Adventures In Being Ordinary

2009-03-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Obviously I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog lately - and honestly, I haven't really had the inclination to write witty things about what's going on in our lives when things are anything but witty. However, sometimes there are things that I just HAVE to pass on because it would be a crime not to...

This is Rory's latest passion - pretending to be "Ro Ro, the Superhero". My brother was the EXACT SAME WAY when he was a kid (Jer ran around with a cape for several years and even tried to "throw" our dog across the room once with his "superhuman strength". Sorry Jer, I just couldn't resist!), so for me, this is sort of like one big hysterical flashback. We have always said that Rory was a "mini-Jer" in the making, now here's the proof:

The following video shows the launch of the bottle rocket that Hoby and Rory made over the weekend using 2 liter soda bottles, a bike pump, and of course, some duct tape! Hoby and I were pretty skeptical that this was actually going to fly, but as you can see from the video, we were proven wrong - and the whole neighborhood got in on the act!

A White Mariposa Christmas

2009-01-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm writing about Christmas in January, but better late than never, right? We had an absolutely amazing trip up to Mariposa, which is a rural little town near Yosemite where my in-laws live. We always go up there to spend Christmas with my husband's family, which is hands down one of Rory's favorite times of the year. Sure he loves that this trip includes tons of Christmas presents (check out the loot he scored below):

but more importantly, he gets to hang out with his two cousins, run around in the woods with a BB gun and eat an endless supply of sugar supplied by his Grandma Judy. Basically, little boy Nirvana. But as awesome as this sounds, something happened this year that made it more awesome - it SNOWED!

Here is a picture of Rory and his cousin Marin outside when the first snowflakes began to fall. Rory had seen snow on the ground once before, but he had never seen it actually coming down. He was in total awe - he kept saying, "I didn't know that snow came from the SKY!"

It didn't take long before it REALLY began to come down, and then it started sticking to the ground. It was freezing out, but Rory refused to come inside, he didn't want to miss a thing!

After a full day and night of snow, we were invited to go to the next town over for some sledding. Now when I was growing up, the good sledding hills were always packed with people. But the bonus of being in the middle of nowhere is that we had this beautiful valley all to ourselves!

Here's Rory on one of his first rides down the hill:

And of course we had to build a snow man!

Needless to say, we were in winter heaven!

As you can probably tell from the pictures, this Christmas was the best we've had yet. What better way to spend the holiday than having fun with family and friends in the snow?! Rory is already counting down the days until next Christmas - I just hope that Grandma Judy and Papa Stan can make it snow again next year!

The Training Wheels Come Off

2009-01-03T17:49:00.000-08:00

Today, Hoby got Rory's bike out and realized that Rory had grown so much since summer time (almost TWO WHOLE INCHES!! Yikes!) that he needed to raise the bike seat as far as it could go. "He's almost outgrown his birthday bike already," Hoby said shaking his head "and we haven't even taken the training wheels off yet." We both sort of looked at each other and so I said, "What the heck? Why not try taking them off now?"

So out came the tools - which of course instantly got Rory excited (he's such a BOY!) - and before we knew it, he was ready to jump on and give it shot.

I thought for sure that this would be an all day affair. The two of us would probably be running up and down the street behind Rory's bike for hours, right? I held my breath, preparing myself for what was sure to be some major wipe outs, and hoped I was stocked up on my Superman band-aids. Then before I knew it, they were off!

The first try looked a little something like this:

Okay, not too bad for his first attempt! I was impressed... and I couldn't help saying a quick prayer of thanks that my kid is obviously much more coordinated than I am. Then after a few more tries, he did this:

HOLY COW! Did he just DO that?! ALREADY?!

And just like that, he was off and riding on his own:

Not only are we positively BURSTING with parental pride, but Rory is obviously so totally proud of himself. He has the most amazing smile on his face... his BIG BOY FACE. I don't know exactly when it happened, but suddenly it's very clear that my baby is not a baby anymore... and it kind of takes my breath away.

Way to go, kiddo - we're SO proud of you!

"Police Navidad"

2008-12-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

Rory had his preschool Holiday Concert this past Wednesday night, and although we video taped it (like every other parent there!), the video didn't turn very well and you couldn't really hear Rory singing. And since I've had the distinct pleasure of listening to him practice over and over for the past couple of weeks, I didn't think it would be fair if you couldn't experience it as well. (I know, I know, I'm just TOO kind!) So, here he is, singing his little heart out (in Spanglish, no less!):

Learning the Fine Art of Total Embarassment

2008-12-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Rory and I are at church looking for Hoby. Rory is running around going, "Daddy? Daddy? Where are you?!". Finally, a man turns around and points to some guy with a mustache and says, "Hey there, little guy - is THAT your daddy?" So Rory says very matter of factly, "Nope, my daddy doesn't have a mustache... but my mommy does! She shaves hers off though." I thought I would DIE from embarassment! And as if that wasn't bad enough, I now get to see that guy EVERY FREAKIN' SUNDAY.

Thanks alot, Ro.

Michigan Trip 2008

2008-11-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I took at trip to Michigan.
Yup, you heard that right.
MICHIGAN.

Now, when I say that to most people, their response is usually, "Hmmmm, Michigan? Why would you want to go there? In NOVEMBER?". So I end up explaining that I grew up just outside of Detroit, and that Erika, a good friend of the family - someone I actually consider to be family - got married and it was our good fortune that the wedding was taking place right near our old family stomping grounds. I spent the first thirteen years of my life in Michigan, and believe it or not, I LOVED growing up there as you will probably be able to tell by the ridiculously large amount of pictures to follow. Having the opportunity to go back there after all these years was amazing and at the risk of sounding like a complete sap, it was quite possibly one of the best family trips I've ever taken.

Okay, prepare yourself for a pictorial essay on my childhood!
Are you ready?

Well, to start with, here is how we officially knew we had entered the Midwest - below was the sign outside the door of our hotel's lobby:

You won't see that in California!

Below is the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center (otherwise known as the JCC) which was where we spent the majority of our childhood. My mom worked here for years, and this enormous building was essentially our playground. Growing up in this place was the reason why I went to college and got a degree in Recreation Administration and Business. It was always my dream to come back and work here someday (but alas, Michigan is kind of a far commute from California!):

This is the first house I ever lived in on Tammerlane Drive in a subdivision called Old Farm. Boy, it seemed so much bigger when I was little!

Here I am in front of where I went to kindergarten at Ealy Elementary School:

This is the house on Strathdale Lane that we moved to when I was in third grade. We lovingly refer to it as "The Sinking House" because the foundation was actually sinking, something that we didn't realize until we spent several years having to trim our vertical blinds like hair because they kept "growing" and hitting the floor. Ah, good times!

We lived right down the street from a park that was located on Moon Lake. I used to ride my bike to the park, walk down the path to the dock, and catch tad poles for hours. I never realized how breathtakingly beautiful it was down at the lake!:

The next place we went was our old elementary school, Pine Lake, that had an awesome wooded path that we used to walk through everyday on our way to school. It looked exactly like it did when we were kids:

And not only did the path and the school look the same, but we were amazed to find that they even still had the same playground equipment that had been there when we were kids twenty something years ago! Unbelievable! Of course, I had to take pictures to prove it:

After freezing our butts off playing on old school yard equipment, we headed out to one of our favorite childhood restaurants, Olga's.

The last time we were at this particular Olga's, about 25 years ago, our whole family got a nasty case of food poisoning. We figured that by now they probably got that worked out and we wolfed down some deliscious food that tasted better than I remembered it. But in an odd (and somewhat amusing) twist of fate, Jer ended up getting food poisoning AGAIN later that night. Okay, well, maybe it wasn't that funny to Jer (sorry, Bro!), but I figured we could all laugh a bit at his expense.

After lunch, we decided that we couldn't truly experience fall in Michigan without stopping by the old Franklin Cider Mill, the site of countless school field trips and autumn weekends during my childhood. The Cider Mill uses an old fashioned water wheel to power the apple presses that are used to make the cider.

They have the BEST apple cider and homemade old fashioned donuts I've ever tasted - it is AMAZING. Of course, we had to take some to go!

Later that night, we got dressed up and headed to the wedding, which was beautiful:

Here's a picture of the happy couple - Erika and Ron, who, as I write this, are probably having drinks on a beach in Buenos Aires! Congrats, you two!:

The entire weekend I walked around with a big sappy smile on my face. What was so darn great about a weekend near Detroit? Well, I got the chance to see old friends that mean the world to me:

Amy Jablin with Baby Mia and "The Kids" together again, Jer, Amy, Erika and Me

My dad and his best buddy, Alan Jablin, and my mom with her old friend Margery Jablin

But more importantly, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time walking down memory lane with my brother Jeremy and my parents (Rory and Hoby sat this trip out and stayed home.) I don't think the four of us have been alone together on a trip in years and it was bittersweet considering all that we've been going through this year since my dad's cancer diagnosis. I think that we were able to wrap ourselves up in a warm, fuzzy blanket of nostalgia and take our minds off the harshness of reality, even if it was only for a little while.

