Can't We All Just Get Along?

For some reason I watched some of the Larry Elder show yesterday morning. And it pissed me off. If you haven't seen it, its a talk show that is supposed to be like Dr. Phil (you know, tough love and straight talk) but it always digresses into arguments and other typical talk show bs. This episode basically pitted stay-at-home-moms against working moms and there was no common ground between the two groups. Each group said that the others were bad mothers. If you work, you don't love your kids enough to make the sacrifices necessary to raise your kids properly. If you stay home, you are giving your kids poor images of women and showing them that girls can go to college, be smart, and still "just" be moms.

Neither side would budge. Each felt so strongly that they were right that they couldn't for a second see that BOTH sides were right. And both sides were wrong, too. Do you really think that moms who work don't love their kids? And do you really think that moms who stay home are bad role models? It was so preposterous to me that this show wouldn't have someone who represented the middle of this argument, even someone in the audience, who would stand up and say - Why can't we make our own choices that are right for our families without you judging us? You don't know our family, you don't know our situation. Maybe I need to work. Maybe I need to stay home. Maybe I want to work because I love it. Maybe I want to stay home because I love it. Whatever. But why is it YOUR business what we do???

I guess I just don't get why everyone is always up in everyone else's business. Don't you think people should be able to make whatever choices they want, in most situations, as long as they are not hurting anyone else?

Manipulation 101

Princess is at the stage where she is really learning to talk, and its fascinating to watch her. She studies our lips while we talk to learn how to say the words, and then repeats them back.

As soon as she started communicating by screaming and pointing at what she wanted, I started teaching her to say "please." She couldn't say it yet, and wouldn't be able to for months, but everytime she screamed and pointed at her object of desire I would say, "what do we say? We say 'please' when we want something. Please." And I did this for months. Hub totally didn't get it, because his point was, she can't say it yet so why are you telling her to say it? I wanted to instill that we don't yell when we want something, there is a word for it and eventually you will say it.

Finally a few days ago, when I said - "what do we say? We say 'please' when we want something. Please" - her response was "peas." I nearly melted. She had learned. Over the past few days she has been more and more consistently saying "peas" when she wants something.

But she has learned more than that. On Easter we were in a shop down the shore where they had little trinkets on a shelf at her level. She wanted to touch them and I told her "no, we only look, no touching." Her response?

"Peas."

Mom's heart melts. Mom gives in and lets her gently touch the trinkets. Another lesson learned by Princess, albeit not a good one.

Happy Belated Easter, Everyone!

We had a very busy weekend, with a christening on Saturday and Easter yesterday, so I had no time to blog. And I have lots to catch up on at home, so no real time to blog today (at least not yet). But here are a few pics from our Easter. We spent the day with my parents - first at their house for brunch, then went down the shore (such a "Jersey" saying, I know!), and then out for a late dinner. Hope all your holidays were wonderful!

Our family on the boardwalk.

Jersey Girl and Princess

Princess finds eggs on her egg hunt.

Childhood Disease

I have realized that there exists an odd disease among children - the simultaneous love and fear of holiday characters.

I took Princess to meet the Easter Bunny yesterday at the mall (and paid 20 freakin' dollars to have her picture taken with him). I had taken her to see him a couple weeks ago to get her reaction to him before spending money on a photo of a large rodent with a screaming child. We attracted much attention because Princess was standing in her stroller screaming and pointing and struggling to get out of the stroller and run to the bunny, with utter excitement bursting through her skin. It was slightly embarrassing (as people were staring and pointing at us), but also undeniably cute that she was that excited to see a 6 foot tall rabbit. I thought, this will be better than Christmas where she didn't really care at all about Santa until I handed her over to him, at which time she screamed for me to take her from this velvety-red stranger with the odd facial hair.

We go to the mall yesterday and she sees Mr. Bunny from a mile away and begins the screaming and pointing. She cannot believe her luck to see this huge rabbit once again. We get on line and the ruckus continues. Luckily, the four-year-old behind us is doing exactly the same - she is screaming and pointing as well. Whew, its not just my kid. Finally, we go up and I introduce her to the rabbit before handing her over to him for the picture taking to begin. At which time she screams (and not with excitement this time). THREE SECONDS AGO this was the greatest thing you had ever seen in your 15-month-long life. Now, you are terrified. I don't get it.

They took a few pictures, which turned out terribly because they all show Princess with her legs in motion, swinging off Bunny's lap in a mad attempt at escape. So, as a good mom, what do I do? I put Princess back on Bunny's lap so we can get better pictures. Here is the result. A little blurry and not so great. But at least not showing her fighting the bunny to get away.




What made me feel better was that the four-year-old behind us did the exact same thing. Her excitement also turned to fear when she was up close and personal with the Rabbit. So this odd childhood disease did not just afflict my child, but others as well.

On Why My Site Is So PINK

I have received several comments over the last few months about the color of my site which is, I know, SUPER PINK. Not bad comments, mind you, but comments. So I want to explain.

When I found out I was pregnant, I had my kid's nursery planned to the smallest detail. Bluish walls with painted clouds, a tree painted in the corner with leaves that went up onto the ceiling over the crib, a picket fence around the room with flowers coming through it, and little bugs (cute ones, like lady bugs and butterflies) painted as if flying through the air. And if said kid was a boy, I would add a baseball mitt onto the fence, and maybe some turtles and such so it wouldn't look too feminine (God forbid).

And then I found out I was having a girl. For some reason I decided immediately that only a pink room would do. We spent hours upon hours in Home Depot pouring over paint chips for just the right color, and browsing through wallpaper books for just the right border. And we found both. We painted the room, and I will admit, it was quite pink. Pepto Bismol-ish, even. I wanted to immediately paint over it, but Hub said no, its going to be great with the border and the furniture and curtains and such. I pushed all those evil pregnancy hormones down and agreed to wait and see how it would look, after getting a promise that if I still hated it we would start from scratch.

I showed the room to a few people, and everyone said it was a nice color and would looked great. And then my sister-in-law came over. They have a daughter, and her room is dark blue with dark colored teddy bears and beige curtains (very blah and boring-looking), so I don't know why her comments (especially about decorating) mean anything to me. But, remember the hormones...Her comment was "Wow, this is really pink. This is a HURTFUL pink." So then, after I had finally started to agree that it just might look okay, I started to doubt it again.

Well to make a long story even longer, we put up the border, which is GORGEOUS. I love it. It goes along the bottom of the wall (rather than the top) and looks like antique toy boxes overflowing with stuffed animals. Love it. Then we put the furniture in. Dark mahogany, Italian-made, lots of detail, super-classy. A crib, armoire, and changing table/dresser. Love it. Then we hung up her name in letters over her crib, hung with polka-dot ribbon. Love it. And finally we added the other touches like the crucifix we got her at the Vatican, pretty curtains, and a white shelf and two white wicker baskets over her changing table, which we filled with family photos, stuffed animals, books, etc. Her room is just gorgeous.

I was happy to be having a little girl and I wanted her room to express that. Pink was the way for me. But my sister-in-law's comment sticks with me to this day, as if having a pink room for a girl is a bad thing. As if I am setting her up for a life of perky cheerleading and being submissive to boys and the like. I mean really. Anyone who knows me knows that I am raising one seriously tough broad here. Hurtful pink room or not.

So, that's why I chose the pinkest, hurtful-est pink skin I could find. Does that make any sense at all???

A Blathering Post About a Bunch of Things

Yesterday was not such a great day, diet-wise. I did exercise, which is a big deal for me (I hate it). But the eating - not so good. We have so many leftovers from the Mardi Gras party, its hard to avoid overeating. So I am thinking, if I can exercise a few times this week and not worry about the eating portion, and then start the diet part next week once all the leftovers are in my belly (or thighs or butt or whichever part they choose to stick to), it should be ok. Right?

I have been contemplating a post on the Terry Schiavo situation. I was thinking its just too touchy and people are just too passionate about it. And I think maybe that's my problem - I am not feeling passionate about it because I don't know who is telling the truth. Is the husband a total jerk who only wants his wife dead so he can move on with his life? Are the parents hopelessly holding on to the possibility of their daughter recovering when that is medically impossible? Are they being selfish, making her live in a way she did not want to live just because they can't let her go, or is he just a big fat liar in saying she wouldn't want to live like this? Its hard to know. Whenever there is a case like this, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

What is infuriating me is hearing everyone, and I mean everyone, expressing their opinion on tv about what should happen. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion - but don't you think Terry's family and the doctors should be making these decisions, not Patricia Heaton (from Everybody Loves Raymond) and Mel Gibson? What do they know? Both of them came out with statements yesterday saying how *they* think this should all go down. Just because you are famous, doesn't mean you get to decide if people live or die. Or that anyone really cares what you think.

And I am sick of this being a "talking point" for every politician and religious leader, trying to win over voters by blathering on and on. This is a woman's life we are talking about, not a way to gain votes in the next election.

I don't know what should happen in this case, but I think that's ok. Because something important has come of it anyway. Hub and I have now talked about the subject so we know each other's wishes, and we are going to meet with a lawyer to draw up a living will. So, while its a terrible thing that's happening in Florida, it should be a lesson to all of us to have our wishes in writing.

Back on the Diet Horse

So, ok, the fun of Mardi Gras has passed and its back to reality. Its time to get back on track. For some reason, I had been eating really really well the first month and a half of the new year, lost about 15 pounds, and then fell off the horse. I haven't weighed myself because I don't want to see what the scale has to say. But that's ok, because I don't need to see a number to know that I need to get on track again.

I have SO many reasons to lose weight, other than the obvious "get healthy" reason. I have a Key West vacation in November, am in my cousin's wedding in October, and should really be in shape to kick my nemesis' ass if need be. Plus, although it is still cold here in Jersey Girl land, summer is right around the corner and it'll be time for shorts before you know it.

So - once Princess wakes up from her nap, I will be walking in the park as exercise today. And I will control all the food I eat today. And, I will go back to one day at a time, focusing on little successes rather than huge looming goals.

What a boring post. Can't we go back to talking about parties and good times and drinks?

Ah, Mardi Gras!

(Note: Ginger Margarita recipe is here!)

Our Mardi Gras party was a great success! I was kinda nervous, because some of my regular attendees couldn’t make it and we invited some new people…and you never know how that will go. It turned out to be a really nice mix of people – some family; some people with kids and some without; some married people and some single people.

The funny thing is that we had three people come alone who had never been to one of our parties before – Hub’s friend Joe from work, our next door neighbor Mark, and our across-the-street neighbor Jill. I always worry about people who come by themselves and don’t know anyone – will they fit in or will they be wallflowers? Well, I needn’t have worried about them! Joe had such a great time, he spent the night here. Mark, who is super-religious (and therefore I wasn’t sure how he would react to some of our antics) stayed till nearly 1 am and had a great time. Jill fit in so well with everyone; it was as if we had hung out for years.

There was lots of food – jambalaya, mac and cheese, fried chicken, sandwiches, etc. And of course lots of drinks! We couldn’t find Hurricane mix this year, so most people stuck with beer and wine. I served purple, yellow, and green jello shots which were, as always, a huge hit.

We had beads everywhere – strung from anything that would hold them! We also decorated with masks and doubloons and confetti and signs and a big Mardi Gras flag. It was really festive and fun. The good thing is that we didn’t have to buy any of it because we got all of it in 2000 when we went to the real Mardi Gras!

I wore my tiara as the Queen of Mardi Gras. Hub paraded around in his float. Patsy wore the whole bead-flasher ensemble. Everyone wore beads and some even wore feather boas!

Most of the crowd left by about 1 am. But then our “regular crew” (plus Joe) partied until about 5 am. Poor Hub, Princess still woke up at 7:30 so he only had two-and-a-half hours sleep. I slept till 1:30!!! And I am still tired. It was a really great night and everyone had a terrific time.

Next up: An 80’s party. Maybe in the summer. Big Hair and Bon Jovi. I can’t wait!!!


The party in action.


Hub as the King of Mardi Gras in his float.


Diddy and his sign.


Princess is all ready for Mardi Gras!


Patsy really wants beads.


Good times!

Ginger Margarita Recipe

Here is the recipe you have all been dying to get your hands on. This drink is from 66 in TriBeCa NYC, and passed on to me by my dear friend Michael:

Ginger "Marjarita"

4 Servings

1/2 Cup Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Chopped Peeled Fresh Ginger
1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Lemon Grass

Bring lime juice, sugar, ginger, and lemon grass to a boil in small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Strain syrup and discard solids. Chill.

3/4 Cup Tequila (white is best for the drink color if serving in a clear glass, otherwise any tequila)
3/4 Cup Cointreau
Lime Wedges
Kosher Salt
Ice

Mix chilled syrup, tequila, cointreau in cocktail shaker with ice.

Run lime wedge around margarita glass, dip in salt, strain drink into glass, garnish with lime wedge.


According to Michael: "I always at least double or triple this recipe and make it in a pitcher. It says 4 servings, but for us it is more like 2 really good ones. Lemon grass is sometimes available at the supermarket, sometimes at Whole Foods but is always available at Asian Markets. Don't leave it out, the drink won't be the same."

Cheers!

Come Back Monday

I only have a sec to blog, but wanted to mention that tomorrow night is our famous Mardi Gras party (read question #4 for details). I can't wait. Chances are I will not be blogging tomorrow, and if my some strange chance I do, it will be such drunken gobbledygook that you won't be able to figure out what I am saying anyway. And chances are also that I will be too hung over to blog on Sunday, though I will try. But come back on Monday, my friends, where I will tell you how the party was and post pics of Hub in his float and wig, and Jersey Girl in her tiara as Queen of Mardi Gras. You won't want to miss this.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We decided to go into NYC today to the St. Patrick's Day parade. As close as I live to the city (about 10 miles), I had never been to the parade, and neither had Hub. So, we packed up Princess and gathered up two of our friends and headed in. It was a nice day - although the parade was a little boring for my taste (I am used to New Orleans parades - that's where we have been for the past few St. Patrick's Days). It was all bagpipes and marching bands and people walking. No floats, no beads, no craziness. But Princess enjoyed herself - she LOVED the cops on horseback, especially.

Jersey Girl & Princess

I want her to enjoy all the benefits that NYC has to offer. Growing up, we never went in because it was the scary big city. My parents saw someone get stabbed there when they were dating, and that did it for them (can't blame them for that). But I love it there, and I don't fear it at all. I want Princess to feel the same way. I want to expose her to the museums and the architecture, the street performers and the Broadway shows, the sights and sounds and yes, even the smells. I want her to know her way around and know how to carry herself. Most of all, I want her to develop the same love of New York that I have. Today was her first time there, and I know it won't be her last.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lesson Learned

I had a weird experience today, somewhat of an eye-opener. I went to get my hair done (oh, but yes, I *am* a natural blonde, of course!) and the salon I go to is fairly chi-chi. The stylists are all perfect looking in their own way: this one has long blond hair and blue eyes and wears teeny Juicy shirts so her belly button ring shows on her perfectly flat tummy; this one has an up-do with perfectly placed highlights and wears a suit with heels, looking like the trendiest business woman; my stylist is the perfect punk rock princess. Black spiky hair, tons of black makeup, shirts that show off her many tattoos (and her perfect figure) without showing enough to be trampy in the slightest, knee-high black leather boots...you get the idea. All these women are perfect. I look at my styist and want to *be* her, she is just that cool. She is never shaken, never nervous, always so poised and collected and awesome.

So today, we started talking about our kids, whom we have talked about before. She works part time, gets to call her own shots about her hours, and her kid stays with her best friend during the day. Perfect. She told me today that her son was a preemie - born 2 months early and nearly died, because she developed eclampsyia. He was in the NICU for 2 full months, had serious apnea where every few hours he would stop breathing, and he refused to eat. She didn't know from day to day or minute to minute if he would live to see the next morning.

As she was telling me this, I could see her cool facade cracking a bit. She got a little teary as she told me how terrified she was for her baby's life (he is now 19 months old and just fine). Her voice waivered as she told me of her twice-daily visits to the hospital, and how she could only reach into the incubator and hold his hand - she couldn't even hold him. I told her I could *kinda* relate a *little* bit, since Princess was in the NICU for 5 days when she was born. It seemed like the lamest thing I had ever said, because although Princess was 3 weeks early, she still weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces at birth and after the first few hours, she was never in any real danger.

I am not sure of the exact lesson in this. I just think that I learned that even people who look perfect, who seem to have the perfect life, or people who you think you'd love to switch lives with - they may not be all you think they are. They may not really have it all. And we should all be grateful for what we have.

A Good Night Out

Princess, Jersey Girl, Michael, Jose and Sebastian (the dog)
Originally uploaded by truejerseygirl.

Here is a photo from our fun night at our friends' house last Saturday. Notice that Princess is sans dress - she had been napping in her tights a shirt. Cute tights, no? And here's the back:

Princess's Tights
Originally uploaded by truejerseygirl.

Food Shopping Sucks

Hub is on vacation this week, which overall is a good thing. He helps with Princess and gets to spend quality time with her, he helps around the house, he and I get to spend time together, etc. All good things. However, we also go food shopping together.

Since I quit work to stay home I have done all the food shopping, and I really dislike it. It drives me insane to stand on line for cold cuts. I hate the parking lot. I don't like talking to strangers and they always come up and want to talk to Princess. I hate how the bagger and the cashier talk to each other the whole time and the cashier doesn't even verbally give me my total - I have to look at the register. And I despise the manager, who is so unprofessional its no wonder her cashiers act the way they do.

But I digress. I hate shopping, but I do it. And I have it down to a science. I have a list in order of the aisles, and the coupons are in order as well, so I can get in and out as quickly as possible. This is even more important when you have a one year old whose mood can change with the drop of a hat. I am in and out in 40 minutes - I do not play.

Hub has a different approach. He likes to wander the aisles. He looks at different brands of different things to compare sizes vs. prices. He peruses the new items and the seasonal items. He will look through stacks of items looking for an item that is right on top - but for some reason he still needs to look at the whole pile. He drives me insane.

We went food shopping together with Princess today, after we had already spent an hour at Target shopping "his way" so I told him on the way in - Let's do this expeditiously because Princess is on her way to needing a nap. No problem, he says.

I won't go into the details of our shopping trip, since I am sure my rant is boring you already, but I will say that it took us well over 2 hours to do the food shopping today. By mid-trip, Princess was SCREAMING. She had had it, she was ready to go and so was I. But this did not speed Hub up.

So, I will never go food shopping with him again. It has been so decreed.

Ergh, Hangovers Suck.

First of all, thanks to all of my blogging friends who have my back with my nemesis! You rule! I will keep you updated on this, and hopefully someone will be there to take pictures.

I am hungover today. Last night we went to our friends' house for dinner, and I expected it to be an early night since I haven't been feeling well and Princess still has a runny nose. But I forgot what one of these friends is famous for. Drinks. He always has a signature drink for the evening, and last night it was Ginger Margaritas. And then, after we finished a few pitchers of those, we moved onto after dinner drinks. For me, this meant a cappucino martini and then a chocolate raspberry martini. Princess was tired at about 8, so we put her in the pack and play and she was asleep before long. We stayed late into the night and had great adult conversation (including discussing Billy Lane) with our friends. It was a nice night. But today I am paying for it with a throbbing headache.

Just a note to those of you who have been helping my tech-knowledge-deprived self try and get some pics up - I *think* I did it. I have more pics to add (like some of me), but its a start. Check out The Cast and Crew on the sidebar.

My Nemesis

I have an arch nemisis. She is related to me, but I seldom see her because she doesn't live close to the rest of the family. I have probably seen her 5 or 6 times in my whole life but our hatred for each other sustains, despite the gaps in time.

From the time we were kids, we would fight. There are pictures of us fighting over toys when we were 3 or 4. Once we "grew up" it became more subtle. She is one of those people who thinks they are "clever" with their backstabbing, meaning that she will never say a word to my face, but will make comments behind my back to people whom she knows will pass the info to me. She has done this the last two times we saw each other (one of which was my wedding). I always try to be the better person and not ruin the family event by confronting her, because its so seldom that we all get together...so I let it go. But then I stew in it for years and wish I had just decked her.

Well. My dad called me yesterday and told me that this nemesis of mine is going to be at our next big family function, a wedding (which Princess and I are both in). I am not going to let it go this time. I will not start anything with her, because that's not my style and I would prefer that she just keep her trap shut and we can just ignore each other. But, if she does, which she will, I am not letting it go. I am going to break out the Jersey attitude (which I have perfected, by the way) and see where it goes from there.

I can't wait.

Update

Just to quickly update on what I ended up doing last night with Princess...

I decided that she almost never cries (for any reason, really). So I went in and checked on her. She was standing in her crib crying. I laid her down, told her it was ok and to have sweet dreams, and left her. She continued to cry and I let her cry for about 10 more minutes. Then I went in and got her. I can count on one hand the times we have done this, so I don't think it is setting a bad presendent (I know I misspelled that). I brought her downstairs where she was wide awake and playing, and she stayed up till about 10 pm; then I brought her back up and she laid right down and went immediately to sleep. Tonight, she went right to sleep when I put her down, so I think it was the right thing to do.

And that's all we can do, right, to do what we *think* is the right thing? Who knows if it was, in fact, the right thing, until 20 years from now when she is in therapy blaming mom for everything.

Vocabulary

Princess has added another word to her vocabulary:

"Crazy."

I am hoping that she picked this up from me calling the dog crazy and not from my behavior. But who knows. She has been saying it while running and shrieking, so your guess is as good as mine.

Right now she is in her crib, crying. Its almost 9 pm. I never know what to do in this situation, because she seldom does this - she usually sits in her crib a while, talks to pink bear and tigger, and then falls asleep. So when she cries, I don't know whether to pick her up or just let her cry. Ergh, motherhood.

A Letter to Snot

Feeling as I have been feeling the past few days, this letter to snot could not have been more timely. (Kudos to Honestyrain).

Blog Ranting (or, I am not a geek)

I am having such issues with my blog. I want to be able to have a little photoblog so that I can post pics of me, Hub, Princess, etc so that you can all take a peek. I don't want it as its own entry, I want it to be something I can link to. But this is not working for me, no matter what I try. I think I'll have to do an entry and then link to it. Blah.

I also want collapsible posts. Sleeping Mommy was kind enough to walk me through this process, but alas, Blogger does not seem willing to accept its own HTML in my template to add it.

And, I tried to switch to Haloscan comments. This worked, but it got rid of all my old comments. I don't want to get rid of my old comments, but I am not sure if its possible to hang onto them and still switch over.

And finally, my weatherpixie is darling, no? But this morning, she was showing it was 47 degrees out and she was in a short sleeved top. At least now that its snowing (yes, its snowing here again), she has put on a coat.

Not to brag, but...

I have to give big ups to Hub. I have been so sick the past 2 days, and he really stepped up to the plate. On Sunday, he took Princess out for the day while I laid in bed and blew my nose. And on Monday, he took the day off, went food shopping, and cared for Princess so I could lay in bed and blow my nose. He read to her, sang to her, fed her...did all the stuff I usually do. He didn't just put in videos like I expected. I have to admit, I am impressed. And, he didn't even get mad when I woke him up 50 times during the night to blow my nose. I got me a good one.

And let me just add...

Lots of bloggers are still talking about this article from the NY Times. And I am wondering why its such a big shock that parents blog about their kids.

Growing up, my mom had this little group of friends, all stay at home moms, who hung out together, had tea, played tennis, and generally socialized while us kids played. Well, I don't have anyone like that. Most of my friends are kid-less, the ones with kids work, and the one friend that doesn't work and has kids lives 45 minutes away so that's a once-a-month playdate. So here's me, hanging with my kid all day, every day, without anyone to bounce ideas off of, or to brag to, or complain to...its kinda lonely (ah yes, poor Jersey Girl).

Blogging, even for as short a time as I have been doing this, has connected me to people who are going through the same things and who share their stories and who read my stories...and its good. I don't think its self-indulgent at all - its reaching out for others who are like us, in one way or another. We tell funny stories and sad stories and general this-was-my-day-today stories. We may not live on the same block, but we connect nonetheless.

So screw that guy that wrote this. I am grateful for the blogs out there. Thanks, everyone.

Blah

Don't you hate being sick? I went to bed at 10:15 last night (very unlike me) and slept till 11 this morning, awakened only by Hub trying unsuccessfully to put Princess down for a nap. They both went to see our new nephew today, who is now 3 weeks old and we have only seen him once. Wah, I wanted to see him. So the house is quiet except for my sniffling and coughing and I have no idea, if I still feel like this tomorrow, how I will care for Princess. I can't see myself being able to run after her and I really don't want to even get too close to her because I don't want to get her sick too.

Any advice from the more experienced moms - how do you take care of a baby when you are sick yourself?

My Iraqi Name Will Fill You With Fear

My Iraqi Leadership Name is al-Tikriti al-Jizrawi Ugla.
What's yours?
Powered by Rum and Monkey.

Babyproofing

We're still working on babyproofing. With our house, its really hard because its an old Tudor and has wrought iron gates on landings, 2 steps to this level and then 3 steps to that level and then up 5 steps to the kitchen...in any case, its been tough. But we're working on it.

Now, with Princess getting into every drawer and emptying everything out, we are trying to babyproof these 4 drawers in the kitchen.

"You think this is gonna keep me out? Fools!"

So, Hub has the idea to just put a yard stick through the handles to keep them closed. There is no way our brilliant child could figure this one out, right?

Wrong.

"I can do anything. I am a genius."

(And you can tell this was "one of those days" since my previous post about her eating dog food is the same day.)

Stinker

Let me tell you what a stinker Princess is. She is at this stage where she knows what is right and wrong, and just doesn't care. She will look you dead in the face while you are telling her no, smile at you, and do it anyway. This is the perfect picture of this stage:

You stinker.

Is this normal? Not the trying to eat dog food thing, but the total disregard for mom's admonishment? And how do you discipline? She's too young for time outs, I don't believe in spanking...any suggestions? Or does this have to just run its course?

Right Back At Ya

Alright, well, I don't feel like a complete failure. I got three of you to sign up to be interviewed, and that's better than I thought. Plus, I got a few comments on there. Whew. But don't think I wasn't losing sleep over this last night, because I was. I think I am taking this blogging thing a little too seriously, folks.

Anyway, here are my questions for my three favorite people in the world right now. Make sure to go to their blogs and check out their answers:

Five Questions for Karen:
What has been the best band/live act you have ever seen in concert and why?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I know you love to cook. What is your favorite meal to prepare, and what is your favorite meal to eat?

If you had a million dollars total to spend on 3 items, what would you buy (and it can’t be paying off student loans!)?

What is your favorite time of day?

Bonus Question: Who is your favorite niece?


Five Questions for Elle:
If you had an unlimited credit card for one store, where would it be?

What made you start your blog?

What is your favorite album of all time, and why?

Based on reading your 100 Things, are you still in contact with your mother?

How did you pick the screen name “Elle” since this is apparently not your real name? Are you in the Witness Protection Program?

Five Questions for Carol:
How in the world do you live with those roaches???

I’ve only been to Texas twice, to San Antonio and Houston. Tell me what you do for fun in your little corner of the state.

How did you meet your husband?

Are you going to find out the sex of your baby? Why or why not?

From your postings I read, the only thing I got about your musical taste is that you like Simon and Garfunkel. What is your favorite song of all time, and why?

My Interview! Wanna Be Next????

Ammie of Sleeping Mommy has interviewed me! I feel so honored! Here are my answers, and here's the deal: if you are one of the first five to leave a comment and specifically ask me to interview you, I will post personalized questions for you in the next few days for you to answer on your own blog. Fun, right??? I am nervous about this, because I don't think 5 people read this on a regular basis, but hey, I live on the edge so I'll give it a shot. Don't let me down!

1. Before becoming a full time stay at home mom, what kind of businesswoman were you?I worked at NJ's largest newspaper as Employment Manager. This means that I did the hiring, unemployment, disability, FMLA, envelope stuffing, stupid-question-answering, etc. I don't miss it.

