Natural Disaster
Kids on kids on kids
This week’s book has me thinking all about raising kids and my own sense of self in relation to raising kids and my relationship with my husband, both before and now. I included it in a video of my top three books about those early, messy, mundane, wildly joyful days over on the Grams.
We have survived nine of the ten days with kids visiting from France. I have realized that two kids is more than enough — I always thought I might want more. But four little people requiring endless meals and snacks and snacks in between snacks has exhausted me. Water glasses covering every imaginable surface! Emotions have run high and there have been tears and moods and our furniture may never recover from the acrobatics. I’ve laid out art projects and there were many, many forts constructed. Pool time and ice cream time and the tent pitched in the backyard. Oh, and for laughs, a quick ER visit thrown in to manage Faye’s embedded ear piercing.
There’s a line in Natural Disaster about how she thought she was going to be such a laidback mom when she had kids. Explore! Be curious! Go ahead, try to shove the remote up your nose! Honestly, most of the time I think I am pretty laidback. But these past few days have tested that notion.
We deliver our visiting kids back to the airport tomorrow and, even though we will undoubtedly look back at this time with stars in our eyes, I am thinking about the peace and quiet on Thursday with a kind of desperation. No more cleaning every few minutes to corral the chaos. Everyone is going to fend for themselves for breakfast and lunch. The bathroom floor will no longer resemble a lazy river after four people cram themselves into the stall at the same time. Give me a cold glass of wine and very good book and check back on me in a few days!!
I am so ready for these scorching, surface-of-the-sun days to be over. And, though it’s usually hot well into October, Sezane’s pre-fall collection has me dreaming of sweater weather. Everything seemed to sell out in seconds flat, but I have high hopes that a restock is imminent.
This dress happens to look identical to one that my six year old has but I’m certain that twinning never looked so good.
These flats are back in stock and oh so pretty.
This entire outfit! But really, it’s mostly about that perfectly slouchy sweater.
This is one sexy shirt. Again, sold out in most sizes, but I’m sure it’s coming back.
These dark wash, straight leg jeans with a very lovely inseam at 27.6 inches.
Be still my beating heart! I’m on the hunt for a queen sized bed for Nell’s room so it can double as a guest room whenever people come to visit. Yes, this upholstered beauty is $3,000 but man, oh man do I love it.
Very into this lacy, vintage-y, delicate little top from Alex Mill. It also comes in a pretty cornflower blue.
Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens
This was pitched to me as a kind of Mrs. Dalloway. A woman in London over the course of a single day — the last day of maternity leave before she returns to the office and her sons spend their hours at daycare. It’s a slim paperback, under 200 pages.
Aside from the 24-hour timeframe and the London setting, I didn't get much Mrs. Dalloway out of it. But I got so much else: an extremely close, recognizable portrayal of early motherhood. The immense bliss and love that goes hand-in-hand with the crushing pressure. The changes to your body and your marriage and your sense of self.
The experience of having two kids felt incredibly true, too. The delight and newness of Baby Number One, how you can spend hours just looking at them! Then the quick shift to simple survival with Baby Number Two. The oppressive neediness of a three-year-old, and also, the 'please smother me with your love and attention.' I underlined so many things. The narrator is me. I pitied her and loved her and she annoyed me and I found her neurotic and hilarious.
About her body: “Having children only complicated things further, her body suddenly expected to shift effortlessly between various contradictory roles.”
About her marriage: “It’s clear to her now that she has been jealous: furiously, scorchingly jealous of her husband, of his ability to continue along the groove of his life without much interruption.”
About the person before kids: “That child-free woman has become like an old school friend with whom she was once very close, but has gradually become estranged from as their circumstances diverged.”
And this made me laugh: “For other parents whose children play happily with Lego or trains or magnetic tiles for hours. Is ‘for hours’ just a figure of speech? Do they maybe mean ten minutes? And if so… do they mean ten whole minutes?”
A cotton sweater in a bright poppy color is just the thing when you need to project high energy, even if internally you’re dragging. Oh, and machine washable.
My favorite long sleeved tee to wear under sweaters and the mom in the book loves to layer.
This fringed scarf thingy is another easy, chic piece to throw over a shirt or sweater and you’re practically Miranda Priestly.
A cardigan meant to be worn forwards or backwards so, even at your most crazed, it will look great no matter how you throw it on.
Soft pants only!! Gap to the rescue with these inexpensive High Sport feeling Double Knit Crop Leg pant. The brown color is mostly sold out, but I would absolutely opt for that color.
Everyone is talking about these Gap poplin barrel-legged pants and for good reason. They look like Leset but cost so much less. And the elastic waistband is a godsend.
Every time a book is set in a rainy climate, these Freda Salvador boots inevitably find their way onto the round up. They are simply that good. Easy to pull on, even with a squirming baby, gorgeous looking and waterproof! At this point, the cost per wear is mere pennies for me.
This is a parka, not a raincoat like she wears in the book, but it is perfect for smartening up jeans or sweats and a shirt. I love the wide sleeves and oversized hood.
Let’s be honest, we all need a comfy wireless bra. This is the absolute best. I like it in the Mink color, but couldn’t find a picture of it that wasn’t on a model.
Hope you’re reading something good 💚
The "About her marriage section"- I remember saying those words verbatim. How unbelievably jealous I was that my husband could go to work while I was home in a life I no longer recognized.