So, yes, I spent the weekend in Michigan - cold, run down, middle of no where Michigan. And you know what, I wouldn't have missed it for the world...

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Ah, Halloween - is there anything better for a three year old? Dressing up in costume, knocking on random doors, strangers giving out candy, and your parents actually letting you eat some! As Rory would say, Halloween is "pure awesomeness"! We are still in the process of detoxing that three year old from eating his weight in candy...

The lead up to Halloween this year was pretty entertaining. At the beginning of October, I asked Rory what he wanted to be, and his answer was "a Starbucks Maker"(which translates to a Starbucks barista). Not hard to tell that this kid practically grew up in a Starbucks, is it? It sounded kind of odd to me until I realized that this costume basically required only a green apron and a pair of tan pants - it doesn't get much more low maintenence than that! - so I was totally onboard. However, about a week later, I went to pick Rory up from school and his teacher came up and said, "I asked your son what he wanted to be for Halloween and do you know what he said?" I smiled politely, thinking that she meant a Starbucks barista, but she started to laugh and said, "He wants to be a Chuck E. Cheese token!" Uh, WHAT?? Where on Earth did THAT come from? Rory had only been to Chuck E. Cheese once before when he was much younger, and they don't even have tokens anymore! I had no idea where he got the idea, but from then on, he was totally stuck on it.

There went my low mainetenece costume! I had to figure out how to turn my kid into a token! My idea was to use cardboard and cut out two large circles to create a sort of sandwich board that he could wear over his shoulders, then take a picture of a token and have it blown up to cover the cardboard. Sounds good in theory, doesn't it? However, I quickly realized that this was going to be heavy and hard to move around in - and trust me, my child NEEDS to move! On to Plan B. I bought some light weight poster board, figuring this might be easier to get around in, but when I did a test drive with it, Rory ended up crushing it within the first five minutes of wearing it. This was turning out to be even harder than I thought. Darn that Chuck E Cheese and his tokens!

So enter Plan C - convince Rory that he REALLY wanted to be a barista after all! I quickly ordered a little Starbucks apron online and started talking it up like it was going to be the best costume in the world. And you know what? It worked!!!

Check out the cutest "Starbucks Maker" you've ever seen:

Can't wait to see what he comes up with for next year...

The Potty Train Has Finally Arrived at the Station...

2008-10-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that Rory has graduated from training and is now officially potty trained! Hallelujah! I have to admit that a few weeks ago I thought this day would NEVER come. Rory would go a couple times in the toilet every now and then (and we would shower him with praise, treats, etc. in hopes that THIS time it would stick for good!), but then when it came time to "go" again, he would cry for a diaper. And I mean CRY. Heart-wrenching, big crocodile tears crying like he was dying until I finally gave in and put one on him. And then he would go sit on the toilet. IN HIS DIAPER. It was starting to drive me crazy. Okay, BEYOND crazy. I had tried every trick in the book and nothing worked.

So what finally did it? Actually, I had almost nothing to do with it! Here's how it went down: About two weeks ago, I took him to Babies R Us and let him pick out the potty seat of his choice. Not that we didn't already have two different kinds at home already, but I thought maybe if he chose for himself, he might be more motivated to use it. I let him sit on every model they had, and he chose the one he thought was most comfortable. I talked it up all the way home in the car ("Aren't you excited to use your new seat? Isn't comfy? We won't need those diapers anymore, no siree!"), and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it...until it came time to actually put it to use. He went back to begging for a diaper - and my friends, I was begging for mercy.

A few days later, however, we had some friends over who have a daughter a year younger than Ro who also doesn't like to use the toilet. When Rory came up to me later that evening and asked for a diaper so he could go potty, his little friend looked at him and said, "You still use a diaper? But you're a big boy!" Now I know that he really likes how his friend looks up to him as the "older kid", so I could see the wheels of his brain turning as he realized that he was about to lose some face. So he thinks for a minute and then says, "Nope, I don't need a diaper! Come on, I'll show you!" and he took her in the bathroom and "showed" her how he can poop in the toilet. She was totally in awe of him, and he was so proud of himself - I think that was the real turning point.

The next day, when he said he needed a diaper, I just popped him on his new potty seat and reminded him of how proud he was of himself the night before, and next thing I knew, he had gone again! I think even HE was suprised! We made a sticker chart so he could earn a trip to Chuck E Cheese and I just kept putting him back on the toilet every time he asked for a diaper. He would whine a bit, but he wasn't hysterically crying like he had been, and once he went, we were both estactic.

This week has been AMAZING. Wednesday, he came up and instead of saying, "Mom, I have to go poopy in my diaper," he actually said, "Hey Mom, I have to go poopy on the toilet!". ON THE TOILET!!!! WOW! I put him on his potty seat and got ready to read him a book, but he just said, "That's okay, Mom, I need my privacy" and he kicked me out and shut the door! I almost fell over!! A few minutes later, he yelled for me and he had gone ALL BY HIMSELF! I practically cried with joy.

But the crowning moment was definitely yesterday, when we were at a park. He came up and said the magic words again, "I have to go poopy on the toilet, Mom!" and so I grabbed my little fold up potty seat (which we've never used before)and he actually went and willingly sat on the toilet. And then HE POOPED AT THE PARK! Pooping while we're out at a public place - I couldn't believe it. I never thought this day would come!!

We have now gone almost two whole weeks without using a diaper to poop...
and I am ONE PROUD MAMA!

Way to go, Ro!

The Joy of Raising a Boy

2008-10-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine recently found out that she was pregnant with a boy and was more than a little stunned. A few of us decided to take action and try to put something together that might make her more excited about having a bouncing baby boy. At first I had a TERRIBLE case of writer's block - even though I've actually been in this very position before myself. I had been so sure that Rory was going to be a girl that I practically had to be picked up off the examining room floor when the doctor announced, "It has a penis!" However, once I finally figured out what to write about, I have to say that I'm kinda proud of the words that came out. And since this blog also acts as my version of a baby book for Rory, I thought I should include this letter so that someday he can read it, too:

When I was first told I was having a boy, I was in a state of shock. A BOY? What did I know about boys? My fantasies of tame little tea parties, picking out cute clothes, and playing with each others’ hair were dashed in an instant. A boy would be loud. A boy would be rambunctious. A boy was NOT part of my plan.

Fast forward to almost four years later, and I have to say that my original thoughts were not far off from the truth – I most definitely knew NOTHING about boys. I didn’t know that my son would have a huge, tender heart and that he would always be the first to run over to console his friends whenever they get upset or hurt. I didn’t know that he would love being “The Kiss Monster” and coming over to smother my face with wet little smooches and giggles. I didn’t know that he would jump at the chance to be my helper, and that he would get more enjoyment out of vacuuming and dusting than I certainly ever did. And I certainly did not know how much the words; “Mommy, you look beautiful!” would mean so much more to me when said by my little boy.

I also never realized that having a son around would be so darn handy! There is now always someone around to help me kill spiders and sweep away cobwebs (and he doesn’t make fun of me for being squeamish about bugs!). Hoby now has someone who actually ENJOYS accompanying him on those mundane male tasks that need to be done on Saturdays – like going to Home Depot or having the oil changed – so I am free to pass on these activities without feeling the least bit guilty. Having a son means there is always someone who wants to help you dig in the dirt, and who actually volunteers with enthusiasm to mow the lawn, blow the leaves off the porch, and use the weed whacker with gusto. And aside from just being handy – which is definitely an added bonus! – I’m also finding that watching Rory play gives me a glimpse of what Hoby must have been like as a child. I get the chance to learn more about the man I love just by having his son. An added perk that I never knew existed, but that I feel very blessed to have.

So while I may not be having tame little tea parties or getting to pick out cute, pink party dresses, I honestly can say that I don’t feel like I’m missing out on much. Every day with a son is a new adventure, and I look forward to being pleasantly surprised about what I “didn’t know” about the joys of raising a boy.

Malibu Nautica Triathlon

2008-09-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Hoby participated in his very first organized race - the Malibu Nautica Triathlon, which included a half mile swim, an eighteen mile bike ride, and ending with a four mile run. Now I don't know about you, but I don't run unless I'm chased, so watching him do this (and enjoy it!) was totally amazing.

We had to wake up at 3am the day of the race to get to Zuma Beach early enough to be able to get a parking spot. There were 3000 people competing in this event, not to mention all the people who were coming to cheer them on, so we knew that parking would be a nightmare if we didn't get there early. We thought we'd be able to just grab Rory, pop him in the car, and that he'd sleep until right before the race started. Yeah, right! As soon as we put him in his car seat, he popped his eyes open and said, "Hey, we're awake during the dark time! I'm in the car in my jammies! Cool!", and then he was too excited to even think about closing his eyes. So much for catching a nap before the race!

We got one of the "coveted" parking spaces and hung out there for awhile while we waited for the sun to come up, and watched a sea of humanity walk by our car. There were A TON of people! I've never been to a triathlon before (or any other kind of race, for that matter!) so I had no idea what I was in for. Trying to manuever a little three old through the throngs of people was unbelievably hard!

