Feeling every emotion currently: Happy Ian’s developing so beautifully. Sad he’s not a little baby anymore. Scared for his safety (and my sanity) as we enter toddler-dom.

Husband is currently doing some sleep-training with Ian (while I sleep-best husband in the world). It’s been going really well, although I hesitate to even write this for fear of jinxing it. His “crying it out” has been minimal (Evan goes in to comfort at regular intervals, but he does not get a boob-unless there’s something Evan’s not telling me) and his sleep has been much improved, as has mine. Before this, his sleep was all over the map, sometimes taking two hours to get to sleep, sometimes being awake for two hours in the middle of the night, being clearly tired but not being able to fall or stay asleep…anyways, this step feels right for us so we’re going with it. As my good friend and fellow mama said, “You can’t make a mistake. If you try something and it doesn’t feel right, you don’t have to do it again.” This statement brings me a lot of peace.

Saturday he could not sit up without falling over. Tuesday he was sitting like a champ, and today (Wednesday) he crawled to my laptop while I was Skyping with my parents. What a week!  Now I’m headed to a local baby proofing store (thanks, Kelly!) to stock up on lots of advice and some supplies.  I’m most worried about electrical cords and our hardwood floors, and tile. He likes to face plant, especially when he’s tired, and it hurts my heart to hear that THUD every darn day. I keep saying to him, “The ground is hard.” Hmph.

As you know, I’m cheffing again. I LOVE the work, although the learning curve of working and mommying has been a steep one. I had one meltdown over a bad cheese sauce and nearly cut my thumb off shaving fennel with a brand new mandolin, but other than that, it’s been cool.  Evan has been able to negotiate working from home on Mondays so I can cook mostly uninterrupted. Have I mentioned how unbelievable my husband is? I’m not worthy. But I’ll take it.

I went to my first Blessingway last Saturday and it was simply magical. My friend is awaiting the arrival of her sixth baby, and the love in the room was so palpable I don’t think any of us touched the ground for hours. My favorite part of the ceremony was each person in the room introduced themselves this way:

My name is _____

I am the daughter of _____

I am the granddaughter of _____

I am the mother of ______

Then each person shared a wish for the mother-to-be.

It was incredibly profound to have everyone call in generations of mamas into the space. I swear I need to have another baby just so I can have a Blessingway. I’m pretty sure Wonder Husband would be cool with that…

I’ll leave you with Ian doing something cute for a change.