The new ordinary

[I'm a nitwit, it's my fault  that despite Sara's blog being written last Sunday, it's only being posted today.  --Josh]

  

It’s a rainy Sunday morning, and with Amelia gurgling in the background and with Meet the Press on the TV, it seemed like a good moment to offer just a glimpse of where we are. I have been reasonably quiet on the blog front in large part because life is simply chugging along. There have been many small moments that have fascinated me, like watching Amelia seem to discover her hands and actually interact with a toy. There have been a lot of moments that seem mostly ordinary and not quite worth writing about, like 4AM crying sessions and realizing that at least once, in the middle of the night, it had been 5 hours since Amelia had needed our attention. Mostly, we are happily still adjusting to our life with Amelia and I think we're all getting along pretty well.

The grand tour of introductions has continued and that has been a real joy. Amelia and I zoomed off to Indiana for a week while Josh kept the home fires burning in DC. She flew like a pro and I found traveling with her easier than expected. Even though the weather in Indiana was predictably unattractive and my mom was sick for part of our visit, it was so nice to spend time with my parents and introduce David and others to Amelia.

And like most things in life, just when you get the hang of one phase, life has moved on. It's now time for me to learn how to be a working mother. I went to work for one day last week, which was actually nice. Amelia was with Josh, my coworkers were beyond sweet, and Miriam's opened up our new Evening Program, which is really big for our organization. But it almost felt like a little diversion rather than a return to the real world. I had planned to return several other times that week, but Amelia's first [not serious, but still unnerving] illness changed plans and so I'm now using this week as transition. A flexible and understanding boss and husband have made this much easier, but I will say I am approaching this with the dread I had of labor. I wonder how it is that I am going to be up for feedings at 4 and 6AM and still able to fight through the inevitable 1PM fatigue. The reality is that most women I know have juggled this and so I know its possible, but I'm reasonably realistic about the difficulty of it all. My next goal is to make it to Valentine's Day with as much of my sanity intact as possible.

It is also time to return to the gym—something I am both loving and dreading. I can't wait to return to Zumba and I'm vowing to go to yoga, but I haven't yet done either. February 1^st is the deadline that I am setting for myself to get to the gym at least once.

So, no grand thoughts or visions, but life is still pretty good and parenthood is full of daily joy. I bumped into a friend at the blessed Harris Teeter yesterday. She had a baby at the end of November. With Amelia in her stroller zonked out in the dairy section, and her little boy strapped in a baby carrier also snoozing away, we exchanged updates and she said, "I can't believe how much fun it is" and I couldn't agree more.

Chugging along,

sPg