A tremendously difficult job that comes with some of the best perks imaginable
Letting Go: My College Freshman
My youngest son recently left for college.
Of course, I knew the day was coming and we had been preparing for it by buying all the expected college stuff. I was also trying to prepare myself mentally. I knew I was going to cry when I dropped him off and I knew when he left was going to be hard.
Letting Go: College Winter Break
My oldest son is home for his winter break from college. He’s a sophomore at University of Maryland so not too far from home. This allows for a few visits for parent’s weekend and sporting events, plus a whole week for Thanksgiving.
His break is a full month, but it still doesn’t feel like enough.
Flying During the Holidays with a Baby: Fun and Exhausting but Worth It
My husband, his daughter and I flew with my 10 month-old baby to Louisiana the day before Thanksgiving. The busiest travel day of the year or so I am told. If that isn’t daunting enough, we didn’t check any bags and we didn’t pack a stroller.
The special challenge of a spirited child
My second son was not an easy child. He was spirited and stubborn and his emotions often seemed to overwhelm his little body. He was also a loving and sweet little boy with beautiful blond curls who laughed often and wanted to snuggle with me, but so often there were tears and breath holding.
Whoa mama, make sure you take care of yourself too!
I follow a few different mom’s groups on Facebook and read a post this week that made me stop, re-read, and then respond. The mom was venting how stressed she was as a single mom with budgeting and taking her kids on their annual trip to Disney. She commented how she was feeling overwhelmed with money issues and budgeting and had stopped doing anything for herself. Anything at all, including taking care of herself. I could feel her level of stress just from reading her post.
She wanted to know if this was normal. And so many people responded that yes it was, that they were stressed too. And that they had put themselves aside too. The predominant response was that it was imperative to do everything for your kids and that basically it was a mom’s job to just suck it up and suffer.
What?!?!
The Joy of Traveling with my Son
I had the wonderful opportunity recently to travel to South Dakota on a vacation with my 19-year-old son for a week. Just the two of us. It was an amazing experience.
Matthew was given the choice as to where to go in the U.S., anywhere he wanted to go. And he picked South Dakota.
The diagnosis that changed our lives
Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. I did not know this prior to September 26, 2018. Oh, I knew about the disease, but only in the abstract as juvenile diabetes.
That changed with the devastating diagnosis of my 12-year-old son with Type 1 diabetes in 2018.
1/23/2022
Thoughts on this last night of the hospital stay (yes, I should be sleeping).
~ Tomorrow I will be wheeled downstairs with a beautiful healthy happy baby in my arms. I am mindful of how lucky I am to be a mom. This whole childbirth thing IS actually a miracle. There are so are many paths to motherhood and each must have magic moments like this. Happiness and joy are understatements.
~ Throughout my entire pregnancy and especially this hospital stay, I was reminded that I have a job which offers me outstanding health insurance benefits. This allows me to focus on my baby and my recovery with a significantly less worry than many people. I am not “more deserving” and didn’t necessarily “work harder” than someone else in a different field of work without such benefits. There is a major privilege component to health care in America. Again, I feel grateful even though I work hard.
~ Nurses. Where do I even begin? These people are amazing! I understand nurses are “paid well” and it’s a job, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve credit for doing it exceptionally. When I was in the thick of it (all things pre, during, and post labor) amazing, kind, and compassionate nurses took care of me. Nurses wipe away tears, clean up messes, and hold stranger’s hands. In my case, a possee of badass NICU nurses rallied around me and cheered me on during some pretty scary vulnerable moments. I felt like I had a team of fairy godmothers over the past couple days. Thank you nurses for doing your job with such compassion for others. I will never hear the word nurse and not feel so truly grateful for how Will and I were treated.
~ I am now someone’s mommy!!! They will hand him over to me (after removing his baby lowjack and no, I am not kidding) and off we will go….at 15 mph. My #1 priority is to raise a good human to send out into the world. I don’t care one bit about his percentiles and scores. I just want him to feel our love and to grow up able to give love back to the world. If he can respect others, especially women, then we have succeeded. It’s quite a big job to do and I’m leaving here without a manual or emergency hotline number. I’m definitely feeling a little (ok, a lot) scared. But I also know in my heart that we got this and we’re going to be justttttt fine.
Let’s do this!
-Tasha
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New baby observation 1/26/22
Bassinette nose: /n./. a nose with tiny circular temporary indentations in it as a result of placing one’s face against the mesh side of a baby bassinette to watch the baby’s every move as he sleeps for hours
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- my pregnancy memoir, page 184 - Tasha at 9 months pregnant
“A Cheerio just fell out of my shirt and I don’t know how long it’s been there”
