J'Espere

Mothers Beget Mothers It’s a biological fact that we are designed to oppose our parents. Don’t believe me? I challenge you to meet up with an eighth grade girl and ask her how much her parents know. It’s not about the love, it’s about the brain. And the brain says, “No! Don’t let them be right!” Until you have a baby. I spent my middle and high school years scoffing at 98% of what my mother told me about everything. Then I spent college just not telling her about anything. After college I no longer needed advice (fortunately I knew everything) and went to NYC. Then I spent the majority of my twenties listening to her and doing what I wanted to anyway. Then I had a baby. The realization that your sole purpose in life is to keep another human alive is a daunting task. But keeping another human alive and content is much, much harder. Ask anyone with a newborn at 3 a.m. how they are faring. If they were like me, they were probably curled up on the couch watching a small being in a s...

Getting ready in the morning is a delicate creature. It’s become this crazy balance. Leap out of bed on (a ridiculously low single digit number ) hours of sleep, brush teeth, wash face, check that clothes are laid out. Tiptoe downstairs, praying that baby stays asleep for just a little longer. Wolf down breakfast. Standing up. Back upstairs, finish getting ready, by this time if the baby isn’t awake, she will be soon. Maybe Matt will have time to take a shower first, but maybe not. Time management is a skill that we have very quickly had to hone. Because when she awakes, it’s a scramble to get her fed (which is left up to Matt), to get him out the door once the babysitter arrives. Exercise isn’t even an option, unless you count zipping around the room and up and down stairs. Our lives seem to be stuck at 75 mph. I can’t remember the last time I got to sit down and just eat breakfast, or just get dressed. . I no longer stand a chance of working out before school. But there are pe...