"So, what do you do? Besides making babies?"
"Hmm, well..."
While I do have a part time job that I LOVE and I'm very proud of
AND has grown into a solid (and recently validated!) space for me to stretch
AND I do have pipe dream gigs I'm still reaching for (slooooowly, but still reaching)
how do I really explain
(at a casual and intimate backyard wedding reception)
that my full time job
the "making & taking care of babies" part of my career
is more than just changing diapers...
How do I sum up all of this into a quick, witty, stimulating "I'm trying to be cool at this party where all of you guys are young and fearless and beautiful" answer?
It's...
...hoping the neighbors don't hear my toddler and I dancing to
Sisqo's "Thong Song"
...2pm and I still haven't dressed myself (or brushed my teeth) for fear that I'll wake a sleeping baby.
...finding a moment of peace by doing dishes with the water at full power to drown out the whiny toddler who's angry that his juice is in the wrong color cup.
...planning the day's outfit around whether or not I'll need to breastfeed in public.
...planning the day around whether or not I'll want to breastfeed in public.
...knowing every Pixar movie by heart.
...knowing all the drive thru Starbucks in my surrounding areas by heart.
...stopping what I'm doing, no matter what, to help my 2 year old get up on a chair to watch the firetrucks scream by our living room window.
...bathing with baby wipes.
...every cardigan I own, no matter how many times I wash it,
always smelling like spit up
...yes, sometimes I am that mom in target with a screaming kid. I need toilet paper, batteries, ziploc bags and facewash just like everyone else.
...watching
BURLESQUE while both kids nap.
...wondering what exactly is that sticky substance on the back of my iphone.
...eating my kid's leftover mac and cheese for lunch. And dinner. And sometimes breakfast.
..."hug me, mommy" curing any temper tantrum disciplining
...knowing the appropriate thin line between shaken baby syndrome and bobbing an infant to sleep.
...counting EVERY time I am on a set of stairs
...playdates and sand toy sharing and juice boxes in my purse.
...week old string cheeses in my purse too.
..."more stories" before bed.
...being splashed from a bubbly bathtub.
...trading cocktail mixers and movie premiere parties and sushi lunches for a tiny set of peach fuzzed earlobes.
...so so so exhausting.
...so so so lovely.
...so so so much more than I'll ever know how to say.