When it was finally time for the race to get started, everyone had to get together in their "waves", which were broken down by age groups. Hoby was in Wave #7, the 35-40 year old men's group, and a gun went off every five minutes for another wave of racers to hit the water (so we had 35 minutes of gun shots - by the end, I had to pry poor Rory's hands off his ears - he was scared to death!).

Here we are just before Hoby went off to join his wave:

Here's Hoby with all his swim gear on:

When it was almost time for Hoby to go, I grabbed Rory and elbowed through about a million people so that I could see him. Amazingly, not only did I get to the front, but Hoby and I saw each other almost immediately! Here he is waving at us from the middle of his "wave" of guys:

And then they were off!

While we were waiting for Hoby to complete the first leg of the triathlon, Ro got his face painted at the Disney tent:

We had "parked" our stroller full of stuff behind some of the hospitality tents, and it turns out we were right next to the VIP area for celebrities. We were able to see Jennifer Lopez, John Cryer, Matthew McConaughney, Eliza Dushku, Eric Close, and some other famous people walk right by us - which was kind of a nice perk!

Eventually, Rory and I made it through the masses of people to the transition area, and we were able to catch Hoby coming in from the 18 mile bike ride and starting to head out on the four mile run:

Here we are catching up with Hoby at the very end of the race - hurray for Hoby!:

Hoby finished the race in two hours and four minutes, which was an awesome time, especially for someone who has never done a triathlon before! We're so proud of him!

And here's Ro after a long, action packed morning (only 10:30am, but he's been awake for seven and a half hours already - what a trooper!):

All in all, a very exciting day! Hoby's already talking about doing it AGAIN!

Quotes from the Kid

2008-09-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

We're trying to get Rory ready for bed and my kid, King of Procrastination, pulls the ever popular "I need a drink of water" excuse. So Hoby gets him a drink, and Rory sits down at his little table in the kitchen. He grabs something to "read", settles himself down in his chair, takes the tiniest sip of water and then smacks his lips like he just tasted some well-aged congnac.

"This," he says very seriously, "could take a WHILE."

I'd say we have our hands full...

Summer Vacation 2008

2008-08-27T13:33:00.001-07:00

Every summer, we round up my side of the family - my folks, our family of three, and sometimes, if we're lucky, my brother - and go on a trip together. This time around, we went on a seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera and I'm happy to report that it was absolutely wonderful (WAAAAAY better than the first cruise we took as a family two years ago to Hawaii, thank goodness!).

It helped enormously that we didn't have to fly anywhere. Plane rides with Rory are never fun - I start to dread them WEEKS in advance - so knowing that we didn't have to get on a plane made getting ready for this trip seem almost too easy. I didn't even start packing until the day before we left, which for me, Queen of the Obsessive Compulsive Suitcase Packers, is nothing short of amazing. Then, we literally just hopped in our car, drove less than an hour to the Port of Long Beach, and walked right onto the ship. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Now, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Mexico - it's not the cleanest place on the planet and I hate being accosted by people who are trying to sell me chicklets and various other crap that is "almost free for you, Senorita!" - but I managed to ignore that stuff for the most part and concentrate on having fun with the fam.

The cruise ship was huge and had plenty of things to keep us all busy, including a camp for kids that we were able to check Rory into for a few hours a day, which he absolutely loved (THANK GOD!!). This enabled the adults to have some ADULT fun, which included a bit of gambling in the casino, playing ping pong (my brother actually brought his OWN ping pong paddles! Sorry Jer, I just couldn't pass up mentioning that!) and having a few drinks with little umbrellas in them. Okay, maybe more than a few...I can't ever turn down a Malibu and Pineapple.

Usually after dinner, we would pick Rory up from the evening session of camp and take him to see the shows, which he LOVED, not that we were suprised. Singing, dancing, music, and lights - Rory was in absolute heaven! And most nights, while we were sitting in the balcony seats and waiting for the show to start, Rory would be so excited that he would start dancing like crazy. I mean, my kid can REALLY shake his booty when he wants to! I don't know where he gets his moves from - certainly not his father (sorry, honey!)- but there is no doubt that he has them! I wish I had a good video if it, but I was laughing too hard to hold the camera steady. People were watching him from all over the theater, pointing to him up in the balcony, but he was totally oblivious and just boogied down until he wore himself out or the show started. And for the rest of the cruise, people would come up to him and say, "Hey, you're that little dancing kid! Thanks for the pre-show!" Maybe I should have been embarassed, but honestly, I was so proud of my little entertainer.

We went to several different ports in Mexico - Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta - and in two of them, we found resorts that had awesome pools to play in. Our favorite was El Cid in Mazatlan - it had slides, rocks to climb up, small pools on top of a waterfall, and even a cliff to jump off of into the pool. I had been worried that Rory had inherited my fear of heights, but after seeing him do this, I guess I don't have to worry anymore:

Rory, of course, wanted me to jump, too. And since my THREE YEAR OLD was able to do it (not to mention some little bugger who was even younger than him!), it was either jump or look like a total chicken shit in front of my kid who already has some serious respect issues - so after a couple of drinks and a tiny push from my brother, I jumped, too:

Thank God there is photographic evidence because I don't think it's likely I'll be throwing myself off a cliff, even a small one, anytime soon. (Unless, of course, these three year old tantrums don't end soon, in which case I might consider it. Ha ha.)

I'm sure that pictures will show a lot more than I can describe, so here's a sampling of some of the better ones:

Playing checkers with beer bottle caps in the pool - SO classy!

Rory and his Uncle Jer (who obviously doesn't have kids by the "I'm pretending to like this but really I'm SO ready to give you your kid back" expression on his face!)

The view from the pool at the Krystal Resort in Puerta Vallarta that kinda makes me forget why I don't like Mexico

Rory getting pummelled by waves in Cabo at Lover's Beach

Rory's favorite pool at the top of the waterfall at El Cid Resort in Mazatlan

We griped about packing our fancy clothes, but I have to say we actually clean up pretty darn good! This year's picture for our Christmas cards, perhaps?

A very happy, healthy looking Poppi (taken by Rory!)

All in all, it was one amazing trip and we can't wait to see what next summer's adventure will be! Getting back to "reality" this week has been a hard adjustment for everyone, but whenever I start to feel stressed out, I just watch this, and everything gets better:

Thanks to Grandma Jo and Grandpa Al for an awesome vacation sponsored by everyone's favorite bank, NBD (National Bank of Dad).

We love you!

Making His Daddy Proud...

2008-08-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Rory has recently discovered his, ah, "equipment" shall we say (I guess the fascination starts at three and never ends, right guys?), but today he was being even more grabby than usual and I was getting a little exasperated. I finally asked him, "Rory, what is your deal? WHY do you have to keep grabbing your tutu?" And he looks at me with this very serious expression on his face and says, "I can't help it, Mama, it's just SOOOOO BIG!".

If Hoby had been there, I'm sure he would have been unbelievably proud.

The Monstrosity

2008-08-13T15:38:00.001-07:00

For months, Rory had been getting up in the middle of the night and coming into bed with us. And while my darling husband rarely even noticed the middle of the night intrusions (once Hoby is out, he's O-U-T!), I would spend the rest of the night battling my boys for real estate on our queen sized bed. I would wake up in the morning, just barely still clinging to the edge of the mattress or curled up in fetal position at the foot of the bed, and needless to say, I would feel like I hadn't slept a wink. I was NOT a happy mama.

So in an effort to take my bed back, "we" decided it was time to get Rory out of his tiny toddler bed and into a bed of his very own. A bed that he could roll all over during the night and not fall out of. A bed that would entice him to stay in his own room ALL NIGHT LONG.

And so we are now the proud owners of this gigantic bunk bed (thanks to craigslist!) that takes up almost his entire room, which we have fondly started referring to as "The Monstrosity":

But you know what? It WORKED!!! And you are now looking at one happy, WELL RESTED mama...and it certainly doesn't hurt that the kid is pretty darn happy, too.

Newsletter 3.5

2008-08-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory -
Well son, here I am, finally writing a newsletter that is waaaaay overdue. I know that I have skipped the last three or four months, but to be honest, it really feels as though we've ALL skipped the last few months. Seriously, where the heck does the time go? It seems like summer is just getting started, and yet, somehow it's already the first of August and I feel like I'm suffering from some sort of time-warp whip lash.

I don't even know where to start when it comes to you, Ro. Since spring, you have been growing like crazy, and I mean that both physically AND mentally. You're over 38 inches tall now (and yes, once again, NONE of your clothes fit!), almost a solid 40 pounds, and you're an unbelievably smart little dude. A little too smart, actually. You have an astounding vocabulary for a three year old, but the scary part is how you use it.

