Vacation~

Writing my blog is one of the most enjoyable and strenuous points of my day!  Sometimes I know exactly what i'm going to write about (like when the baby crawled for the first time the other day) and sometimes i am thinking so hard my head feels like it's going to explode about what to write just minutes before i sit down to do it.  either way, i'm usually happy with the results!


Not exactly sure that leads into my vacation or not, but i'm taking a vacation from the blog for the next week or so.  i may try to check in (just like my vacations from corporate america!) but, then again, i may not.  i'm going to try to relax my brain.  it never exactly works, but it's worth a shot!


so, my readers, i will miss you for the next seven or so days, but i will be back, hopefully mentally refreshed and ready to write something meaningful once again!


happy end of june!

¿Como se dice...?

Tonight I was actually embarrassed. We spent time with our friend's parents from Spain, and I was actually embarrassed that I could not communicate in their home language with them. I was obviously embarrassed as a 1st generation americanborn from Cuban decent. I was secondly feeling like a stupid american, expecting every other nationality to know english, but never spending more than a few minutes of my life on high school conjugations.
My mother would have spoken to us in her mother tongue hD she not been disuaded by the 1970s pediatrician who told her that if she continued to speak to her children in Spanish, they would end up with lisps or speech impediments or worse. She never attempted to teach us again. It breaks my heart to even write this.
Maybe, if american fear hadn't turned a doctor into an idiot in the 70s, i'd be bilingual right now. Maybe, if I tried a little harder, i'd be bilingual right now. Whatever the case, all I know is that I am just lingual (thankfully), and can't blame anyone else in the world for it. But I can blush when my friend introduces me as a Cubana who can't speak Spanish. So, my new goal, to work on my mother's mother tongue. To work with myself and my children (who will clearly pick it up sooner than I, without a lisp or speech impediment or worse!) I know I can do it. It is truly never to late to learn something, anything, but especially something that is in my blood and in my heart. Maybe next years' personal blogging challenge will be written en español!

ow, ow, ow

In keeping with the theme from last night, i'll talk a bit about my own firsts lately.  I began taking a pretty intense pilates class.  i love it, and i am definitely going to stick with it, but holy catfish, i am SORE!  today, i actually chose to run on the treadmill rather than put my body through one more pretzel-twisting configuration of pain.  and my run- OUCH!  muscles that i never even discovered when i was running the 10k came out of the proverbial closet today.
i knew i've needed to start getting back to the gym and back on the 'healthy eating options' (my term for diet) course, but i had no idea it was this necessary!  i may as well have been to the gym for the first times in my life this week!  ack!


i know it will be hurting even more tomorrow, but i am going to get back out there again next week- moving these muscles till they know what they're there for!


but, for now, i will wallow in my muscular misery.  and i will drink a glass of wine, because, if nothing else, i definitely earned that from my work outs this week!

A first for firsts!

This has been a big day in our house!  The baby figured out the jumble of limbs that have been nestled underneath her bubbly little body and actually gained motion today.  I'm guessing by next week, the momentum won't be far behind.


She crawled for the first real time the other night, but the excitement of her first 'move' caused my hysteria (screaming, clapping, calling for the video camera, etc.) which caused M to spill water all over me, which caused me to yell, which caused the baby to sit back down, petrified- both figuratively and literally- since she didn't make a move for another two days.  but this morning, she was determined.  i feel a little bad, because i did use bait (that she wasn't allowed to have- bad mommy!) but that was it!  hook, line and sinker!  she crawled toward the pile of pens like there was no tomorrow!  okay, for real it took her FOREVER to make it about three steps, but it was official!  she crawled!  it was amazing!  i was overwhelmed, because, really, she's about one day old in my mind.  and i was scared, because, really, my house is barely human-proof, let alone crawling-baby proof.  i have A LOT of work to do this weekend!  because i guarantee she'll be off to the races by monday!  


the other first, and i am probably jumping the gun on this (but in my recollection of my first daughter, she was speaking full sentences by nine months old- whatever the true time frame is, we'll never know...), but she has been trying to say her first word.  while i'd love to say it is 'mama' or 'dada' or 'sissy', i believe she is trying to say, "kitty."  every time she sees the cat, she scrunches her face and says, "kkkk" (but sort of russian-sounding, like with a bit of phlegm involved.)  she only says it when the cat is around and she is looking right at him, so i am sure that is what she's saying.  i keep introducing, "mmmm" (for mama, obviously) every time she says her, "kkkk", but i'll take it.  at least it's not for the dog!


