Month in Review: May 2022

Main Events

This month, on my first Mother’s Day, we had C3’s baby dedication at church! (I would also have been fine with a baby baptism – I don’t feel super strongly either way – but my church takes the dedication route, so that’s what we did.) I had imagined this moment for most of my adult life. C3 wore Taylor’s christening gown from when he was a baby. There was a short ceremony and he was formally presented to the congregation. <3

My sister and nieces were in attendance, and we got some good family pics.

Reading

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (re-read) (4 stars) It’s a good time to revisit Gilead… even though I had to stop watching the show after a few episodes because it was too much for me. I just got The Testaments from the library while everything is still fresh.

No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear by Kate Bowler (4.5 stars) I expected this to be more instructive than Bowler’s previous Everything Happens for a Reason, so it was a pleasant surprise to find it personal and memoirish. She’s just great.

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (5 stars) I enjoyed this SO MUCH. Someone recently told me that the audiobook is even better. Dave is a good and interesting guy. I already felt sad for him about Taylor Hawkins’ death, but after reading this, the loss feels even more tragic.

In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer (4 stars) Fun romcom about an interior designer who is helped out of an embarrassing situation by a handsome stranger on the subway. An onlooker makes them Internet famous, and hijinks ensue.

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab (3.5 stars) I desperately needed a refresher on boundaries. This book is accurate and well-written, but didn’t personally help me that much, because many of the solutions have already been tried. Definitely check it out if you need help in this area though.

Listening

This is a banger, and I enjoy it extra knowing it would have been my ANTHEM at other points in my life. This is for you, 22-year-old me.

I’m only halfway through the Maintenance Phase episode about calories, but it’s living up to the hype and has made me LOL several times.

Watching

I really haven’t had time to watch anything, other than This Is Us and Better Call Saul. The last couple of This Is Us episodes were beautiful. I guess I have to find a new favorite show now! :\

Around Town

As previously mentioned, we had covid for the first time in the back half of April. I came out of quar ready to party!! I’ve been feeling unproductive, but as I look back on May, I see it’s because I’ve been doing more living than I have in years. First, I went to the last night of Beale Street Music Fest with Ashley. I haven’t seen her much in these times and was happy to be reunited. We saw Modest Mouse, Counting Crows, and Weezer.

Just a couple of days later, I had dinner at Venice Kitchen with friends for Ashley’s birthday! I finally ordered the stuffed shells, and they’ll be my go-to from now on.

For her Mother’s Day present, I took my mom to the immersive Van Gogh exhibit. C3 joined us. It was a beautiful and calming experience for all! I impulse-bought a print of Starry Night Over the Rhone (my favorite part of the show) and have hung it in the bedroom.

Of course, May was also dominated by the playoffs. Taylor and I took turns attending games so someone would be home with C3. The Grizzlies lost the conference semifinals to the Warriors in 6 games. It was an excessively dramatic series, including members of Grizz Twitter getting actual death threats from Warriors fans. Getting heated about the playoffs is part of the fun, but the level of hostility from their fanbase was way over the line. I really hope not to repeat this matchup next postseason. While I of course hoped we would go further, I was a little relieved to be done with the late tipoffs and free up more of my limited energy.

Debra and the girls were in town again for the annual Cooper-Young Garden Walk! We didn’t cover a ton of ground, but it was fun. A friend’s house was on the walk and we got to visit with her rabbit! He looks just like my family’s beloved Bun whom we had for eight years.

Greek Fest was back in full force this year. I went with Kathy, her sister, and our friend MaryElaine. We got caught in the rain and bought Opa! tote bags to put over our heads for the long walk back to the car.

Finally, our friends Daniel and Sara got married at the Botanic Garden last weekend. The beautiful ceremony was followed by one of the most fun receptions I’ve been to, including baby goats!! I had a fantastic time. It was the first wedding I’ve been to since Ashley’s wedding on New Year’s Eve 2019. Whew.

At Home

I can’t say I’ve ever redecorated a room without intending to, but it happened this month. First I decided that at this time, we need a duvet cover that’s not plain white. (The laundry was killing me.) We agreed on this duvet cover from Target. A few days later, our bed broke… not for the first time. It had been supported underneath by milk crates basically since we got it. For Taylor it was the last straw, so we made a (hopefully) long-term investment in a Thuma bed. After one night in the new bed, the back pain I’ve had for C3’s entire life disappeared! (Important lesson: sometimes the problem isn’t you!!) To help support the bed, we also got a rug. At this point I still hadn’t taken the new duvet out of the package and was worried it would now be too much with the rug, but I think it works. I rounded everything out with some new throw pillow covers. And there you go. The accidental bedroom remodel.

