Deuces

Highlights of home include playing with Lincoln Logs: And having Charmaine, Cheyanne and Charisma over for a slumber party.  Sayler insisted on sleeping with Cheyanne- kicking me to the proverbial curb. Highlights include a year-over-year photo opp to show how rapidly Charlie is growing and how my 'surprise' face remains exactly. the. same.  Aged 12- easily 5' 10" nowadays...   Christmas 2013:     Christmas, 2014 Highlights of home include playing my first iPod.  It cost me a fortune over a decade ago and houses all of my oldest and dearest albums that are only here and not in some... cloud...  Randomly hearing Depeche Mode 's greatest pop up in my playlists makes me smile while I clean, work, Facebook, dance, think, write, muse, chide.  And one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time winds up in the rotation... (tell me this song doesn't make you so happy that you just about burst...)   ...

My body hurts.   It feels like I went clubbing.   I guess I kind of did.   It was Christmas at our house- which always has an unexpected twist each year.  And this year, among several twists and dramatic moments (including ruffled feathers in the adult gift exchange) the most enlightening part of the evening is when Chris, aged 42, pulled everyone into the kitchen for a "robot dance competition".  Despite the pride I put into my 20 seconds in the circle, it was my nephew, Nathaniel, who won the prize.  We were pretty silly last night.    (There was a lot of Mark Ronson's latest played throughout the evening.)   I got all the things I needed and could want from Christmas day. I welled up reading Ariel's Christmas card and opening her 'main' gift to me- a jumpsuit I had randomly  pointed out several months ago as we were window shopping.   And she remembered and obviously splurged on it an...

I've decided that of all the emotions I can feel, among the most crippling is to feel uninspired. It's everything that drives my everydays. And it's possible I've been battling a heavy dose of the "uninspired" lately. But I have slowly been letting it go, more or less, maybe enough to get over myself just a little... And I can attribute, as least in part, that singing "Let it Go", out loud, to my own kin's dismay, has helped me to carry on. "Mommy, it's too loud singing ..." Sayler's admonishment of what I can only call my finest theatrical interpretation of the hit single from "Frozen" didn't make me falter.  I smiled as I continued on, arms open wide, mop-as-microphone- in full confidence: "Let it GO! Let it GO! Can’t hold it back aaaaa-nymo-ooore...Let it GO, let it GOOOO, turn away and SA-LAM the do-oooor..." And then I realized that I didn't know the rest of the lyrics, and muc...

It hasn't been but a few days and already I can sense the indulgence and dependability on this #Apple product. I am not good at keeping surprises, so the Valentine's Day gift to Lloyd and Sayler presented itself early.   An #iPad Air.  Something to keep Sayler from my iPhone and texting my customers.  A place for Sayler to watch her movies and YouTube videos instead of on mommy's 'cmpootr'.  And a way for her to learn to take photos from this device instead of taking videos from my phone that she sends to people in my contacts list.  Because getting a text that reads "were you shopping at Costco today? I think you sent me a video..." is quite embarrassing. Oy. It's something Lloyd can record music on and get excited about while deciding to show me all of the amps available on the Air while I attempted an indulgent soak in the tub.  As I lingered in peace, he stormed in with the smile of a 5 year old telling me about the features of...

There's too much to say. One thing these photos won't portray is how I broke down in tears on Christmas Eve and cried into Sayler's beautiful quilt.  I blubbered uncontrollably. My eyes were puffy as I allowed my first world problems to overcome me coupled with the anxiety of last-minute planning for a party of 24. My emotions ran high with the sorrow of knowing I had to go to Costco on Christmas Eve. My angst and worry was at code red thanks to a small dose of a family feud that I not-so-secretly hope befalls most families during major holidays. But, alas, all of my weeping and feeling sorry for myself was made better by an extraordinary Christmas Day. Some photos of a great day/night: In photo: Me tripping out that my 11 year old nephew is this tall. Seriously. Tripping. Me. Out. All my mom's grand kids and 2 great-grand kids. That's 15 walking messes! My nieces, Monique and Ariel. They were a huge help to the set-up and clean-up eff...

Pre- Friendsgiving... I needed to clean.... Desperately...  So I put on my cleaning playlist that plays  the bomb beats.  I thanked Ariel for recommending the Pandora station that made my house sparkle... Friends brought too much awesome food... And brought thee cutest kids. We took too many photos.... And kept the tradition alive. Love these friends. Love our Friendsgivings.

