waterkid

if you're a mom of a little kid, maybe you're thinking about having another one. maybe you're about to have your first one, like my closest friend cathy, who is FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT and due Aug. 25 (let's everyone give a whoop, whoop for hip, hip Cathy Lipp here!!). maybe you're feeling brave - brave enough to try some kind of 'alternative' birth. like, say, a birth in water.
first, screw your head back on, woman, and put down the hippy dippy tea. if you've done that and still think it sounds like a good idea, heed this advice: make sure you really, really like water. like it enough to spend 50 degree days sitting on the beach while your kid swims in the ocean, which is also 50 degrees. enough to go to the pool for no fewer than 6 hours a day in the summer (4 in winter). enough to say "sure, you can go swimming in that water fountain in your brand new sunday dress." enough to ride the log flume ride 35 consecutive times.
because that's what your kid will want to do. she'll want to do all of that. possibly all of that in one day.
meet my niece eliza jane. she was born in a pool. and look at her here - a fish out of water. we check her weekly for gills.
mom and dad and eliza left this morning after a really awesome week, despite the fact that i had some kind of stomach crud a good part of the time. i'll see them in two short weeks at the bluegrass festival so that made saying goodbye a little bit easier.
it's been a somewhat eventful week, i think. tayloe the dad made it home safely from africa and showered us all with great gifts from uganda and ghana. the week t2 and i spent without him was hard simply because we longed for his company and his jokes and his fill-the-room personality.
i turned 32 last week and i cut my hair short. and even though i was asked back for a second interview at the yoga studio, i didn't get the job. i think the moment i started asking how many hours i could work at home a day, they scratched me off the list. so the universe answered - it would have made our lives very complicated, and i was fretting just thinking about how we'd make it work. i feel relieved.
so we're back to normal for a few days until we shove off for the east coast for a week at the cottage in warsaw and the festival. if you're the prayin' type, please include a warm sunny day in virginia on april 21 on your list of requests.
amen.