To the nicest woman, I know – who also happens to be my mother-in-law. I hope you have a wonderful birthday today, Debby and a great year!
This has been a very happening Birthday week in our world. Happy Birthday also to Grandma M., Grandpa M., my cousin Keith, and next week Uncle Mert and Bill! We are sending sunny birthday wishes and love to all of you.
Do you think these two best friends are having a good week?
That would be a resounding, “yes!”
We are having a great time with our friends here. Tomorrow we are going to take on Disney with 4 children. Ought to be interesting…at least we will almost be man-on-man defense – if you count the two little ones as one!
I see how you all are…I don’t post anything yesterday and I have the MOST visits ever? Is that a hint, I should be writing less? Ha!
I’m sure that I will be writing a little less this week with Lauren, Kim & Will here. Yes, they made it all intact and happy. Em and Lauren have already had their first little fight – such a love/hate relationship between those two.
Right now they are “dancing” to Jack’s Big Music Show and having a great time. Addie is a little out-of-sorts because of a rough night last night, but also because her big sister wants nothing to do with her now that Lauren is here. And A. really doesn’t think much of Baby Will. She really, really doesn’t like it when he tries to get near me. Apparently A. is a little bit of a green-eyed monster when it comes to Mommy.
But we are off to have some fun, we’ll catch up soon.
Okay, I’m doing pretty well on the challenge this month (and the month is only half-way over!). I’ve registered to register (to get the cheek swab!) with the National Marrow Donor Registry. If you want to accept this month’s Small Change Challenge, you can sign up with the registry for free between now and May 21st!
Leave me a comment, let me know if you do it! So I can give some props….
I think Emma may spontaneously combust before tomorrow. She has asked me twenty times since 9 am this morning, “Tomorrow is Lauren coming?” “When we get up tomorrow, Lauren will be here?” “My best friend Lauren will be here tomorrow, right Mom?”
As annoying as it is – I completely feel the same way. Tomorrow! Tomorrow, Kim is coming! This time tomorrow we will have Kim, Lauren, and Will all to ourselves for nearly a week!
And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Uncle J. might be able to get us into Disney this weekend. If you hear a *POP* this weekend that will be my daughter. Exploding. From complete and utter excitement that only best friends and Mickey can bring.
This week’s Best Shot Monday actually has a little series of pics that go along with it. J. has been playing his ukelele for the girls, their two favorite songs are Yellow Submarine and All My Lovin’. Addie yells “bubmareeen! bubmareeen!” to make J. sing it for her.
On Saturday, J. was playing on the floor in our living room and the sun was pouring through the window, and it hit him just like a spotlight. It was really beautiful, as was the little moment between A. and Daddy. This is my favorite photo – with a few others below to tell the rest of the story.
Then Ad decided she and kitty would help Daddy play.
And finally, A. gets a turn to try it.
As always, click on pics to see them bigger. And don’t forget to stop over at Picture This for your fill of this week’s Best Shots.
Mother’s Day became an official holiday in the United States in 1914 when the second Sunday of May was declared a “nationally recognized day to honor mothers everywhere.” The original woman, Anna M. Jarvis, who fought tirelessly to make Mother’s Day a national holiday, later fought against the same day and the commercialism that started to accompany it. I find this so fascinating simply because she was appalled by the commercialism – and this was in the 1930’s! Imagine what she would think today.
While I love the idea of having a day just for Mother’s. I really, really hate the fact that it is forced in your face for nearly the entire month beforehand. Hallmark commercials, ridiculous flower prices, even Target has giant “Don’t forget Mom” posters. And what I really cringe at are the jewelry store commercials. Because don’t you know – I will not feel loved if I don’t get a $2,000 pair of diamond earrings! It really does simply cheapen the whole idea of the day.
I want it to just be a sweet, peaceful day spent with family where everyone just makes sure that Mom knows she is appreciated and loved. A couple of extra “thank-yous.” Maybe a “you’re the best mommy in the world” thrown in there somewhere. Really, that is all we moms need.
Alright, and maybe a little breakfast and giggles brought to me in bed. That would be okay, too.
So in the spirit of the true meaning of the day, I thought I’d compose a list of my “thank yous” to the Moms in my life.
To my mom-in-law: Thank you for being such a terrific “2nd” mom. Your kind and generous spirit is more than most women ever dream of in a mother-in-law, and not only do I NOT have to wish for it, I get a glimpse of it every time we talk. Thank you for being a loving Grandma to the girls and really making an effort to “know” them and what is going on in our lives. And, most importantly, thank you for giving all of us Jamie, and for helping mold him into the amazing man and father he is.
To my sister, Meesh: Thank you for being mom to my three beautiful nieces. The love I have for those three girls is a (very, very) close second to that I have for my own girls. Thank you for listening to my parenting “chaos” when you are at any given moment in about three times that amount! But you never try to shut me up or judge, you assure me that it is all normal. The girls are normal. My feelings are normal. I will never forget right after I had Em, we were at your house, and I was very close to losing it and you very calmly reassured me that that was how I was supposed to feel. You were so older sister-like at that moment, letting me cry on your shoulder, and it was such a nice feeling. I knew that if you had already been there, done it that it would all be okay. I know I have said this before, but part of the reason I wanted 2 girls is so that Emma would be able to experience having a sister, because it is such a special, amazing part of my life.
