How old am I?
Sunday October 15, 2006
Almost 40. I know this because I can chart my personal decline into my dotage by the difficulty I've had in dealing with the advent of newborns in my family. When Matthew was born, I was 32, and handled all...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Delightful, I tell you, delightful.>
Who knows? Maybe the theology and geometry will seep in. My sister read Harry Potter to my niece during the months she was in the NICU (very premature), and now, at just about to turn seven, she's a big Harry Potter fan :-).>
Almost 40, Rod? That's nothing; my first was born when I was 40. I'm 46, with three girls, aged two, four, and six. Where I really feel it is when giving them a bath. Bending over the side of the bathtub is tough on a 46-year-old back. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to bathe them, and also the end of diaper changing, which should only be a year or so away.
I don't have any experience with boys, but little girls are something special. Enjoy your baby Nora.>
Congratulations, Rod! I'm sure Nora is beautiful and a delight!>
When we had our last I was close to 50. The good thing about being older is the taking it all in stride.
You are blessed. Congratulations.>
Congratulations and God bless you and your family.>
Congratulations to you and Julie on your precious baby girl. That is one lucky baby!
We now have our 3rd at over-40, and it couldn't be more delightful. Hurrah for life! God is good.>
Almost forty you say?
Nora will be a freshman at Notre Dame when you're my age.
Older isn't about better or worse. It's more about different. I happen to be enjoying different.
Since you're young enough to be my child I'll pass on something I told my daughter just the other day on her new little girl who is two months old.
"Embrace the moment. There are no guarantees in life. She might be gone in a heartbeat. We see it everyday all around us, children are lost.
The only thing worse than losing someone close to you is losing them and knowing you didn't love them to the fullest while they were with you."
BTW, when I was forty I was still able to outwork doing real work almost anyone around me. At fifty I was hitting my stride. At fifty eight I can still carry my share. Of course my share seems to be a lot heavier than it used to be.>
Allow me to introduce you to Mad Fedor's Theory of Aging with Children.
Our children learn, along with the usual ways, by osmosis: they suck the brain cells from their parents, usually improving on the knowledge contained within those cells in some extraordiary way. Thus, it can be shown, that the more children you have, the quicker your mental faculties wane, until such time as the children are weaned of their osmosis (usually not long after puberty, or about the time at which they start thinking that they already know everything).
Thus, your true age may be calculated to be your own chronological age, to which is added the ages of all your children up to about 15 (an arbitrary number, chosen because it is a multiple of five and easy to add).
So, my advertised age of 50 is really 94: I have two children over 15, and one about to turn 14... though the additive part is methinks ending for her, since she is already beyond her first rolling of the eyes when Mom or Dad tells her something she already knows.
I wish you joy, your wife a swift and complete recovery, and as much sleep as you can possible manage... that last one being a fervent but likely vain wish.
And I promise you, it is all more than worth it. :)>
I was 32 when I had my son and 37 when I had my twin girls. My only regret is that I'll be an old grandparent. I'm hoping that my health will still be good and I'll be alive to see and hold my grandchildren.
My husband never experienced sleep deprivation with our children. He sleeps like a log. I nursed them, so I took care of the feedings. It was an exhausting time but so incredibly precious.
Yoga. It saved my back. Can't say enough about it.
Thanks for sharing the experience, Rod. I love holding newborns. Talking to newborns is wonderful. I love how they turn their head and listen so intently. It's precious.>
1. I LOVE the name. I think it sounds like the name of one of Boticelli's models, myself, but still, it's beautiful. It also passes the Karen test for baby names with flying colors: There must be a form appropriate for a construction paper nametag in kindergarten and another form appropriate for a business card. (That rule applies even to parents who have no intention of using kindergarten or having their kids use business cards.)
