The Zen of Mowing

Tonight I engaged in an activity that I’m sure was shared by many of the millions of homeowners in this country. I mowed my lawn. Now I truly love to mow my lawn. I know that may sound strange to some of you and I can here the wisecracks about how this fulfills my primal urge to dominate my domain or how the use of power tools is an pathetic attempt by men to compensate for something they are lacking. I guarantee you that mowing does neither. Those things I save for my 12cc gas powered weed whacker. No, mowing has a much more refined purpose that I finally discovered tonight.

Mowing has taken on a somewhat different characteristic this summer. You see, I received an iPod for my birthday this year and have discovered the wonderful world of podcasting. I have about a dozen programs that I download on a regular basis, mostly news and politics, and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to these as I mow. There is something quite satisfying about learning about things such as governmental corruption and Iranian President “I’m-a-damn-nut-job” and his nuclear yearnings while at the same time chopping the heads off of innocent blades of grass. It just seems fitting.

However tonight, for some reason, I didn’t grab my iPod when I went to mow. It was in the midst of my stroll through my lawn, hearing the drone of the mower, smelling fresh cut grass, that it hit me. Mowing is meditation. It is the modern American version of the Zen rock garden. You know, the rectangle spaces that they fill with small rocks and pebbles and then put a boulder in the middle. Then they take a rake and make various geometrical patterns in the rocks, working their way to the boulder in the middle, where they sit and meditate. The process and the product are said to be quite meditative.

I realized how very similar mowing is to this concept. I am making geometrical patterns making my way to the swing set in the middle of my lawn and once I finish I will sit on my deck and meditate with a 12 ounce beverage (probably Pepsi). When all was said and done I realized the allure that mowing holds for me. It is one of the few activities in my life that is mindless and repetitive enough to afford me an opportunity just to think. Think about things that are happening, things I want to happen, things that are bothering me and things that are good. I can have creative thoughts, spiritual thoughts, or just plain weird thoughts. And when I am done I have something that looks nice.

This has been missing this summer because I have been filling my mind with information instead of trying to process all the things of my life. Everywhere around me is activity and music and various other stimuli that inhibits this meditative state. There is one other place in my life where I pause long enough to relieve the urge to think, but that place is usually reserved for reading.

I don’t know if all this means I will stop using my iPod whenever I mow. I don’t think so. But it did awaken me to the need I have to be unplugged and alone with myself inside my head.

Week Number 1

It's hard to believe but baby boy is already 1 week old. Where does the time go? I remember the day he was born just like it was...last Wednesday.

Well, the adjustment has started and, for the most part, we are doing well. Iceman is a proud big brother who thinks it is cool when he can carry his brother from one room to the next. He is feeling somewhat limited in his capacity to help out. The other day he was carrying little man around while he was crying and he asked, ever so earnestly, "Mom, can I breast feed him this time". We had to have a little "talk". No Grandma, the "THE talK". Just a talk about the fact that he does not have a breast.

Princess has a very important task as well. Due to the fact that all the baby clothes are in her dresser, she gets to pick out the clothes each day. Which makes her feel VERY special. I am glad that she has this diversion as she was starting to want to pick my clothes out each day. I am not sure exactly how to take this but I do see my future when her teenage years arrive.

Mom and baby are also doing well. We did have a bought of jaundice and not gaining enough weight, but we seem to have that figured out and are doing much better. Our main concern now is how long to let him sleep at night before we wake him up to feed him. Nice problem to have with a newborn.

I will leave you with a picture of Little man's take on bathtime.

Isn't he beautiful?

I won't write a lot because I am afraid this won't work. If it does, this is my beautiful baby boy. Things are going great and both Mom and baby had a great day. Well, I take that back. Baby got circumcised today and, as a male, I cannot in good conscience say that he had a good day. So I say he had as good a day as he could given the "circum"stances.

I hope this works.

IT'S A BOY!!!

The time has finally come! At 4:30 p.m. today Ayden John Mitchell came into this world. We were at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. and the doctor started the drugs for inducement at around 8:00. They really didn't start to kick in until around 2:30 when the doctor broke the bag of waters. Then the fireworks started. The contractions got quite severe and my Wife said she wanted an epidural. It took the anesthetia lady about 30 minutes of trying until she finally admitted that she was not able to get it in. She did manage to get an interthecal in, which is a step below an epidural but with similar effects, but it really didn't kick in until after the baby was born. So basically we (when I say we I don't really mean "we") had this baby the natural way. My wife did awesome!

