Labor Day Weekend

I just got back in town last night from Labor Day weekend which I turned into Labor Day week, thank you very much maternity leave!

It was a hard, long trip driving back to the city last night by myself with Augy, but here we are.

Labor Day is my favorite weekend of the year, maybe partly because my and husband's anniversary falls that weekend as well.

I tell you, hanging out at home with our baby on the day we had our backyard wedding seven years ago was something else.

Life is happening.

On Saturday night over the weekend, we sat out under the pergola into the night with family friends and ended up telling stories of how we met our significant others.

It was good to tell our story again, and it reminded me of how important it is to re-tell stories because we do forget along the way.

I was surprised at how I had trouble remembering the order of certain parts of our story and things.

I want to tell it again and again.  It's been too long, and it's so fun to laugh over the details!

Tonight we'll be going out for our anniversary date, the first time we've been out just the two of us since Augy's birth seven weeks ago.

We have a Vespa ride planned in there as well, my first time since before I got pregnant, and I cannot wait!

Here's some photos from the weekend.

Hope you had a restful Labor Day!

^^^ Labor Day family pic ^^^

^^^ Celebrated Auntie TT's birthday ^^^

^^^ Great Granny ^^^

^^^ Great Grams and Great Gramps ^^^

^^^ Fish Fry! ^^^

^^^ Looking at photos of Augy's namesake, Great, Great, Great Grandpa August Mandelco ^^^

^^^ Parker filling Granny and Grandma Lu in on his first week of Med School ^^^ 

^^^ Connor and Auntie "Wissa" ^^^

^^^ Augy and Grammy xoxo ^^^

^^^ Morning coffee and a porch swing for a bassinet ^^^

^^^ This girl loves her some farm animals ^^^

^^^ Hanging with Augy  ^^^

^^^ Baby toes ^^^

^^^ Apple picking ^^^

^^^ Fave picture from the weekend.  Uncle Parky & Augy ^^^

 

^^^ Nights.  The nights here are my favorite, by far. ^^^

Chi Tri 2013

Augy and I watched Neal swim in the Chicago Triathalon this past weekend, woo, woo!

It was a hot 90 degrees and a big Chicago weekend for our little babe!

I love race environments and so even though it was a hard day with a newborn, the fun of the day was worth it to me.

Augy did great especially with the extra hands of my mom and sister; he's such a flexible baby.

I was grateful though for a little validation from a triathlete who walked by with her bike and saw me with Augy.

"That is way harder than this" she said with a good natured laugh.

Thanks, lady!

Augy took his first L ride, first taxi cab ride, went to the race Expo in the Loop,

watched the race at Lake Michigan and Millennium Park, and joined my family at classic Chicago restaurants Maggiano's and Portillo's.

His Chicago onesie turned out to be a blast of a wardrobe choice.

Neal completed the one mile swim leg of the triathalon, while my brother Parker biked and my brother-in-law Paul ran.  They were a serious team and ended up getting 10th out of all the men's teams, what what!

You made us proud Neal!

First Road Trip Home

I started writing August's birth story (read Part I here), but after waiting almost six weeks for time to write it, I finally came to the realization that I'll have to work on it in little bits at a time.

(This is just a small example of the huge learning curve of parenthood I'm on.)

This might violate some of your sense for order and chronology (and most of all, mine) but there will be daily life posts scattered between the birth story since I don't want to lose too much of life along the way just because I'm still writing the birth story.

Probably when I'm done I'll go back and paste the whole story together.

Until then sorry in advance, and here's to hoping Augy takes a few good naps so I can write!

In the meantime, here is a collection of photos from Augy's first road trip home.

He and I made the trip alone the weekend he turned one month old while Neal was out of town for work.  That drive was so scary and so liberating.

He was welcomed by country air, all four great grandparents, Grammy and Big Papa, aunties, uncles, and cousins, score!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and Augy took all his naps and bottles outside swinging on the porch swing or under the back pergola.

It seems like my Augy is a little country mouse, because he soaked. it. all. up.

As for me, I ate peach pie every day and got some naps in while my mom and sister snuggled Augy.

Being that I'm some combination of so tired, so happy, and I-don't- know-what-I'm-doing, the support of family has never felt more important, special, and needed to me than in these first days and weeks of motherhood.

It all felt so good that I ended up delaying my return to the city and staying for a few more days (Hello maternity leave, I love you!).

Can't wait to go back this weekend as a family of three for Labor Day!

August Wells: A Birth Story, Part I

Thursday night July 18th, the movie Sleepless in Seattle played in the quiet space of our corner apartment.  It was an unusual quiet in our home that evening, a rare ceasing of activity and errands and obligations and rushing.  Read: A rare ceasing from the neurotic nesting that had overtaken me in the past couple months.  Neal and I had just come home from Chipotle where I sat across from him in that ever-familiar line of booths, gulping down an icy fountain Coke (my irresistible craving of the third trimester) and tried to breathe.

