The month that's passed since your birth has been mostly a blur. You do sleep more than your brother did, but sure LOVE eating--you eat sometimes for 20 minutes every hour (for instance, 4pm, 5pm, 6 pm, 7pm, and 8:30pm last night and then 6am, 7 am, 8 am, and 9:30 this morning, with a 1am and 3 am feeding between those). You also love to eat FAST--and then end up with crazy gas and tummy bubbles. You also get REALLY mad if you think I'm not feeding you fast enough! You try to hold your head up every time you're on my shoulder to burp and often try to sit up when in your car seat.
In other words, you're doing your best to grow up as fast as you possibly can. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but would love it if you didn't eat so fast because all that gas makes you cry a lot!
2012 was nothing like I thought it would be. I finished 2011 thinking I'd be headed to Thailand in January and have a fellowship to finish out my dissertation quickly. Thailand flooded and we couldn't go, and then the fellowship committee didn't want to fund anyone in Humanities/outside the 'hard sciences.' I taught the summer Beijing Teachers program again though and was able to pay off the rest of my dissertation hours. We were also trying to get pregnant, and started trying probably in October 2011 or so. I cried almost every month that we weren't because I was just so SURE we were. By March, my suspicions were even stronger when morning sickness kicked in. The pregnancy tests came back negative then, though, so I just kept waiting. We officially knew the first week of April. I was very excited, though concerned about how your brother might adapt to no longer being an only child. We let everyone else know about his pending "big brother" status on Mother's Day.
In the meantime, you (in very tiny form) and I went to Vancouver, Canada for the American Educational Research Association conference and Narrative Inquiry workshop. I was still sick and tired but found a burst of energy--and finishing the dissertation in the fall and graduating in December suddenly seemed possible. I submitted a full draft in July, did revisions several times, sent it to the committee, did more revisions, defended it on October 4, did more revisions, submitted it as a final draft in mid-November and officially graduated three weeks after your birth. Yeah, it made for a long road, long pregnancy, and long process, but both you and the "doctor" degree were well worth it! A hail storm at the end of April really complicated things as well ; it totaled one of our cars, the house's roof, siding and gutters, and then we had to work with insurance, our bank (who financed our mortgage) and contractors to get that work done. it seemed like a very long and expensive year of repairs!
It was also an interesting year as I turned 30--a new decade, and the opportunity to reflect on what came before and my goals for the future. Obviously, you were part of those goals. Another big goal was to find a place and activity your brother loved and could participate in. I had hoped to get T into preschool for the fall, and though it happened a bit late, we did! He loves going to the Rittenour Early childhood center and has grown so much in the last few months. One of these ways is in the gentle way and loving way I see him approach you. He wants to help--get you your paci, your blanket, your toys, pat your head and talk to you. He really loves having a "baby brudder, Woran," and since all of his classmates seem to know your name when we pick him up, I can only guess that he keeps telling them about you too :D
I'm looking forward to the next year--hoping you'll sleep more, T will continue to do so well with school and playing with you, and frankly just putting 2012 behind us--did I mention it felt long? ;) May 2013 bring you joy, hope and wonder. I can't wait to watch you grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment