Farkle me!

Sometimes the simplest games are the best. Especially if you're kick-ass at it like I was last night. I farkled the heck out of my friends. I'm excited for a round two tonight while attempting to make it to midnight (which didn't happen last year- I had to nap it out from 10:30 to 11:50).

Almost the Same

I've heard countless times about how adding a second child is more than twice the work, but adding Bauer to the mix has been practically seamless. I imagine that people who say this must have had their "easier" baby first. Or maybe closer together. I've found dealing with a 3yo endlessly more tiring than a baby. And year 3 to be more difficult than year 2. But I might be biased as I've had a new baby or been pregnant for her third year. Two year olds are more easily redirected and don't have so many questions, for authority or otherwise. But I digress, as I wanted to point out how babies are so much easier than 3yos.
*Baby gets hungry, there's this mobile catering service I call, My Boobs.
3yo gets hungry, I have to stop what I'm doing and make/grab something. Or if I'm out, hope I have a snack packed or that I'm already on my way home.
*Baby has to potty, he goes in his diaper and I change him at my earliest convenience.
3yo has to potty, I have to stop what I'm doing and help her to the bathroom, since the "stress" of her brother's birth and learning new skills in her classes has completely wrecked her ability to independently go 80% of the time. This also means that no stop can be quick because no matter how much I try to make her go every 90min or so to avoid this, she will inevitably have to go so bad she's about to piss herself at the most inconvenient time, like in the checkout line when I have an infant carrier balanced on one arm and a basket full of groceries on the other.
*Baby is entertained by sitting in my lap and watching what I do, with the occasional patty cake or rattle break.
3yo needs practically constant stimulation. She needs to be coloring, reading/being read to, copious toys she can rotate through every 5-10min, she needs to go outside and run and play with other kids her age. She needs me to watch her and tell her not to do something, redirect, sometimes punish (I hate that word. More like, "enforce consequences").

The only added burden I find by adding the infant is that the occasional lack of sleep and personal time sometimes makes my patience and enthusiasm for my 3yo wane. Bauer in himself is not difficult. If I'm making any kind of sense here.

Good Hair

I've been wanting to see Good Hair and I finally got the chance this weekend on my in-law's ridiculously huge HD TV. What I saw of it was pretty interesting and humorous, but I spent quite a bit of it discussing different things about hair with my sister-in-law and one of my husband's good girlfriends. But as I reflected on what I saw and what was discussed, I more firmly believe that this desire for "good hair" is the result of mostly pressure from within the African American community, and mostly from women. I really don't believe the majority of men care. As long as it isn't linty and matted to your head. And when I take Emberly out with her afro or puff ponies, the indignant comments and glares come from older black women (you see, a black child's hair isn't "combed" unless it's in braided pigtails, or pressed straight).
I had my hair relaxed in the sixth grade and loved the ability to do my own hair, well. Pre-relaxer, I would only rake over the top layer of my hair with the comb, because, let's face it, combing out curly tangles almost always hurts. 10yr olds aren't easily convinced that beauty is pain. But I got tired of my scalp being burned up with chemicals and grew out my relaxer when I was 22-23. I don't have particularly coarse (or curly for that matter, once it has some length) hair and it's easy to press out for straight styles, so it wasn't quite the leap that it would be for a woman with a coarser texture or tighter curl. Emberly has incredibly tight curls, but I hope I can keep her from ever getting a relaxer. I take every opportunity to encourage her to embrace her thick head full of sandy corkscrews. But I know that we all want the opposite of what we have, so I'm sure there will be some struggles.

Emberly's hair curled up like she had a perm by 4mo, but Bauer's hair is just big soft curls like my brother had. My mom will tell you it a shame that boys always get the hair that's easier to care for (not "good" hair) since it's usually kept short (though my little brother's hair was actually longer than mine when he passed; he kept it braided).

Traveling Light

I hope everyone had a delightful Christmas! Mine was spent in La-La land with my husband's family where my children were spoiled rotten and I also received some quite posh gifts!
However, the trip meant that my "Fashion Friday" post must be fashionably late. Hardy har.
I needed outfits for five days. I always seem to over pack, so I challenged myself to take only 5 articles of clothing. I decided shoes wouldn't count like they did in Emberly's 30 for 30, because I brought the minimum, one casual pair, one dressy pair. Other accessories were unlimited.
Here are the five items:
1)Navy crepe ruffled dress, H&M
2)Green boyfriend cardigan, F21
3)Gray v-neck, AE
4)blue tank, Express
5)Darker wash jeans, Express

Here are the outfits I put together for Christmas weekend with those items.

Unfortunately, I was too busy spreading Christmas cheer to take pics of me actually wearing them, accessorized. I still WIN though, because I got my, Emberly's and Bauer's clothing and my toiletries all into one duffel bag, smaller than the one my husband used.

Totally Awesome

My chiropractor might be my best friend. He's a magic man. No, not that magic man.
He fixed me up so that my hip wouldn't pop out of socket while I ran pregnant.
He performed accupressure on me on my due date and I had my son later that day.
I told him my knee hurt and he fixed that too.
Most recently, I told him I hadn't ran much because I felt like a sinus infection was coming on. He gave me some homeopathic remedies (by "gave" I mean sold to me) that worked immediately. No throbbing face for me on Christmas.
Top that, Santa!

Disappointed

I recently found out that African American females are the demographic least likely to initiate breastfeeding. I'm saddened by that. Personally, I never considered anything else. my mom nursed me and and my siblings, but aside from that I don't recall any other exposure to it, so I don't really feel like that was a huge factor in my decision. I just felt like it was the natural, best and easiest thing to do. And, I know that there are a plethora of reasons that women don't breastfeed. I know that there are women who truly physically couldn't, got bad advice from a pediatrician that killed their supply, or their circumstances, like an early return to a physical job, made it too difficult. But there are lots of women who simply choose not to. And I don't understand that. my initial reaction to that is to judge. That they must be too ignorant or lazy to make it work. I don't want to be like that, but that's my honest reaction. I'd rather be helping women see the benefit and support their early efforts, than to judge.
Breastfeeding my daughter was simple. And continued WAY past my goal of one year (33mo!). This baby is a little more trying. Not physically. I can't have Nutella (tragic!), because he breaks out in eczema on his cheeks. And recently, it became obvious there's some issue with dairy. He was having intestinal upset nightly, sleeping poorly from it. But gas drops given around the clock seemed to help a little. I thought he was just gassy. And then there was a really bad night. And the only thing that was different in my diet that previous day was my consumption of some nachos. Cheese covered, sour cream drenched nachos. So I cut out obvious dairy. And viola, all of a sudden, he's sleeping soundly. I forget the gas drops and it's not a big deal. In just a couple days! It feels kind of crappy that it was my diet that was the problem all along. And nothing makes me realize how much of my life revolves around the pleasure of eating than to have so many restrictions. Avoiding sugar and dairy just makes me sad and bored. I want to sit down with a bowl of ice cream. Imagine another 2yrs of no ice cream. *cry* But he might not go as long as his sister did. And if he does, maybe his sensitivity to dairy won't last that long.
*blogger's note: the "m" key on my notebook is obliterated, so I'm pasting one that I've copied. That's why there is a lack of capitalized "m"s, not because I don't care about grammar ;)

Double Trouble

Two dates in one week?!? Are married parents allowed to do that?!?
Well, we did!

Damon came home from work to discover me bathing the kids wearing this.

Where was I going, he wondered. On a date with you, silly!
Having identified a need for skirts that actually fit, I picked up two nice skirts (they were lined, even!) from Forever 21 for under $30. It occurred to me that shopping there might be partly responsible for all the people swearing I'm 19 or 20 lately. But I won't worry about that until I'm 30.
Anyway, we had a lovely dinner (accompanied by a tasty extra dirty martini) and saw Deathly Hallows Part One (so romantic, yes?).

Holiday Tacky

Damon and I both remixed for the holiday party. And neither of us were completely satisfied, LOL. Damon wanted a nicer sweater to wear over his shirt and tie since he felt a suit blazer was too stiff. I wanted a dressier skirt that went better with the ensemble (which I actually have a couple, but either the rise was off, or it was too small). I also didn't assess my time well between picking my daughter up from daycare and dropping both kids off at the babysitter, so I didn't get to spend anytime doing my makeup. I got some mascara, blush and chapstick on and had to call it a day. But, since 60% didn't know it was winter and the 50% weren't aware of what size they wear (there was some overlap here, leaving about 5% being dressed appropriately), I got over it not being as *perfect* as I desired.
My outfit was centered around this jacket and headband.