i guess that's enough firsts for the week.  soon enough it will be first tooth (which i will be able to report on sooner than later, since it is RIGHT THERE!).  then first steps, first date, first prom... ack!
i'll stick to first crawling and words for now.  the rest will just have to wait for its own due time!

what a day!

my ambition was huge!  ballet at 9:30; pool at 10:15; pilates (for me)/childwatch (for them) at 11:40!  and we DID it!  we made it to ballet at 9:27 a.m.!  Yay!  we were in the pool by 10:20 (indoor pool, so no sunscreen= 20 less minutes, and no one seemed to mind, and B and I loved the no sun!!!)  i had both kids in their respective rooms at the YMCA childwatch by 11:40, and started pilates at 11:45!  amazing!  


i went to bed with slight anxiety last night about how i would be able to pull off three wardrobe changes for M (ballet to swim to childwatch), two for me (workout clothes over swimsuit, swimsuit, workout clothes) and the baby (outfit/diaper, swimsuit/swimdiap, outfit/diaper).  we did it.  everyone had fun and slept well the rest of the day (i am well on my way to the sleeping well part!)  
i am now thinking about what other ambitious goals we could have... set out for california one morning!  vegas the next evening!  maybe we should stick to our ambitions revolving around the Y and the amazing amounts of fun we can find there for a day!  
or... tomorrow, to the moon!

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

Tonight's quick post is brought to you by sheer exhaustion, utter annoyance (my dog/thunderstorm), stressful anticipation for tomorrow's overly ambitious morning out with the girls (and many time constraints), and finally because i simply have nothing much to write about.  So i am off to sip my sleepytime tea, listen to the rain and thunder (and whining, crying, hysteria of the dog), and enjoy watching God's light show outside!  

A Deal's a Deal

As parents, we make deals all the time.  We make deals with our husbands ("You put the kids to bed and I'll do the dishes.")  We make deals with ourselves ("If I can make it through ten more minutes of this godforsaken sing-along album without screaming, I will reward myself with a VERY full glass of wine after bedtime.")  We sometimes even make deals with God ("If You help me through the last five minutes of this album without having to be committed, I will do charity work tomorrow- ALL day!")


Tonight, my husband and I made a deal with our three-year-old.  She was almost falling asleep on the couch at about 7:30 after a full day of swimming and playing and fun!  She requested that I put her to bed, so i said, "Sure!"  I figured it would be a ten minute process tonight.  I put the baby to bed and came out expecting to find M fully pajama'd and vitamin'd up and ready for her story then sleep.  Instead, she was holding the Uno cards, and she and my husband were asking if we could all play one game before bed.  Here's where the deal comes in.  I said, "Sure, but then Daddy has to put you to bed, because I have to finish the laundry." (i.e. watch a tivo'd show from the weekend.)  OK, OK, OK!  Sure! Sure! Sure!  Excitement abounded!  So, we played Uno.  And we played Uno.  And we played Uno some more.  I really do think this game would be a strong contender for world's longest running Uno game.  I had to shuffle the pick-deck three different times!  


Needless to say, an hour plus later, when it came time for bed and for the deal to come to completion, she buckled.  In her sheer exhaustion, she wailed for, "My Mommy!  I miss My Mommy!  I want My Mommy!"  etc., etc., etc.  I would have buckled, too.  Except that we made the deal.  So, my husband and i had a little side bar conversation to decide what to do.  Neither of is so rigid that we can't break a deal.  Yet, neither of us likes to give in.  Especially when we had warned her several times at the deal making that we were sticking to it.  But, it was after 9, and i really wanted to watch my show and go to bed.  So, we decided to move forward with the deal.  She screamed a bit, but they're reading a story now, so all is well.  And the deal was kept in tact.  


And then I got all comfortable on the couch, satisfied with my parenting success of the night and excited to watch my show, only to find that it had never recorded.  It is not 'on demand' yet.  boo.  now, i would have rather given in and read her a story.  Such is life!

Happy Father's Day!

I was blessed to be born into the family I was.  My parents did not just love and care for me, but they taught me and encouraged me and respected my thoughts and ideas.  Their unconditional love shaped me into the woman and ultimately the parent that i have become.
My father has always meant the world to me.  And i am once again blessed to have married a man that i knew would be the type of father i insisted my children would have.  And he is, and then some.


