Status Report

I have been horribly negligent on this blog the last few months. Gone are the funny updates and overheards, so long to the rants and raves. I just haven't had it in me. My creativity and time have dried up like the bottom of a Nevada lake bed. I am parched for posts. I can't put my finger on it, but since I have started to actively try and cut back on my work life and engage more in my real life this portion of my writing has just gone to the wayside.There's been more of thisand you readers have dropped off. While I don't love it, I do love that I've enjoyed making homemade mojitos with fresh mint from my CSA. Growing actual cucumbers in my backyard and figuring out that it is just fine that I am not the "crafty mom". I'm the baking mom. While some women do weekly projects with their kids … [Read more...]

Lessons Learned

Every day is a learning experience or so they say.  This week I learned the following-When you put cereal and milk into a sippy cup it creates a far greater mess when spilled than if you just hand your kid a cup of milk with no lid.  Seriously.  I think I am still scraping dried bits of oats and nut off my baseboards.If your kid seems to be picking their nose for twenty minutes straight you should probably do more than just tell them to knock it off a few times.  There's a reason they are digging up there and it just might be because they stuck a bolt or metal nut in there.  I'm still trying to figure out where she found that tiny thing.  That $5 grab bag at the craft store might end up costing you $200 in cleaning.  I fucking hate crafts.  The … [Read more...]

Totally Untamed Tuesday

I can be a bit of a control freak.  I like things to be done certain ways and when they aren't well, I tend to get a bit, uh, testy.  You are sitting there completely shocked right now, I know.When The Comedian started eating cereal straight from the bag yesterday morning I looked at her and TD and declared it, "Totally Untamed Tuesday!"  I was going to just let things go.  For a day.  My friend, Kristen would say I was letting go of my "New England hang-ups sensibilities".  So I let the kids eat cereal out of the bag.  I let them put cereal in sippy cups with milk and try to eat it that way.  We made an impromptu trip to "Crazy Town" as TD calls it and when the book store we were visiting wasn't open yet (an hour late!) I just 'Meh'd' it and we took … [Read more...]

Ten Months

It's always fleeting, this first year of life. The magical softness, the effortless cuddles and quiet times spent alone together with just the coos and the sound of your breathing mingled with theirs. So at 3:41 a.m. when The Fifth Element woke up again despite just having eaten I didn't mind picking her up out of her crib and holding her close. We settled into the rocking chair in her nursery together. As she rested her head on my shoulder and made self-soothing sounds I held her still small, soft-haired head in my hands and thought, "Soon this will be gone. I will never have this moment back. She will not cuddle so easily in the next few months." How can it be that almost an entire year has already gone by?As her breathing slowed and she shifted into a deeper sleep, I closed my eyes and … [Read more...]

Is Your Life Eating You Alive?

I was talking to another woman the other day about women's busy lives. She mentioned that today's woman has so many choices but also has a life. It is no longer just a home life or just a work life. It is both with fitness pursuits, dream goals, full-time friendships and more. Yet, there is still only 24 hours in a day. These lives are full. Very, very full. It made me think-Are our lives eating us alive?The media blitz and pitches for Disconnecting to Reconnect on Father's Day was just another thread that seems to be pointing to yes. I love that I have a busy life. I thoroughly enjoy working out, running and all my friendships. I can't maintain them like I used to and I don't view myself as a stay-at-home mom anymore. The fence I was bordering of work-at-home and stay-at-home now seems to … [Read more...]

Determined to Rest

I subscribe to the Tennyson rule of thinking, "To seek, to find and not to yield." Or something like that. Meaning, I'm a Type A freak who likes to stay busy and makes lots of lists. I drink coffee, would smoke a dozen killsticks if it wouldn't kill me first and I compete with myself a lot.Do I sleep with my shoulders hunched up to my ears? Oh, indeed.Last week I found myself swiftly walking through Reagan National airport at the eleventh hour once again, dragging my life behind me on a set of wheels. I had a thought, "What? Doesn't everyone do this with their life?" Living off trail mix and bottled water, memorizing the low-fat meals at Applebee's and Chili's across the country? No, they don't.While I don't mind racking up frequent flier miles, upgrades and free hotel stays, I do mind how … [Read more...]

Glamour Magazine, Joe Biden and Domestic Violence

I haven't been a reader of Glamour magazine since my college days, but I just might pick up the June issue. In it readers will find an interview with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden as they talk about a cause they hold very dear to them, domestic violence. For over twenty years the Biden's have worked on this issue. I applaud that. Biden's likening of domestic violence being "worse than prison" is quite accurate. It works perfectly with Glamour's 'Tell Someone' campaign.Personally, I feel that this issue isn't played up enough. We have just past the one year mark for Yeardley Love. I live in a state that has the worst policies in the country for domestic abuse victims. Sixteen years after my own "prison break" I still suffer nightmares, flashbacks and the odd ticks … [Read more...]

Kids with Knives

Most mornings I wake up to The Comedian shaking a jar of gummy vitamins in my face. Other days she just wants to come and grab a quick snuggle before she sets off on a new day and new path of destruction. Today I awoke with a sack of bread being thrown in my face. "Open! Open!" I complied as I knew that she was going to take it downstairs to her sister and they would have the ultra healthy and not CPS worthy snack of bread and water before I could make it to the kitchen. Wily little things, those girls are.I wasn't prepared for what I saw next.As she turns to leave the room with the now open bag of bread I see she has something else with her.Granted, it was a butter knife but still. She was carrying it just like that. I couldn't help but laugh at the perfect way in which she hid it … [Read more...]

Life with Three

I think months of no solid sleep have finally worn me down. I can't even so much as look at my bed without wanting to just go face first into it. If given the opportunity to nap I become incredibly delusional. Meaning, then I think I can stay there all day and if I can't then don't offer me the possibility.I've started to go to bed before the sun even sets and yet I am still tired when I wake up. Probably because that wake up is at 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. My friend Kristen likes to say, "who knew the third one would push me right over the edge." I am right there with her. For all The Fifth Element's sweetness and charm it is a lethal, massively tiring job taking care of three little ones under five. Those people who say that adding a third one is nothing are straight up possum-on-meth fuck … [Read more...]

Recipe for a Great Mother’s Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. In our house, predictable me, tends to ask for the same thing each year. No cooking, no dishes, sleeping in and a book.Over the years H has created sort of a recipe for a very successful Mother's Day. He knows that a happy woman equals a happy house and a happy H. Do unto others and all that good stuff...H's recipe for a great Mother's Day-Tell kids in advance what Operation M-Day entails. Protocol is as follows: no fighting or screaming while Mommy is sleeping. Do not wake Mommy! Wake Daddy and do it quietly. Go into stealth mode in the morning, if needed.We eat what Mommy wants to eat today. There will be crepes with strawberries and a pile of bacon so high you won't believe it. Many pigs gave their life for this breakfast. Thai food will follow.If Mommy wants … [Read more...]