We lowered C3’s crib, just in the nick of time because he’s starting to pull up on things! I also completed the herculean task of sorting all the hand-me-down baby clothes we’ve received. It took forever, but size transitions should be easy from now on.

May is one of the prettiest months in our yard. Here we have our late-bloomer azalea, which flowers after all the others are done (I feel a kinship); one of our many beautiful oak leaf hydrangeas; and a stunning coral begonia that I happened upon at Home Depot. Seriously, if you have a shady yard, they are the flower that keeps on giving.

We’re enjoying the new lawn that Taylor and my dad sodded a couple of months ago. That was only the beginning of the backyard improvements. They’ve built a deck off the gazebo, and this week a lattice privacy wall is going up, as well as a small deck right off the back door. Our back steps are a little hazardous even for adults, so I’m thankful to make the area safer before C3 is walking. I’ll do a big reveal of the yard next month!

Wellness

I did my 50th ride on the Peloton! My overall stats this month were meh, but it felt good to hit that milestone. I’ve been doing more 30-minute rides and feeling okay (yes, my Peloton progress has been very slow), so I think my new goal is three 30-minute rides a week. That gets me closer to my pre-everything cardio routine of 40 minutes three times a week. We’ll see how feasible that is. Last week I managed exactly one ride because too much was going on. I could write a whoooole lot right now about my schedule, exercise, and feelings about my body. In the end, I’m choosing to value my life balance and mental health at least equally to fitness and weight loss. I still think that’s a good decision, even though it feels bad to be celebrating my baby’s first birthday still in my postpartum bod.

On a mental health note, this month has been difficult. I know I’m not alone. If you’re an American with good mental health right now, are you even paying attention?? I am grief-stricken by everything happening in this country. I have some mild depression and can never catch up on everything that needs doing. I’m ashamed of the fact that, once again, my baby is almost one and I’m still largely in survival mode. I’m also experiencing a level of exhaustion that feels off, so I’m planning to get checked out soon. It could be, like, low iron, or just the fact that I can count my year’s full nights of sleep on one hand, but it could also be long covid! Who knows!

Random Happiness

This month at church, I made my liturgist debut! Yet another thing I, a woman, wouldn’t have been allowed to do for most of my adult life. It was an honor. I enjoyed doing it and am already thinking of ways to improve.

I got this shirt at a rummage sale. It brings me joy.

Baby Update

C3 got his first, much needed haircut this month! We took him to Taylor’s longtime stylist. He did great and was clearly feeling himself afterwards. I knew he would instantly look older after the haircut, yet it still caught me by surprise. Sigh.

My family has always done a routine with babies where you say, “How big is [name]? SO BIG!” and hold up your arms. C3 has caught on, but he looks more like a human shrug emoji when he does it, which is hilarious. “How big am I? Eh I’m not sure?”

He’s too big for this swing now, but we let him be in it with supervision because he LOVES the bears.

My mom found this striped Hanna Andersson PJ set for him at thrift. I can’t get over the cuteness. I’m also excited that he can now wear the onesies I got at my plant-themed baby shower.

The biggest C3 news of May is that HE’S MOBILE! He started crawling about two weeks ago and is now zipping all over the house, especially to places he shouldn’t be. For now, we’ve put a gate on his bedroom door to keep him away from the stairs. He is also pulling up on things, but not standing independently yet.

Final note: a Twitter friend sent me some Shea Moisture baby bath products when C3 was tiny. I used them up and then used other kinds we had, but I have now repurchased the Shea Moisture because it’s better than anything else I’ve tried. The baby wash goes a long way, and it’s really moisturizing and smells great. When he’s a big kid, I’ll be able to smell this and go right back to his babyhood.

Your Monthly Rufus

Rufus turned 8 this month! I refuse to accept that he’s getting closer to his senior cat years. Lately we’ve spent more time together, which makes me happy because I feel bad about him getting less attention. We’ve resumed our routine of morning pets as soon as I wake up. I’m interested to see how things unfold now that C3 is increasingly able to chase Rufus. Hopefully he’ll continue to be tolerant of his brother.