Headband, belt, camisole and lace tights, all from Target earlier this year. Old skirt from Forever 21. Jacket Mist from T.B.D. Nordstrom, circa 2005. Shoes N.Y.L.A. from some boutique in NYC, circa 2003. The yellow bracelet is NOT part of my outfit, but my "over 21" identifier, which was dubiously given to me. Come on, now, I think I look at least 21.

Good Sense

Damon recently admitted to me that he wanted to laugh when I was in labor. So he left the bathroom for a minute. Good sense he has, that one. I don't remember that at all. You know, cuz I was having a baby. Looking back, I can appreciate too how vocalizing low on my every exhale would have left a bystander little choice but to laugh, but in the moment, he probably would have received a good nut-knocking (here is where Damon would say, I'd like to see you try).
Luckily, having witnessed and helped me during not one, but two home-births, and being one of the first people to regale it's awesomeness whenever birth is brought up, I can forgive him this. I mean, he was even able to get over his fear of me pooping on him while pushing (I didn't, FYI) to be able to catch his son. That's pretty cool. :D

Watch out now.

I did it. I found a babysitter. I can go to Damon's office holiday party. And it would be sooooo easy to go to the mall and buy something new that hugs these delicious curves, but: A) when am I supposed to go to the mall and B) I should probably keep my money since I'm pretty sure said babysitter would appreciate payment. So, I'm taking a page from Emberly (and Kendi), and finding something in my closet to remix in a new way and wear to the party. Besides, easy is overrated and underwhelming. I'm going to go for "creative," and "stylish." Wish me luck.

Did you miss me?

I know the web waited with baited breath for my return LOL
I had a great weekend, just me and my littlest one.
I knit. I made too many cookies. I stayed up late reading. I didn't want to, but I still went to the gym. Next, I'm going to do a gym cleanse. That sounds even more fun.
I watched this movie with Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas, The Other Man. I'd never heard of it before. It was interesting. Probably a better book than it was a movie. I strained to imagine Damon making himself sick over me with a lover. Ha. No, really, he probably would be upset.

100!

My hundredth post. What can I say. I like to run my mouth ;)
It seems like the perfect time to announce that this weekend I'm going to do a cleanse. No, not some crazy diet fad, but an internet cleanse. I was listening to Jonathan Franzen on Oprah talk about his process when he writes a novel. He spoke of turning down the "noise," isolating himself in his office without the 5million ways we have to keep in constant touch with everyone these days(WUPHF!). It appealed to me because while I know some people who have serious issues with technology addictions, I too have been known to waste a lot of time on the internet. And then have the nerve to complain about not having enough time. I wasn't like that before moving out here away from everyone I know. So it might seem silly and easy to people who have a huge "local" life. I know at first I'll itch to get on and see what everyone is "doing," which leads to 200 other tangents LOL But I'm going for the entire weekend. Friday thru Sunday. I'm excited to see what I do with all the "new" time. Read? Sew? I don't know!

>>PS, did I "quote" enough in this post? I don't "know." LOL

Organized!

After a discussion with my best friend about homes and long term financial goals, I reevaluated my thoughts on our only living in this house for less than 5yrs. I'm now thinking at least 10yrs, and my plan is two fold; customize for efficient space planning and keep de-cluttered, a la Peter Walsh.
To that end, we put a series of adjustable shelving and a cabinet in our garage. My goal would be to have this meet all our storage needs. I think that if we start to reach capacity on these, then it's time to go through it and throw away/donate.


