognize the kids on the playground, and also on supporting parents of families with kids aged 0-5 (although it's not exclusive to those parents). The idea is that by providing a centralized website and resource with information about daycare, preschool, and babysitters parents will be better able to care for themselves and their children. Likewise, the group has organized some Moms' Nights out and Dads' Nights out too, as well as several playgroup opportunities for kids. I'm stoked!

One of the things that I have found the hardest about being a stay-at-home mom for the last 2 years, is that slowly many of my peers who had kids of the same age as my daughter, began to go back to work leaving me literally at home alone with Peanut. When I was growing up, my mom lived right next door to two families with other stay-at-home moms. This meant that there was a constant flock of children around our house and the moms seemed to have "coffee dates" just about all the time (although I suspect the actual *sitting down* with a cup of joe and a coffee cake happened at best once a week!). I suppose a part of me envisioned that this is how my life as a SAHM would be. The best of both worlds - time with my daughter and female companionship. Not as easy as I thought.

I'm not sure that this particular group will hold the answer. But even if it doesn't, I think that the benefits to the community and our neighborhood make participation well worth it regardless. Our neighborhood isn't super family or kid friendly and although we're lucky to have lots of nearby parks (whoo hoo!) that seems to be the extent of our neighborhood's "child-friendliness". Hopefully this will change things.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

7-ish Weeks and Counting

That's right. Just about 7 more weeks until my due date of June 15th. And I'm really not sure how I'll make it that long. It feels like there is NO room left in my belly. I've got a mild grade nausea by the end of the day, surely the result of being pummeled in the stomach by a squirming baby who often lodges itself squarely against said stomach for hours (ouch). I've also got an increasingly clingy toddler who wants to be held and carried by me even if I go no further than across the room. I'm not finding this easy to manage.

Still, I'm grateful that we're getting more sleep at night. Have I mentioned that Peanut is back in her crib here at home and hasn't figured out how to safely scale the sides of the crib to get out? She occasionally climbs in by herself, but she won't climb out so we're all sleeping much better at night. Last night was the first night she had a night waking in 4 or 5 days and it was a brief one after some minor reassurance. It's been lovely!

Everyone's health is quite good. I just wish the next 7 weeks wouldn't be as hard as I think they might be. I've got a stomach ache right now and I have no idea why. Usually I feel good if I'm laying down, but with a toddler - close to impossible. So. For now, we just keep on keepin' on.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hazy Days

The jet lag seems to have worn off, but there are days when I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. Between moving from Japan to our friends' place, then after 2 weeks with them back to our own home (after our renters left), we've been all over the place. Having entered the 3rd trimester, this all seems much much harder. I feel as though I'm walking through molasses on most days. I spend most of my time trying my hardest to keep up with an incredibly active toddler who has become very clingy (lots of travel + impending new baby arrival makes this not too surprising). This means that we still have boxes that we pulled out of storage that remain unopened. Any preparations for baby are likely not to happen until just a week before the due date. In the meantime we're also fighting the fires that come with home ownership - a pest invasion (cleared up), a leaky fridge (fixed), damaged floors underneath fridge (pending), busted fireplace (pending), windows in dire need of cleaning (mold growing in window tracks), etc.

Having said all this, I'm ecstatic to have my own gloriously comfortable bed to sleep in at night. I'm over the moon(!) to be making homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight (and to have access to the ingredients to do so)! I've fallen in love with my local library all over again. Well, I never fell out of love with them, I just happy to be reunited! Our cat has returned home after an extended stay with friends while we were out of the country and we're all thrilled to be together again.

All in all, life is good right now.