Happy Memorial Day!!

Thank you to all of you who have sacrificed time, effort, and loved ones in the armed forces. I appreciate all you do at the behest of this country.

We had a mellow Father's Day weekend. We took Lee out for dinner on Saturday so we didn't have to face the holiday rush with the little ones. We "went Outback" and had yummy beef cooked with garlic potatoes.
Mmmm..... good steak.

Then Marlena and I gave Lee his presents, which consisted of a DVD of pictures and movies set to music, a card, and for his geeky side, a locking carabiner. (I mean one with a combination, not one that locks into place.) We then took him to the Freehold mall for a massage and Apple store visit.

All in all it was a grand ole time.

We had Shane and Maggie come by on their way to Nashville, and Kate and her mother Betsy came over to see the baby and visit the beach with us. I was a little nervous about Oliver on the beach, but he was fine. He sat with me in the shade of the umbrella and nursed for most of the day, but rode happily in his sling when I walked in the water for a few minutes.

We are getting ready to move, soon we will be in a house that doesn't make us angry.

Here is a wee video of Oliver checking out the camera, he is pretty sceptical about it.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's in my life! (WARNING: ensuing Hallmark card moment)

Motherhood is always challenging, always interesting, and always worth it, even though it may not feel like it at 3 am when you haven't slept in a month. I just bury my nose in my baby or kiddo's hair, breathe deeply, and remember that one day I will watch them tear their hair out over their own children. (Revenge! Ask my Mom, she says it's sweet!)

To all the women I know who deal with poo, vomit, car crashes, late curfews, problems at school, the "yeah-but"'s, the "gimmies", rolling eyes, stomping feet, etc... you are wonderful people whose actions everyday are growing more wonderful people. You have the most important job on earth! Thank you for listening to me complain, helping me come up with solutions, commiserating when all seems lost, and generally being my village.

I won't forget to cherish the handmade flower pots, and photo magnets, the sticky hugs and kisses, the smiles and giggles, the fact that my child still wants to play with me and hasn't yet discovered I am the least cool person on earth, soft baby sounds, surprise room cleanings, and everything else that helps make all the sleeplessness worth it.

Thanks to my Mom, without whom I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be happy, and I wouldn't be me. Thank you for yelling at me, hugging me, making me brownies, coming out to help me with Otter, helping me raise Monkey, being my friend, getting drunk with me, and sharing in many sarcastic judgmental moments with me while somehow still thinking I am a good person!!

I love you!

Speaking of motherhood... ask not for whom the baby cries... he cries for me.

I'm in Labor!!

APRIL FOOLS!!

Nothing yet, will keep you posted.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

What are we doing this lovey day of love? Well, we are sitting at home with about 4 inches of wet ice/snow accumulating on our streets and sidewalks. Monkey's school is closed today, which I think is silly as the roads seem to be just wet and gloppy.

Of course, I come from a land where the school didn't close unless there were multiple feet of snow on the ground, so that may be the difference. (There was a pole in the courtyard of our school, if it was covered, they would close, otherwise, wear boots.)

Here they are closed today, when the worst thing I can say about the "snowfall" is that it is really wet and yucky. It actually looks more like slushy or icee fall, than snowfall.

Lee went to work, sadly, so Monkey and I are here, with our pile of healthy fruit kabob mixins and our holiday cheer. We are both wearing red or pink, and are ready to celebrate the day. Which we will do later but eating heart shaped peanut butter and honey sandwhiches and playing a reading game or two.

A Happy VDAY to all of you, if anyone wants to have some political fun this day, visit the Vagina Monologues, or see if anyone is doing a performance of them today, they are an amazing production, and are often performed around this time of year.

Resolutions...

Resolutions this year...

1. Feed my family better food.

This resolution got off to a great start last night with a lovely fruit salad consisting of pineapple, mandarin oranges, crisp granny smith apple slices, and dried cranberries, a side of fresh steamed broccoli, and a lovely black olive and garlc spaghetti.

2. Get more involved politically (If possible)

I feel I was very politically involved in the first part of the year, as law school makes it very easy to be political, but got less so as I entered the realm of mommyhood and work. I fear it is easier to forget to be involved than it is to keep up with the latest political news, so I really want to focus on fighting the good fight!! In an attempt to get this resolution off on the right foot, I offer the following:

This week the petition site is attempting to support innoculations for children in foreign countries. As always, children lack their own voice. They have no political power, they have no money. Without these things, they have no voice. If you have a few minutes today, please spend them adding your voice, your power, and if you can spare it, your money, to protecting children.

On a humorous note:



This lovely gem came from one of my favorite blogbites Pharyngula. It's a couple posts back, but clearly explains that the religous right is fault free when it comes to global warming.

Unless you look at this from a philosophical point of view. If hell exists simply as a result of belief in the christian faith, is the increase in heat from the fires of hell actually caused by an increase in dogmatic belief? In other words, does increased church attendance equal global warming? (Shane, I hand this question to you, it seems a good one for a deep philosophical search.)

Back to resolutions...

Those two were really the only resolutions I made this year. Since I am once again taking a bar exam, working, and am getting ready for a new baby, I am pretty sure I will barely have time to accomplish these two things. Hopefully my family will see more fruits and veggies with their meals, and you will all see more politics with my posts.

What did all of you resolve to do?

Happy New Year...

Our new year saw us braving our first family road trip to Virginia Beach to visit family. Monkey once again showed her travel ability by enjoying 8 hours in the car. She played, colored, watched a show or two, sang to music, and played a new game we called "stinkerfoot" while laughing uuproariously. (Stinkerfoot is a stockinged foot that roams the car and attacks mommy and daddy with surprise tickles.) It was so much fun we are planning on driving out again soon.

We went to spend the new year with Lee's Uncle Jack and Aunt Letitia and cousin Suzie. We had a great time, most of it was spent relaxing and eating, which is the perfect holiday for a very pregnant woman. On New Year's Eve we enjoyed a lovely Puttanesca prepared by Suzie at a small family dinner party. Then we toasted the new year in bed, as we were asleep by 11. It was a wonderful holiday, we returned home rested and relaxed. Normally, we need a vacation from our vacations, but this one was magically calm and soothing. I even got the chance to take a nap in the middle of the day!

The drive out to Virginia ended badly as I had not kept myself hydrated enough and started getting pretty scary contractions about an hour out, however the drive back was much better. I learned from my poor experience and drank enough water and gatorade that I got to know pretty much every gas station between Virgina Beach and New Jersey. I learned that a large belly is the fastest and most effective bathroom key in the world.

On our way home we stopped and ate lunch at a little restaurant on the chesapeake bay bridge, where we oohed and aahed over the history of this bridge/tunnel system, took some pictures, and ate Hush Puppies, fried shrimp, and fried scallops. It has been ages since I indulged in a hush puppy, I had forgotton how delicious they are! We stole a table mat and made some smushed penny souveniors, and got in the car for our long trip home.

We encountered some pretty heavy rain on the way home, but we had scheduled in plenty of time to get here so we just cuddled under blankets and listened to the rain hit the car roof. Aunt Letitia packed our snack bag with more food than a family of 10 could eat, so we had plenty of snacks and drinks available, and Monkey was pleased that she was able to eat as many cookies and goldfish as she wished. We are really looking forward to our next trip out, Monkey loves to play with her cousin Lydia, and Lee and I enjoy spending time with the family.

I hope your New Year's have all started out well! May your next 364 days be interesting, full of success, and joyful!!

Singing mermaids...

Merry Christmas!!

Well, Santa came through folks! After me spending hours searching for the one thing Monkey had asked for, a singing Ariel Barbie, I got her an Ariel Barbie she could sing to, and hoped she would be happy with the substitution.

And she was!! Especially since her Uncle Jack and Aunt Letitia came through with the singing Ariel Barbie I had been unable to get! So Monkey got two Ariel dolls, and is thrilled with both.

She also got a lovely Barbie Mermaid from Aunt Sandi and Uncle Gary, a super fort structure currently shaped into a boat, racing cones, a bat and baseball, tennis set, two gorgeous dresses, etc.

She is a happy kid.

She, in her new pink and black poofy gown from Nama and Da, is currently braving the waves in her new ship with her mermaid friends.

Thank you all for helping make it possible!!

We love you!!

New traditions that will not die...

I was feeling pretty desperate to have some holiday cheer this year. I was missing the myriad of family traditions I have enjoyed throughout my life. Mom and I shopping for inexpensive gift bags and wrapping paper in all the little crappy discount stores we can find. Standing outside in the cold with Dad as he hangs the outdoor lights. Helping Mom or Dad lug the tree up from the basement amid much grunting and occasional profanity. Untangling boxes of lights, searching for ornaments, etc. I was anxious to start this year out with new traditions, ones that would somehow replace the old ones.

Here's the tricky thing about traditions, you should never, never, try and create them. Whenever you do, they fall apart. For two weeks we have been planning on taking Monkey to a lovely tree place and getting our tree. I imagined a lovely cold winter's day with the three of us sipping hot apple cider and strolling through row after row of trees until we found the perfect one. It would be tall, even, and surrounded by a halo of sunlight. Angels would sing as the tree emerged from the others surrounding it. Obviously, my expectations were a little high.

This morning we began our new tradition with breakfast at a nice new diner we found by my office. It was a pleasant meal, with yummy food and good conversation, but like most adult oriented events, Monkey got a little squirrelly in the end. We stopped by the neighboring dollar store, in an attempt to share in Mom's and my christmas tradition, and found amazing deals on gift bags (sorry Mom, these blow to hell any deals we have ever found before!). However, the store held more allure than it should have and sucked us in for longer than we expected. Monkey had a bad case of the "gimmes" and the gift bag choosing was punctuated by many "oh my god you have to see this!" and "can I have this" comments. Even Lee was sucked in to the power of a store labeled "Everything 99 cents or less" and picked out some storage stuff for the basement and some Vonage Orange dishtowels. (It was the air Mom, you know what that canned air can do to a person!)

Finally, we were on our way to the tree event!! Of course, we had to stop at Lowe's because my co-worker had suggested we get our tree there, and while there we had to buy stuff to repair the fence out back. Sigh.

Finally, we really were on our way to picking out our tree. We went to this little place called Dearborn Farms. They had rows of trees, live trees, poinsettia's, and a grocery store. Lee commented that we were trying to buy our tree at Marczyk's, a Denver store known for it's good food, and exorbitant prices. Monkey wanted every single tree we saw. Here she is with one of the smallest she wanted to get...



We were trying to decide between a live tree, that might end up dead after we inadvertently neglected it for a while, or an already dead tree. This was the beginning of the end for our new family tradition. Before I knew it we were standing in the freezing cold, Monkey was madly racing around with a balloon, Lee and I were arguing over whether or not we should get a tree, and I was beginning to feel the beautiful dream of our new tradition slipping away. Hell, it was speeding away in a tacky gas-guzzling Hummer. The only scrap of the dream left was the cup of hot apple cider clutched tightly in my freezing wind-chapped hand.

We gave up on the tree, we came home, and I cried about all the christmas traditions I am missing this year.

Then I lugged down into the basement and unearthed last year's fake tree. There was some cursing. I found the ornaments. Lee put up a fence. Then Lee dragged the tree out of the basement.I baked fresh cinnamon rolls and proceeded to drop their freshly frosted stickiness all over the kitchen floor. I made cinnamon toast and apple cider tea and we hooked up the lights.

We hung ornaments and giggled about the slightly off center nature of our tree. Monkey started taking pictures when she wearied of hanging ornaments.





We took some of Monkey's tiny ornaments and attached bows to them. We used the rest of the bows to make the tree look a little old fashioned. We had a great time decorating our little, crooked, plastic tree. When we were finished with all the ornaments, it was time for Monkey to place the star of the top of the tree. Of course, the star is made of heavy copper metal, and weighs a ton, and the top is very weak, so we had to engineer the top in such a way that it could hold the star. After a little while, we managed to get it to stay.

Finally we had a lovely tree, and a happy family tradition complete with cursing, inconvenience, laughter and love. My lesson, don't try and replace old family traditions with manufactured ones. If you're lucky, you can stumble across new traditions, but the best ones aren't created, they just naturally occur.

Love to all my old traditions! I miss you!

Thanksgiving....

We fried a turkey, cooked and ate with friends, cared for seven pets, and generally had a great time!!

Yes! It was Thanksgiving here in Red Bank. Scott came in from Denver and Shane came in from Boston. One of Lee and Devon's co-workers, Steven, came along. Morgan and Amy left their dog Dante with us while they went to Denver and Devon brought his dog Fitz, so all told we had six adults, one child, four dogs, and three cats running through our house this holiday. It was insane!

We had Devon frying a turkey in the rain. (Fairly dangerous and wet, but the resultant turkey was quite good.) Shane and I whipped up some falafel stuffed portobello mushrooms, yams, and our traditional cream cheese and garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmm.

There was pie... er there were pies... four of them. Shane and I started in on the pecan pie, which he had requested the previous week, the evening before thanksgiving, and finished it on the actual day. Unfortunately for my pregnant waistline there is still pie. Anyone want some pie? (Please come take some pie!)

We had a nice time playing board games and Katamari Damacy, which is a very odd japanese video game where you roll up stuff into a giant ball to make stars and planets. Monkey even took her turn on the playstation and enjoyed some Katamari fun.

Shane and Devon enjoyed some philosophical discussions over beer and wine. We all played Dominos, a game called Chickenfoot, and Monkey did very well. She really began to understand the finer points of strategy near the end of the game and pulled off some tricky moves.

It was a very nice holiday, very low key and pleasant. It was especially fun this year as Scott came in on Tuesday and left Saturday so it felt as though the celebration and fun lasted much longer than usual.

Here are some photos:
Monkey playing Katamari Damacy


Lee and Devon and Scott


Monkey with a final snack and kitten cuddles


Monkey, Mommy, and Rue at bedtime


Monkey and Rue get some much needed rest



Lee and Misty in the kitchen




Otter gets bigger and so do I


Misty and Steven play Katamri Damacy


Shane and Devon talk late into the night




All in all it was a wonderful holiday. We missed our traditions and the people we usually see, but we had a nice time in spite of being so far away.

Happy Holidays to all of you back home!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year I am thankful for: (At least this is what immediately comes to mind)

My family
My friends
My pets (even when the dogs simply will not stop whining at the intoxicating turkey smells drifting through the house.)
My job
Disposable tupperware
Katamari Damacy ('cause who doesn't like to roll stuff into a giant ball and send it into space?)
Garbage Disposals (even though I don't have one anymore. Just knowing I am capable of someday having a garbage disposal.)
Patience and other useful virtues
Pecan pie

Thank you all for being in my life, I love you!!