I always like to share life updates on the blog — this is one of those, so if that doesn’t interest you, by all means skip this post (I won’t be offended, I promise!).
I’m so grateful to those who have been reading OMAAT for a long time, because I’ve been writing this blog for over half of my life, at this point, so I consider ya’ll to be an important part of my life. Well, there’s an especially exciting update this week (at least for my family), and the timing is kind of beautiful.
Jet is the newest addition to our family
Nearly three years ago, Ford and I welcomed our first son, Miles, into the world. Last week, we welcomed the newest addition to our family, Jet. Suffice it to say that the past six days have been a bit chaotic, but they’ve also been beautiful beyond words.
For months, we’ve been telling Miles he’d get a baby brother. He was very excited at the concept, but also a little confused, as he has had a little doll that he has been calling baby brother. But I think the smile on his face when he actually met “baby brother” says it all. I was worried he was going to say “no thank you” or “I don’t want it” (his preferred way to reject something, in toddler talk), but instead, he said “my turn” (we’re working on the “please” part).
My gosh, how life has changed. I started this blog back in college, and then eventually moved into hotels full-time, where my biggest worry was making sure I left before the check-out time. Now it’s just nonstop chaos… but in the best way possible.
Jet is healthy and couldn’t be easier or more pleasant, at least on the scale of newborns. Miles is also adjusting well. It’s funny, because Miles is very excited about Jet, and loves him a lot. But he’s also understandably subconsciously struggling with jealousy, so that has been the biggest challenge of the past six days. Any time someone is doing something with Jet, suddenly he also wants attention from that person.
Being a parent is pretty awesome. It’s all-consuming, but it’s amazing how it gets better by the day, especially when they start to show their personality and really become “little humans.” That’s when it becomes clear that they’re sponges, and just absorb everything.
We’ve enjoyed every stage so far in a different way, and we can’t wait for some time down the road, when we can travel a lot with them internationally, and actually have them get a lot out of it. I’m well on the road to dealing with so many of the frustrations that some OMAAT readers report, about finding four award seats over school breaks.
My mom even gets to meet Jet!
Back on Mother’s Day in 2019, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. We knew she couldn’t be cured, so it was just a function of how much more time we’d get with her (which I suppose applies to all of us, come and think of it). She has undergone treatment to give her more time. Fortunately we’ve had way more time with her than any of us expected, and for the past six plus years, family (especially my mom) has been by far my number one priority, even more than usual.
I’ve spent so much quality time with my mom, both at home and traveling. My mom always comments that the best and most meaningful years of her life have been since she was diagnosed with cancer. I feel lucky that I’ve had so much time with her.
No one is more obsessed with kids than my mom. She always told me that if it were up to her, she would’ve had a dozen kids. We didn’t think she’d be around to meet Miles, but amazingly enough, she was. She has even been able to see him grow up, through all his stages so far (and my gosh, kids have a lot of stages in the first three years!).
For nearly two years, she hasn’t been undergoing any treatments, and her condition has progressively deteriorated, as you’d expect. Around eight months ago, she entered hospice. I know one of the things that made her hold on and want to live a bit longer was being able to meet Jet.
She’s now really struggling day-to-day and is toward the end of her hospice journey. Several weeks ago, she told me that it was her time and she was ready, and she didn’t think she’d make it to meet Jet. So I couldn’t be happier that she’ll actually get to meet Jet this week, since that’s something we didn’t think was possible.
I’m incredibly lucky to have a mom who has always been so loving and supportive, and I feel very blessed that they’ll get to meet. Even though Jet won’t directly remember it, I know I will, and it’ll certainly bring me to (happy) tears.
Bottom line
We now have two sons, with our nearly three-year-old now having a six-day-old baby brother. Having a family is a blessing, and I can’t believe how lucky we are, especially that my mom gets to meet our youngest at all (when we didn’t even think she’d be around for the first one).
I still intend to take review trips as before (and Ford will also travel separately from me). If you see posts in the coming weeks at odd hours, it’s likely not because I’m traveling somewhere fun, but because I’m dealing with a screaming infant. 😉
