tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217323542009-07-06T20:13:57.881-04:00I don't know what I'm doing eitherMom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.comBlogger615125http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g240/lizcoolmompicks/mom10118x70.jpgtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-60396970127484749502009-07-06T06:58:00.004-04:002009-07-06T07:08:29.284-04:00

"You know," I said to Thalia, as I cuddled her in my lap last night, "this time four years ago you were still in my belly juuuust about ready to come out. I didn't know you yet and I was so excited to meet you, especially because I wasn't a mommy yet. And that's partly why July 6 is so special to me - because I wasn't a mommy yet until that day.""Right. You were just a womens.""I was just a

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-75320187859621043592009-07-02T10:52:00.001-04:002009-07-02T22:09:56.584-04:00

It's one of those mornings where I'm struggling to be a weekday mother and simultaneously struggling with being an urban dog owner.You suburban people, with your ground level homes and fancy yards and ability to leave your kids in front of the TV for a minute while you pop out for a pee run, you don't know how lucky you are. Me, I have to hustle both kids along with the dog (who'd be just as

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com79tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-11692648448089292432009-06-29T08:49:00.002-04:002009-06-29T12:43:24.742-04:00

A few nights ago, a great friend came over to ply me with Riesling and keep me company in my current state of chef's widowdom.I cleared a patch of cat hair on the couch for her, and grabbed some wine glasses I prayed weren't covered in Yo Baby. Then she watched with amused bewilderment as my two year-old dunked her fist in my wine glass and licked it (possibly several times before I caught her),

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-33256898018294493032009-06-26T00:11:00.002-04:002009-06-26T00:15:51.242-04:00

I graduated high school on this date in 1986. I wrote a rendition of Forever Young called Forever Friends, changing the lyrics can you imagine when this race is won to something like can you imagine when high school's done. I also changed the chorus of Addicted to Love, to Might as well face it I hate Mr. Whartenbee.That's when I knew I was destined to be a professional writer.Also, I looked

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com101tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-70290033453338149072009-06-25T11:56:00.000-04:002009-06-25T11:57:14.419-04:00

There are all these things floating around my brain that don't quite fit into 140 characters so I figured I'd get them all down here:1. If you're not subscribing to Cool Mom Picks, this would be a dandy time. We're offering a ridiculous number of exclusive discounts and other goodies just for subscribers lately. Plus you could win $200 worth of cool stuff. Also? Got a shiny new Cool Mom Picks

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-56628135387512869462009-06-24T07:41:00.001-04:002009-06-24T07:42:40.660-04:00

So I'm kind of over the animals.When Nate insisted on rescuing two cats. two cats (you know, for kids) on top of the dog on top of the two children, it was Christmas. I wasn't thinking about summer.How a cat can seemingly shed more than six times its weight in hair a day I do not know, but ours miraculously achieve it daily. I can only dream that it is such an impressively freakish enough skill

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-13031959661065745182009-06-20T22:13:00.002-04:002009-06-22T20:49:14.550-04:00

This week Thalia has been reverting back to her old bedtime routine. And by routine I mean total lack of interest in sleeping in her own bed whatsoever and generally driving me crazy ape sh*t bonkers.Unfortunately Sage is currently enjoying the same routine. So after much fuss and debate and whining and cajoling tonight, I carried Thalia back to her own bed with the promise to stay "not just for

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-71218696002998838062009-06-19T12:33:00.000-04:002009-06-19T12:34:12.641-04:00

Eh, Facebook is pretty much useless if you can't track down old boyfriends from 20 years ago and say yo. Which is pretty much what I did when I tracked down the old boyfriend from 20 years ago and said yo.It was an intense enough college relationship - we dated, we moved in together, we bought ugly furniture together, we endured his father's sad and sudden death together. When he wasn't a college

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-22587269144659741562009-06-17T16:26:00.000-04:002009-06-17T16:26:18.920-04:00

For some reason I've found myself surrounded by pregnant women recently. Not young nubile first-timers either, but women my age. Give or take a few white lies.There's the mom of two who's sheepishly asking me if I'd ever consider a third, the telltale sign--if I've ever heard it--that she's already carrying one of them there fertilized eggs around with her. There's the mom with the size 0 body

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-27022189279850382762009-06-14T16:40:00.006-04:002009-06-14T17:21:15.667-04:00

Sometimes there are just moments I want to remember, even though I don't have a whole post's worth to say about them.Thalia at about two years old, looking at a beer and calling it "Daddy Juice."The look of absolute joy on Thalia's face the first time she saw Pinnochio reunite with Geppetto.Sage's face when she eats lemons. And yes, she eats lemons.Sage taunting Thalia by calling her "Thali-yuck

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-3268726451304351832009-06-13T11:01:00.003-04:002009-06-13T11:04:25.272-04:00

The fairy princess doctor races off to save her next patient. Possibly with magic. More likely with Dora band-aids.