To my sister-in-law, Amy: Thank you for allowing me to be there when you first became a mom! It really was one of the most amazing things I ever witnessed, and such a different view than when I was in the same position. Thank you, too for our two nephews – we know how to make a nice even family – we get 2 boys and 2 girls to love!
To my best friend, Kimmer: Thank you for allowing me to (endlessly) complain and go on (and on and on) about the “problem” of the week, and for always having a kind, reassuring word, or a “been there, done that – I promise it will get better.” Who knew when we met that first day of college what our future had in store? The things we would together go through? Or that we would end up friends for life? I feel privileged and honored that we know more about each other’s children than some people even know about their own. Thank you so much for being a tremendous “Mom Rock” for me to lean on.
To my best friend, Kim: Thank you for being there during Em and Lauren’s precious first year when we were just trying to figure out the whole “mother thing” together for the first time. I loved every minute, even the tough ones, of our “mommy-ing” together. Even though our time together as neighbors was so short, we laid the such a great groundwork for an amazing friendship. It makes me so happy to hear Emma still calling Lauren her best friend – there is definitely no “out of sight, out of mind” going on here in Emma’s heart, or mine.
To my new mommy friend, Michelle: Thank you so much for the complete sanity check during the last six months. I really think it was fate that day in the gym when your little Emma offered my Emma a rice cracker. Somebody, somewhere knew I needed a friend like you to commiserate with – and the fact that we are on parallel timelines with our kids, I swear it had to be some divine intervention somewhere. You are such a great mom, and more importantly such a great friend. Thank you for always “seeing it”, when I’ve had a rough day/night/week. And knowing how to fix it.
To my Aunt Vicki: Thank you for being my biggest (and my family’s biggest) cheerleader. Your constant love and reassurances that I am doing a “good job” as a mom means so much to me. Thank you so much for all you do.
And finally. The best for last. Well, actually I kept putting this one off because really how do you really ever say “thank you” to your own Mom? Especially after becoming a mom and knowing that it is the best, toughest, most rewarding, least-appreciated job in the world? You can’t. You just have to say –
Dear Mom: Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for being there when I needed you the most. Thank you for always remembering the best moments and for forgetting our not-so good moments. Thank you for knowing when I am asking for advice, and knowing when I just want you to listen. Thank you for all of this, but most of all, thank you for giving me the strength, courage and tools to make me be the best Mom I can be.
Love to all of you (and Moms everywhere) today and always.
~Care
Alrighty, then. Here goes.
I was tagged by Colleen and at first when I saw my name, I was so excited! Yahoo, my first “tag” – ever! But over the last two days I’ve been anxiously trying to come up with some interesting facts that the majority of my readers (our family!) wouldn’t know.
So this is how it works…
– I’ll write 10 interesting (ahem…you decide how interesting they really are!) facts about me and/or habits of mine.
– I’ll “tag” some new suckers bloggers.
– If you’ve been tagged, you do your own list and tag some more poor suckers.
Here are my ten facts:
1. The first 21 years of my life I lived in six different cities, all within a 150-mile radius, all within Michigan. (Lansing, Big Rapids, Lowell, Leslie, Mt. Pleasant, Ann Arbor)
2. The last 14 years of my life I have lived in (in order) Ann Arbor MI, Daly City CA, Ypsilanti MI, Santa Clara CA, Miami FL, San Mateo CA, London, Chicago IL, Aurora IL, Pasadena CA, San Gabriel CA. That is 11 different cities! (No wonder our family and friends have given up keeping us in their address books.)
3. My favorite (also the shortest stint!) place we’ve lived was London. I would move back there in one second if it didn’t mean being so far away from our families. I was just there for a few months getting a new office set up for our company, but I love, love, LOVE England.
4. When I “grew up” I wanted to be a sportswriter. I have a Communications degree from the University of Michigan with an Environmental Studies minor. So really either a sportswriter or the next Rachel Carson. Although I did write for our hometown newspaper for over 4 years, and for the college newspaper and yearbook – I never, ever did any “journalistic” writing after I graduated.
5. I credit my career I have now to a lot of “how-to” books and “learning by fire.” I didn’t go to school (see #4!) for graphic/web/computer design. But I am proud to be making a pretty good living at it.
6. I consider giving birth to my two girls my greatest achievement. Those two days are my absolute favorite memories to revisit. (Although J. claims my memory and what really happened are clearly 2 different things!) The births happened exactly how I wanted them to: no epidurals, no unnecessary interventions, with J. by my side as they both made their entrance into the world. I love celebrating their birthdays because we are celebrating their birth, obviously, but deep down it is a celebration for me, too. I brought them safely into this world, and we were all able to get through another year together.
