Today, I am a Teacher: Mom-ing on the Real

A colleague asked me how I was doing last week, and I said, "Tired." She responded, "Well, you never look it! So good job!" We laughed. I went on to clarify that I'm fine, but I just really want to be home with my baby, rather than at work. And that makes me tired. And taking care of him makes me tired, too, but it feels like a more productive tired: I'm keeping a human alive! She's a mom, too; she understands. I have so many thoughts and so many feelings after another month of raising my son. For once, though, I don't have a long update, with a lot of words--I'm not ready, yet. I have been ever grateful for our village in little mister's fifth month of life, but am really struggling with feeling like the village is raising him more than I am. All I want to be is his mom. I also realized that I share a lot of adorable pictures of my son--because he is adorable--but that those are highlights, and our days aren't all highlights. So this month, I decided to share some pictures of what being a mom looks like in real life.

Here's a classic. Had to shower, Chels wasn't home.

My 40 minute napper blessed me with a mere

*20 minute* nap.

Working on finding balance and making sure

to find time to do the things I love.

I ran for the first time in over a year last weekend.

Just casually pumping in my car, in a parking structure,
as it dawned on me that even though grandma was
watching mister mister, the milk still had to go somewhere!

Little mister is very curious about how the grown ups
eat and drink! It reminds me of this scene in Friends:

Except I'm a mom now, so I'm pretty sure I share everything, always, for the rest of my life.

Being parents in a pandemic is also challenging.
Here we are at his 4 month check up--still only one parent allowed.

At first glance, this seems to be a sweet picture
of us going for a walk. But actually it was an hour and a half
past his nap time. And he wouldn't. go. down. So we tried
some fresh air. Thankfully, it worked!