The cabinet is empty. I plan to put our left over paint, tools and cleaning supplies in it, which are currently housed in our laundry room and pantry. Right now, baby stuff takes up a good portion of it, which is obviously a finite stage of our lives and can eventually leave to make more room!
Second, we customized Emberly's closet. She has an armoire, that is overflowing with her and her brother's stuff, especially since I tend to clearance shop sizes for the next year. They will be sharing the room, so I really didn't want to get any more furniture that will take up floor space in the room. I divided the closet into thirds. Hang space and shoe shelving on either side, and adjustable shelving down the middle, for toy bins, books and folded clothing. I plan to get her a loft bed, at first with the crib/bed for her brother underneath it, eventually with a desk underneath it. I kept the original wire rack and want to put it in the guest closet for more storage options there too. I imagine that once it's no longer appropriate for a brother and sister to share a room (when Emberly's 7-8, I guess??), one of them will move into the guest room. If we decide to have more children, obviously s/he have to be one or the other sex and so then s/he's share with the same sex sibling. In theory, this 1652 sqft house could house 6, but if we ended up with 3 of one sex, that'd be a crowded little room and I don't think we'd make it 10yrs. But we've previously thought 3 would be our limit, if we decided not to stop with two. And we might, since we have one of each...

We have two coat closets downstairs. I'd eventually like to make the back one into a craft closet, with shelving and drawers to store all my yarn, fabric and crafting goodies. The "loft" (really just a large landing at the top of our stairs) has a nook where we have our little rinky-dink desk. It'd be nice if we could do a custom built-in there too one day. It could be really nice...

What a Cupcake

As it turns out, my math skills are kind of shoddy. Yesterday's outfit made 30. I kind of wanted to do the flowered leggings one more time since they only made a single appearance, but I gave her a choice and she wanted to be done.

We went and picked out a cupcake. I tortured her by taking a photo op at the bakery. I'm not completely wicked; let her eat the whole thing before dinner. And she did eat the whole thing. Well, minus half of it that ended up as crumbs on the floor.


She's pretty awesome for being a good sport and humoring me through this!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Actually, no. Cupcakes. Emberly's enthusiasm for this challenge has really waned. So to keep her going, I told her the prize for winning is cupcakes. Bribery? Yes. Am I ashamed? Not in the least. I want a cupcake too, by golly. How does one "win" the 30 for 30? Who cares! We complete it, we get cupcakes. Sound logic. Ambular Logic. So tomorrow she shall don her final outfit to the cupcake shop, where her 3 year old dreams of frosting topped pleasure will come true, all because she helped her mama play dress up for a month.

*Ponder*

I was looking for my old book the other day because I thought I kept my cd of images from my very last test shoot in it (I didn't, still looking for that...) and I came to the guest room closet. Lo and behold, there is a rather large box, wrapped in Christmas paper in there. I inspected it for a name. None. It's not wrapped with any of the paper we have, so I didn't think it was Damon who had left it there. But I asked him. Nope. Not him. And so far, none of our guests (and it was an unusually guest-heavy month) from the last month have fessed up. I was telling my best friend about this box, as she is practically the only one who hasn't been here in the last month, and she told me that it was likely the severed head of Gwyneth Paltrow. LOL WHAT'S IN THE BOX!? Now I don't even need to know where it came from. I'm perfectly happy thinking it could be Gwyneth Paltrow.

Short list

Another mom who's blog I follow recently posted about finding things to love about our postpartum selves. I thought I should give that a try.
*Freckles. I'll steal that one from her. I also adore mine, though I once feared that they would take over my face.
*Collarbone. Even when I'm heavier than I want to be, my collarbone is always there looking regal.
*Fingernails. Mine have always grown quickly and looked pretty.
*Knees. I marvel at how all the childhood scars have faded and left nice looking knees. Even if they crack/pop all the time and hurt.
*Calves/ankles. They've always looked longer, thinner and more muscular than it would seem I worked for. They're good to me.

Really, the only thing that's missing from this list that would've been there five years ago is my butt. And my husband might make a good argument for it still making the list LOL The list of little things that bother me now is just much longer. I do a good job of ignoring those things though, most of the time.

28 of 30

We're almost there. Oh, and props to the stealthy spider that put a web by my front door that I didn't notice until I was uploading pictures.

Side Saddle

Emberly insisted that her bike be a prop in the photos. I told her it's not very lady like in a skirt. So she side-saddled it.

Too bad, so sad

I took the *most* adorable video of my kids in the bath tub this evening. Being that they're in the tub though, they're naked. So I can't share it. Not on the internet at least. Sorry!

Ah-ha!