You have become the ultimate little negotiator and you've learned how to play your dad and I like an expert. For example, when you sense that I'm about to ask you to do something you don't want to do (ie. clean up your toys, brush your teeth, etc.), you look at me with those big beautiful eyes of yours and say as sweetly as possible, "Mommy, come here and snuggle with me. I want to give you big hugs!" And because you are still a TOTAL daddy's boy, and you rarely pay attention to me when your father is around, this makes me melt into a big pool of mommy jello. AND YOU KNOW IT, you little stinker. Or when you are doing something you're not supposed to do when your father isn't home (like try and grab knives out of the butcher block for example) and I tell you NO, you look at me very seriously and say, "Calm down Mom. Daddy let's me do this ALL the time."

Oh yes, you are a force to be reckoned with. There are times - plenty of them - when you've pushed my buttons beyond belief and it takes all of my will power not to put you in the first box I can find and FedEx you to Antartica. You are TRULY lucky, my friend, that you are so damn cute. But then there are times when you sit on my lap and laugh with me at Curious George over a shared bowl of Cheerios or when you jump into the pool and swim over to me with your chest puffed up with pride, and I think, how could I want anything other than this?

ALL OF IT.

Love,
Mama

Yup, We've STILL Got It!

2008-07-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

I promise to write more about my fabulous five day trip to Orlando for my Disney Cruise Line Reunion, but until then, here's a little teaser for you:

You'd never know that it's been TEN YEARS since we all last boogied together - it's nice to see that we can still shake it on a dance floor.... sort of!

As you can probably tell, I had a BLAST :)

The 4th of July - Mariposa Style

2008-07-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

Since I'm hopelessly behind on my blogging, I thought I'd put some pictures up that pretty much speak for themselves:

We spent Saturday at the Merced River, which was wonderful. It reminded me so much of being at the rivers up by Humboldt State. At one point, Hoby had taken Rory over to the tide pools to look for pollywogs and I was laying out on a rock in the sun, drinking a cold beer and dipping my feet in the water. Sighhhhh, it was pure heaven. For a few minutes, I was daydreaming that I been transported back in time to my carefree college days...until my darling son came over and quickly brought me back to reality with a splash of cold river water. Thanks, Ro.

Of course, the men had to show off for the kids by jumping off some rocks into the river. If there was ever any doubt these guys are brothers, well, there isn't now! Check out these photos:

At first I thought I took the same picture twice! But that's Brandon jumping in the first photo and Hoby jumping in the second one. They are in the exact same position - how weird is that?!

So, what else do people do on 4th of July weekend up in the mountains? Well, we waved some sparklers,

washed Uncle Brandon's van,

watered the plants in the buff (not all of us, just Rory! Besides, real mountain men don't need no stinkin' clothes!):

And after a LOOOOOOOONG day of playing with cousins, shooting BB guns, throwing rocks, jumping in and out of the pool and eating the steady stream of sugar provided by Grandma Judy, we CRASHED:

Yup, I'd say it was a good time had by all...

Warning: This Post is About Poop

2008-06-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that Rory has been wearing his big boy underpants now for five days in a row. FIVE FABULOUS DAYS! This is pretty amazing considering the fact that I was utterly convinced my son would NEVER be potty trained, and that I would be sending him off to college some day with a duffel bag full of diapers.

He's had the pee part of things down for quite some time now, but pooping was a whole different ball game. He outright REFUSED to poop in a toilet. He would tinkle in the toilet all day long without a hitch, but when it was time to do the big "P", he would come and beg for a diaper. And I mean BEG - crying, pleading, throwing himself on the floor like he was going to die - that kind of begging. And no amount of bribary would make him budge. Jelly beans, water balloons, lollipops, promises of toys galore - nothing worked. The furthest I could get with him on a regular basis was to have him sit on the pot IN HIS DIAPER and poop. How silly is that?

But finally, FINALLY, today, he pooped on the toilet ALL BY HIMSELF - and prepare yourself, because here is the picture to prove it:

Way to go, Ro!

A Look into the Future...

2008-06-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

We took Rory to one of the summer concerts in the park a few weekends ago, and of course, he wanted to be as close to the stage as possible to soak it all in. He plastered himself to the fencing around the stage and kept saying, "Mom, I wish I could go up there!":

He was so obviously thrilled by being so close to the music that one of the musicians even noticed. He kept looking at Rory and smiling, and Ro of course was smiling his little head off. So, during the second set, the guy came over and asked if he could bring Rory up on stage. I didn't even have time to answer before Rory threw himself at the man without a moments hesitation and went up on stage in front of a couple thousand people! I've never seen him smile so big!

I imagine it won't be long before our little guy is up on stage playing music on his own...

Touché!

2008-06-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in almost a month, mostly due to being busy with my now nap-less child, however last night something happened that was so worth blogging about that I just had to jump back on the bandwagon.

We were all playing on the floor and Hoby playfully asked Rory, "Hey, do you know what my name is?" And Rory looks at him with a big smile on his face and says, "Yup - it's WUSS!"

Heard that word from his daddy no doubt and then served it right back to him on a silver platter.

Needless to say, I LAUGHED MY BUTT OFF.

Introducing the Next Big Thing...

2008-05-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

So I know I've been a bit behind with my newsletters, but perhaps this will tide you over...

Yup, my kids ROCKS.

Adventures in Obnoxious Parenting

2008-04-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

The past few days, I have seen some parenting skills that have really made me shake my head in disbelief - and of course, I have to share:

1) There is a 4 year old boy that we know - let's just call him Wild Child - who is completely out of control. Now, normally I try to give kids the benefit of the doubt (maybe they are having a bad day, didn't take a nap, etc.), but after watching this little hellion down five Coke Classics in a row at a BBQ and then eat two bowls of ice cream with a popscicle chaser, all while his mother looked on without so much as batting an eye, I realized that this kid's problem is actually a serious lack of parenting. He's consistently disruptive, pitches a fit when he doesn't get his way, and rarely does his mother even look in his direction, let alone try to curb his behavior. The last time we ran into him, Wild Child decided to make Rory his new "best bud"" and was constantly jumping on him, putting him into a strangle hold and trying to get him to be his partner in crime. Hoby and I kept having to step in and pull Wild Child off of our son and tell him to quiet down - and to my utter disbelief, his parents were NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. And trust me, I looked. AND LOOKED. Who the heck leaves their hyper-active four year old son without direct supervision for 40 minutes? UNBELIEVABLE!

2. Shortly after that, we took Rory to an outdoor mall where they have a cool little fountain/wading pool that keeps him happily occupied hours. As we were sitting there keeping an eye on Ro, we saw a little girl slip and fall down on the pavement pretty hard. I mean, she REALLY ate it. I quickly looked over at her parents, who were sitting across the fountain from us, and then jumped up to see if she was okay. I helped her up, and again looked over at her parents because this girl is obviously upset and probably hurt and astonishingly, her parents are not even moving! They don't come over to see if she's okay, don't call to her, no reaction at all! And it's not like they didn't see what happened or couldn't hear her crying. They just sat there and watched us. Uh, don't bother to get up or anything, people - feel free to let a perfect stranger look after your injured child while you finish your soda. Sheesh!

3. And last, but certainly not least... Yesterday Rory and I went to an indoor play area called Playsource. There weren't a lot of kids there, but being the social butterfly that he is, Rory went over and started to try and play with the only two little girls in there, who were probably around five years old. I was sitting right next to both of their mothers watching the kids interact, when I suddenly hear one of the girls say to Rory, "You're a LOSER and I don't play with losers, so get lost!" I was totally stunned - I actually think my mouth may have dropped open in surprise - and poor Rory had no idea what she meant but I could tell he knew she had said something mean. So I looked at her mother, expecting her to say something to chastise her little bully-in-training, but all she does is turn to me, shrug her shoulders and say with a smile, "Kids these days! They just say the darndest things, don't they?" Uh, WHAT? That's it?! Are you KIDDING?

Now, obviously, I'm not exactly in the running for "Parent of the Year" either, but when I see crap like this take place, it actually helps me realize that I may not be doing such a bad job after all...

Saving Your Bucks at the 'Bucks

2008-04-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

Can't live without your daily stop at The Mother of All Coffee Houses? You and me both! It's been a painful (and expensive) adjustment now that I'm no longer working at a coffee shop and getting my drinks for free. However, there are a few tricks I've learned over the years that will help you save some green while still getting your daily fix of caffeine.

1) Take advantage of refills! Did you know that you can get refills of coffee, iced coffee and iced tea for only fifty cents? While this technically is only supposed to apply to refills during a single visit, they will rarely question you if you show up with your cup from a previous visit and ask for a refill. So remember that saving your cup means saving money.

2) Bring your own cup. Okay, so bringing in your own travel mug only gives you a ten cent discount, but if you get coffee every day, this will eventually add up to big savings. And it helps save the environment, too.

3) Taking your kids to the 'Bucks for a blended ice cold treat? Order a Venti of their favorite Frappuccino and ask to have it split into two small cups. You'll save several dollars without sacrificing a single sip of sugary goodness.

4) Your little ones want hot chocolate but you're a little low on cash. No problem! Ask for child sized hot cocoas (or vanilla steamers) - they only cost a dollar and ten cents each and are the perfect size for tiny tummies.

