June 2006 Archives

- Being chosen as one of the favorite entries for the Self-Portrait Challenge this week.
- The fact that my best friend is coming to visit on Thursday. She lives about 12 hours away and we rarely get to see each other.
- The nice feedback I've received on this website. I didn't even know people were reading!
- The Chocolate Elvis smoothie my husband brought home for me.
- The rare moments that my 2-year-old didn't act like a 2-year-old this week.
- The way my 18-month-old has learned to do the "booty shake". The girl's got some moves! I like to think she got them from me. ;)
- The buffet table that a neighbor gave me. She was going to throw it in the trash, but I was able to adopt it instead. I love refinishing old furniture.
- The upcoming 4 day weekend for us.

Welcome to the new site! I'm much happier with this design and can now call this my blog home. A special thanks to my husband who helped me with some of the more difficult coding elements. I llurve you, sweetie.

Pop Art.
Literally.

I was 9 months pregnant with my youngest, Josie.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old I remember seeing a commercial for pantyliners on TV. This was back when those commercials weren't quite as graphic or open about female menstruation as they are now. I remember asking my mom what those were.

In her frustration to explain something completely over my head (which I understand now that I'm a mom too) she told me that they were for women. That when a girl gets older, she sometimes pees her pants so these are kind of like diapers for her. I'm sure she was taking a cue from Depends and not Tampax in her explanation but I don't think she had any idea what effect it had on me.

For the next few years I feared growing up to be a woman because I would pee my pants and have to wear a diaper again. For those few years, I wanted to hold onto my childhood as long as possible. It wasn't until I was about 11 or 12 that I found out what they were REALLY for and breathed a sigh of relief. My school friends were horrified learning about menstruation but I was so relieved. Becoming a woman wasn't so bad as I thought.

The 4th of July 2005. We used the night vision on our videocamera to capture our photos. We spent the night covering the ears of our 1 year-old and 4 month old so the sound wouldn't bother them, yet hoping that they enjoyed the sight of the fireworks.
See more pop art self portraits here

Overheard at Playgroup
by Pamela Hamilton

We all work full-time. You have to remember I was thirty pounds lighter then. When we are alone we usually end up talking about the children. Honey, give her back the toy. Money is so tight right now. I wanted a career until I became a mother. I said to him I was the one who was in labor for 26 hours. What happened? I know what you mean. Do you plan to have any more children? Brooklin was an early walker. Mommy will be there in a minute. I don't even remember what a good sleep feels like. I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name. All right, you can have another cookie! He's so good with Ryan. I think I'll stay home after the next baby. I can't wait to go back to work. I'm never alone anymore. It's a good day if I've managed to have a shower. You definitely bond more with your baby when you breast feed. You sit there and think about what you did. I had a miscarriage at four months. I love you, too. I have time for one more coffee. It's nice to talk to other adults once in a while. I've only ever bottle fed. I'm just not interested right now. It seems like someone else's life to me. He didn't want me to stop working. Please don't stand on that. I found out this week I'm pregnant. My maternity leave ends next week. I had my first baby when I was 37. She gets into everything. My husband spends more time with the children once they are toddlers. My problem is that I finish whatever is left on his plate. Ask Mommy to cut with scissors, OK? That sounds just like my husband. How do you find the time to do that? She looks just like you. Want me to read that to you? I hear it gets easier.

Things I'm grateful for this week:

- Celebrating a wonderful Father's Day last weekend.
- The way my 2 year-old, Maddie, takes my face in her hands and looks me in the eye when she tells me she loves me.
- The way my 1 year-old, Josie, yells "Mama!" whenever I enter the room.
- The way my husband can still make my stomach flutter when he looks at me in a certain way. (TMI, but this is my post)
- The beautiful, delicious tomato the girls and I grew in our backyard.
- The ornamental grasses from a friend of mine who had her yard landscaped and no longer needed them. They are taking me one step closer to having our backyard actually look like a real yard.
- Cherry pie from last weekend, though I managed to eat all of the pie except one piece.

In the ongoing saga of trying to get my two year-old to stop cussing, I just had to share.

Upon discovering that she had already pooped her pants as she sat down to go potty:

"Oh Dammit!" sigh.

