Nine months ago today...

I became a mom, my husband became a father. I hope we are wiser, stronger and better nine months later. We've learned how to sleep with a baby in our arms. How to work as a team changing a diaper in the middle of the night.

Our house has been transformed. We no longer have a dining room with a cabinet full of wine glasses. We have a playroom complete with a plastic fence to keep the baby in and the dogs out. We've learned just how little sleep we can survive on. We've learned to multitask at everything. Above all, I've learned to slow down, live a little and trust my husband completely.

Nine months ago today, probably about this time of day, I looked down at this little boy who grew inside of me and wondered how old he would be when he stopped thinking his parents were the center of the universe. I looked at his perfect ears and ear lobes that formed in my belly. I hoped that he never pierced them. As I touched them, fresh newborn skin, I prayed that he would never turn into a bratty teenager I wouldn't want to be around. Most of all I prayed that I wouldn't screw this little human being up too much. I prayed he would love being my son as much as I loved being his mother and someday he would know what it was like to spend the first night as a parent. Bleary-eyed, filled with love, grateful for life and ready to learn.

My little man.

Summer playlist

I'm piggybacking off a discussion I heard on the Takeaway radio show this morning. What does your summer playlist include? Here's mine, more nostalgia than great music. It's where I'm at today I guess.

1. Leaving Lost Vegas, Sheryl Crow. Best sung with the windows down...and you have to leeeeaving Lost Veeeegaaas! Tuesday Night Music Club came out when I was in high school (and check out Crow's grunge look). I still have fond memories of listening to it at my mom's house with the windows open. It was also one of Crow's more melancholy albums. Before she met Lance, dumped Lance and offered the saccharin, "Soak up the Sun" song.

2. Summertime, Fresh Prince. Don't hate. That's the jam. Every time I hear that, "DRRRUMS PLEASE, Barbecue starting at 4" it's summer. It's just a happy song...again reminds me of high school. Maybe that was the last time I had summer freedom?

3. Calm Americans, Elliott. Ah...emo, how I still love thee. I saw these guys in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at a city park shelter house. Amazing. Reminds me of road trips late at night through the corn and soybean fields of the Midwest. Feeling misunderstood, wondering what adult life would hold and wearing a lot of sweaters.

4. Firecracker, Ryan Adams. I just like this song. Makes me want to have a PBR and hang around the table outside. Sweat, a little romance and a nice harmonica.

5. Horchata, Vampire Weekend. This whole album is good for the summer. I love the beats, the ska influences...and I love Horchata. This is a nice stripped down version. Fast forward to the 2-minute mark to hear the song.

I'm taking suggestions for the rest of this list. What does your summer playlist include?