Earlier that evening Neal picked me up from my 39 week OB appointment.  When I slid into the car in my coral maxi dress, dressed up as I always did for my baby appointments,  he asked "So?  Anything?"  Feeling shaky and excited that I actually had news to share, I told him that our doctor said she thought I'd have the baby this weekend, a week before my due date.  I was thrilled to have news about dilation and effacement and all those words that you begin hoping for in those last weeks but I also felt panic rise, mixed with doubt.  Mentally, I wasn't ready yet.  I felt normal, good even.  I wasn't feeling "done" with pregnancy the way I hear women feel at the end.  The next day was to be my last day of work before maternity leave and after that, I had planned a week to prepare for baby, for birth, for motherhood, for change.

In the car on the way to dinner I didn't call anyone with the news from the doctor appointment.  Calling my bestie Kirra would just upset her for nothing; she was in CA and would worry that she wouldn't make it home in time.  Calling my mom and Tiff would just create agitation and excitement needlessly, since I really didn't feel like the baby was coming.  But at the same time, somewhere somehow in some part of me I must have known, because when Neal asked what errands I wanted to do after Chipotle I said, "Nothing.  Let's just go home and watch a movie."  Strange for me to suggest it, strange for him to agree to it, but it's what we did.

While I watched the lights of Seattle light the screen of the movie, I remember noticing the lights of Chicago slowly come on through our floor-to-ceiling corner windows in a sky not yet dark, but lit in a summer twilight kind of way.  We never watch movies that early, and almost never on week nights.  But there we were, and I will always remember how that night felt.  Like our life took a slow, deep inhale while we held each other in the quiet of our home.

To be continued...

August Wells

City Lights is thrilled to announce the arrival of 

August (Augy) Wells Anderson

born July 20, 2013 

at 4:32am

8 lbs, 10 oz

21 inches

August means "great, mighty" 

and is the name of his great, great, great grandfather.

Wells is for Wells Street, the street in Chicago where Neal and I met.

I'm working on writing his birth story, but mostly we are enjoying him, our family & friends, and these gorgeous days out and about when we're not too tired!

Welcome to the world, Augy.

In three weeks of knowing you, we can tell you're ready for it all!

The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto

Image Source

This parenting manifesto is by Brene Brown, an author and researcher who has impacted me more than any other in this past year.

I love her books "The Gift of Imperfections" and "I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't)."

From time to time, I browse around her website (love her music and book suggestions!), and sometime last year I stumbled across her parenting manifesto on her site.

I was newly pregnant at the time, and I remember just sobbing reading it.

It's perfect.

Which she would probably kind of rub against (that description, "perfect") because part of her whole thing is that we're NOT perfect, and how do we relate to ourselves and others with our awareness of that reality?

So Brene, how about I say "It fits."  It fits and connects so meaningfully with the woman I've struggled and fought and learned to become throughout my 20's, and with the parent I long to be to my little mister who is coming into this world any. day. now.

I love the space this manifesto creates for real life, for real humanness, and real love.

My life is so about to change, isn't it?

*If the words on the image are too small for you to read, I've included the text here:

The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto

Above all else, I want you to know that you are loved and loveable.

You will learn this from my words and actions—the lessons on love are in how I treat you and how I treat myself.

I want you to engage with the world from a place of worthiness.

You will learn that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy every time you see me practice self-compassion and embrace my own imperfections.

We will practice courage in our family by showing up, letting ourselves be seen, and honoring vulnerability. We will share our stories of struggle and strength. There will always be room in our home for both. 

We will teach you compassion by practicing compassion with ourselves first; then with each other. We will set and respect boundaries; we will honor hard work, hope, and perseverance. Rest and play will be family values, as well as family practices.

You will learn accountability and respect by watching me make mistakes and make amends, and by watching how I ask for what I need and talk about how I feel.  

I want you to know joy, so together we will practice gratitude. 

I want you to feel joy, so together we will learn how to be vulnerable.

When uncertainty and scarcity visit, you will be able to draw from the spirit that is a part of our everyday life. 

Together we will cry and face fear and grief. I will want to take away your pain, but instead I will sit with you and teach you how to feel it. 

We will laugh and sing and dance and create. We will always have permission to be ourselves with each other. No matter what, you will always belong here.

As you begin your Wholehearted journey, the greatest gift that I can give to you is to live and love with my whole heart and to dare greatly.

I will not teach or love or show you anything perfectly, but I will let you see me, and I will always hold sacred the gift of seeing you. Truly, deeply, seeing you.