I'm torturing my husband... and a Top 5 list

I am thinking Chris might not have wanted to have children had he known what would likely be involved: boxing up all of our books in order to make our apartment safe for Sean! At any rate, our buddy Glen scored a bunch of boxes at work (thanks Glen!!!) and, with Jen's help (thanks Jen!!!), we spent yesterday afternoon boxing up books. Chris stayed up way too late continuing the project and I suspect he'll be tired today-- though Sean is helping him by staying asleep as well. What seemed like way too many boxes (20 of those sturdy "Bankers Boxes") are now full, with still about 30-40% of our books still on the shelves. Oh well. For those wondering, books are not a Sean hazard per se, but our bookshelves are very versatile, not very sturdy, stacking shelves from Crate and Barrel that won't be safe for Sean in a month or so. I admit with all the additional baby stuff (which we try to keep to a minimum) in our small one bedroom apartment, I am excited at the prospect of having more space even though I'll miss the books. Since I haven't found time to read more than about 25 pages of my current book since December, I can recognize that, for me, having access to books isn't key right now.
(In case any fellow readers are contemplating parenthood and scared at never reading again, let me say that my lack of reading is somewhat typical, I think, of new parents, but exacerbated by the fact that I work 8-10 hours per week at home as a part of my 80% work schedule. Theoretically, you could be reading, sleeping, cleaning, watching TV, etc., during those hours, so don't fret. And, Sean has not evolved naturally to a sleep-through-the-night baby and we aren't "training" him to do so-- see my last post-- so I need to go to bed earlier than I would otherwise. I gather lots of new parents still watch a good amount of TV, for instance-- that's just never something we've been into here, except for The Wire and a few other things. But, I digress... making this seem more like a Chris post than a Merrie post!)

We've got other things going on this weekend, of course. Yesterday morning Sean and I went down to the National Mall for the Race for the Cure. Thanks to all those who made a donation! I was moved by the parade of the survivors and saddened at the heartbreak for our team captain Shawn's loss of his 20-something sister a few years ago. Sean wore pink which meant, of course, everyone thought he was a girl, which was fine. Maura took the picture to the right and rightly captions it "Real Men Wear Pink."
Last night, we joined a dozen friends to celebrate our buddy Dana's birthday over yummy Lebanese food in The Confederacy, and this afternoon we are off to the semi-finals and, hopefully, finals of the ultiimate frisbee tournament. It's a really beautiful day to be out, and for Sean to bond with sweaty folks at the sideline. Looking ahead, we are journeying up to the Lodge in PA next weekend to see our wonderful and PREGNANT friend Annie (whose wedding at the Lodge last year included my stint as a pregnant bridesmaid), then I'll be crazy busy at the RESULTS conference here in DC (June 20-24). I'm nervous about the conference since it is normally very exhausting and that's when I can sleep through the night once I find my bed back home. Good thing we'll be in Maine June 27-July 11 where I can hopefully recover; I hear that lots of lobstah, steamahs, raw oysters, and swimming in a Maine lake help with that!
Since it appears the menfolks of Calvert Street are still snoozing, I'll spend a few minutes on something I've been composing in my head for a while:
Top 5 Best Baby-Related Decisions We've Made:
1. Thinking creatively (or unambitiously, I guess, from the vantage point of our professional lives) to split time home with Sean. As I've mentioned before, I particularly appreciate that we've set up a dynamic of real co-parenting, which the feminist in me appreciates. And, getting going in the morning is so much easier when we don't have to get Sean anywhere!
2. The Ergo carrier. People are always amazed at how seldom we use a stroller. Of course, part of that is because we'd have to get the stroller down the equivelent of 1+ flight of stairs to get out of our apartment, but also I think we both love the freedom and interaction of wearing Sean. The Ergo has been great since Sean's weight is mostly supported at the hips-- which means I was able to carry his 23 lbs. for about 6 hours, and at least 5 miles, yesterday with only a bit of soreness afterwards.
3. Breastfeeding. I feel so lucky that we've been able to do make this work, and have nothing but sympathy (unlike, I think, some breastfeeding supporters) for those who weren't able to do so. It makes life so much easier for me to head out for the day without worrying about bottles... we've got all that we need!
4. Having friends and friends of friends with kids. In particular, we've been so lucky to know Stacey, Aleck and Amanda not only for their fabulous company, but also for the supply of items we borrow out of their basement and then return when we are done. We've been able to save a lot of money by borrowing their infant car seat (which Sean has outgrown, of course!) and stroller base, their swing (which Sean never really took to but I gather many babies do), their Bumbo seat and now their jumperoo thing. They've been so generous and we've been so mooching. We also lucked out with loaned/donated clothes, especially the box of stuff from Gaby and Steve and the multiple trash bags of hand-me-downs from Jen's former co-worker up north.
5. Cloth diapers (we use Kushies all-in-one) + washer/dryer in our apartment. I debated about including this since it's honestly quite annoying to rinse/scrub Sean's poop out before we presoak the diapers in the water/vinegar pail, but I can see how much money we are saving, and trash space we are not filling, by using them. Since I have some guilt over adding to the U.S.'s disproportionate high carbon footprint, it makes me happy to feel like we are putting in some effort to minimize our impact.
Well, the boys are up and breakfast calls. Love to all!