Lessons from Ian

It's been nearly 8 months since Ian was born, and my mind is blown with how fast it is going by. How can he already be closer to a year than a newborn?

When I think about how much he has grown, I realize the biggest lesson Ian has taught me in the past 8 months is about being present.

His entire world exists in the moment. He isn't upset about this morning when he got mad and cried waiting for me to finish what I was doing...and he isn't worried about whether he is going to have time tomorrow to play with his blocks. At the present moment, all he is concerned with is sleeping. And when he wakes up, he'll be focused on eating and getting back to playing. Ian lives in the moment.

When I look at Ian I see the "tiny" 9lb 4oz baby they handed me in the hospital. I can't believe that he is well over 20 lbs and standing up. Watching Ian teaches me to be in the moment because he isn't slowing down, and I don't want to miss the baby that he is today.

Confessions of an over-thinker

Wow, it’s been nearly a year since I last took the time to write a complete post. The last time I posted something here I was about to enter my third trimester. I remember thinking that once that semester ended, I would spend hours writing each week before Ian came. That didn’t happen. Then I imagined that I would have all of this poetic, restful time once he was here where he would lay in the basinet while I wrote and sipped coffee. Ha! That didn’t happen either. There were dozens of times when I thought of something I really want to write about, but then didn’t actually sit down to put my thoughts on paper. I even started several posts and never finished them.

So here I am….Ian is 7 months old and I’m back in school. Life has certainly only gotten busier. In thinking about why I haven’t written anything (or at least finished writing something) in nearly 12 months, I can only come up with 1 reason…I have a tendency to be too serious.

First of all, let me say that I love and appreciate this part of my personality. It’s what makes me a good listener (I hope) and I hope it will help me become a good therapist one day. The downside is that I think about things way too much. I think about a blog for too long and then don’t actually finish it…and I miss opportunities to record everyday experiences.

I realize that even this post is a little ironic, as it is just another example of how I think about things too much. Hopefully it can serve as the first step in writing about things both serious and simple...and celebrating beautiful (and not so beautiful) everyday moments.