Anna Be.

I'm going to unpack and organize my office. We moved into this house two years ago, but my office is still full of boxes and in complete chaos.  don't believe me?  Suspect I'm prone to exaggeration?  WRONG. Photo evidence: At first I used pregnancy as an excuse.  Then I used Mamie as an excuse.  Now I'm out of excuses. I'm a working writer, and I need a functional workspace. (I'm writing this on the couch, but every few words I get interrupted by a toddler climbing into my lap.) In my "new" office, there will be a table just for Mamie's art projects and other work! Besides that, Mom and Dad finished baby proofing upstairs for me last week, so she has plenty of safe places to play while I work. So what's the plan? I'm starting with 15 minutes a day.  That's what I commit to, 15 minutes per day for the whole month of April.  I expect to see big results in 30 days, but no single day should be too overwhelming.

I don't know how long I've been saying Mamie would start Montessori when she is 2. For the last 18 (+9?) months, I've been saying a lot of things like I have some idea what I'm doing here. As it turns out, I am NOT ready to send my wee little Mimsy Borogove off to her studies just yet!  (And there's not a program nearby that would accept a barely-2-year-old for less than five full days a week.) Still, I feel like I should be teaching her something, I should exploit the sponginess of her little head while I still have some influence. So I had this idea: Why don't I do Montessori homeschool lessons with her until she is three? Yes, groan. Now I have this idea, I've started doing research, bought a book, set up a notebook for planning lessons. Am I just going to stress myself out, will I deprive her of important practical lessons like grass-eating and writing on the sofa with crayons? I guess I'm secretly afraid if I don't follow professional rec...

A new sticker book. She put the little girl on the stairs herself, I assume because it's one of her favorite places to play. Mamie and I preserve one day a week as our Sacred Day.  I don't write anything on the calendar -- n places to be, no people to see.  We stay in our pajamas all day, unless we feel like playing outside or going out for coffee. Today is definitely a PJ day because I don't go out when the temperature is under 40 degrees.  I realize it's a privilege for me to have a free day, but it always ends up being one of my most productive all week. By 3 p.m. I had done almost everything on my to-do list for today, and Mamie is well into the third hour of her nap. Things I have done: read yoga write play Things I have not done: laundry dishes put on shoes Unless slippers count as shoes?  Honestly, they must because I wore them to the store the other day.  (Drive-thru only! I have some dignity!)

First of all, I am going to give credit where it is due.  While I was on my back with food poisoning for three days, Nick handled everything I needed him to, and Mamie was exceedingly patient with being homebound and entertaining herself. There is, however, a division of labor in our house regarding the laundry.  Nick does his laundry once a week and stays out of my way.  Mamie has only mastered unfolding (not an official step in the laundry process). I do all the washing, folding and putting away for myself, the baby, and the household.  I try to do a load a day. Remember, we wash diapers too. Now let's say I was sick and didn't do any laundry tasks for three days.  And maybe for the last month before that my schedule has been full and maybe things were already backed up a bit? Do I need to paint you a picture of overflowing hampers, morphing mountains, choking, spilling out of the laundry room door?  Ok, good. There is a complex architecture here ...

This is a family of runners who just stepped outside to see the rain would indeed curtail their 5k plans.  They went out for coffee and book shopping instead.

Dear Diary, I'm going to the dentist tomorrow, and I'm so nervous.  It's not at all rational, so I can't even reason with myself.  I have spent weeks (months, honestly) working up to it and trying to get rid of my phobia.  Even earlier today, I thought, "I'm looking forward to this!" But now, I can feel each minute ticking me closer to the chair.  I'm a little overwhelmed with thoughts about what all I have to do tomorrow.  I have to take a shower, feed the baby, take care of her, make sure the grandparents are taken care of until the babysitter comes at 2:30, get myself to the dentist office, not fall apart.  Most of these things are not terribly taxing on a normal day, but tomorrow I will be in an extremely heightened state of frazzle. I think I will write on my hand the only things I really need to remember: Breathe. Take care of the baby. If I can just repeat those two things until 2:30, maybe the rest will take care of itself. Nick ...

I was just reading  Your Giant Stroller is Ruining It for the Rest of Us , and I don't quite know if I'm one of the jerks, or how my stroller behavior fits into society. Most places I stroll with Mamie, she is a magnet for attention and cooing. However, in those places populated by young cool people, she gets me absolutely no special treatment. I think that mom/baby pairs are invisible to young singles, and I'm sure I had the same attitude at the time. See my tummy?  I'm cute. Yes, I have squeezed a giant stroller in tighter places than I should have, but I also have to get this human from place to place somehow! And I'm drowning half the time and just give me a break, ok?  I didn't even know how big my strollers were when I got them because I was drowning in a sea of WTF do I do to take care of this baby?? I just recently got a new  (umbrella) stroller which is teeny and should not annoy anyone, really. But the decision about which stroller to get ope...