Dear Salty Sailor,

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i’d like to start off this post by thanking you for the sacrifice you make so that we can lead the fortunate life we do. it doesn’t seem fair that you spend half your year away from darla so that i can spend all my days with her. i love you so much for giving me that gift. have you noticed how much you are missed, loved, and appreciated when you are not home? i will try to make it more of the same when the waves push you ashore again.

now I’ll start you on updates of our life this week. a lonely three months without you is quickly filling up with plans of travels and visits and new life experiences. sept and oct will put us in la, dc and indiana for sure and we’re getting a lovely cosmic cousin visit in early oct, too. fun abounding. Wednesday was our first day back with the burkeybuns household and my heart was bursting with joy the entire time, well all except for 5 minutes when i foolishly let adam lock darla and i out of the house with him and little joni inside. then my heart was bursting with fear. i managed to talk him into unlocking the door by promising copious amounts of m&ms and pleading that a wild animal might get us if he left us out. It served as a reminder that momma needs to stay on her toes. The kids, they learn new tricks. That’s about it, other than the ususal routine of activities, outings with friends and lots of snuggles and laughs and even some productive down time for me. It’s been a good week.

all right, sea dog, here’s your bone. I know it’s what you really want… quips then pics.

-after riding silently in the backseat for some time she asked “mom, does a cat know it’s a cat? does a cat know it says meow?” our child is an existentialist genius. – when i asked her what she is gonna do when she got older she said “get weeds out of my garden.” how ambitious. she has acquired a babydoll from my parents house which she started calling “baby darla” she then started saying that she is “elaine.” when i asked her who i was she looked at me and said “um, you are nobody.” so much material there i’m just gonna let it ride itself. – at the zoo she saw another kids stroller that had a play steering wheel for the child while he/she rides. she pointed at it and said “mom i wish i had one of those wheels for driving but…” BIG DRAMATIC SIGH complete with sidewards glance and arm flip “i don’t.” she has moved on from existentialist theory to mastering the art of subtle manipulation. lastly, she put on a pair of black dress up wings at firefly and said “look, mom! i’m a pegasus!” fairies are so overdone.

enjoy your pics. we miss you a trilllions!

love your former fwife, now wife.

‘Round this time every night

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every day is an optimistic round of promises I make to myself about the mountains of accomplishments I will ascend when the bambino has finally spun herself into the sleeplike trance of the whirling dervish.

but do you know what happens to me? every damn night. that little she-devil sucks the energy out of me with her bedtime routine. i leave her room feeling as a civil war general stepping off the field, uncertain if this battle has been a victory or a defeat. i stumble into my bedroom and look at the opened email inbox and the list of phone calls to be made and i just give everyone the virtual finger by trolling shopping websites and deleting my babygap.com emails. sorry y’all but that’s why you haven’t heard back from me.

Um, i can still shop in the Juniors’ section, right? hmm……

before you get up on your judgment horse, cowboy, let me state that; YES, i do love my daughter and YES, i did just call her a she-devil but NO, i didn’t actually mean it. it’s wit i am using to boost my readership or something. i just want to remind everyone that I do 100% of the parenting while mike is gone for 3 months and i get a little frazzled. i mean, she’s been sleeping for like 2 1/2 years now so it’s not like it should still be a big SHOCK to her that she has to go to bed at the same time every night. Ugh.

here’s what I tell myself to get through it: 1 – The parts of her personality that make bedtime so difficult will be such good character traits when she is older. just get through it now without squashing those traits. 2 – some of our best connections have been at bedtime. It seems to be another one of those *magical* times of the day and I have to try to make the most out of them even when i’m basically brain dead.

well i have to go now and get back to ignoring all of yins. in summation i quoth myself & cousin in conversation last night: “There are only two forces in life that cannot be reckoned with – Time and J. Crews’ ridiculously discounted sales emails.”

Let the birthing begin

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I just signed up for my Doula training workshop. I’m feeling very jazzed about getting further down this path in less than a month. I can’t wait to share what I learn in my training and then bring on the new clients, new families and best-of-all new, tiny feet, arms, hands, faces and smiles.

I’ll be doing my training in Indiana with the women of Birth by Design. I want to send a big thank you to my parents for agreeing to let Darla and I crash with them for the weekend and for watching D while I’m in class.

Dear Salty Sailor,

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We miss you like whoa over here. I thought you might appreciate a catsup on our little bambino. Here are some pics and quips of her hilariousness this week.

-She had a conversation with a deceased house fly in which she said “Oh hey little guy! You’re dead. But, that’s ok. It’s just part of life.” – She talks about Zeus at least once a day, especially when we’re out on the bike. She likes to state that both Zeus and Daddy are in Greece and Zeus sleeps in the clouds. – We watched PeeWee’s Big Adventure for the first time this week. She sat enraptured through the whole schlangdang thang. Not one peep until the credits started rolling. Then she simply turned to me with a huge grin, threw her hands up in excitement and proclaimed “He found his bike!” Glad to know the basic concepts are getting through. Also, I’m sorry you weren’t here for the unveiling of P. Dubbya’s Big Adventure to her brain but I thought it was appropriate given our two-wheel lifestyle as of late. Lastly, she asked if she could do some “crayoning” this morning.

That’s about it for now. We’re enjoying a weekend at Papaw and CeeCee’s house in which Darla wants nothing to do with me. Sigh.