5) Are you one of those people who always has to dump some of your coffee out in the trash so you can add just the right amount of cream? Next time, ask for them to put your coffee in the next cup size up (for example, "Can I have a grande drip in a venti cup please?") so you can add as much cream as you like without having to dump any coffee. You get a couple of extra sips that are your perfect blend of cream and coffee, and your favorite barista will be happy that they don't have to drag soggy trash bags across the store. Trust me, happy baristas = better coffee!

Okay, so now that you know all my tricks... go out there and get your daily fix for less!

Winning the Food Fight

2008-04-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

My son is a finicky eater, especially when it comes to dinner. It's gotten to the point where I wonder why I even bother to try and put food in front of him when we sit down for dinner. Things he WILL eat: veggie corn dogs, lollipops, fruit popscicles - are we seeing a trend here? So I finally got the brilliant idea last night to shove some of the chicken we were eating on a stick - and lo and behold, the kid ate it! Not only did he gobble it up, he even asked for more.

I guess the trick is in the stick!

A Near Death Experience at Chipotle

2008-04-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

How crazy would it be if my husband had to tell people that his wife choked to death on a tortilla chip at Chipotle? Well, today it seriously almost happened!

I was snacking on some chips and salsa at lunch today when suddenly, I felt a piece of chip get stuck in my throat. I wasn't too worried about it at first. I grabbed for a drink and took a big sip to wash it down. But instead of going down, the drink actually backed up in my throat. And suddenly, I couldn't breathe.

Cue panic! I tried to calm down because I knew that panicking would only make my throat close up even more, but let me tell ya, it was HARD to do. Hoby saw I was choking and started pounding me on the back, and finally, after more than a few hard wacks, the chip started to very slowly scratch it's way down my throat. OUCH.

What did Rory think of all this? Well, let's put it this way, when we tried to put him down for a nap after all the excitement of the day, the King of Procrastination grabbed his throat and said, "I can't go to sleep, Mama - I'm choking!". So while I might not be interested in eating chips again anytime soon, at least I provided my darling son with another way of putting off his naptime!

We Love Wii!

2008-04-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Our family loves our Wii. It's a regular evening activity at our house and is a definite crowd pleaser when family and friends come over. (We should warn you - a few hours at our house may cause you to run out and buy a Wii of your own!)

And now, I have a whole NEW reason to love Wii! Wii Fitness is coming out on May 19th and it looks pretty awesome. Here is the game description from Amazon.com:

The active-play phenomenon started by Wii Sports now spreads to your whole body thanks to a pressure-sensitive Wii balance board, which comes packed with Wii Fit. The board is used for an extensive array of fun and dynamic activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and games. Many of these activities focus towards providing a "core" workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions. Family members will have fun staying active and talking about and comparing their results and progress on a new channel on the Wii Menu.

Check out a demo video here (also compliments of Amazon).:

Happy Wii-ing!

Make Your Life Easier - Getting Rid Of Clutter

2008-03-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I talked about how one of my main New Year's resolutions was to try and get rid of all the useless clutter in my life. It's amazing how quickly clutter can take over a household, but unfortunately, getting rid of it can seem like it's a never-ending task. You know how it is - you clean your house out in preparation for a garage sale, and two days after the Salvation Army has picked up your left overs, you already have a new pile of clutter building up in the corner of your closet. It's a vicious cycle.

Let me start by saying that the only way to really stop clutter in your house is to stop buying more stuff and recycle what you already own into new things that you need.

But now that I've said that, let's be real. While that's definitely something to strive for, if your house is anything like mine (with a kid who is constantly outgrowing things, a husband who likes gadgets, and well, let's be honest, I like to shop!), that's probably not going to happen any time soon. So the only other de-cluttering options around here are to organize it or get rid of it.

There are two web sites that I've found that have been providing me with the weapons I need to constantly battle the clutter in my house: FlyLady.net and ClutterDiet.com.

FlyLady.net is definitely worth a look. There is a lot of great information on the site itself, (although they will encourage you to join FlyLady, a daily email subscription, which is free). The main idea behind FlyLady is to break down the huge job of cleaning and de-cluttering your home into small, easy to do tasks so that eventually your home clutter is under control. There is a TON of useful information on the web site - and I mean A TON. In fact, so much so that's it's a bit overwhelming. In the third paragraph down on the first page of the site, there is a link to a section called Flying Lessons - and I highly recommend starting there. And truthfully, that may be all you need for some great, motivating ideas. However, if you want to dive deeper, head back to the main page and scroll down to the sections called "Reinforce Your Habits" and "What Kind of FlyBaby Are You?". I actually joined FlyLady to see if their emails would be useful, and although I liked the daily reminders to do things, the emails were so darn long (and very repetitive!) that I unsubscribed within a week. No need to move from household clutter to email clutter! But I still think this is a great resource to get you started on a living a clutter-free life.

Now onto ClutterDiet.com. Although joining ClutterDiet.com, a subscription service, is not free (it costs $14.95 per month for access to a team of professional organizers online), there is actually quite a bit of free information available on the site, and it's SO much easier to read and navigate than FlyLady. Even better than the actual ClutterDiet site is the blog of Lorie Marrero, a professional organizer and the creator of The ClutterDiet. Her blog is filled with useful tips for creating a clutterless life and best of all, it's totally free. Instead of subscribing to the site, I recommend subscribing to the RSS feed of the blog (at no charge, of course) - I have yet to read an idea that I didn't think was useful.

Now I'm off to de-clutter my kitchen junk drawer... happy spring cleaning!

The Start of Something New

2008-03-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Stacy and I am a magazine junkie.

I've always loved magazines, but my true addiction started a little over three years ago when my son was born. I have been an avid reader all my life - the librarian in the town where I grew up used to call me "The Human Book Vacuum". I typically would read a book or two a week, and when I was on a vacation or at the beach, I could easily devour a book every couple of days. I'm one of those people who gets so absorbed in what I'm reading that I completely tune out the rest of the world (I can just imagine my husband rolling his eyes right now and nodding his head in frustrated agreement!).

However, once Rory was born (and as you all probably know by now, he's a force to be reckoned with!), I couldn't focus on ANYTHING longer than a few minutes at a time, let alone try and read a whole book. And so my passion for magazines began. Glossy pages with a variety of interesting and relevant topics, all that can be read in five minutes or less? The perfect mini-escape for a busy mom!

I don't know about you, but I am always finding little tidbits in magazines that I read and think, "Wow, this is great useful information - I bet it will come in handy one of these days!" and so I fold the page over, promising myself that I'll remember to come back to it someday. But even with the best of intentions, I now have several stacks of magazines saved up, all with at least one or two pages folded down, if not more!

One of my new year's resolutions this year was to try and rid myself of useless clutter. I've been attacking my house with gusto, gleefully getting rid of old clothes we don't wear anymore, clearing through boxes in the garage, throwing out of papers in the office, even going so far as to take four full bags of Rory's old baby clothes - organized by size and season, mind you! - to a consignment shop. However, when it came to my stacks of magazines, with all of their folded pages peaking out at me, I just couldn't make myself get rid of them. I mean, just think of all that USEFUL INFORMATION! So USEFUL! Just waiting to be USED!!!

And so I got an idea. What if I tore out all the folded pages and put them into categories - and then created a new section of my blog to showcase all this amazingly USEFUL INFORMATION? No more stacks of magazines cluttering the nooks and crannies of my family room! And maybe, just maybe, I could feel like all this USEFUL INFORMATION would actually be getting USED!

So, to make a LOOOONG story short, I have decided to start a new area of my blog called "The Filing Cabinet". This section will include snappy headings (thought of by yours truly over the past few nights during my latest bout of insomnia) such as Worth It Web Sites, Make Your Life Easier (Tips and Tricks), The Mindful Mama (Parenting Help), and Going Green Gracefully. My hope is to essentially put the majority of this USEFUL information to the test in my own life and then let you know how it goes. If nothing else, I'm sure it will provide some entertaining blogging material! And if you also happen to test out any of these ideas or tips, I'd love to hear if it ended up being useful to you. Because in case you haven't noticed, USEFULNESS is kind of a theme here...

Here's to the start of something new!

Newsletter 3.0 (Happy 3rd Birthday, Rory!)

2008-03-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I’m a little late writing this (two weeks late, to be exact), but there was so much going on around the time of your birthday that, quite honestly, this is the first real chance I’ve had to catch my breath.

Inhale.
Exhale.
Ahhhh – that’s much better! Now let’s get down to business.

You, my friend, had what I will now always refer to as “The Endless Birthday.” It started on the Thursday before your actual birth date when you had a party at your preschool to celebrate your Hebrew birthday. Because apparently, since the Hebrew calendar is different than the standard calendar that we all use (because there is that little matter of B.C. and A.D. that understandably doesn’t figure into the Jewish way of thinking), your Hebrew birthday doesn’t always fall on the same day as what the rest of the world considers your birthday. So you, being the lucky little devil that you are, got TWO birthdays.

