Give a new band a chance

First of all, yes, I'm still writing about my summer goals. And second of all, looking back on that list of goals, oh my God, I can't believe I didn't play a game of fetch with Cecilia. I especially can't believe it because just now, minutes ago, I realized that I'd let her out, like, um, 45 minutes ago and totally forgot to let her back in. And we don't have a fence. Some things happen to your pets when you have children and one of those things is, well, total neglect.

Anyway, regarding getting into new music: in listing that goal I didn't mean that I needed to get into a "new" band, as in, new to the scene, I just meant that considering the constant NPR soundtrack that is my life, I wanted to listen to some music that was new to me.

J got me an iPod awhile back to replace the one that was stolen from my car (you bastards) and because I have lost the mental capacity to figure out these things for myself, he loaded it up with some music and podcasts he thought I might like.

So I was driving around one day this summer listening to all the songs on shuffle, and the baby - who spent the first two months of his life protesting RATHER LOUDLY at the injustice of being placed in a carseat and taken places - was mercifully asleep, when a song came on that was so immediately catchy and good, that I abandoned my tired-mother "I don't care about anything" persona for a glorious moment.

That song was "VCR" by the xx.

So I listened to the whole album and loved it. And that's how the xx helped me, while in the throngs of second-time-motherhood, remember that there is life beyond babies. And beyond Robert Siegel. Although he is really great, don't get me wrong.

Meditation revisitation, but now more modern

Although I wouldn't say that our current daily schedule "runs smoothly" or anything as dramatic as that, with Nora having started a pre-k program this fall and everyone sleeping well at present, we've fallen into a nice rhythm in the mornings. Usually, while I nurse and change the baby, J gets Nora up and dressed, and they head downstairs. On our more hurried days, when the bed is way too comfortable to get up early and face the world, we get a late start and they hurry off to her school pretty quickly. But on the days we're more put-together - the days I prefer, of naturally - we're able to relax and have coffee for a few minutes, Gabriel happily kicking his feet on the floor and Nora incessantly asking if she can have something to eat.

Last week we were having one of our good days, and I came downstairs with the baby to find J all dressed and ready to go.

He'd been dealing with a few physical complaints here and there and I asked him how he was feeling that morning.

"Great," he told me. "I came down early and meditated for ten minutes."

"You did? Wow. I'm assuming you did your Jesus mantra?"

And he looked at me kind of like I was an idiot, and said, "No. I have a meditation app."