Our Village

My sidekick and I have been pretty inseparable for the extent of his precious little life. The past 15 months outside my womb have resembled the first 9 inside pretty closely. Some days he appears to want to climb right back in where life was safer and simpler, and definitely cozier. The few people who still ask me to go out and do things after 7:30pm have some serious perseverance, because Isaiah does not go to bed without me, at least he never has...

Last week, Facebook showed me this picture from one year ago that day. Isaiah working his first conference booth at three-months-old.

Since then, he's been our Booth Babe at 8 conferences, and has accompanied me on 15 work trips.

Ironically though, when I saw that post from a year ago, I was sitting at another CVM booth, this time alone. For the first time in his life, I had gone to work without him.

Three mornings in a row, I went to the exhibit hall at 6:30am and didn't return till after noon. Which was not only the longest I'd ever been away from him, but also by far the longest he'd been without nursing, except a few nights. Once when I pulled back up to our place after the conference, he started crying as soon as he saw me. His caregivers had done such a stellar job, I don't even think he knew I hadn't been there all along!

Our village of helpers that allowed me to work my first conference solo in a year and a half.

I read once that it's insane to try to work from home and mom from home full-time, and there's probably some truth to that. But with support like these superstars it's possible.

This awesome crew of nannies even allowed me to play in the conference's tennis tournament, the kind of thing I loved to do before I had another person attached to me at all times. During one match, when I caught a glimpse of Isaiah passing by the court and made the mistake of saying "Hi," he lost it. I basically double faulted the whole game away after that, but the tournament director was totally impressed that I was able to keep playing. I think I had him convinced that this was the kind of thing I did all the time, when of course it was only my first naïve, and belated, attempt at such independence.
I sometimes think of single mothers with 5 kids and can only say "bless their hearts!" I have no idea how they get through an hour. During this trip, on the other hand, Isaiah, was a single baby, with basically 5 mothers. And we could still barely keep him safe and sound. There were tumbles, choking hazards, attempts to dash for the parking lot, sleepless nights, and screaming fits. Clearly we're raising him to be rotten, and he's loved beyond measure.

I thought about titling this post "The End of an Era," as I started to let myself grieve the loss of his 24-hour need for Mommy, and at the same time daydream of potentially simpler fall school visits for work, sans the sidekick. But, upon our arrival home from Florida he decided to make up for lost time and stick closer than ever day and night. So it doesn't look like our era as conjoined twins is quite over yet. I'm so thankful for the loving village of help we have to make life and work with this sweet silly boy not just possible, but so much fun!