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-17836575774144024222009-06-09T08:36:00.000-04:002009-06-09T08:39:14.230-04:00

I have spent the last three months learning how to be a chef's widow. Or really, if we're going for accuracy, a culinary student widow. (As a real chef's widow could tell you.)Oh, don't feel bad for me. It's not like restaurants won't be lining up to hand him an awesome $9 an hour line cook job when he graduates in January. Good ones too!I take comfort in Nate being away six nights a week by

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-62252781985330680762009-06-06T11:17:00.000-04:002009-06-06T11:17:45.549-04:00

Last week, I was informed that one of Thalia's 4 year old classmates was taking violin lessons. Because as we all know, any child not taking violin lessons in pre-k is doomed to grow up to work in the service of those who did take violin lessons in pre-k. Most likely by uttering the phrase "Would you like to super size that for 59 cents more?"Thalia is not in fact taking violin lessons. Or

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-11440127566020742352009-06-05T05:24:00.001-04:002009-06-05T05:25:45.970-04:00

Yesterday was Thalia's last day of her first year of school. It seems like moments ago that she put on her little gray jumper and grabbed her big girl backpack and skipped out the door--and only in part because insisted on putting on the very same, now kind of too small, jumper.I realize there are quite a few things she's accomplished this year, like the ability to dress herself and write her

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-1922608207429950172009-05-31T10:53:00.000-04:002009-05-31T10:53:31.475-04:00

"Janet is fat," Thalia told my mother this weekend. She didn't say it matter-of-factly. That would have been easier. Instead she said it in that sheepish, timid way that indicated she was testing the waters with her description of her preschool teacher to see how we would react."What does that mean, fat?" my mother (ever the Socratic scholar) asked, and Thalia just shrugged.I tried it myself."

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-45735482473130536922009-05-27T17:55:00.003-04:002009-05-27T22:42:02.082-04:00

Once upon a time I wrote a post called Mommybloggings that is so out of date now it's practically hilarious. In fact I think I may have been wearing a bonnet and petticoat as I dipped my quill feather in ink and described how some moms were here for community and some were here to become better writers, and how the division occasionally caused tension.Of course this was all back in the day that

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com151tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-39508894724080444642009-05-26T23:15:00.002-04:002009-05-26T23:16:18.807-04:00

I am hereby convinced that I am some sort of bad sleeper lightning rod. I am filled with bad sleeper mojo and turn every child in my presence into some kind of raging insomniac.When we accept weekend visits with friends and family, their little angels don't sleep and the whole time the parents sweeeear that normally they're not like this, no really they never are, why they're just angels, angels

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-23457407590568840772009-05-23T07:42:00.003-04:002009-05-23T08:16:48.796-04:00

We say we write for ourselves, here in this weird place that most of our parents and friends have yet to understand. But we kind of don't. We hope people are reading. And I don't mean marketers exactly. (Well, at least some of us.)When we write, we hope to varying degrees that we've touched people in some way, connected with someone, made someone's day a little happier. We love the personal

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-14098868384153488332009-05-22T10:05:00.002-04:002009-05-22T10:14:42.002-04:00

If there's one thing I can tell you about advertising, it's that commercials would consistently be awesome if there weren't any pesky clients around to rewrite it and tell you the word "not" is a negative so you can't use it, and that they'd like to put the head of HR's kids in the ad, and that their CEO would be upset if you presented something with the word fuck in it.Such whiners.Nate used to

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-57755266866362910662009-05-19T06:34:00.000-04:002009-05-19T06:34:00.430-04:00

This is what I found on my entryway bookshelf last night. Just sitting there at eye level. A wig. A really creepy wig. Oh, for no reason at all.And that pretty much sums up life with Nate.

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-11762647173347722042009-05-18T00:03:00.000-04:002009-05-18T00:04:02.972-04:00

I'm finding this really weird thing now in that I actually have to play with my kids. I can't just turn on Mario Kart for the Wii, hand Thalia a steering wheel that's not plugged in to anything in particular, and say "look, you're driving, honey!" any more.(Okay, I can. And we did last night. But sometimes we can't. Man, kids - they're so high maintenance.)So when I spotted a copy of Chutes and

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-38406985411743342612009-05-17T10:39:00.022-04:002009-05-19T16:34:58.021-04:00

The rain mercifully held off yesterday but the humidity loomed, creating the single worst hair day of the year. And so what does one do on the single worst hair day of the year? Photograph everyone you know, of course.Bloggers: They go to parties, just like real people!Isabel and Betsy: Avowed Hebrew National fans. Because if you're going to eat a hot dog, it might as well be one that doesn't

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-38888933550585867152009-05-15T09:16:00.004-04:002009-05-15T09:37:46.997-04:00

Over the past few weeks, Thalia's school has had these "all about me" days in which each child gets to show the class some of her favorite things, read her favorite book, and for all I know lie back in a lounger being fed grapes by some bare-chested Disney character or something.One of the other components is that the parents have to write a letter to their child.Then come in. And read it.To

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-17214795755256144882009-05-11T09:38:00.000-04:002009-05-11T09:39:13.197-04:00

Today Sage turns two. And in an odd twist of fate, I fell in deeply in love with her this past week.Which makes me believe that perhaps I perhaps wasn't before.It's like seeing a favorite flower on the windowsill, one you could have sworn was in full blossom - and then it opens just a little bit more and its beauty multiplies by a zillion.It's her sweet eyes, the way she throws her head back as

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21732354.post-41587858377697000832009-05-08T09:26:00.002-04:002009-05-08T09:34:59.573-04:00

Me: Can I get a croissant with brie?Barrista With an Attitude: Um, I don't know if we can do that.Me: Well you have croissants. And you have brie, right?BWA: Yes.Me: So is that okay then?BWA: Well what I have to do is order a brie on a baguette, then also charge you for a croissant.Me: That's ridiculous. I just want brie on a croissant. You can't like charge me for a croissant and add brie? Or

Mom101http://www.blogger.com/profile/15468524489744839899noreply@blogger.com29