- I hate having my belly button touched, by myself or anyone else. It immediately makes me nauseous.
- I have completed 12 of the 40 required flying hours towards getting my private pilot's license. This was done at age 17.
- I went to Space Camp... twice.
- I've worn glasses since I was four years old (near-sighted).
- I had perfect vision after my second daughter was born. A year later I needed glasses again (far-sighted).
- I got pregnant while on the Pill... twice. No regrets, but I am possibly the most fertile woman ever.
- I have a photographic memory. When recalling info for tests in school, I would reread the lines from the picture of the textbook page in my head.
- I took college classes and lived in the dorms during my last two years of high school.
- I grew up in a Greek Orthodox family (my mother converted from Southern Baptist), attended Catholic parochial schools, shared each Passover with family friends, and attended many Hindu events with my Indian friend in high school. I consider myself a religious mutt.
- My brother once punched me in the face, intending to hit my sister (who ducked), and broke my glasses.
- I am a speed reader.
-At various times I wanted to be a choreographer, fashion designer, architect, or doctor when I was growing up. Sadly, I became none of them.
- My hair has been almost every color that Clairol sells, and then some. My hair has also been as short as a half inch long. I am in a constant state of cutting my hair extremely short and then growing it out.
- I am in love/awe with Bjork and would probably pee my pants if I ever met her.
- My best friend once set me up on a blind date who, in the first few minutes of the date, stated that he thought I would look much better with long hair. It was our last date.

"Ya'll's next child is gonna be butt-ugly. You just cain't have three beautiful chillun in a row. It just ain't fair."

I had the most horrible day today. First, we were in Wal-Mart to pick up a few t-shirts. Within 10 minutes both Maddie and Josie melted down in the most awful way. Screaming, kicking, hitting. My own little brat pack. Fed up, I took a screaming Josie out of the stroller and immediately turned to Maddie who was pulling every pair of jeans off the rack next to her. I turned around a second later and Josie was gone. Literally, no where to be seen. I looked around a little and went into panic mode. "Josie? Josie? JOSIEEEEEEEE!!!!" "Has anyone seen my baby!!!!!" I ran up and down the aisle of racks near me searching. Finally a woman not too far from me pointed to the rack right next to me. I walked around the corner to find Josie peeking out from underneath the clothes, giggling. I scooped her up {ever so nicely, mind you}, grabbed Maddie in my other arm and ran out of the store. I had to get home. I had to remove myself and my screaming kids from the situation. Meanwhile Josie is mad because I won't put her down, and Maddie is screaming that she wants the Thomas the Tank Engine shoes she saw.

I run to the car, throw the kids in, and take off, heading for home: A bottle of wine for me and naps for the girls.

We get halfway home when I hear from the backseat, "Mommy, I left my night-night in the stroller (ie. shopping cart)!" {her night-night is her lovey that she's slept with since she was born.} I recognize the severity of the situation at once. I pull over and search the car for any sign of it. I also realize we've lost one of Josie's shoes -- one of her NEW shoes. Keeping my curse words to a minimum, I turn around and head back to the store.

I put the hazard lights on, pull up to the curb {who cares about a ticket? I need my daughter's night-night!} I rush in with both girls in my arms and retrace all of my steps in the store. I find the cart I left behind and there is Josie's shoe. Mission 1 accomplished. Now on to Mission 2. I can't find the blanket anywhere. Not in the fitting room, at Lost and Found, in any of the aisles. I go outside and search the parking lot where I had been parked before. Defeated, I leave and go home.

At home I call every boutique in the Atlanta area asking if they have a replica of Maddie's night-night. It's a pretty expensive brand that I've rarely seen in any stores. However I do remember seeing it a few months ago and was amazed. Wow, they have it here?

Not a single store carries it. IN THE ENTIRE METRO ATLANTA AREA, FOR GOD'S SAKE. And the company website is down for redesign so I can't find out where it's sold in our area. I could buy one online but it would take at least 10 days to get to us.

Now I'm screwed. This means that it will be even harder to get Maddie to sleep at night. She already requires a big 2-hour production just to get her to bed.

Wish me luck.

I was on the phone with a friend the other day when she said, "Wow, you're kids are loud, aren't they?" I hadn't thought about the fact that my two kids were screaming at the top of their lungs in the room behind me.

After the phone call ended, I thought alot about that statement. I wondered if I should have made them sit and be quiet while I was on the phone. Need to work on that one. Phone etiquette. No interrupting me on the phone. No shouting in the house. No running in the house. All of these reprimands and disciplinarian mandates went through my head. Oh, I'm such a bad mother. My kids are going to be completely unfit for society and will probably end up in jail. All because I let them run around screaming while I was on the phone.

And then I actually turned around to watch my screaming children. My two and one-year-old were chasing each other back and forth down the hallway, yelling and laughing. When someone was tagged they would turn around and chase the other one. Even my one-year-old, still in those wobbly walking stages, was doing her best to run as fast as she could. I saw the utter glee on their faces. I realized that I didn't want to interrupt them with my silly phone call. What was more important at that moment in time? My phone conversation or the absolute happiness of two sisters playing together?