Our new life

Well, it is no surprise to anyone when I say that our lives are different now. It's no surprise to me, either. What came as somewhat of a surprise was how in-my-face-different our lives looked this past weekend. Our nice little "family vacation" trip to Wyoming stands in stark contrast to every other "family vacation" Jon and I have ever done. And we do vacations pretty well. Here are some ways it is obvious to me that our life will never be the same...

In our old life, Jon and I would have shared a suitcase, and would have each brought one other bag with books, computer, snacks, all the extras. In our new life, a 3 day trip required a suitcase for us, suitcase for Jonathan, carseat, stroller, bouncy chair just in case, diaper bag, bag of snacks, play mat just in case, breastpump just in case, pack n play, BabyBjorn AND SleepyWrap... you guessed it--just in case. Our car was more full than it was when we did a 17 day cross country road trip.

In our old life, we may or may not have packed the camera for this trip. We definitely would not have packed the video camera. In our new life, I barely go to the grocery store without some kind of recording device because what if he does something cute??!?

In our old life, I enjoyed walking in and out of the tournament room while Jon was playing chess. I would stand and watch his game for a while, or sometimes even pull up a chair to watch (not that I had any idea of what was going on--I would just count the pieces every once in a while to see who was "ahead.") In our new life, I was thankful that most of Jon's games were played next to a window so I could watch him through that. On the rare occasion that I went into the room to check his game, as soon as Jonathan made the slightest peep, I assumed that was a warning for a screaming bellow that was imminently about to erupt from him, and I made a beeline for the exit. I still counted the pieces, though.

In our old life, road trips for Jon and I were something I looked forward to for weeks because we had such a nice, uninterrupted long stretch of time just to talk. We have great conversations and sometimes I crave and hour to two just to catch up with him and hear his thoughts. In our new life, once Jonathan fell asleep, our conversation basically topped off with a whispered "Do you want McDonald's for dinner?"

In our old life, I never gave a thought to the noise produced by those McDonald's wrappers. In our new life, the wrappers are deafeningly loud when crumpled up and pose a serious threat to my child's sound sleep.

In our old life, discovering that our hotel came with good channels was possibly as exciting as the trip itself. It was not rare to find Jon and I laying in bed watching cable for hours at a time during our vacation. What a treat! In our new life, I spent hours watching Food Network on our vacation... only this time it was on mute.

In our old life, the down time during Jon's chess tournaments would have been happily spent catching up on tasks on the computer, reading, catching up with phone chats. In our new life, the sound of keys typing was too insanely loud to even consider inflicting upon my napping child, only the kindle provided sufficient quiet as compared to turning pages of an actual book, and I dared not risk stepping outside for a phone chat 1)because the open door would let too much light in the room and 2)my voice would be too loud.

In our old life, since I wouldn't have been worried about the noisy computer keys, I would have updated our blog. In our new life, you are getting the update now that we are home and Jonathan is sleeping in a separate room from me right now.

On the other hand, I wouldn't have had a blog to update. Our old life wasn't nearly as interesting.

In our old life, my reading list for vacation would probably include a gripping fictional read and a mind stimulating spiritual growth read. In our new life, my brain capacity has only room for Anne of Green Gables... and for the non-fiction selection: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child--an ironic choice considering my child did not sleep on our vacation.

In our old life, we would have remained at the hotel until our expected and reserved check out time. In our new life, we got a full refund (!) for our third night because we wanted to leave early. Yep. We left early.

In our old life, being stuck in traffic on the way home would have been a bummer. In our new life, it means more opportunity for my child to remain sleeping before we have to get him out of the car. Never thought I'd be excited to see traffic.

On the other hand, traffic also alerts me to every possible sound that other cars can make. I silently will them in my head to get their breaks fixed, turn down their music, stop passing our car so fast, get an emissions test, turn off your flashing lights. Please, people, we have a sleeping baby in the car. Could you be so kind as to eliminate any sensory stimuli that could be emanating from your vehicle? Your friends in the silent Chevy Cobalt would appreciate it.

In our old life, I wouldn't have had any cute pictures of our adorable son to show you...

Both new outfits are from Aunt Melissa! I thought for sure he wouldn't fit in the long one for another month or two--but we have such a big boy! 

But in our old life I wouldn't have gotten my cuddle-quota filled within the first few hours of every day. I wouldn't have been ok with being woken up so frequently at night because it meant I got to spend time nursing my sweet boy. I wouldn't have been able to put another person first in such a complete way. I wouldn't have known I could love someone this way.

Yeah, I wouldn't trade this life for anything.