It was hard the first year of his life, being on a new-to-us boat and mentally making the to-do list in my head while nursing and sitting on my bum. Doug tackled and continues to tackle many projects. And some we've enlisted help for. But some require two adults. And some require a person who is home all day (Doug commutes off to work in an office). And some I just want to do myself.
You see, I like doing boat work. While I don't have any exceptional skills in gel coat repair or line splicing, when given the time, proper tools, and cash flow to make it happen, I find it very satisfying to work on our boat. I guess this is how people who garden or knit must feel when they're in the thick of it. The thing is, you can garden and knit with a baby next to you or in an Ergo carrier. Rigging work and slopping toxic chemicals on to your hulls isn't conducive to baby wearing.
And for the past 5 years I always had a baby in arms, or a toddler to chase, or a kid to keep busy and fed and out of trouble. But this season he'd rather spend his weekend days off running around the marina with the neighbor kids making trouble and only stopping in for a food and water hit before heading out again. So Doug and I found our boat quiet and our hands free. And we decided to rip it up!
Music was blasting from the speakers. Tools were littered across the foredeck. And we tore off the old, icky tramp and strung on a new, fancy-pants Dyneema netting. I was dripping with sweat, my hands were dirty, I displaced several generations of disgruntled spiders, and I was totally in my happy place.
I was laughing to myself that I could post this as a really warped version of WIP (Work In Progress Wednesdays where talented mamas boast about their latest sewing and knitting endeavors). Ok, so I can't sew and I can't knit, but look what I did this weekend!
Zach made good use of his free time with neighbor kids too.
If he keeps it up, maybe we'll pay for these boat projects and be outta here faster than we think!
7 comments:
That was a really sweet post. I love your version of WIP Wednesday. :) I grew up on the coast of SC near a large boating community so I kinda understand what you mean. I'm glad Zach has reached that age for you. Once ours started hitting that age, we had another one. I don't regret it for a minute, but I do look forward to his reaching the age where he can scamper the neighborhood with the older kids. Just not too soon... ;)
was stumbling around soulemama's blog and found yours while clicking on random people's comments, wish I could live on a boat!! If you get a chance check out mine =o)
your little one is soooo entrepenurial! And I'm super impressed with your work in progress! I love doing manual things around the home - very satisfying!
Sweet netting and a great milestone!
Great work mama!
I love your sons business : )
Oh, you did awesome!
And what a cool age he's now at! Hoorah!
Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. The netting is working out great and we tightened it some more this weekend. Still a WIP thought :)
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