A Normal Life?

In the beginning of raising your first child all of your normal days are gone. There is no time for TV, reading, talking, or cooking. We ate Culver's cheeseburgers and milkshakes more than a few dinners in the beginning. We didn't read anything except babybooks for weeks. We have TIVO and it just filled up. The conversations revolved around forumla versus breastmilk for weeks.

Then slowly, very slowly, things start to return to us. The baby goes to sleep in her own room and you can read before you go to bed. You actually begin to count on reading before you fall asleep again. You find that during nap time you actually talk to your spouse and do fun things. Yesterday during a long 2 hour nap, M and I made curtains (okay -- she made them, but I ironed everything). We giggled and laughed and talked the entire time. It was us. It was who we were before EG, and it is nice to know that it is still there. We are also getting much better at eating real food as opposed to Culver's all week long.

The TV watching is humorous. I like to watch more TV than M does. EG and I start every morning with a bottle and two episodes of Sex and the City (Tivo-ed) and then an hour of the Today Show. After that we turn off the TV. We might watch a cooking show or something like that during lunch. At night we always watch the national news and then reruns as we put EG to bed.

Once EG is in bed we indulge. When EG was born we realized that we would be at home a ton and needed something to do while waiting. Waiting is what you do with a newborn. You wait for them to wake up. You wait for them to finish eating. You wait for them to fall alseep. You wait and watch TV. So, we rented DVDs of TV series that we have never seen. Each night after EG drifts to sleep we watch an episode or two. Over the last 8 weeks, we have seen the entire series of "Big Love" and "Weeds." We were addicted to each. I think it was an hour of normalcy in our crazy unplanned and unstructured days. We are going to start "John Adams" next.

I love that "our" life is finding its way back into our "family's life." I love that EG has provided us with oceans of love and oceans of challenges. I can't wait to see what the next 8 weeks brings...

E-