I am going to tell a short anecdote tonight about my father, in celebration of Father's Day. 


When I was 12, my dad took me to see the New Kids on the Block in Philadelphia.  It was a big night out for just us two!  I'm guessing he came home early from work to get us out the door and through the hellish traffic jam we'd have to tackle to get into the city.  He then endured two hours worth of thousands of screaming pre-teen girls adoring a band that i'm pretty sure was not on his top 10 list at the time.  i had the time of my life!  he smiled at me.  at the end of the show, we caught word that there was a chance that the band was staying at the four seasons.  i don't remember the exact progression of events here (as in, did i beg him with all of my little girl power, or did he insanely just offer), but we ended up driving downtown to the four seasons to then stand on the sidewalk with another hundred-ish screaming pre-teen girls staring up at a building, cameras poised.  i don't recall how long we stood there, but i do remember that we did not ever see anyone from the band.  we drove home with our ears ringing and my heart happy.  i'm sure i reenacted every scene of the night for him along that drive, probably blasting the cassette tape of all the songs we had just heard.  however the exact night went doesn't really matter.  what matters is that 22 years later, i can still remember how special that night was for me.  not because i got to see my favorite boy band of the era, and not because i stalked them outside of their hotel, but because my dad spent that time with me.  he spent an entire night for me and with me just because.  because he was a dad of a preteen girl.  a dad who loved me enough to forego his hearing and all musical tastes for a night to make his little girl smile.  and i will never forget that night.  and while i thought that i could never be more thankful than i was that night, i am.  i am continuously thankful for nights like that that i was so fortunate enough to have in my life!  i only hope that i can give my girls similar memories throughout their lives.

Don't Mess with Mr. In Between!

One of my favorite songs from yesteryear is Johnny Mercer's Accentuate the Positive.  Here are the lyrics (you'll be singing along if you know the tune!):


"You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene"


I have thought so much about this song and this message lately, because i know for my self, in my life, the more positive i am, the better things are.  and in equal measure, the more negative i am, the worse things get.  it never seems to fail.  people have even written super successful books about this ('The Power of Positive Thinking' or 'The Secret' to name but a few.)  


I had a wonderful lunch with one of my greatest friends today.  it was a freeing couple of hours that was much needed in my life.  it made me remember that i needed to lift my chin to the sky and stop slumping in my proverbial chair.  I am not usually prone to negativity, so when it hits, i notice.  and i try to take immediate action.  so, when i woke up in a grump today, i knew i needed something.  needless to say, the lunch snapped me right out of it, and i went on my merry way!  thanks, K!


on the way home from that lunch, i listened to the beatles singing, "ob-la-di, ob-la-da" and you know what- life does go on.  and how much nicer is it to go on with a positive outlook and a joyous face up to the sun!  i am not preaching, but i do like to share these thoughts, because it is so much nicer to exist in a happy world where good things happen, then in the gloom and doom of a grey every day.  


it's not always easy, but try it with me- accentuate the positive!  eliminate the negative!  latch on to the affirmative!  And Don't mess with Mr. In-Between!

why ask why?

My three-year-old is naturally inquisitive. She often asks me why or how or what to nearly every thing I do. But recently, she's added a new level of questioning, and I'm not sure if I should be taking it personally. She has begun to ask if I'm telling the truth. As in, "did you really fill up my orange juice glass? Let me see," and she picks up the cup to check. Or, "did you really buy me apples?" as she checks every bag on the counter.
Now, I have never lied to my child, so I'm guessing she's not really double-checking my honesty. It's probably more of a grasping of truth and promises. She talks about lying a lot lately (due to a situation not too long ago.. or pinnochio.) She's just trying to figure it out. I know that. But I'm still taken aback every time she questions me, but I'm sure this is just the start to all of that fun to come.

A silent night.

My youngest fell asleep soundly two hours ago.  At the same time, my husband took my oldest to a neighbors to play.  I have been alone in the silence of my house for these past two hours.  My house is clean, so i didn't have to do any work there.  My tivo is caught up on, so nothing there.  So, i picked up my book and sat down to read, and instead dialed my friend and had a wonderful un-interupted phone conversation for the last two hours.  sometimes i forget how nice it is to keep a thought in my head or a conversation flowing when there aren't children talking, babies screaming, or toys flying at my head.  sometimes i forget how nice the quiet of my home is, especially when it's clean.  sometimes i forget everything there is to forget when i am 100% focused on the here and now of my children.  tonight has been such a nice reminder of these things i have forgotten.


and now, i am off to read that book again.  in the peace and quiet of my clean, distraction-free home!