2. I was 34 (six weeks before I turned 35, actually) when my first son was born and 38 at the birth of my second. My husband was 39 and 44, respectively. We have less energy but more wisdom, which, actually is probably more important. You'll do fine.>
Rod- I'm 50 and we're expecting our fourth. I got a late start. But, it's wonderful- don't stop now!>
Congratulations on your wonderful news! God bless!>
Gee, and here I thought that "life" began at conception. Shouldn't Rod be 40 years and 9 months old???>
"By the way, Julie's passing the hours watching "Grey's Anatomy" on DVDs jammed into my laptop"
I hope she remembers them! I watched an episode of Lost while recovering from my c-section. And then watching it for the second time, I was shocked that I had no recollection of any of it. Guess those painkillers were stronger than I realized.
Had to laugh about the cranberry juice, sounded so familiar. Julie is a lucky lady.
Congratulations to the Dreher family and welcome, Nora.>
Geez, Rod, just try being the almost-40 MOM recovering from childbirth! That was me almost 3 years ago.
But it's a heckuva lot of fun to have little kids in the house, and I'm convinced I'm a better parent in my 40s than I would have been in my 20s.
Congratulations on Nora's arrival and may God bless you all.>
Hmm, I'm 44, never married, no kids. Just never felt that I met the right woman at the right time. I've always figured that it might still happen that I could meet the right woman and have a family. But maybe I've left it too late. I don't have anything like the energy I had five years ago, let alone ten.>
Rod,
Congratulations on the new baby, the 10th Anniversary, and on your 40th birthday. I have been reading you for several years (here, at NRO, at the Dallas Morning News and in your book). I frequently disagree with you, but I think, without reservation, that you are good and decent person. I enjoy reading you even when I disagree. I have always especially enjoyed and looked forward to your columns regarding religion and your spiritual journal. I am very sorry you have had to suffer abuse from bloggers and commentators about your recent conversion. Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Jeff Sherman>
Good times.
Note to young persons:
Don't put off marriage and children. Have kids when you're fit and energetic and you'll never regret it.>
Congratulation, Rod! Every baby is such a miracle.>
David J. White, my father married at 44 and had two children. I was born when he was 45 and my sister was born when he was 48. It's true that my dad didn't take us to fun places every weekend, because he was tired from working on the farm, but we went out often enough and I have very happy memories of my childhood and of my father. If you meet the right woman, I say go for it!>
Apologies for any irreverence, and congratulations on the baby, but surely "Nora Lucia" is James Joyce (his wife and ill-fated daughter), not Jane Austen. Although I presume it's coincidence....>
Congrats on Nora's arrival, and may God give you and your wife the strength you need to survive these next few months!
I have two little girls, and I was 32 and 33 respectively when they were born. We plan on one more, and I'll be either 36 or 37 when s/he is born. I think that'll be challenge enough for me. :)>
Congratulations on the arrival of Nora Lucia! Be assured of prayers for you and your family from this Catholic at least. :)
We just welcomed our fourth child two weeks ago today, and I have to say that at 33 I am really feeling old this time, heh! We had our first child back when we were both 23, and I certainly feel less energetic and alert now for the 2am feedings than I did back then with the first!
On the upside though, nothing really worries us now, when it comes to handling babies. At 23 we were just a couple of kids ourselves - now at least we're more confident in our parenting abilities (even if we are a little slower and groggier!).
God bless Nora and all the Dreher family. Congrats again!>
For shame, Rod - I thought every Orthodox knew that the Fifth Gospel is 'The Brothers Karamazov'. You were supposed to have been given a copy at your Chrismation.>
Well, lets see...wife and I have 7 children, last one arrived when I was
45...teh blog comment says "don't neglect to get rich enough to afford help first" - really kind of s selfish comment, never looked at children as a financial burden! Yes we are Catholic, don't do any of that nasty birth-control chemical stuff!>
Congratulations on the baby and on being a Katie Finalist!>
And just imagine there are people with a dozen or even fifteen children. It is amazing what people can do for the love of God.>
And what God does for love of them.>
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