Today Lincoln turns one. I did it! We did it! Pat on the back. I kept a tiny human alive for a year! He only fell off the bed ONCE! And, yes, he’s fully vaccinated. His warranty has expired, no going back now.
I am stuck under him again. He’s been super cuddly the last few days- darn. He’s in a ring sling, snuggling his jelly cat fox, and breathing deep sleep filled breaths. It is the greatest sound in the world. It was a journey to get this little man and every tear and every heartbreak was worth it.
But enough of this sappy stuff. Let’s get down to business. This kid moves. In the last WEEK he has figured out how to: climb the stairs, climb off the couch, crawl so magically fast that he can be in the dog’s water dish in 2.5 seconds. He can turn on the tv and the xbox (his father is rather proud of that one). He’s also figured out how to crawl into baskets and on top of my printer as you can see by the pic. My house is a maze of baby gates and that brings me to the last 24 hrs of life.
My entire family (all three of them) is coming to town tomorrow for Lincoln’s Luau on Saturday (I’ll post about that). So we’ve been cleaning and party prepping and all sorts of stuff. Things that are more difficult when your kid is mobile: EVERYTHING. “No, Lincoln, get your hand out of the toilet.” “The vacuum is not a toy.” “Get off the dog.” (Distraction with books and screechingly loud toys is the only thing saving my sanity at the moment).
I was trying to finish something up for his party and I lost him. Our house isn’t that big! He zoomed up enough stairs that he was out of sight. He was just looking at me laughing when I found him. I helped him get up the rest of the stairs and he proceeded to try to steal the dog’s toy and giggle. It was worth it. So it’s 830 pm. Mike has just come in from mowing the lawn and I had just realized that the curtains that I hemmed were too short. [Aside: I washed said curtains. Said curtains shrunk, apparently. I hemmed said curtains to my pre-washed measurements. I needed new curtains]. So off to Target I went. Because not only is Target my happy place but because I needed curtains and a baby gate. Another, damn, gate.
I grab my bag and get in the car. I’m hungry. This is the moment I truly embraced #momlife. I’m driving to Target AND I’M EATING BABY PUFFS. Kale and apple flavor. They are disgusting, but I eat them all and they are ridiculously hard to get out of that snack contraption. How does Lincoln do it?!
I find really nice curtains on clearance, remember to grab command hooks, debate grabbing a carton of ice cream and a spoon and sitting in the exercise equipment aisle to eat it and enjoy the irony, and yet another baby gate. (I highly recommend these gates, by the way. We now have three.) So I make my way to check out and my Target now has self-check. I didn’t want to interact with humans so I went for it. Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the security camera above the checkout and I just started laughing at myself. I’m pretty sure the people around me thought I was having a mental break and, quite possibly, I was. You see, I had been crying earlier that day because of the political malarky (two posts using malarky, high-five to me and Joe Biden), and my makeup was gone, I had been cleaning so my hair was on top of my head, we had dinner that had gotten smashed into my teeth apparently, and my tank top had been so stretched out from Lincoln grabbing it to help himself to a snack that the top of my bra was showing.
The best part, I was fine with it. I was fine with all of it. Because I’m a mom and I’m enough. I’m a working mom, I take care of Lincoln all day and do my consulting job full-time. I do laundry and pretend to keep our house clean. I sew when I have a free second and I leave the house disheveled. Do I feel better when I get dressed and put on concealer? Of course. Do I care when I go to target looking like I just walked out of a hurricane? Nah. Why? Because I’m happy. My son is happy and healthy. Our house is happy. My house is full of laughter and dog hair.
So today, at 5:59pm, Lincoln turns one. I’ve been a mom for a year. I think I’m doing ok. My advice: have a snack in the car so you aren’t forced to eat baby puffs on your way to Target at 830pm. Oh, and don’t worry about the little things. Embrace them, laugh with them. #momlife #donteatthepuffs
