Friday, May 12, 2006

You're not alone

Oh, my sad little blog, how I neglect you. Does it comfort you to know you are not alone? These days, I neglect just about everything and everyone. I certainly feel like I neglect my daughter. I know I neglect work. Here are only some of the other things I neglect (in no particular order), just to make you feel better:

  1. Laundry. There are at least 4 loads heaped in piles on my basement floor at any one time. We did two last night, and there are still 4 to be done.
  2. My cat. How have I not shared this with you? I neglect my cat and now she is punishing me by peeing all over the house. She is sick, very sick, and Nate has to give her IVs every night. See, neglect can kill, and I do have funny pics of the IV thing.
  3. Photos. I have hundreds I haven't edited or posted.
  4. Dusting. We're going to start naming the dust bunnies in the house and pretend they are pets. Who needs the cat?
  5. My health. It's so much easier to order out than cook healthy food, and it's so much easier to collapse from exhaustion than to actually exercise.
  6. My ass. See above. It deserves its own mention, though, because I can't use the whole I-just-had-a-baby excuse much longer.
  7. My thank you notes. I owe friends and family so much gratitude, and I can't find time to write out a simple card. My other mom friends have no trouble, but I am simply an ingrate. I cringe when I think of it.
  8. Clementine's baby book.
  9. Any sort of photo book, archive or storage system--thousands of photos of the last few months, maybe a dozen prints. If the Internet explodes, it will be as if my child never had an infancy.
  10. General correspondence.
  11. Friends, near and far.
  12. Family, all of whom are far away, which is a huge pain in the ass.
  13. My eyebrows. Seriously, it's bad.
  14. The newspaper. I'm averaging about 2 a week on a good week. I didn't even know about Britney's second pregnancy until yesterday, not to mention the latest bad news about our country and government.
  15. Dishes. How many of these are cleaning related so far?
  16. My car. Clean? Wax? Oil change? Why do these things need so much maintenance?
  17. My bills. Ask my sister--I'm a deadbeat who misses deadlines and forgets to pay things.
  18. Email. I have a lot to answer but just no time.
  19. Reading real books. Not parenting manuals, not magazines. Whatever happened to a good book?
  20. Writing. Have I mentioned my advanced degree in poetry? My unfinished manuscript? My hundreds of pages of journals and prompts?
  21. My marriage. Family bed + fatigue + insanity = neglect
  22. Running. I used to run all the time. Now I'll be lucky to puff my way through next week's 5K. Last year, I had the best excuse ever (pregnant, ahem), but this year...not so much.
  23. Philanthropy. Volunteering.
  24. Movies. The last one I saw in the theater was Brokeback Mountain.
  25. My vacuum. What is this strange word?
  26. Yardwork. You could braid my grass and harvest the weeds.
  27. Intellect. See points 19 and 24 about books and movies but include also the way my vocabulary has deteriorated and now includes calling Nate "Daddy" and talking a lot about poop.
  28. Manners.
Dang! I was going to try to make it to 30, but I just realized I've been neglecting one of my most important duties of the day: PUMPING. And while I do type one handed very well and have even found ways to balance the bottles so I can have both hands free to drive or do hell knows what, I'm starting to worry about the inevitable boob sag that will come when this nursing parade is over. And so like that, I'm off to further neglect you, poor blog. But now maybe you're not feeling so lonely.

7 comments:

Adrienne said...

yea!! So I'm NOT the only one?!!

Emily with an M said...

Thank you for your honesty! I feel such a connection with you right now and I don't even know you!! Thanks for the pumping comment- I really appreciate what you wrote about not becoming a martyr for breastfeeding. I guess I am sort of martyring myself...the more I read about thrush online the less it seems to match with what my doctors are saying. Thrush seems like a bitch to control (and I can certainly attest to that!) so I don't really have to swear off nursing just yet. I'm rambling- Happy Mother's Day, Amanda.

Emily with an M said...

PS. Your daughter is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

Lisa said...

HA! You post almost everyday so thats pretty freaking good! I can go days neglecting my blog. I wish I could keep up with mine the way you do!
givingmommy.typepad.com

Jenny Wynter said...

So, SO hear you! There's a line in "Cold Mountain" (the book, not the movie) which goes something like 'Ada had never imagined that so much effort could be involved in simply surviving.' That's exactly how I feel most days, like WHEN WILL IT END??!?!? Not that I'm trying to get through a civil war or even harvesting my own lettuce or anything, but you know. Laundry is tough.

Rock on.

Sharpie said...

There are only so many hours in a day girlie - cut yourself some slack - you are doing an AMAZING job!!!!!

Allison said...

I second most of that! I just keep thinking that some day I will be bored and play catch up then. Right? Maybe 20 years?!?