I'm not sure I ever wanted to strike a toddler before. But I wanted to. And as my blood boiled I had to remember there was a lesson in here somewhere that I was supposed to be teaching my daughter, so against all my best instincts I steered clear of using the words "cut her". I knew Sayler wasn't a huge fan of at least one of the girls in her daycare.  She doesn't like when one of the twin girls 'touch her packpack' (that's when one of those little brats tries to rifle through Sayler's backpack). But Sayler loves Chica and Yaya and Sethy and Alan and both Rebeccas and doesn't even mind the brat's twin sister, Reyna, but that little Alicia is on my "you're a very bad girl" list and when she turns 18, hold me back and hold my hoop earrings because I will cut her. Sayler loves her friends at daycare often talking about Chica and Sethy and recounting their playing and she will go into great detail about how Candelaria (Y...

I kiss her little toes. 1.... 2.....3....4....5.... I count them as I nestle close and plant loving pecks on each. I take the second footsie close, and I kiss them, one by one. 1.... 2.....3....4....5.... Of all the things I remember in my childhood it was my mom holding up my small feet and marveling over how much she loved them... so tiny... so perfect. I will marvel over Sayler's feet, always. I will love holding them close, dirty or clean (moms don't discriminate), and I will smile as I nuzzle and watch her eyes shine as I kiss each toe, 1.... 2.....3....4....5....

Dear Carter, (Can I call you Carter?  Or is it Mr/Mrs. Carter?) Well, Dear Carter, Thank you for the weekly coupons in my email inbox.  You really know how to lure me back in to your store for some uber cute baby threads.  And of course, I was blessed with a baby girl, no less, so of course I am overcome with far too many options and accessories. So, CarCar, I am kind of having an issue that I hope you could address. My issue is that on each and every visit I am finding myself drawn to clothing items that have a guitar and cliche slogan like "I Rock" or "Mommy Rocks/ Daddy Rocks" And then I realize I am standing in the boy's section of the store and the clothing is in blue... or brown... or some other color that, quite frankly, isn't in my daughter's color wheel. And yes... I saw the girl's pajamas with the guitar that reads "Girls Rock".  But they aren't in an infant size... And I did see the cute bodysuit with jeggings in a...

My mother and I stood in line at the baby boutique, ready to pay for Sayler's latest threads. The saleslady with whom we had been conversing looked into the stroller at my perfect baby and asked, excitedly, "so are you going the get her ears pierced soon?" I scrunched my face and looked at the imbecile behind the counter. "No.  No, that's uh.... no, that's not going to happen anytime soon..." I responded, trying to keep my cool. The woman looked disapointed and slightly shocked.  She made a fake smile, as though that would somehow erase what had just happened. A seemingly innocuous question, indeed, but it bothered me just a little. In truth I don't feel the need to put holes in my perfect daughter's ears.  How do I know she wants them there?  How could I stand the site of holding this sweet child o' mine while she unwittingly has a hole-puncher taken to her teeny lobes? Many a George Michael fan have gone on to regret getting their own...

Taylor looked up earnestly. She stared at the baby in my arms, desperate for a chance to hold her. Although 10 year old Taylor had just met little Sayler, she was in love. She grabbed Sayler's chubby arm as it draped over my own and kissed it, followed by a stroke to her cheek. In a most adult-like tone she asked me, "Are you breadfeeding?" I smiled. "Yes", I replied. I knew what she meant. She went on, in a most-certain way about how she was 'breadfed' but her little sister, Hannah, was not, because the 'breadmilk' made her sick, but that breadmilk is best for the baby. It made me smile again. At only 10 years, Taylor spoke like an adult.  At one point in the evening she even brought me a cocktail and said "don't worry, it's not dirty..." to indicate it was alcohol-free. (We wouldn't want to taint the breadmilk, after all) I wondered when and how she became so precocious.  Much later in the eveni...

My husband & I were invited to a birthday party for our next door neighbor's 2 year old daughter.  She is the most precious little thing ever and we have become good friends with our neighbors so naturally we made the short trek across the lawn to attend.  It was the morning events that are what proved most interesting:  that search for the perfect gift, for a perfect little girl. Child-free means we have no clue what to get a 2 year old.  I mentioned this in regards to my nephew's 7th birthday party over the summer, as well.  For tots, I always go the safe route and buy clothes (**Spoiler Alert**- If you have a tot, he or she is getting clothes from me as a gift).   This time, however, I wanted to think outside the box and buy a present other than clothing so Lloyd and I left for the toy store and sought the perfect gift.  I almost immediately settled on a baby-doll.  They were adorable and I wanted to buy one alongside a ...