Dear Z, When we moved into this house, I couldn’t believe that we had stairs. It felt like a real home to have two separate spaces that we could theoretically each inhabit, taking little breaks for alone time. Rarely do we desire it, but it’s nice to know it’s there. When we started getting water bugs, a glorious euphemism for family size cockroaches, the honeymoon was over. We saw one on our ceiling, then in our dog’s food bowl, and…
Dear Z, When we discovered this bed and breakfast, we knew it would be the real deal because they had a poorly designed website. Clearly, they were spending more time on their biscuit recipe and fine white linens. When we arrived, they did not disappoint. You were still pregnant with J, no more than a month away from his arrival, but our foolish plan was to go hiking on this extended weekend of a babymoon. When we arrived, it took…
Dear S, It’s not news to you that I’ve been a mess this weekend. I keep trying to put a finger on how I feel, but keep coming up short. Motherhood has stretched me to the outer limits of all the emotions I’ve ever felt, sometimes in both directions at once. This weekend I’ve felt a new breed of exhaustion, I think. It’s the exhaustion that comes from having a week where I haven’t showered alone or eaten with two…
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…