A Little Thunder...

You would think that one intonation of rumbling would not be enough to set a pretty strong-minded beagle over the edge.
As you may know, i have a dog.  he is a beagle- a willful, buggy, allergic, anti-training, big-ol'-baby of a beagle.   i don't write very much about my dog because, for the most part, i cannot stand him.  he is more work than both of my children (and let's face it- my husband, too) put together!  he makes the statement 'high-maintenance' seem like a trickle of dew.  he is who he is.
my beagle is deathly afraid of thunderstorms.  sometimes i feel like a woman with arthritis because i know when the rain is coming at least 20 minutes before it hits- thanks to the warnings of my dog.  it starts with him following me around (me, and only me.  god forbid he ever go to any other member of this household when he is frightened).  then the panting starts- panting so hard that pools of drool swell up in his wake.  then the pacing starts.  he paces right in front of me; back and forth, back and forth, trying to trip me (ok, not trying, but often times succeeding).  And then he throws up.  Not every time, but so many times.  it's just a scene, every time.  and this is pretty much even if it's just one clap of thunder.  an entire storm- don't even ask.
as i type, he is crouched behind my right arm (we are sitting on the couch) panting.  the arm of the couch is dripping wet; my right arm is lifting and lowering, lifting and lowering.  it's barely even raining.  
such is life with a paranoid beagle.  

home again, home again!

We are miles from the end of our vacation. Three days of relaxarion on the beach in our favorite city in the world. My youngest survived her big couple of days, enjoying 95% of them! My oldest proved once again that she is the all-around athlete her father's genes could bear! She has taken a total of five swimming lessons in her life- she swam the width, then length of the hotel pool at least 20 times yesterday- on her own, my husband just a few feet ahead, but no hands! And that was after a full day at the beach! She never ceases to amaze me, but I have to admit, my jaw was dropped at her bravado and then her ability. She was awesome!
And in a few short minutes, we'll be back to reality. But I'm okay with that. When vacation does its job- that is to allow for relaxation and family fun time with no interuptions (especially ones like dishes and laundry!), then it's not so bad to come back home. However, if we did win that lottery...

sun and fun and another sleepless night.

Only my baby could spend a whole morning at the hospital and an afternoon at the beach and pool and somehow manage to be up all night. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and will tell many a wonderful tale tomorrow!
On a quick follow-up, the baby is doing great! Thank god!

from ER to IOP

Today, as many days in my life, was an absolute whirlwind! It started off as so many of my days have- with little more than three hours of sleep due to the baby, the big girl, and my own anticipation for a big day ahead! We all awoke in a flurry of excitement- a big day at the beach was just around the corner! We packed the car and ate our breakfast and got ready to go. My last job was to change the baby's diaper, then wrap up the diaper pail bag for the trash. I took off her diaper, put it in the pail, then turned around to wrap up the bag. The next thing I know, my sweet, angel baby was flying through the air and landing in a heap next to me on the hardwood floor. My eyes are teary just writing this. She screamed oody murder and I just about died. We threw everyone into the car and headed for the e.r., where after an extremely thorough hour and a half check-up, we walked lut with a non-broken, though slightly scared baby. She did scrape her chin somewhere, I'm guessing on the way down? It was horrific to the maximum degree. I have done a lot of not-so-smart things in my day, but turning around with her on the table definitely maxes out as the worst- or at least with the worst result, and thank God the result really wasn't so bad.
We forged on to the beach. She loved every single second of the sand and salt water. She ate more of that than anything else. And, of course, she laughed hysterically as she watched her sister run and laugh and jump over the waves! Thank God (again and again and again) that this is the end to our day. It could have been so different. My baby is fine. Surviving her first trip to the E.R. and the beach all in one big day!

