It Could Always Be Worse

The LFM Hanging at the Coffee Shop

The LFM is a closet Nose Eater

Suppertime!

The Little Astronaut Awaiting Lift Off In His Car Seat

Being Read to by his Tiatielle from France

When I was little, I had this book called It Could Always Be Worse. This man goes to the rabbi and says "Rabbi, my house is so so small. My wife is always nagging and the children are crying and I'm miserable, please help!" So the rabbi says "Take all the chickens from your yard and put them in your house." The man does this and comes back the next week saying how much worse this new arrangement is, so the rabbi advises him to take all the goats from his yard and put them in the house and so on and so forth every week until the man's yard is empty and his house is overflowing. The man is virtually at the point of cracking and the rabbi finally counsels him to take all of the animals back out into the yard. The man, who is left with exactly what he had to begin with, is overjoyed at how spacious and wonderful his house has become and believes the rabbi somehow increased the size of his house. The moral of the story, of course, being it could always be worse.

This has been my postpartum experience so far.

I finally think some of the chickens are going back into the yard though, and I am just now starting to really get to enjoy the spaciousness of my new motherhood.

The LFM is now smiling up a storm- these big gorgeous goofy smiles. They're hard to capture on film (I have one from my Dad's camera that I'm just waiting to get a copy of) but boy, i now understand what they mean when they say a smile can light up a room! His eyes totally sparkle when he smiles...as cliche as it is, they do! Our monkey has also begun to coo and gurgle and grunt in his first efforts at communication. He does this in response to what we say, so it becomes this very surreal conversation of sorts. Like when I was a kid and talked in a make believe language with my friends and really believed we knew what each other was saying. Its really cool to watch him so intently watch what we say and how it all works and then put in his two cents worth however he can. I'm sure he's saying only brilliant things, nothing mundane like how gassy he is at any given moment. Its all brilliant philosophical discourse that we're just far too pedestrian to understand at this point. Perhaps one day we'll be evolved enough...

The most recent development though, is that the LFM has suddenly and inexplicably become a Mama's Boy over the last week. While I am truly flattered by all the attention , it certainly makes getting anything done an impossibility. Whereas I used to be able to do things, like bathe for example, he now has decided that I am solely at his mercy and that no, thank you, but the guy with the beard we call Daddy just won't cut it these days. In fact he has decided to save any and all crying bouts for that Daddy character, just to make him feel that much more special. Luckily, that Daddy character happens to be the best father around, and is taking it all in stride. In fact he's braving the threat of a meltdown right now to give me a little time to type with 2 hands. And I have to admit that he really is such a mellow baby (clearly gets that one from Daddy) that his crying is nothing compared to many other babies I've heard. So I'm not complaining.

You hear that, universe? I'm Not Complaining! I get it, It Could Always Be Worse!