nine months for life

It seems to be getting as easy at that for Angelina Jolie! She seems to have figured out how to adopt superfast!

As a little girl I always wanted to grow up and have a family full of kids from all over the world. Asia, Africa, the Americas ..you name it. According to me, I would not only be saving kids from all around the world, but I would also be living a rich and fulfilling life. As a litte girl, the prospect of growing up and having a huge family from all over the world just sounded way too exciting.

Oh well, I am now all grown up. My dream remains the same, but there is too much reality tied to it. And I am way too old to believe that my dream might still come true at all. Where is the money? Where is the time(this is less of an issue, since I am in control here)? Who is going to let me have all those kids? I am having all these adult issues now. And what about the wait and the money it takes to just adopt? How can you have a child and not send him/her to college?

See, that is why I am so jealous of my dear friend Angie. She travels all over the world and brings kids home. She gets to hang out with Brad and even have his child ;) … Really really unfair. Honestly, does Angie have time to do this?

Are there more people out there that feel the way I do or is it just me? Does anyone know if people would get paid to adopt kids? Angie, if you are reading this, can you share some of your money so I can travel with you, do good around the world and adopt some kids of my own? On more thought, would you just like to adopt me???

If there is anything called a “New Mom Syndrome”, I think I have certainly fallen prey to it. Alas, I am like every other new mom although it has taken me a few months to accept it ;). In my past life (before-baby as in BB), I wondered why women who became moms did the things they did. I am now guilty of a number of new-mommyisms myself and here goes my list of confessions:

* I cut my hair. As soon as I was back home from the hospital and could say day apart from night, I went out and cut my hair. That does not mean I know why women who just popped babies do that, however.

* Way too many new moms I have know run marathons. I guess this has to do with trying to clear the chaos in our brains ;). I have always been a yoga kind of person but one morning I woke up and just felt this incredible urge to start running …maybe I will run a 5K or two this year ….

* Turn to food for solace? I rarely ate for comfort before, but now I am always famished, always hungry and can always use some butter and dessert with my meals.

* Okay …I love to talk about my baby. And yes, I do it in the hallway, in the cafeteria, in my office, on the road …even with strangers at the stores and the post office! Yuk!

* I have fallen in love with oatmeal all over again. But slowly I am learning that Oatmeal is the only thing that sticks by me, through thick and thin …

* I thought I would die of less sleep and my body and mind would just shrivel and disappear, but my “system has learnt to handle it” …like so many parents told me their systems did when they had their little ones .

* I also thought I would die if I did not get my retail therapy at least once every 2 weeks. Strangely, I am very alive and kicking …the fact that I dress like a mess is another story ;)

* This one hurts ;) …but I have got to admit that I look at baby pictures at work.

I can go on less sleep but I really need to curl up now …

Later Gator!

Look what our little one made for us for Valentine’s Day!

Okay, okay … “A” made it.(Her sweet little daughter helped her as well) “A” is the wonderful person who takes care of Savi when I am at work. She is truly awesome. I know that she is great cause I *feel* it …in my gut. My 5 month old does not say much but she sure is all smiles when she sees “A”. I know my little one is in safe hands because I actually work when I get to work. As a matter of fact, the minute I get back into my car after dropping Savi off with her, I am already thinking work. She has got to be really good for me to be able to do that!

I go to get my little one the day after Valentine’s and I am showered with gifts and this card (…and diapers ! I also had to borrow diapers from A, but that is another story :)) . “How spoilt am I!”, I thought. Here were people doing wonderful things for my little one and me while all I was doing was obsessing about the snow storm and my workplace! (Btw, things are changing rapidly at my work…will post an update soon ;)).

It occurred to me that it was too late for me to rectify the fact that I did not have anything for A or her little daughter(she gave me the cutest hearts she cut all by herself because I am her “friend”) or for “H” (A’s sitter helper who also gave Savi a gift!). Do I respond with a “Belated Valentine Gift”? Sounds way too weird and honestly, I have never heard of that ;).

Oh, and what about all my other valentines? My one chance to express how grateful I am to them and I had just blown it!! What do I do??

I have given up thinking. I am going to thank them right here, right now. These are the folk that I think about and wonder what I would have done without. They are truly my “family”. They are vital to helping this pseudo single mom (husband travels ALL the time) survive …and survive pretty well ;)

Thanks to “L”(Doggie daycare) for taking care of my babies for years. I know that my puppies love her to death and we are in love with “L” for life. She is also our our prime doggie consultant and truly understands what our dogs mean to us. “K” (dog walker) is our latest wonderful addition to our dog family. “J” is my dear friend that Charlie is smitten by. “J” is the family favorite :). She does not have to do anything …she makes all the difference just by being. Some wonderful people at work, particularly “R” and “T” who remind me repeatedly that they are right there if I should ever need anything. (And look, the first names of all these folk start with unique alphabets …weird coincidence :))

What would I do without these people? I wonder. I don’t know. I don’t want to know :)

As I sit here typing this, Savi is “talking” to get my attention and Charlie is nuzzling me to be let out. I got to go. But thank you!!

This article in the NewYork Times talks about how women in politics today (Pelosi, Clinton etc) are wearing “motherhood to work” and how doing that could actually work for them.

And why wouldn’t it, I wonder? The truth does always work …in my limited experience at least. Projecting the image that reflects the truth should work for anyone …at home, at work or in Washington. Infact, being a mom has helped me assert myself better at work, I am more disciplined and in some ways I am a lot more unforgiving and understanding at the same time. I really hope that the publicists that these politicians (actresses etc) work with get that simple fact …

Men and women are different for a reason. They have different things to offer to the family, to the workplace and the country. I think we should quit trying to be like the other gender and offer, in whole, what we can offer to the world at every step of our lives. And “different” does not, for even a second, mean that we are less or more capable.

If tables were turned and enough men wanted to be treated like women and do the things that women do ( ah, imagine that ;)), I do believe that men would have the same issues that women do … Men probably feel discriminated in a number of ways as well. Is there pressure on them to be employed all the time? Is it okay for them to shed tears in public? Are they percieved as “fluff” if they show their sensitive side? I wonder ….