Dear Z, I wish that I could have protected our time together this evening, but I found myself referencing a particularly difficult social situation even as we were lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. We had plenty to talk about that day without it. You and I are never short for topics of conversation, one of the many reasons I continue falling more deeply in love with you. Thinking about the huge part that conversation has played in our…
Dear J, As we travel the great circuit of the downstairs area of our home, you lay across my arms. Your feet are draped across my left arm, your head rests on my right arm, and the middle of you sinks down a bit where there isn’t any more of me to catch you. This reminds me of my two older brothers when we would all three sit in the back of our parents’ car. I would sit in the…
Talking to our friends, I told them I didn’t mind having our son sleep in bed with us. “He needs to be close to another human. Besides, he’s really cute.” The husband pointed at me and said, “but you get to go to work in the morning.” This weekend, I was so excited for a day off together. Sleeping in, making coffee, maybe even having sex if our son took a long enough nap. Besides, we were going to go…
Dear Z, When we drove to our friends’ house, my nerves were so shot by the end that I could barely speak. I had spent the trip in the back of the car, sitting with our son in case he needed some soothing words on the way. Typically, you sit in the back with J. He cries here and there for a few minutes, but he is usually on a trajectory towards sleep as soon as his little eyes open…
Dear Z, Last Saturday, we went on a little road trip to South Carolina to visit a home schooling conference where your dad was speaking. We have been feeling isolated where we currently live, far from family, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Your dad is a busy man, so the hours on the road were likely to outnumber the hours we would have with him. But after pulling into…