The baby is absolutely beautiful with hair that looks blonde and almost curly and a wonderful complexion. He cried at first before they put him under the heat lamp but we haven't heard much out of him since. Even when they stuck him for his blood test he only whimpered a little. However, I could tell that once he figures out the efficacy of the infant wail, he will be able to to belt it out with the best of them.

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow but I am quite tired right now so I am going to sleep.

Nesting?

Well guess what my Wife did all day today? You guessed it, she cleaned like a woman possesed. Of course, when I asked her "Honey, are you nesting" she patently denied it. It was done all in the name of the people that will be coming to our house in the next week (after our Wednesday induction) to see the baby. However, she later admitted to me that when Iceman was born, she cleaned like mad on Saturday, celebrated fathers day on Sunday, and had a baby on Monday. Could we be looking at a repeat?

The children are both very excited about the new arrival. Iceman wants it to be a boy, of course, but he wants it to be a 9 year old boy so he can have someone to play with. Princess is convinced that it is going to be a boy but, as she told her Sunday School teacher, she is going to call it Fred and put dresses on it. (do you suppose that's what happened to Boy George?) I don't think either are quite prepared for the adjustment this new life will bring.

I on the other hand do know the adjustment it will bring and I find myself feeling a little guilty about my emotional state. YOu see, I am facing this birth with a bit of melancholy. I love both of the children I have right now so much that I don't want them to have to share the spot light. I dread the times when I have to tell them "Daddy can't play with you right now because I have to take care of your brother/sister". I fear that I won't be able to find the right balance and one of my precious babies will talk about me with their therapist years from now as the reason for all their nuerosis.

But even with all these thoughts I can't wait for this little one to arrive. Babies are truly amazing in the way that they grow and learn. In the way that they eat like that little bit of milk is the greatest thing in existence. The way that they twitch and grimace when they sleep. The way they wake up every 4 hours for a little attention and daddy drinks coffee like it's the greatest thing in existence.

Life will never be the same again.

T minus 7 days and counting

As the time draws near the fact that we are actually going to have a third child is getting more and more real. Technically it has always been real, I am just finally coming to grips with this fact. We purchased a bassinet at a garage sale and we have a pack of diapers and an outfit to bring the bundle of joy home in. Actually we have two outfits, one pink and one blue, however one will be returned to Target late next week.

Clothing this child has become somewhat of an issue. My wife went on a mission to find all the baby clothes that we have stockpiled from our previous children. Yes, I said "stockpiled" because at the this point I am sure we could outfit a toddler army. Knowing this we thought we were set on baby clothes. However, we realized that we must have either given away or goodwilled all of our baby clothes. You see, we didn't realize that it was physically possible for us to have another child and needing this clothes again never crossed our minds. I am positive that we must having gotten rid of the last bit of clothing last October, right before...well, you know.

Please don't regard this as a plea for baby clothing. We have plenty of friends that have had children in the past two years that I sure the child won't be naked for long. It is just an example of God's sense of humor.

As big of surprise as this one was, we are very much looking forward to this new life. I have had band mom's say to me "It is so much fun to have 3 kids". I am sure it will be. Those of you that know me know that children are one of the great passions in my life and I embrace the opportunity to pour myself into another little one.

The Joy of Teaching

It has been said that the three best reasons for being a teacher are June, July and August. While I can't totally agree with that, I do derive great pleasure from making music with my students, it is a great perk to the profession. This week has really underscored that for me. I was at home for most of the day with my family and the only time I went out of the house was to take Princess to her final rehearsal for her first dance recital. (Pictures are forthcoming) Other than that I had nothing planned to do. It was actually kind of a disconcerting feeling for me as I kept having pangs of anxiety, feeling as if I was forgetting something. But when we went to the splash ground and watched the kids play in the water and then came home and had ice cream on the deck, I new summer had truly begun.

There are a few responsibilities that I have to wrap up, but my hope is to be as unencumbered as possible so as to totally enjoy being at home. My great fear is that this summer will pass by all too quickly. I know that I need to embrace it while it is here and enjoy every moment.

And a quick baby update, my Wife had an ultrasound today and the baby measured almost 37 weeks. We are (actually, she is) scheduled to be induced on June 21st and we are hoping that by the 22nd we have a new family member. (We have heard horror stories of people being induced and labored for 24 hours only to be told to go home and come back in a week) We don't know what it is yet but we will be happy no matter what.

More later.