Book Club

I had a wonderful experience today with eight other women.  Smart women.  Women who laugh and think and learn and love just like I do.  It was such an empowering thought, to have such strong people all aligned.  It was the first meeting of a book club that came about recently.  The book was amazing to some, bearable to others.  The discussion was honest and focused.  I was impressed, not because i didn't think this would happen, but because of the way that it actually did happen- all around me and with me.  It's hard to explain sometimes, but i live for thinking.  And while i do have to think quite a bit at my day to day job, it's more of the split-second, 'wait, don't stand on the arm of the chair on one foot holding your glass of orange juice over my ipod' kind of thoughts.  this afternoon was a leisurely kind of, 'hmmm, i had not thought of it that way, let me now do so.  ah yes, i see' kind of thinking day.  it was wonderful!  
i love my friends, old and new, and i loved that everyone came together in such a cohesive unit.  it's a great feeling to look around and know that you had something to do with the positivity surrounding you!


thank you, book clubbers!  i am anxiously awaiting next month's meeting!  i may even try to think again before then.  we'll see if i succeed!

the smell of a good rain.

the sense of smell is one of the greatest triggers of memory.  tonight, as i ran stuff out to my car after a good rain, the scent of the hot, wet pavement hit me like a ton of bricks.  i was instantly transformed into a 10-year-old girl again, unpacking our big old green Ford station wagon at a motel in godknowswhere at about close to midnight.  some pitstop on our drive down the eastern seaboard on our way to miami.  we would stop off for a good sleep, decent breakfast and then head on out again- my older sister on the backseat and me camped out in the trunk with the luggage (back in the day when things like that weren't illegal.)  
the smell of rain is different in the south than it is in the north.  even in the same temperatures, so i have no idea how it happens.  in the north you can smell the roots in the dirt soaking up the water from heaven.  you can smell worms and grass, even in the city.  down south you smell heat, even in the fall.  it's bizarre how things can just be so definite in your mind- the memories, the smells, the sense of being you get from that mixture.  what is your memory-sparked-from-smell?  i think everyone has at least one.  i personally have about a million.  think about it, inhale, and enjoy!

nothing's on my mind.

Literally.  I cannot hold a thought to save my life.  is it exhaustion?  is it alzheimer's?  i have no idea.  all i know is that i have come on here twice already to type and both times i have completely forgotten what i was going to say before the web page loaded... and i have high speed.  this is ridiculous!
i could make up some topics that i thought i may have been thinking about, but i'd probably lose my train of thought minutes into the made up topic.  so, i guess i'll take a cue from the big old thinker (or non-thinker) in my head and not even start at all tonight.
so there it is, over before it begins!

mama's girl

my baby is a mama's girl.  we've all known this since the day she popped out and smiled at me.  i'm okay with this.  except, of course, when i try to leave the house for any amount of extended time.  that is when she puts on her most stubborn pants and screams, then wails, then screams again- all for the benefit of her father, who she adores- really, as long as i'm holding her and she's looking at him from afar.
i am not sure how to break her of this mama-itis... she is no longer attached via nursing, so i thought she'd be ok tonight.  but no, she screamed from before i left the house until many hours after.  she was asleep when i got home at 11, but only because she had finally worn herself down to a bloody (figuratively) pulp.
i no longer have the scent of breast milk, so she won't wake up when she smells me from across the house, but i'm definitely on the down-low, hoping she doesn't hear my voice or sense my presence in the hall.  maybe i can sneak in to bed before she realizes it's me, and then we can all get a good night's sleep.  maybe.  we'll see.  

this little light of mine

Every once in a while, my daughter asks if she can sleep in my room.  I let her when it seems to be a very important issue, otherwise we try to work things out, so she can have a peaceful rest in her own room.  We have resorted to spritzing an evening spray of "Happy Dream Spray," a lavender based 'relaxation' mist and having an alligator who will 'eat bad dreams' before they reach her sit at the foot of her bed.  These have usually been enough to help her get to sleep easily, but things can always change.  tonight, when she asked if she could sleep in my room, i asked her why.  she told me that her light scares her.  her light?   after delving a bit deeper, i find out that she is afraid of her light turning off, a.k.a. the dark.  my poor angel.
lucky for her, i had put a high-powered night light in her room when we set it up... just in case.  she used it a few times when she moved from her nursery into her big girl room, but she didn't remember.  she was amazed by this light.  she told me it was SO bright that even her pillow was lit up!  it was magic!  i love being the magic-maker... it's one of my favorite parts of the job!
she fell fast asleep and i left her magic night-light on, just in case she wakes up in the night.  as everything in life seems to, i'm sure this fear will pass smoothly, too.  i'm just glad we had that light in there, and that she was amazed by it.  i'm glad she knows she can sleep in my room when she really needs to.  i'm glad she fell asleep.  i'm just glad.