Your father and I went to your school to see you celebrate with all of your classmates and the Rabbi by wearing a birthday crown and eating a nice kosher birthday cake.

You loved the special attention and the fact that you got to lick honey off of a picture of the Hebrew alphabet to signify that learning Hebrew (which you officially get to start when you turn three) is a sweet privilege. And so the enormous intake of sugar began…

That night, your Grandma Judy and your Granny Dudley came into town and with them came loads of fun, and of course, more sugar. By the time your birthday party on Sunday began, I don’t think a single nutritious item had passed through your lips in almost 72 hours. But isn’t that part of what birthdays are all about?

Your OTHER party this year was at a place called Playsource, which is basically an indoor play place that has tons of stuff to keep little people like you busy. This year, we planned your party with your buddy, Paxton, who was not only born on the same day as you, he was also born at the very same hospital. It was a bit on the crazy side, because between the two of you, we were expecting 35 kids (12 from us, 23 from them), not to mention, all of their parents. THAT IS A LOT OF PEOPLE. I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by the thought of it, and I was more than a little worried that you weren’t going to feel like it was your special day. But, as usual, I worried for nothing and you had a terrific time. The only thing that bothered you about sharing your party was that when everyone sang Happy Birthday, they sang, “Happy Birthday to Paxton and Rory! Happy Birthday to you!” and afterwards you said to me, “Mamma, I didn’t like the ‘Paxton and Rory’ song, I wanted them to say, ‘Just Rory’!” So, note to self, if we ever have a shared party again (which is highly unlikely!) make sure that we sing a separate birthday song for each kid. Sheesh!

As with any party, we ended up having a ton of food left over, especially cupcakes (Paxton’s mom and I made all 85 of them ourselves, by the way!). So for every night after your party that we still had cupcakes left, you made us put a candle in one for you and sing, “Happy Birthday to JUST RORY! Happy Birthday to YOU!”. This went on for at least four nights (hence the “Endless Birthday” theme), so I think that MORE than made up for the song transgression, don’t you?

I can’t talk about your birthday, of course, without mentioning some of your favorite presents. Your Nana and Poppi gave you a “big boy bicycle” with training wheels, and you were so excited that you immediately jumped on it and started pedaling your little heart out. We are so impressed by how fast you got the hang of it, and now I spend at least part of every day huffing and puffing as I chase you around the neighborhood. Good exercise for both of us! I get such a kick out of watching you (for those of you with kids, it kinda reminds me a bit of what Elmo looks like when he rides a bike on Sesame Street!), it’s so darn cute to see your little legs going round and round! And sometimes, my chest puffs up with so much pride that I can’t even breathe – but somehow I still manage to have a silly grin on my face anyway…

Your other favorite gifts are High School Musical related (are you surprised?), especially the new Wii game that your father and I bought you that lets you sing along to all of your favorite HSM songs karaoke style with your very own microphone. For you, it just doesn’t get any better than that! And even though we probably wouldn’t admit this in public, your father and I think it’s pretty cool, too. Where else is our vast knowledge of High School Musical songs going to come in handy? And now we will have an endless source of entertainment at our fingertips that looks a little something like this:

Happy Birthday, big guy!

Love,
Mama

It's a Small World...

2008-03-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Back when I was working at the Mother of All Coffee Houses, I was taking a girl's order and asked for her name. She said it was Marin, which happens to be my niece's name as well. So I said conversationally, "You know, Marin is a name you don't hear very often, but I have a Marin in my family. And the funny thing is, her name is Marin Pearce and there is actually another Marin Pearce that lives in Ventura, the same town as her. Crazy, eh?" The girl gets this really weird look on her face and she says, "Are you kidding?! That's my name! I'm the other Marin Pearce in Ventura!"

Now what are the chances of that?

A Golf Pro in the Making

2008-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

Our entertainment for the evening:

Perhaps we should start saving for a set of golf clubs, although the back scratcher is kind of a nice throw back to my husband's Mariposa roots. Just kidding, honey!

Girl, Interrupted

2008-02-27T21:41:00.001-08:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that my email address with AOL has been frozen, which essentially means that life as I know it has come to screeching halt. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but it sure FEELS that way. So here I am in the first few weeks of adjusting to my new stay at home mom status and then Rory gets sick. Sinus infection, double ear infection, snot everywhere sick. We are basically confined to our house for five days and not only am I drowning in a pile of dirty Kleenex, I'm also totally climbing the walls. And now, to add insult to injury, I CAN'T GET MY STINKIN' EMAIL! My lifeline to the outside world has been cut off!

Here's the story: Today I go to log into my AOL email and I get this error message that says, "This account has been frozen for security reasons. Please have the account holder contact AOL." Uh, what? I've had this same email address since AOL first came out FIFTEEN years ago and I've never had this problem. So I call AOL's service line to see what the deal is and when they ask for my name to verify that I'm the account holder, there is a long pause. The guy comes back and tells me that the account holder is actually my father. You see, all those years ago, my dad set up my email address as part of a family account and apparently that was never changed. The guy also tells me that only my dad can call to get the account re-instated. UH OH.

Now, usually that wouldn't be a big problem, except of course my parents just left for a two week trip to Rwanda to see gorillas (yes, totally random, I know) and seeing as how they are in the middle a jungle somewhere retracing the steps of Diane Fossey, well, they are sort of UNREACHABLE.

ARRRRRGGGGH!

So what the heck am I supposed to do for two weeks? I can't even send everyone an email to tell them to use a temporary email address because my contact list is in my AOL account. WHICH IS FROZEN.

Soooo, just in case any of YOU are trying to get in touch with me via email, please use my Yahoo address, which is rorysmama@yahoo.com until further notice.

If I can survive that long...

Newsletter 2.11

2008-02-25T21:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Rory -
Well, the invitations are out and it's official, in two weeks you are going to be turning three. THREE! I know that I will probably say this almost every time you have a birthday, but where did this year go? I've always heard that time really starts to fly when you have children, but no one told me that it moved at WARP SPEED.

I get dizzy just thinking about.

Although I have to admit that I'm not THAT sad that you are leaving your terrible twos behind (you ARE, right?) because they most definitely have not been all sunshine and roses! But perhaps all the fussiness is a result of the amazing changes that take place between ages two and three - there is no doubt that this year has seen you change from a little toddler to a BOY. It's darn impressive to think of how far you've come in the last twelve months - you think for yourself now, you have the words to tell us just about anything you want to (a skill you certainly practice ALL THE TIME!), and you're constantly telling us that that you want to do everything "all by myself!". You have become our little Mr. Independent.

Some of your quirks of the moment include:
- A sudden, intense dislike of freeways (where on Earth did that come from?) so much so that if we want any peace and quiet in the car, we have to find back roads to everywhere. So if we are late for something these days, you know why!
- Picking your nose and telling me that you are trying to get the "stuffies" out.
- Grabbing your guitar and singing a quick song about whatever activity you are about to do next. (For example, today it was, "I'm gonna take a nap now, a nap now, a nap now. I'm gonna take a nap now, in my bed today! Thank you, everyone! Goodnight!")

- Trying to imitate the dance moves from "High School Musical" because you already have ALL the words to the songs memorized.
- Finding a new favorite stuffed animal (or "buddy" as you call it) to hug for the week that ultimately ends up in your bed. To date, you have Monks, Lili, Baby Bear, Sunny and Dewey all sleeping with you (and I hate to tell you this, but your "big boy bed" really isn't THAT BIG.)
- Talking to your imaginary friends, Doe and Dee, on your phone
- And last but not least - telling us, "Not now, but soon!" everytime we ask you to do something, you little procrastinator!

It's been quite a year, Ro - not an easy one for me by any stretch of the imagination, but I forgive you for your part in that because, well, you can't help that you were a two year old. And you had that whole " terrible twos" image to live up to, right? (Super job with that, by the way!) And although I've heard that year three can sometimes be even harder (HARDER???), I can at least count on the fact that it's going to be interesting. Because with you, Ro, there is NEVER a dull moment.

And honestly, I don't think I'd want it any other way.

Love,
Mama

Panic Attack

2008-02-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

We've been working hard at getting Rory to go to sleep in his big boy bed by himself, and I mistakenly thought we were finally getting things under control. Last night, Hoby put him to bed, and since he didn't take a nap, it wasn't a surprise when everything got quiet upstairs fairly quickly. Hoby and I actually had a few hours together and I was patting myself on the back for getting back into some semblence of a routine.

Two hours later, we head up to bed, and Hoby goes to check on our sleepy head while I go put on my pajamas. Two seconds later, I hear Hoby say rather loudly, "Stacy, WHERE IS RORY?!". And I think, kinda late for a joke, isn't it? Hoby appears at our bedroom door and says, "No, really - WHERE IS RORY? He's not in his room!" and I can see by the look on his face that he's TOTALLY NOT KIDDING. And suddenly, I can't breathe.

