Family Archives - Page 7 of 9

This new song

Martina: I heard this really cool new song today that you might like. *starts playing song*

Me: Hmm, I like it.

Martina: Yeah, I heard it this morning and really liked it.

Me: Actually it sounds kind of familiar. It’s got kind of an 80s vibe to it, sort of a Punk Rock era feel to it. You’re certain that this is a new song?

Martina: Yes, I just discovered it this morning.

Me: (now certain that this is an old song but unable to pinpoint what it is, I Shazam the track and find out it’s Town Called Malice by The Jam) *pulling up the Wikipedia entry* Ah yes, it’s by The Jam, a British punk rock band, recorded in 1982.

Martina: Well, it’s new to me!

The babymobile

We’ve been planning this for a while, and waiting for the right time to pounce, since we were in a good position financially, but the other day, we finally said “adieu” to Martina’s Altima Coupe, which wasn’t exactly well suited to transporting a small person, and we got ourselves a good deal on a new Volkswagen Tiguan.

We really liked its safety features, the extra room for transporting Ellie and her “stuff”, and the panoramic sunroof, so that Ellie can look at the birds and the stars.

Seven years of awesome

Today is the seventh anniversary of Martina and me getting married. It’s certainly had its up and downs, but there’s been far more ups than downs and right now we’re definitely riding a high.

The biggest change this year has of course been that we are now parents, which has brought along its own challenges, but our marriage is as strong as ever, and I couldn’t be happier being married to my best friend.

Thoughts on 21st century education

This past week, I was in discussion with a few people on Twitter about the state of modern education, principally in the United States, but in the Western world in general.

I was sent a couple of articles to read. The first was about the enormous amount of homework that children do. This one is particularly true of children in the United States. And then someone sent me a follow-up article, about how children are starved of play time these days.

The first article infuriated me. Cultural exports have long suggested that American children are overworked, even compared to little old me, from America’s special relationship, the UK, but the article confirmed it for me: American kids are being forced into several hours of homework every night, even in some cases for kindergarten!

Days off

Parenting wouldn’t be nearly as taxing if you could just get one day off a week

Thoughts on child-rearing after 12 weeks

Well, today marks 12 complete weeks of parenting. It’s been a rollercoaster to say the least, and that goes for all three of us.

The first 8 weeks were particularly hard. Before that point, Ellie wasn’t responding much to us, and she was just very needy, without much “reward” for Martina and me.

For the first 2 weeks, we were in the honeymoon period: we were infatuated with our new arrival, and I was at home full-time, so we could get everything done and we felt accomplished. But then I needed to go back to work. And Martina was essentially home by herself except for a few visits from her Mom.

Tornadoes

I just got scared because I thought that was a tornado. I don’t even have time to deal with a tornado right now.

Stop making breastfeeding weird

Even before I left the UK, people were starting to get a bit weird about breastfeeding in public, but it was still fairly commonplace.

After moving to the States, I’ve realised that it’s an action which is much more taboo on this side of the pond, which infuriates me to no end.

Martina showed me a blog post about it recently that sums up exactly how I feel about it, so I encourage you to read it and actively support breastfeeding mothers and stand against bigots who see naturally nourishing your child as some sort of shameful act.

Read the blog post

Gym membership? Pffft!

Thinking of improving your upper body strength? Looking at joining your local gym? Save your money. Have unprotected sex instead: you might not notice much change in the first 9 months, but you’ll get pretty buff between months 10 & 12.

3 a.m. sit-ups

When you have a baby, you learn to make the most of every minute. So when she wakes up for a feeding at 3 a.m., getting in some sit-ups is perfectly sane!