"If" Revisited

I found this in the dusty archives of my computer, and I haven't even re-read it yet, so don't blame me if it's... imperfect. Blame my 20-year-old self. :) I wrote it for a women's studies conference as a revision of Kipling's "If"

“If” Revisited

If you can bend, disallowing the world to break you,
And feel unnamable hurt but let it not contain you,
If you can own your body though gazes hit you
But seek pleasure within their wanting too,
If you can love but into it not wholly dissolve,
Or being lonely, feel your ancestors surround,
Or being slighted, balance forgiveness with resolve,
And yet not on the island of virtue run aground:

If you can rage -- and not make hate your language,
If you can grow -- and not desert your past,
If you can set aside any long-held grudge,
And make one sweet moment the whole day last,
If you can bear the fiercest loves all alone
Not waiting for Death to your truth impart,
Or watch the babies you gave your life to, grown,
And follow them on with a worn-out heart:

If you can make no enemies of near-friends
Though their disparate ways be wholly strange
And love the whole of life no matter the ends,
And never the free truth for lies exchange;
If you can suffer ignorance and edify it,
And allow every sprout of life to grow,
Weeding the poisonous with reverent quiet,
But not razing the whole garden fallow.

If you can lead the race o’er ground you’ve won
And uncover in your tender sisters buried worth
Though too many men call each child "son;"
If gentle spirits find your heart near the earth,
If you can accept all gifts but none prefer,
And remember in distress to seek salt water,
You are the Earth and everyone within her,
And -- always -- you’ll be a Woman, my daughter!

Andrew's sleeping and I'm up getting some desk stuff out of the way. Wow, it's past 8 and he's still asleep, I hope he's not getting a cold.

So, of course I got distracted and started browsing diapers. It reminds me of the days before Andrew was born and I spent hours learning everything I could about cloth diapers, because it was a totally new world to me. Now, of course, I've diapered him for nearly 3 years and it's a little old.

But just look at these diapers! There's loveybums of course, I love those. I have a few of their wool covers, but their fitteds look soo cute. And then a friend loaned me a few little kissaluvs fitteds in the newborn size that are so soft and they have a snap in the front to snap down for the umbilical cord. And, of course, there's firefly. Oh, firefly. I've wanted to try their fitteds since I fell in love with their sister company's fuzbomb wool diaper cover.

Of course, all my love for fitteds and covers was kind of squelched (perhaps for the best?) when my husband found he much preferred all-in-one diapers. And wool covers are kind of a pain, anyway, so we only used them at night when we needed the extra protection. But I would still like to get my hands on a firefly fitted to see what it's like.

Anyway, I managed to protect my paypal account by convincing myself to at least HAVE this child in diapers first to see what we like to put on her before I buy anything. But OH those colors!

I'm so glad that The Daily Show is still funny without Bush.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/54985/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-tue-jan-27-2009

This baby moves so much!

Calvin

Me: Andrew, do you want to see pictures of your cousin Calvin?!
Andrew: Yes! What color are his eyes?
Me: I don't know, let's go find out!

(Andrew thinks they're dark blue, but it's hard to tell from the pics)

What a glorious day!!

To-Do List Update... Week 3!

So, this week, I:

hung up the ikea baskets we've had for months
hung up our curtains (actually Andrei did the blue ones in the baby room
put up hooks on Andrew's walls for this curtains
made deodisks for the diaper pails
tagged stuff for the consignment sale next month
made a grocery list of freezer meals to cook one/freeze one
made list of people to call/email when in labor and when baby comes
read the Vaccine Book and critiques, decided to talk to doc about delaying Hep B but do the full series on time
put labor music on iPod
put stash of water and food in my room
got groceries (oops, no more money!)
assembled some casseroles to freeze
processed the remaining beeswax (still needs to be melted and filtered a second time, but then I can make the candles!)
gave capsules and capsule machine to Suzanne
decided where to put birth tub (it comes tomorrow!)

Didn't:
sew anything, except for a fun little feely toy for the baby that Suzanne inspired me to make
learn the stitch for Andrew's wool blanket, or get the thread or anything...
make candles
order seeds (come on..)
finish freezing all the dinners I have planned yet

So the only things left are fun things! I get to wait around for the baby while sewing, making candles, ordering seeds, cooking, and generally relaxing and playing with Andrew. I can stop saying, "just a minute," and "later," when Andrew says those magical words, "Mommy, will you play with me?"

wow!

I feel great today! This is really strange. All of a sudden last night I found I could touch my toes, and pick up my legs! And stretch and bend and even hop a little! Something must have changed about her position because I just don't feel like waddling and I even rolled out of bed this morning with no complaints. Although I did wake up at midnight, and 2-something, and 4-something...