Oh, Baby
So, the big fat Opp family news is that my brother and his wife had their first baby on Thursday night (Seattle time) or Friday morning (Maryland time). James Hunter Opp. Perfection.
I have never been so antsy about the birth of a child, including my own. With Charlotte and Lorelei, I was pretty focused on the task of, like, HAVING them. So I was busy.
But with James, I had no task. All I could do was pace and worry and text my brother and wonder and hope and vibrate with nerves. To boot, I was on the opposite coast. Surprise, surprise, missing yet another Opp family EVENT because of effing Maryland.
I love my town. But the Midatlantic is not my favorite.
Anyway, Chris and I had an event in downtown DC, and I calmed my nerves with wine and cool people. It was an EXCELLENT distraction, even as I clutched my phone, nearly spilling my wine each time it buzzed.
I swore I'd stay awake until he came. With my phone on my chest, I just rested my eyes. And promptly conked out. And finally? My phone vibrated.
"He's here!" Mom sing-songed. He'd been born about 2 minutes prior. "Yaaayyyy," I said sleepily. She had no stats yet. "Go back to sleep!" she ordered. And that was that.
As I turned to put my phone on my nightstand, it buzzed. Tyler had sent me a photo of freshly born James, skin to skin on Mama's chest, looking a little peeved at being evicted from her womb.
My baby brother's baby--holy shit. Naturally, I cried. Happily, though. And fell back asleep.
The next morning, I told the girls their long-awaited cousin was finally born. They were over the moon, and I showed them the photo. "Ohhhh, he looks so cute!" Charlotte said. "I wish I could hold him!"
"YOU AND ME BOTH, LADY." Naturally, I booked a flight that very morning to Seattle. (I'm arriving on July 9, my Seattle peeps.)
Oh, it is so, so painful being so faraway from this little mister. I have renewed respect for our mothers who must be apart from their Maryland granddaughters! This really sucks! Oh, well. I just have to make it to July 9, right?
Okay, time for the bookish part.
Charlotte (and, at times, Lorelei) and I are reading the Peter Rabbit stories and a cute little chapter book about an animal lover (Lulu) who finds a hedgehog during a rainstorm.
During "media center" at school (what we used to refer to as merely "library" in the eighties and nineties, Charlotte checked out one of the Breyer Stablemates books (they're horse-related), which are a good match for her at the moment, and challenging. She's totally into the book, Fancy, and refuses to let me read it to her. "I'll just read it to myself," she says. And seeing her absorbed in the story, silently mouthing the words as she reads to herself, is pretty dang awesome.
She wants to read the other Stablemates books. "But I don't know if the media center has any others," she added.
"Oh, Charlotte!" I said, launching into bookloving-mommy mode. "Ask Mrs. Black if they have any other books in this series! I promise you, Mrs. Black would LOVE to help you. That's why she's there."
Charlotte gave me an unenthusiastic look. "Can't we just buy it?"
"CHECK WITH THE MEDIA CENTER FIRST," I said. "Then we'll check the county library. THEN we can buy a book if no copies are still around." (The series is a little outdated.)
I'm in the midst of the mind-blowing Dora: A Headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch. This novel fictionalizes the famous case of Freud's Dora. At times, Dora's voice as raunchy and irreverent seems a smidge forced, but overall this book is insanely awesome. I had to buy it, because once again, the library doesn't carry Yuknavitch's writing, but no matter. Now I OWN it, just like her amazing Chronology of Water. I rarely keep books after I've read them, so . . . well, just be impressed.
I have never been so antsy about the birth of a child, including my own. With Charlotte and Lorelei, I was pretty focused on the task of, like, HAVING them. So I was busy.
But with James, I had no task. All I could do was pace and worry and text my brother and wonder and hope and vibrate with nerves. To boot, I was on the opposite coast. Surprise, surprise, missing yet another Opp family EVENT because of effing Maryland.
I love my town. But the Midatlantic is not my favorite.
Anyway, Chris and I had an event in downtown DC, and I calmed my nerves with wine and cool people. It was an EXCELLENT distraction, even as I clutched my phone, nearly spilling my wine each time it buzzed.
I swore I'd stay awake until he came. With my phone on my chest, I just rested my eyes. And promptly conked out. And finally? My phone vibrated.
"He's here!" Mom sing-songed. He'd been born about 2 minutes prior. "Yaaayyyy," I said sleepily. She had no stats yet. "Go back to sleep!" she ordered. And that was that.
As I turned to put my phone on my nightstand, it buzzed. Tyler had sent me a photo of freshly born James, skin to skin on Mama's chest, looking a little peeved at being evicted from her womb.
My baby brother's baby--holy shit. Naturally, I cried. Happily, though. And fell back asleep.
The next morning, I told the girls their long-awaited cousin was finally born. They were over the moon, and I showed them the photo. "Ohhhh, he looks so cute!" Charlotte said. "I wish I could hold him!"
"YOU AND ME BOTH, LADY." Naturally, I booked a flight that very morning to Seattle. (I'm arriving on July 9, my Seattle peeps.)
Oh, it is so, so painful being so faraway from this little mister. I have renewed respect for our mothers who must be apart from their Maryland granddaughters! This really sucks! Oh, well. I just have to make it to July 9, right?
Okay, time for the bookish part.
Charlotte (and, at times, Lorelei) and I are reading the Peter Rabbit stories and a cute little chapter book about an animal lover (Lulu) who finds a hedgehog during a rainstorm.
During "media center" at school (what we used to refer to as merely "library" in the eighties and nineties, Charlotte checked out one of the Breyer Stablemates books (they're horse-related), which are a good match for her at the moment, and challenging. She's totally into the book, Fancy, and refuses to let me read it to her. "I'll just read it to myself," she says. And seeing her absorbed in the story, silently mouthing the words as she reads to herself, is pretty dang awesome.
She wants to read the other Stablemates books. "But I don't know if the media center has any others," she added.
"Oh, Charlotte!" I said, launching into bookloving-mommy mode. "Ask Mrs. Black if they have any other books in this series! I promise you, Mrs. Black would LOVE to help you. That's why she's there."
Charlotte gave me an unenthusiastic look. "Can't we just buy it?"
"CHECK WITH THE MEDIA CENTER FIRST," I said. "Then we'll check the county library. THEN we can buy a book if no copies are still around." (The series is a little outdated.)
I'm in the midst of the mind-blowing Dora: A Headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch. This novel fictionalizes the famous case of Freud's Dora. At times, Dora's voice as raunchy and irreverent seems a smidge forced, but overall this book is insanely awesome. I had to buy it, because once again, the library doesn't carry Yuknavitch's writing, but no matter. Now I OWN it, just like her amazing Chronology of Water. I rarely keep books after I've read them, so . . . well, just be impressed.
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