2. Do you plan on having more children? If so how many? Let's see. I would like to have one more, if he/she could be exactly like Princess. If it doesn't happen, I wouldn't be crushed. I really feel like I have perfection in the one I already have so I almost feel like I'd be tempting fate having a second. But I'd like one more.

3. How did you meet your husband? Oh boy. We met in a seedy dive bar in the Village in NYC. It was the best bar ever - they played great music, had a fun crowd, and charged $5 to get in and you got all the free beer you could drink until 11 pm. Hub bought me shot after shot after shot until I needed to hold onto to him to keep from falling down...but he did not try to take advantage of me. And I did not go home with him. I knew that night that we would get married.

4. Being from Oklahoma, and cut off from all my old college buddies, I’m feeling deprived in the party department these days. If I were to visit you, how and where would we party? These days, the party department is closed most days due to being a responsible adult. However...we are having a Mardi Gras party this month at our house(yes, I know the real Mardi Gras was a month ago, but we couldn't get it together in time). I will make purple, yellow, and green jello shots. We'll have a king cake. We'll have a huge vat of Hurricanes. Hub will parade around in a cardboard "float" he made out of a big cardboard box (yes, I will post pics of this) throwing beads. I will wear a pink wig and tiara. My friend Patsy will wear those fake boobs you get at Party City and pretend she is flashing people. We will wear shot glass beads around our necks so that if the desire for a shot should strike, a glass is always near. Towards the end of the night, it will be just my core little group of 10 or so friends (the whole party is usually about 60 people...we invited 100 this year) and we'll have heated political debates and argue till the sun comes up, even though we're all on the same side of the argument. And, just so no one is calling childrens' protective services on me, Hub does not drink and is super-responsible. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't party like this anymore. That's how we will party. Interested????

5. What single appliance or gadget could you not live without? Hmmm...well overall I would say my microwave since I am not a good cook. But for fun, its always nice to have a blender for those strawberry margaritas.

OK, there it is! Wanna be next? Leave me a comment specifically asking to be interviewed and if you are one of the first five, I'll interview you! Its that easy! Now do it!!!

My Advice For Today

Listen to this band.

Watch this tv show.

Read this book.

Visit this blog.

I Gave it a Shot

While stopping by Sleeping Mommy's blog today, I found this challenge. And it was definitely a challenge for me. It originally came from here, so if you are interested in giving this a try, go for it. Let me know if you did any better than I did.

I think part of the problem (other than the fact that I suck at poetry) was that I don't have a deep, storied family history. We were and still are pretty much just average people, doing normal everyday things, living regular lives. But overall, we're strong and funny and pretty happy, so we're doing something right. Here it goes:


Where I'm From
I am from clocks stuck at 3 a.m., from Entenmann’s and fancy franks.

I am from the mustard house, from porcelain eggs and an old front porch full of sun. From the big corner yard with the rusted swing set and the protective dog, from the off-kilter garage and the big green bush filled with little squishy red berries and nests of robin redbreasts.

I am from the crocuses peeking out of the snow, the weeping willow bending with her buds, the dandelions pretending to be flowers.

I am from Chambeawood and stuck-out ribs, from Edward Francis and Katherine and Baba.

I am from sarcastic humor and large appetites. I am from 10-pound babies and hand-knit sweaters and candy dishes that are never empty.

From stubbornness and hardheadedness, and stubborn, hardheaded grudges.

I am from Catholics who poured water on marching Protestants in Ireland and refused to plant orange flowers in gardens.

I'm from Jersey and Scotland, from bronto burgers and surprise burgers.

From the men who always "did the best that they could do", the immigrants without money but with a strong will and desire for a better life, and the wives who didn’t know their husband’s real first names.

I am from a box of dusty old photos hidden inside an end table but not hidden from my mind. From framed recollections lining a radiator cover, sparkling in their silver and brass dressings. From scrapbooks decorated festively to celebrate all the memories they hold.

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Well there it is. And I "did the best that I could do."

Third Snow of February

Yet more snow in Jersey Girl Land. Haven't we been punished enough?


Beautiful view of our house in the midst of the latest blizzard.