I’m not sure if a bowl of leftover pinwheels dripping with smart balance, sprinkled with parmesan, is what you’d call a “late night snack” but that’s what I just wolfed down as I casually read through some blogs. That and the piece of hearty bread slathered with same smart balance. Shit, where’s the booze to go with it? Oh yeah, red wine season is out. Margaritas coming back in style again soon, I hope. So what’s with the eating, I say? I ask myself. I say, self, what’s with the damn eating. What void are you trying to fill. What [...]
Read More in health, motherhood, Sarah Writes, three kidsMarch 2009
March 30, 2009
Late Night Snacking
March 26, 2009
Profundity
I have come to the realization that I don’t have anything really profound to say. Life, in itself, is profound; my thoughts about living it are more dirt and grit, mundane, absolute in their necessity. My achievement today is making dinner out of nothing much. I haven’t been to the grocery store for anything more than the bare necessities in nearly a month. A month. I can’t even get to the grocery store. I can’t remember to brush my teeth on a Sunday Morning, or change the laundry, or pick up a friend’s kid at school. There’s so much I [...]
Read More in health, motherhood, Sarah Writes, sleep, three kidsMarch 26, 2009
Connections
I’ve been making all of our family’s bread now for several months. I try new recipes as I continue to abide by the old favorites. And recently I’ve become hooked on the “no knead” method. Which basically means that you let time do the work of kneading. Which means that for a day or so you have a mushy lump of wet dough hanging out in a bowl on your kitchen counter. It’s covered in plastic wrap, but still, every time I see it I think, “That looks like my post-pregnancy stomach.” ICK. Unfortunately, I cannot adopt the wait-it-out method [...]
Read More in health, Jen Writes, motherhood, three kidsMarch 26, 2009
Spring
Oh my gosh my goodness my glory it’s spring. Thank u spring. Thank u sunshine. I’ve been huddled in a cloud of looming desperation for weeks. Often taking the time to research in-network shrinks but never making the call – I knew that I’d begin to feel this rebirth soon. And now it’s all coming back to me. A feeling of youth. Energy. Equilibrium. The first days of cold brought the toasty hibernation of steaming fires and bold-flavored wine. Then gave way to that bitter cold. I felt sunken – drowned under for so many weeks. But this is the [...]
Read More in motherhood, Sarah Writes, three kids, unpaid workMarch 23, 2009
Droopy
I’m just too droopy today. Is it because it’s Monday? I dunno. No, no. I think it’s the contacts I’m wearing today. They are making everything appear a little cloudy. Cloudy — droopy. They go together. So here’s the story about the glasses. Dan and I were cuddled on the couch Saturday night watching Twilight under a big huge down comforter. Crow Crow goes the baby over and over again. Okay, I’ll get him a bottle (good god, he’s GOT to stick to a pattern of sleeping through the night!) I crawled back into the cocoon of the comforter. Since [...]
Read More in mind/body, motherhood, relationship, Sarah Writes, sexMarch 22, 2009
In sickness and in …
With five in the family, I am learning, someone always is sick (or injured). Since December members of my family have logged two ear infections; a jaw infection; a round of the stomach bug that included every single combination of typical symptoms that you can think of and took more than two weeks to make the full rounds of the family; endless colds; back strain due to work injury; and neck strain due to sleeping beside an infant (guess who on that one). Oh, and surgery (and it’s preceding symptoms and recovery time), the heart patient living amongst us and [...]
Read More in health, Jen Writes, motherhood, three kidsMarch 19, 2009
A Spoonful of Sugar
Dan and I sat on the couch researching double bike trailers for a bit and then he drifted to the office to do some work. Ugh, work, even the word makes me feel like drooling and shutting down. But he’s not as tied to the need to completely veg after the kids are asleep as I am. So he plops down into the leather office chair, and I can hear the air being forced from the cushion and the familiar settling sound his body makes before the computer, the wheels rolling about to get into work position. Ugh. Work. And [...]
Read More in motherhood, paid work, Sarah Writes, three kidsMarch 19, 2009
Overcoming fear
Tonight I put on clean pajamas. And I know, that it’s a guarantee that I will be spit up on. Very soon. But these clean jammies sure feel good. Hey, my body’s even pretty clean, too. The thing is, there are days that I feel threatened by the laundry. There always are piles of dirty laundry. And often there are baskets full of folded laundry yet to be put away and clothes hanging to dry from the shower racks. And then there are the clothes on the bodies of my children, which are kept clean for approximately 2.5 seconds after [...]
Read More in Jen Writes, motherhood, three kids, unpaid workMarch 18, 2009
Jury Duty
So I had jury duty today. No comment.I’m home now and just got off the treadmill. Trying to reacclimate my body to lunges and crunches and the whomp whomp foot pattern of the treadmill is like another full-time job. I feel invigorated by my run and grateful for the new TV in the basement which allowed me to distract myself from heavy breathing and sticky lips and head straight into the overly dramatic lives of the girls on The L Word. I have nothing and everything to say, and all at once, or not at all. I think I need [...]
Read More in health, motherhood, paid work, Sarah Writes, three kids, unpaid workMarch 17, 2009
Wine with dinner makes me philosophical
At the end of two days at the office I am so glad to be home and to know that I don’t have to get up and out tomorrow. I can be with my family. At the end of a day with my kids I am so overcome with exasperation that I can’t believe I looked forward to such a day. I try to be grateful for every moment with my children. And of course I am, ultimately. But as the moments are happening, so often filled with whining, talking back, protests, refusals, I find myself wondering how, and why, [...]
Read More in Jen Writes, Jen's Favorites, motherhood, sleep, three kidsMarch 14, 2009
Confusion
Dan left for the city. I’m home again with the three boys. Another day and night and day of meals and snacks and naps – and questions, needs and threats. It seems there are so many of these days, where I am fighting the battle of parenthood alone and just trying to keep it all together. Telling myself to breathe and running little inspirational sayings through my brain like a trumpeted march. “Live your Best Life, Live your BEST Life, Live your Best LIFE.” Yes, I’m a little embarassed to say that I’ve picked up Oprah’s favorite message and used [...]
Read More in motherhood, Sarah Writes, three kids, unpaid workMarch 13, 2009
Whose idea was this anyway?
What was I thinking? Three children? I wasn’t, not rationally anyway. But the thing is, it’s easy to blame the mayhem on number of children. How many times have I heard about how things change when the parents are outnumbered? The comment about zone defense. (Really, it’s not so much the defensive skills that need to be polished as the offensive; but more about that another time.) But wasn’t it just as out of control when there were only two? After all, the third is only five months old. Yes, it’s not so much the children as everything else. Oh [...]
Read More in Jen Writes, motherhood, three kids