The Simple Things

Dear Norah Bird,

I came across a quote today that read:

"If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money."

This quote very much represents my parenting philosophy. One might not know that by looking around our apartment at all of your crap stuff. Our living room is full of pricey items considered the bare minimum for infant care and distraction development in the 21st century: your pack-n-play (which lately doubles as a toy box), jumparoo, activity mat, and swing, etc. There is even a very large dog crate that also serves as an end table because when you were born, Oakley lost his room. That's right. In addition to all of the above-mentioned can't-live-withouts, you still needed a whole room for your actual necessities including a place to sleep.

So many toys!

All of your stuff aside, I do believe that the best moments in child-rearing come free. Or nearly free. In cutting back our expenses over the last year and with your daddy's recent promotion, we're very fortunate in that I can be a stay-at-home mom for you. By choosing to put my career on hold indefinitely, we'll be bringing in less money but I'll get to spend so much time with you. This has already proven to be a valuable investment over the last 7 months.

Just hanging out.

I get to spend every waking minute with you and we get to move through the day at our own pace. We can wake up slow and ease into the day in our pajamas until noon or later. We can pet the dog. Again. We can stop and spend an hour examining a blade of grass. We can take extra-long walks if we want to. We can read the same story 17 times in a row. We visit the baby in the mirror countless times throughout the day. Because we have nowhere to be and I have nothing to distract me from you.

Heyyyy!!!

Looks of wonder.

And so while you may have a lot of toys and stuff, it's the time spent with you as you discover how this world works that make my experience as a stay-at-home mom absolutely priceless.

Love,
Mom

Easing into our day with some playtime in your nursery.

Good morning, Oakley!

I love this thing! What is it?