Our 30 for 30 is winding down and I looked through the outfits we've done so far and noted what has only made one appearance. First, the tank top. Which I chose because it was still upper 70's in Vegas when this started. It's cold now. Hmmm. And the ruffled bib shirt. I decided they just had to go together, in one outfit. And wouldn't you know, it was freakin cute! The tank was like a little vest. Emberly looks uneasy because she is itching to untuck the shirt. Kids!

Jump for Joy!

Emberly, always ready to pose, wanted to jump this morning. My camera wasn't cooperating so well, but it was still fun!

Weary!

Emberly is now asking every morning if we're still doing the 30 for 30 LOL One more week I tell her. One more week. We'll make it.

Private Vaults

There's this storage company here in Las Vegas that I first noticed a billboard for a while back and was disturbed. And now they have commercials. "Why do people want to know so much of your personal information?" is their marketing platform. These "vaults" are accessed via a retina scan and require no ID to open and are completely untraceable. Eek. What kind of people need that level of anonymity? Serial killers? Organized crime members? Divorcees evading child support and/or alimony? And there's that many of these people to whom that is so important to be a target demographic? I'm freaked and discouraged by humanity.

Are Men Allowed?

To just be nice? At Trader Joe's yesterday, a bearded man by himself stopped to admire Bauer and asked me a couple questions about him. It was all very nice and he didn't do anything suspect or odd, aside from being a strange man by himself talking about a baby. So why did I keep my eye on him the rest of the trip and looked around for him when I was getting in my car, as if I expected to be chloroformed at any second? How cynical is it that I don't think people are just nice and chatty, but predators trying to lower my guard. I also was very paranoid about any woman I thought stared at me too long when I was pregnant. Clearly she wanted to follow me home and cut out the baby. And clearly, I watch way too much Law & Order and true crime shows LOL

Cutie

I wish I was as effortlessly cute as my daughter! Maybe all I need is a shirt that has SASSY on it and some cable tights to reclaim my youth LOL

Grasping!

So this outfit was just me trying to put stuff together that had only been worn once so far. I guess this is kind of what the challenge is about!

Years gone!

You might remember about a month ago that I was restless about my hair. So I cut it. My main goal was to be able to style it curly with more ease. Being that the hair in the back of my head both curls more tightly and is shorter, this required that I cut the front significantly. I lost 3+ inches. It's still pretty long relative to all my past hairstyles, but as soon as I did it, I was in mourning! I felt so silly, it's just hair! But it was the longest it'd ever been and those 3+inches represented about 2yrs of taking care of my hair for it to grow that long. I'm over it though, and I'm anxious to wash it and see how it looks curly now with the loss of length and added tapering. My stylist thinks the curl in front will improve with the loss of weight, but that it's still not going to curl up like I'm wanting. I'm not ready to go any shorter. Maybe when I finish losing weight, I'll be less attached to my hair for my vanity :D

Cuffed

I wish I still had this "problem," but Emberly is so tall that she typically needs a pant size that is way too big around to compensate for the length. And I know that the adjustable waist is a wonderful invention, but still, she can look pretty ridiculous with it cinched around he waist. That's why I appreciate the straight an skinny cuts that are in style. It's not a huge deal if they're a tad short. You can wear them as ankle jeans, or cuff them. Emberly only wore them cuffed for a few hours before her neurosis forced her to unroll them LOL. I got a cute picture before at least!

(this smile makes her look like her daddy's bopsy twin)

We went to Target this morning for a few things and Emberly saw some shoes on sale she wanted. She was not enthused about the "no shopping" part of the challenge!

Twice as Nice

Here's my favorite corduroy bib "tunic" again! It gave her lots of room for an expanding, feasting belly. I really thought she looked so sweet. And she got a last minute invite to sleep over with her cousins so she got to wear it again the next day!

Thankful

Emberly made her own accessory for today's outfit.

I asked her what she was thankful for and she said her hands. Yep, I guess it's good to have those!

Keeping it simple. Again.

Ah! I'm itching to work other things in! We're more than half way though. We'll make it!

Lace

Working in the lace print leggings again! I remember the day I spotted these. I was *stoked.*

They can't all be exciting

I was a little bored with this one. But I guess every outfit for a 3yo can't be super styled, at least not sticking to the 30 items LOL

Pretty Please

With a cherry on top!
15 of 30!