Family

From New Parent:

Motherhood is full of moments that make you eat your words...  

There are things that I do in front of Roan that I wouldn’t do in front of anyone else.  Nothing too horrible, but still, things that I’d probably be mortified if anyone else saw them.  For instance, if he needs to speak to me exactly when I’m in the bathroom, he doesn’t think twice about swinging the door open and firing that conversation up right then and there.  There is no one else allowed to do that.  He’s also witnessed burps, though I’ve had to put the kibosh on that because it caused way too much laughter which can only lead to manners-training trouble in the future. Roan gets to hear me sing my heart out, and though I know I’ve got no sense of pitch or key, I belt songs out regularly for him...

When my parents had my sister in Seattle, they were all by themselves. They'd just moved there a few months before, so they had no real friends. No family. No support system, aside from each other. And after living there for a while, they up and moved to China, when my sister was still an infant, for a teaching job. There, they didn't only lack a support system, they lacked a common language and culture with their surroundings.

I keep coming back to this. It's given me a brand new appreciation for my parents, for how much they love my sister and I. Because let me just say, without any exaggeration, that this is hard. Having a baby is so, so complicated, and it gets more so everyday...

We don't get to eat at lovely restaurants much these days. 

No maitre d' who values his job security would let our big family within spitting distance of their fine dining room. For fear of our four spitting. 

And even if they would, we couldn't afford it. And if we could, we wouldn't enjoy it. Because here's what one or more of our children would say upon looking at their plate of beautifully presented deliciousness: "YUK!"