like mother like daughter

Ever since I can remember, I have twirled my feet as I fall asleep. My mom used to call them my helicopters. Either each ankle on its own, or both interlocked and rotating, I have had twirling toes.
Tonight, as I put my baby to bed, I watched my sweet baby girl twirl her little feet as she fell asleep. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. She had no idea that I felt immense satisfaction in watching genetics play its part. She probably had no idea she was even doing it (as I noticed her feet, I then noticed that I, too, was twirling my own as I pushed up and back on the ottoman to glide us back and forth in the rocker.)
She and I have so many glaring similarities (we're virtually twins), but to see such a subtle one made my heart do its own special dance.

the four tops

My top four favorite things:
1- the baby laughing so hard that she falls flat on her back, then sighing deeply like this was just all too much for her.
2- huge thunderstorms at the end of insanely hot days.
3- sleeping until 10 on a Sunday!
4- playing twister with my daughter and husband: She placed us on teams according to shirt color. she and I got to be 'vampires' because we were wearing green (I never question the rationale of a three-year-old). I thought i heard her say, "daddy sucks because he's wearing white." After much discussion about words like that, sportsmanship, etc., we realized that she was actually telling us that his team name is 'socks' ("daddy's socks because he's wearing white.") And we laughed for longer than we played!

short and sweet

Today was such a wonderful summer's day! We played and relaxed. We spent three hours at the pool, both girls enjoying every minute of them. We searched out fireflies, catch and release, just as much fun as when I was a kid... no better, because I could watch M enjoying it more!
we played UNO and ate ice cream sandwiches! I'm not exaggerating - this was a truly wonderful day!

And that's all I've got. And that's all I need. Good night!

walking on broken glass

A glass jar slipped out of my hands and landed smack dab on the ceramic tiles in the kitchen. It exploded. Glass flew. I screamed. This was, of course, at bedtime. A bedtime that I promised my three-year-old i'd handle, which is not the norm when her dd is home. I cleaned it up as quickly as I could, sweeping, then vacuuming, then clorox wiping (to make sure!)
It was clean. But it gave me these whole philosophical thoughts on life, which seem to come at the most random of acts.
Tonight, I was struck by the spreading of the glass, the small pieces and large. If you think of every piece of glass and how it's like your own personal acts in life. How everything you do spreads, be it big or small. Something as little as saying "God Bless You" to someone on a train to something as big as donating furniture to a family getting their own home for the first time (unfortunately not something I have personally done.) Or how some pieces of glass get hidden for months, but will appear at the strangest time, as if it's just been sitting there, in plain sight, forever. That is like a lot of personal acts. You may not think about the effect, or there may not be an outcome, but it's there- good or bad, positively or negatively reacting- and its consequence will appear, as if it has always been there, in plain sight.
I don't have any specific examples in mind, but this is what I thought about while sweeping up glass tonight. How every one of our actions has a reaction from someone else. How we can positively or negatively affect others by the simplest (or grandest) of gestures, and how we just may not ever know what it will be or when the effect will take place. It's crazy, really, when you think of it.
I guess the moral is, if there is a moral, to just be kind. Think of others before you act. Be yourself and let that self be good. I'll stop before I get all righteous, but I think you all get what I mean.

water babies

Today was my first day at the pool with my two angels. I wasn't sure how it would be- crazy, overwhelming, scary... or just fun! It was just good ol' fashioned fun! M was so sure of herself and had so much fun racing from side to side with her little friend. B laughed and kicked and splashed the entire time! I smiled fully and truly for almost two straight hours! What a joy it was to sit and play and watch them love life!
I have a feeling that no matter how long it takes to pack up snacks and towels and slather sunscreen all over, we'll still try to get over there as many times a week as time will allow. Because what I do know is that this is definitely the time for me to enjoy- before M gets TOO sure of herself and turns daring. Before the baby stops wanting to splash me and starts wanting to crawl away. Before the fun in the sun turns into that crazy, overwhelming time that I had imagined in my head. Until then, we'll certainly be pool-bound, for sure!

closing up shop... for the night.

This is take 3 of my attempt at a decent post tonight. One or two may have been better, but this is what we've got.

My computer is back to being his old tempermental self. My baby won't stop screaming, no matter what I try to do (she doesn't seem to understand that mommy's blog does take some concentration). And my eyes feel as if I'm wearing sandpaper instead of contacts, so I am packing it in for the night. Hoping tomorrow is a better day, technologically (for the computer) and gastroenterologically (I have no idea if that's a word... but that for the baby).