We start to look in all the other rooms upstairs - the bathroom (maybe he's in the bathtub sleeping?), the laundry room (did he climb into the dryer?), until finally, Hoby opens the door to his office (which is off limits to Rory) and there is he is - fast asleep on the couch. And once my lungs had a chance to re-inflate, and all of the horrible visions of missing children ads on milk cartons stopped blurring my vision, I smothered my Rory with kisses until we tucked him back into his bed, safe and sound.

Rory, don't ever scare your Mama like that again!

Passing on the Love of Target

2008-02-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Recently I bought Rory a little book in the dollar section of Target called "Bye Bye Pacifier." We've been trying to work up the guts to get rid of his "chewie" as he calls it, and I thought this book might be a way to start the process. So I'm reading Rory the story this afternoon before naptime and it goes a little something like this:

Bye bye Chewie? (Actually, it says pacifier, but you get the idea.)
No! I love my chewie!
I take it with me everywhere,
but sometimes it gets in the way.
My mommy is always so happy
when I take my chewie out of my mouth.
One day she asked me if I would mail my chewie
to a baby that needs one,
so I took my chewie out and put it in an envelope.
Mommy and Daddy are so proud of me!
They say I'm a big boy now!

After I finished reading this little gem to Rory, I say to him, "Hey Ro, how would you like to give your chewies to some babies that need them?"

He shakes his head and says, "No, that's okay, Mama. Their mommies can just buy them some at Target."

So much for THAT idea.

The End of an Era

2008-02-14T21:23:00.001-08:00

Today was my last day at the Mother of All Coffee Houses. This day had such huge significance for me, and yet, to everyone else getting coffee, it was just another average day. Definitely a weird feeling. But everytime I would start to get a twinge of regret of leaving, an obnoxious customer would come in, almost as if on cue, and I'd mentally pat myself on the back and think, thank God I won't have to deal with this CRAP anymore!

- I had a woman practically throw a TANTRUM because we didn't put the sleeve on her cup for her - she actually demanded that her drink be free because of it!

- A man THREW his wadded up cash at me while talking on his cell phone, and then proceeded to hold up the line because he hadn't paid me enough and I couldn't get his attention.

- And my very LAST customer was a guy who accused me of trying to rob him because he thought he gave me a twenty but actually gave me a ten. He didn't believe me so he kept demanding his change. What a pain in the ass!

But then my darling husband showed up with flowers, and after I clocked out for the last time, he swept me off to dinner to celebrate the end of an era.

And the beginning of a new one.

Let the Countdown Begin...

2008-02-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

For those of you who might not know, this will be my last week at The Mother of All Coffee Houses. Since I'm still making less than ten dollars an hour, even after almost three years (THREE YEARS!) and Hoby will now have health benefits with his job, it just didn't seem logical for me to stay any longer.

People keep asking me if I'm going to miss working there, and most of the time, the answer is yes. But just when I begin to second guess my decision to leave, something like THIS happens:

- a lady actually demands that I remake her latte because her name is spelled wrong on her cup.

- a man comes and takes his tip back from the tip jar because we didn't put the sleeve on his cup for him (even though they are right there on the counter for people to put on themselves...)

- while I am sweeping the crumbs off the floor, a woman says to me, "Take your broom somewhere else. Not only are you being rude, but you are bothering my allergies!" and because I only have one more week to go I actually tell her, "Only if you say PLEASE."

Hmmm, will I miss it???

My Brother is Dating Who?

2008-02-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

I open up my online news page today and see this headline:
"Lindsay Lohan's New Squeeze is Jeremy Greene"

After laughing my ass off, I decided that I just had to post this on my blog. (Not that it couldn't happen, Bro - hahahaha!)

Bedtime Battleground

2008-02-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to seriously question our decision to take Rory out of his crib and put him into a bed. And I mean SERIOUSLY. We had finally gotten into a decent routine where we could put him down to sleep in his crib with a kiss and then walk away without a fuss (and trust me, it took us quite awhile to get there - just read some of my old blog posts!). Now I feel like we're all the way back at square one, having to lay down with him, not just to get him to go to sleep , but to get him just to STAY IN HIS BED. He's decided that it's a game to get up and sneak out to find us, and no amount of threatening or following through with punishment seems to be helping. It's been taking me an entire hour to get him to go down for his naps - and it's a constant battle just to keep him laying down. And once he finally dozes off, I have to hold my breath, tip-toe out of the room, and pray that the floor doesn't squeak - because if he hears me leaving, well, all hell breaks loose.

Arrrgh! This sucks.

Four Things About Yours Truly

2008-02-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, for some reason I can't help but do these things when people send them to me. Come on admit you, you kinda like them, too...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Barista at Starbucks
2. Corporate Meeting Planner
3. Marketing Coordinator for a publishing company
4. Programming Counselor for Disney Cruise Lines

Four movies I’ve watched more than once: (not including the one's that my son makes me watch a million times, like Polar Express and High School Musical!)
1. French Kiss (This is not as kinky as it sounds - it's a Meg Ryan movie, really!)
2. Titanic (Who HASN'T see this more than once?!)
3. Momento
4. Never Been Kissed

Four T.V. Shows that I regularly watch:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Lost
4. Chuck

Four places I've traveled to:
1. Kenya, Africa
2. Venice, Italy
3. London, England
4. Nassau in the Carribean

People who e-mail me (regularly):
1. Sara Cameron
2. My Mom
3. Hoby
4. Pam Gil

Four of my favorite foods (WHAT? ONLY FOUR????):
1. Peanut Butter
2. Sushi
3. The cheese bread from Red Lobster (Yummo!)
4. Anything with Chocolate AND Peanut Butter

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Getting a massage
2. In a boat (preferrably on a lake)
3. On a beach in Hawaii with a drink in my hand
4. At the movies (Hey, I had to make at least ONE of these somewhat attainable.)

Four things I am looking forward to this year:
1. Rory being potty trained
2. My 10 year Disney Cruise Line Reunion in Orlando this July
3. Going on a cruise to Mexico in August
4. Hopefully having another baby

Four things you probably don't know about me:
1. I'm afraid of fire
2. I'm flat-footed
3. I'm a speed reader
4. I can't drive a stick shift (ridiculous, I know - but true.)

Ode to Flip

2008-01-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday, one of my favorite older cousins, Flip Harris, passed away. She was a cousin of my grandma's, so I'm not sure exactly what our relationship was (you know, first cousin, twice removed, or third cousin once removed - however that works) but I know that she was one cool old lady and that she will be dearly missed. (And for those who are wondering - yes, Flip IS her name, although it's short for something that I can't remember at the moment - she's just always been Cousin Flip to us.) Although I didn't live close to her, one of my earliest memories is of visiting Flip and her sister Jules at their house, I think in Arizona, and where they had their very own horses. And, like almost every other girl in the world, I was absolutely fascinated with horses for awhile, so in my young eyes, I thought these ladies were the luckiest EVER.

My most recent memory of Flip was from my road trip across country ten years ago with my best friend, Holley. We were working for Disney Cruise Lines then, but since the ship we were supposed to be working on wasn't finished being built on time, all of the crew got sent home for an eight week paid leave - which was basically an eight week PAID VACATION. How often does THAT happen? So Holley and I jumped into my old red Pontiac Sunbird and took several weeks driving across the country - it was very Thelma and Louise-ish of us and probably one of the best trips I've ever gone on. (Ah, the good old days!)

Anyway, we kept our costs down by staying with friends and relatives along the way, so we ended up stopping to see Flip while we were passing through Arizona. Being the computer geek that I am, I took my trusty laptop with me on this amazing trip (which was no easy feat ten years ago - they weighed a TON!), and I started what I guess would be considered my very first blog, "Adventures in Red." Below is the entry from the day that we visited her:

April 20, 1998
Hello again! Here we are in beautiful Leisure World (Mesa, Arizona), where the sun is shining and the seniors are hoppin'! We finished off our visit with Jer by driving out to see our frisky cousin Flip (yes - that IS her name) at her beautiful home outside of Tucson. She entertained us with stories of our family scandals and her two tiny, yippy dogs, Butch and Casey. She definitely reminded us of the spunky old lady in the movie "Titanic" with her jokes and her forward way of speaking. Needless to say, we were all VERY entertained.

I only saw Flip one more time after that visit, when she had to uproot herself from her beloved house in Tucson and move to Florida to be closer to family because she couldn't take care of herself as well anymore. But she still managed to keep her amazing sense of humor, even though I'm sure it broke her heart to leave Arizona...

Flip, you were one amazing lady. You will be missed...

Top Five Things That Annoy Your Coffee Barista: Part 3

2008-01-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

Once again, back by popular demand:

5) Customers who finally get to the register after being in line for awhile and then don't know what to order. You just waited in line for ten minutes, what the heck were you doing all that time? And then some of you actually have the nerve to complain about how slow the line is moving. Hmmm, wonder why?

4) People who spill their drinks in the lobby and then don't tell anyone about it. People, this is a major safety hazard - we could get our asses sued if someone slipped on that mess. It's not like we're asking YOU to clean it up, we're just asking you to TELL us that it happened so we can take care of it. It's called common decency. Maybe you've heard of it? Actually, maybe you haven't...