Sending you lots of love. Your former fwife,

e

Seems I don’t have much time to Editorialize

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But that’s ok. A photo post is probably just as sufficient and far less annoying than parental boasting. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up to date for Mr. Wright, who is now sailing the Mediterranean for 3 months. We feel sorry for him….

Gypsies use the back door

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What tastes better than regular breakfast? Gypsy Breakfast!

Nowadays, folks can just buy whatever they want instead of using some old-fashioned ingenuity. There is a gadget out there to do just about everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Especially in parenting. It still baffles me all the things parents pull out of their bag-o’-tricks to entertain, clothe, and diaper children. Necessity is the mother of invention. Invention requires creativity and a little gumption. I’ll boast by saying I’m proud that Mike and I have taken on parenting in a somewhat DIY type fashion. I think we fall somewhere slightly between 2 and 3 on a scale from 1 to 10 in regards to Gadget Parenting. To me, the creativity of parenting is one of the most rewarding aspects. It can be more tasking but creating games, stories, activities to help my toddler get through life lets me flex my imagination. Coming up with a way to dress my child for a week with only a burlap sack and an old shoe lace sounds like a challenge I’d be up for. If you are a new or expecting parent I HIGHLY urge you to forgo some of the gizmos that are seemingly shoved down your throat these days.

One of my favorite tricks as of late is probably one of the oldest in the oldest parenting book: DRESS UP! My already flashy wardrobe comes in handy so no mass produced kids costumery is used in our house. Wrap a coupla scarves around your head and have yourself a Gypsy Breakfast. Seems like the child likes to wolf it down a little better when in character. Mama might too…

Resurfacing

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It took me a while to really tap into what I want to accomplish with this blog. I wanted to have an agenda before posting much to the interwebs. Even though I feel like there are so many indefinites in life at the wrucker household these days, I finally have found a purpose. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and now I’m set on exacting that path. I’m hoping this will be a nice jumble of our personal family updates, parenting tidbits but also a platform for some of my impending doula work. Very exciting stuff!

For now though I’m just gonna post some of life according to my iphone. Enjoy!

My two personal faves at the bottom. Now you’re all caught up on life here.

 

Febs 2.0.11

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This past week was actually a very joyous one despite my little, ahem, emotional outpouring. Some goodies that happened: Cosmic cousin weekend visit, divinations, Interpol concert, tutu clad heart-shaped pancake Valentine’s Breakfast party!, yummy homemade curry, oodles of fancy valentines treats – ours seen here

because nothing says i love you like bacon butt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riesling Bota Box!, paternal grandparent visit, rockin bbq dinner, girls night in during boys night out complete with midnight carnitas taco delivery, earning $25 gas card, and last but not least some self maintenance time for things like workin on the fitness, blogging, and Letter Project.

The Realz Dealz

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Ingest Truth Serum. Verbal Diarrhea Commence:

One of the real reasons I’m writing this blog is to try to create something more for myself. Or perhaps it’s to come to peace with my current life. I haven’t figured it out yet. I’ll keep ya POSTed.

I find myself to be pretty content these days, but I just feel this burning inside me (don’t worry, doc says it isn’t THAT) to give more, get more, do more, be more. MORE MORE MORE! Huh, maybe that’s where my two-year old gets it.

Maybe it’s because I feel inadequate. I feel like the things I’ve achieved, am currently achieving and have yet to achieve are not enough for this world. I wanna do something great. I have found a great passion and satisfaction in raising babies and one thirty-two-year-old husband but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. Is this what mediation is for? Gotta get more involved in that.

Maybe it’s because I feel cut-off. It’s sinking in that I’ll never go back to a social circle as tight-knit as the one I had in DC. Besides a few very fantastic, close friends Columbus doesn’t even come close in that department. I just miss all my friends and what’s worse is I don’t really seem to be able to make the time to stay in touch. Maybe I don’t make it a priority because I feel my life isn’t that eventful and I’d feel silly comparing notes with my jet setting lovelies. Maybe it’s because every time I try to keep up I just end up getting resentful and down on myself that I’m not out there experiencing what they are. What’s wrong with me?

i feel i’m not as good at keeping in touch as I used to be. I can’t concentrate on the phone. I feel like i’m wasting time when I sit down to email and I shouldn’t be indulging in something like that for myself. I’m upset that i’m not afforded the luxury of keeping up with my friends. But it’s a choice I made. Everyone has seen the mom (most likely on MTV, sorry Teen Moms 2) texting, or chatting away on their celly while baby is left unengaged. That’s not me. I don’t get on facebook everyday. I certainly don’t update or post or share or whatever they call it even weekly. I don’t see how other moms have the time! I don’t even check my own email everyday. My child is the recipient of my attention. That’s not because I’m a superior mom, it’s because I’m an inferior multitasker.

The only way I can seem to stay in touch is through old-fashioned snail mail. I have a few good pen pals but this year it’s my goal to expand. That’s why I created The Letter Project for myself. I hope it works.

I’m gonna sign off on this post for now. I’ll try to be back right after these messages with a positive post to remind myself of the triumphs and accomplishments of the last week.

Ice Age Parenting

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There’s nothing like a good old winter storm power outage to bring me back to reality about my parenting. I consider our household to be a “low TV” household but I realize, especially during the winter months, we’ve come to rely on it a bit too much. Our power was gracious enough to wait until after the morning coffee was brewed before it cut out so today it was refreshing to sit down with my joe, a pile of books, puzzles and Darla while we ate breakfast instead of turning on a Thomas episode. Technology you are a Jezebel.