7. My favorite movie is the Sound of Music. I used to get to stay up and watch it with my dad when it came on TV every year. Still one of my fondest memories. One that I will definitely pass on to my girls…although we own it on DVD (I think we actually have 2 copies!) and watch it much more frequently than once a year. Julie Andrews will always be my hero…
8. My other favorite achievement (although not nearly in the same league as #6) was completing a marathon. I would like to complete one more before I turn 40. (Wow, now that I’ve written it here for all to read, I guess I had better get to it, huh?).
9. My greatest fear in life is something happening to either of my girls. I can barely write that statement down. And I can’t do it without getting teary-eyed. I know I will have to deal with sickness and death, circle-of-life, and all of that in my lifetime. But I just pray everyday that God keeps them happy, healthy and most of all, safe!
10. My favorite snack right now is Stacy’s Baked Pita Chips (only the Sea Salt ones, though.) And I once (not too long ago!) ate an entire bag of them. No, not over the course of a few days, like most normal people. Within one hour. Clearly it was my abuse of the said chip that has caused them to become extinct in our part of the country. (I will seriously be your best friend if you can find me a bag of these anywhere in a 10, 20, 30, 60 mile radius of my house. Seriously.)
Had to end on that one…I originally had “my greatest fear” as #10, but that was too much of a downer trip!
And if you are on the list below, consider yourself “tagged.” (And no “tag backs!” Cripes! It was hard enough to come up with 10 “half-way” interesting facts, I don’t want to do it again!)
–MyMomtra
–Blueberry and the Bean
-Vic at Life As I Know It
-Jenny at Sew Darn Cute
-Matt at The Barbour Family
-Becky at Parenting with Whine
-Nickie at Rants, Raves and other Rambles
-And you! If you haven’t already participated, but want to – consider yourself “tagged.”
So they did have the chair I really liked for A.’s room last night. I got everything I was looking for at IKEA (truly a first!), met J. and had a nice little bit of sushi for dinner, got home and A. was bathed and in bed, and Em was all ready for bed, just waiting for J and I. Ahhh…so nice. It was like a little mini-date night!
Anyhow, as promised, I have pics of the girls’ rooms. I just ran up 2 minutes before A. went down for a nap and didn’t really get time to get the optimal lighting and such. Also these pics are coming straight from the camera, no “fixing” – so they aren’t the best quality, but alas you can see the rooms and get a pretty good idea. If you can’t, well, I guess you’ll just have to come out and see them in person!
A.’s room up first…
And now Em’s…
And for fun – the collage we made for the bathroom…
Yes, that really is the wallpaper in their bathroom. It is so 60’s and old…it is now retro and cool again! But I had to do white frame and b&w pics…otherwise it would have been a bit much I think! (I got all of the white frames at Target – the Sprouts kids line of frames is all on clearance at our Target out here!
I also put together the sofa-bed in the guestroom/playroom/office (that is a lot for a room to live up to!) this morning. We tried out the bed, it is actually really, really comfy! Here is a quick peek at it. I’ll post more pics when I get the rest of the room organized.
And, finally. Just a little exciting E.-related news. She can officially keep flip-flops on her feet and walk at the same time. Hallelujah, and thank you for small miracles. So here are the new kicks she talked me into this morning! (How can I say “no” to shoes? Especially when they cost $2.50 and have PURPLE flowers on them?)
**Stay tuned for my chance at Chinese Freeze Tag tomorrow! I got tagged by Colleen and promise I will come up with 10 interesting (?!) facts for you all tomorrow. (Wahooo! My first virtual “tag.” Thanks, Colleen!)
**Also in the works, my Happy Mother’s Day post to my mom, my mom-in-law and all the wonderful mommies in my life. I’ve been struggling with this one all week, but it will be up on Sunday.
Have a great weekend!
J. left this morning. He is in New York for the draft this weekend, so we are on our own all week long.
*sigh*
I miss him already and he has only been gone since 9am this morning. Who am I kidding? I was missing him as I was kissing him goodbye.
I really have no right to complain. I know he hates being away from the girls (and me, too, I hope!) as much as they hate him being away. And he kept telling me we should come out for the week and explore New York, which of course would have meant not having to be away from him again.
But, I just didn’t have it in me. Now that we have the girls, even when we only had Em, it just gets so complicated traveling with kids. We still do a lot of it, and I do enjoy it, but it is A LOT of work.
AND I just got the girls into a routine in the new house. We are all kind of getting some sleep and starting to mellow out. PLUS I knew that J. would be working all week, and April in New York? Well, it isn’t supposed to be much warmer than 50 degrees all week, with a pretty good chance of rain many of the days. The thought of pulling two, tired girls around a rainy city trying to find indoor stuff to do…it is exhausting just thinking about it, you know?
Excuses, I know. So instead, I’ll just complain, miss J., and count the days til he comes back to us! Or maybe…I’ll get the rest of my scrapbooking stuff organized and get to scrappin’! I have so many great ideas and photos to catch up on.
It is a nice thought. We’ll see…