Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #8- I'll Wager Her Parents Are More Pure Than Yours

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #8- I'll Wager Her Parents Are More Pure Than Yours

Don't neglect your pet just because you had a child. 

 

A friend who is pregnant told me today that when she announced her future parenthood to an acquaintance, the first thing the acquaintance said was, "You're gonna hate your dogs." 

Now, I've heard versions of this over and over, but never stated so harshly. Everyone told me I'd feel differently about my dog after Jude was born, that I'd do less with her, that she'd be miserable, that I'd ignore her.

Let me tell you about Maddy's day.

Maddy woke up with her pack, in the center of the bed with Kevin and I both contorted ourselves so she could fit. She followed me downstairs at about 6 AM so she could watch me do yoga. (By watch I mean lean into me when I was in downward dog, begging for a butt scratch.) She poked around the yard for awhile, wolfed down her breakfast and followed me back upstairs to watch me feed the baby while she took up most of the bed again. 

Tater gave her a long, sorrowful goodbye, giving Jude and I a mere peck in comparison. Maddy took a snooze on her own personal couch (see image above) and waited by the window for her friends Haylie and Tim. She was thrilled to take a car ride to the dog park to play with her friends Hamilton and Tetley. (By "play", of course, I mean watch the other dogs play while hovering near me and the baby... drooling as always). She mudded up my backseat on our way home.

By 11AM, toothbrush (generic Greenie) in her belly, Maddy was back on her comfy couch until I took her to see Tater at work at about 2PM. She loved getting another ride and seeing her buds at station 21. It was about the most exciting moment of her life when they got a call and the alarms went off.  She also got to see Abagail, a friend of the little person variety (her favorite). We took a walk there, enough laps that I had to drag her through the last one.

I ran some errands while she lounged in the car. She sniffed some horsies, then came home to a sun spot on the living room floor, which she moved towards as it swept across the room. She moved back to her couch when the sun went away and stayed there until dinner time. After dinner, she received her second brushing of the day.

It's 6PM now and I'd venture to say Maddy is approximately 2 hours away from heading up to bed after the best day ever. It's not so bad to be a dog in the House of Raftery.

Polar Plunge 2013, F Yeah!

A day that starts like this:

Is sure to end like this:

Man, what a time!

Our Team

 Jude

Kip (Charlie)

Wendell

Karen and Ryan

(Karen also Fancy Fonted Kevin)

Me and Kevin

We call ourselves Team America.

It was 18 degrees when we woke up this morning, but made it up to 40 by plunge time. 

Strangers kept asking Kevin if they could get pictures with him and the whole team kept chanting U-S-A to get the crowd going. These next photos were taken before Kip lost his phone twice:

Thank you BJ and Melissa for the best post-plunge costume ever!

Cooooooooooooooooold!

Thank you to all our loyal supporters! Because of you, Team America raised over $1,200!

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #7- Life is for Living

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #7- Life is for Living

 

Don't expect a lot to get done when you're at work.

I suspect this is what happens most of the day when I am at work. I think I'm okay with it.

Nothing makes a holiday more lovely than forgetting about it until the Friday before, as I did this Martin Luther King Jr. Day... except maybe getting to spend it with these two gentlemen. We had a great day, beginning with Jude rolling over for the first time. It scared the sh*t out of him, so I suspect he won't do it again for awhile...

After that, we took Maddy to the Oceanfront so she could chase birds. It was glorious. (Although, I'll admit it... the crisp air, while fine for a walk on the boardwalk made me want to throw up when I thought about the Polar Plunge in a few weeks...)

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping (us, not Jude), watching the Inauguration and The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents. 

For dinner, we had a romantic meal of ribs at our new dining room table, delivered today. It was made even better by Jude finally falling asleep after a day he didn't want to miss a second of:

If I was Raf, I'd do it all again tomorrow. Especially the making dinner part, okay Raf?

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #6- Better Together

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #6- Better Together

Don't think your relationship with your significant other won't change... It will. In almost every way, that is a good thing.

In a few weeks, it will be 9 years to the day I met Kevin. We are lucky enough to have a picture of that day, courtesy of the mutual friend who is responsible for us meeting. A lot has changed in 9 years!

While graduating from college, surviving a long distance relationship, moving in together, getting married, and having a child makes for some challenging moments in a relationship, they also make for many more great moments. I am lucky who has someone who gets me like Raf does and Jude is lucky to have two parents who like each other as much as we do.

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #5- And It Always Goes On and On and On and On....

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #5- And It Always Goes On and On and On and On....

 

Don't expect your baby to stay little forever... or even for a few minutes.

 

Unlike Mandy, , I burned out after exactly 3 weeks.  It was a bit sad today to see how rapidly my little guy has grown in the 8 weeks since I took his first picture. This is the exact same onesie. I comfort myself with the fact that he still fits in it, although it is getting tougher to snap!

 

Week 1

 

 Week 2

 

Week 3

 Week 9

 

Look at those chunky monkey legs!

Recently Jude has figured out how to push himself up and I've been trying to capture it for weeks. Today I was successful! I took about 30 pictures, but these are my favorite. My boy will be doing P90X with Tony Horton and Gfred in no time!

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #4- 1.21 Gigawatts

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #4-1.21 Gigawatts

 

Don't forget to use caution when accepting clothes from your relatives, especially when they tell you they belonged to someone over 30 when they were a baby.

These gems belonged to my brother Andrew when he was a young man. Raf and I are enjoying dressing Jude up in old-timey clothes to prove to his Mema that her taste was pretty questionable in the 80's. Can't wait till he grows into Kip's three quarter length sleeve Mets sweatsuit!

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #3- Duck Wild

Don'ts for Mothers, 2013 #3-Duck Wild

 

Don't expect to travel with just your backpack anymore... small babies have large amounts of luggage!

We spent Jude's second month birthday and Ryan's 35th birthday in Duck with the Psimases. While it was not exactly beach weather (for anyone except Ryan), we enjoyed the view and the company. Little man, despite his diva luggage, had a great time and slept through the night... or 4:30 at least. We traveled home by time machine, obviously, because Jude ended up in this 1981 classic my mom bought for Andrew back in the day:

PS. Please consider donating on my Polar Plunge 2013 page. All proceeds go to Special Olympics Virginia.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/meg5han/2013polarplungeVA