3) Regulars who are rude to our baristas in training. Yes, I know that you are used to having your drink waiting for you before you even order it, but we've all gotta learn sometime. Have a little patience! Trust me, being an ass to our newbies isn't going to earn you points with anyone behind the counter, and it may actually end up earning you DECAF without you knowing it. So BE NICE!

2) Customers who complain when we run out of something. Yes, it sucks when you've had your heart set on your favorite drink and we've run out of white mocha (or vanilla or sugar free hazelnut - whatever, you get the idea). But take a second before you lash out at the person behind the register and realize that we are JUST THE MESSANGER. We didn't purposely run into the back when we saw you coming and chug down the last bottle of your favorite syrup just to spite you. We simply ran out. We have at least TWENTY other flavors for you to choose from - and remember, it's JUST COFFEE. It's not the end of the world.

And the number one thing that is annoying your neighborhood barista these days...

1) Yup , it's that damn cell phone problem again, but with a different twist. People actually get to register, but instead of ordering, they tell me to wait a minute and then use their cell phone to call and get their friends' drink orders. Out of respect for your fellow customer waiting behind you, don't come up to the register if you don't know what you're going to order. And for God's sake, people, for the last time - hang up your phone!

Yeah, it's just been one of those weeks...

(For more of my ranting and raving, my previous top five lists can be found here and here.)

We're All In This Together...

2008-01-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

High School Musical is the new favorite movie in our house (it's even surpassed Polar Express, if you can believe it!). Rory watches it at least three times a day at the moment, and listens to the sound track even more. Who would have a thought that a two and a half year old would get so entranced by a musical! But as you can see from the video below, he LOVES it, and we love watching HIM.

Guess we better think about getting him a real microphone stand, eh?:

Rock on, Ro.

The New Big Boy Bed

2008-01-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

This picture speaks for itself...he LOVES his new bed!

Hoby took apart the crib tonight and we stored it away (at least until another one comes along that needs it!).

Sighhhh, I guess my baby is a baby no longer...

A Banner Week

2008-01-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

This week has been amazing in terms of milestones for Rory. First of all, he has been doing a great job sleeping on his "big boy" mattress on the floor, since we've been trying to transition him out of his crib. The first night he slept on his mattress, he woke up and called for me, not realizing that he could actually get out of bed on his own. It only took a few times though before he realized, hey, I don't actually HAVE to stay here! I can get OUT of my bed! Do these people KNOW what they've done? Ha!

He scared Hoby half to death one night when he silently snuck into our room after we thought he was asleep. We kept having to put him back in his bed, only to hear him giggling as he tip-toed back out of his room again. Another night, he was quiet for about 20 minutes after we put him down, and we were impressed (with him and with ourselves!) that he had fallen asleep so quickly. But when Hoby went upstairs to change his clothes, he found that Rory had quietly snuck into our bed, and it was obvious that he was hoping we wouldn't notice. (You're kinda hard to miss, big guy!)

But after a few nights of getting the hang of things, he has now made it through THREE full nights of uninterrupted sleep and he's even managed to take his naps on his mattress. So I guess that means that my baby is officially ready for a "big boy bed." I think the first time I walk into his room and see a bed instead of a crib it's going to break my mommy heart just a little...

Milestone number two: Rory finally went potty on the toilet! He's been great with the peeing part of things, but it's been quite a struggle to get him to, um, sit down, if you know what I mean. We know that he's aware of when he has to go because he always heads over to the same spot behind a chair to do his business. And if he's wearing a pull-up, he'll actually come over and ask us to put him in a diaper. So on Saturday, when he asked me to put him in a diaper, I suddenly got this crazy idea and I told him that we were out of diapers. I even took him over to the diaper basket (which I hadn't restocked yet for the day) and showed him that it was empty. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he processed this information, so I took advantage of the situation and said, "Guess you'll have to use the toilet to go potty!" I held my breath and waited for the loud "Nooooo!" that usually accompanies any suggestion to poop on the pot. But instead he said, "Okay!".

Okay? OKAY?! Was it really that simple? And yes, it really was! Why didn't I try this AGES ago? Sheesh... so we FINALLY had what I like to call "poop lift off" and Rory was beyond excited that he heard the "plop plop" sound in the toilet. Who knew pooping could be so much fun!

I don't know why it's happening all at once, but my little boy is growing up...

Way to go, Ro!

Happy Birthday, Marin!

2008-01-18T18:33:00.001-08:00

Rory was really looking forward to celebrating his cousin Marin's 5th birthday with her tonight(and I'm sure Marin was too!) but unfortunately, she has come down with a fever so the family get-together has to be postponed. So in honor of you, Marin, Rory decided to sing you a song to make you feel better:

We love you!

Tickling the Ivory Keys

2008-01-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

Now available for booking at your next party or event!

Mariposa Christmas 2007

2008-01-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

I think these pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but just in case you need a run down, Christmas included a lot of the following: food, family, Wii, BB guns, bon fires, a little snow, a little Santa, a mountain of SUGAR (of course!), and then, unfortunately, the flu. But all in all, it was just a lot of fun!

Jingle Bells

2007-12-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the guitar isn't even remotely in tune (mostly because we can't get Rory to let go of it long enough to get it done!), but luckily he could care less as long as his shoulder strap is positioned just so and his MaGyver-esque "microphone stand" is ready to go.

Now if only there was a toddler version of American Idol...

Chrismukkah 2007

2007-12-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

My kid has got it made during this time of year - he gets to celebrate Hanukkah AND Christmas. He's been getting quite the sampling of both holidays this year, especially since he goes to a Jewish preschool. We've been lighting Hanukkah candles each night and getting to eat candies from our advent calender as we count down the days until Christmas.

This past weekend, we took him on the "North Pole Express," a special Christmas train ride that serves cookies and chocolate milk while we go to pick up Santa at the "North Pole." Since Rory is sort of a "Polar Express" junkie (we've probably watched it about 500 times in the last 12 months), he was nearly jumping out of skin with excitement. Towards the end of the train ride, Santa came through and asked all the kids what they wanted for Christmas, and of course, Rory asked for a guitar. (We're grooming the next Elvis, you know.)

Fast forward to the next night, and we're celebrating Hanukkah with my parents. Rory opens his present and sure enough, it's a GUITAR! But wait - he JUST told Santa Claus about it the night before on the train. How did it get here so fast? Hmmm...how do we explain that one? So we came up with, "Santa called your Papa that night and told him that you wanted a guitar so badly that it couldn't possibly wait until Christmas!" And I'm thinking to myself, hey, that's not too bad. This Hanukkah-Christmas mixing is a piece of cake. And Rory seems happy to accept that answer, and even says, "Sure, he called Papa - on his cell phone!" Whew, potential Chrismukkah crisis averted.

Later that night, Rory is rocking out with his new guitar on my parent's coffee table, singing his own little made up songs, and of course we're all sitting around watching him. Suddenly, he points to sky dramatically and sings,"Jesus Lives! Ya ya ya! And he plays dreidel! Ya, ya ya!"

We all burst out laughing, while my dad muttered something like "Boy, this poor kid is so confused!" But I couldn't help thinking how that summed up Chrismukkah at our house pretty darn well.

Way to go, Ro!

Happy Chrismukkah, Everybody!

Thank You , GGs!

2007-11-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Rory's great-grandparents sent him a saxophone playing Santa Claus yesterday and he's in love!

Thank you!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Rory, you must think that Halloween is the most perfect holiday ever - not only do you get to go up and knock on everyone's door in the whole neighborhood and say hello, but they give you CANDY, too! Lots of it! In your world, I can't imagine that it gets any better than this!

You were definitely the cutest little cowboy in town...

The 16th Anniversary of My 16th Birthday

2007-10-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Happy 32nd birthday to me!

Sorry for the lack of posting... I'm making some changes in my life that should allow for more time to write, so just bear with me for now...

Don't Let The Lingo Get You Down

2007-10-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking this guy's order at the Mother of All Coffee Houses and he asks for a double espresso. "Okay," I say, "one doppio coming up." I look up from writing his order on his cup and I see this strange look of anger on his face.

HIM: What did you just call me?
ME (horrified!): Oh no, sir! That's what we call a double espresso. A doppio.
HIM: A dope?
ME: No, A DOPPIO... you know, it's Italian.
HIM: Whatever.

Ugh, what a DOPPIO!

What Did He Say?

2007-09-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Hoby and I are lying in bed talking about the days when I was pregnant and I remembered the time when I went into false labor at Target (read the story here). So Hoby says, "Oh yeah, that time when you got Rickets?" And I say, "That's BRAXTON HICKS, honey, not RICKETS."

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Mariposa Weekend

2007-09-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

(Sorry this post is a bit delayed - I wrote it but forgot to publish it...)

Recently we went up to Mariposa (a tiny little rural town outside of Yosemite) to visit with Rory's grandparents. I think these pictures pretty much sum up the trip, which was filled with BB guns, leaf blowers, and Grandma Judy's good cooking:

It may have taken Rory three days to detox from all the sugar he ate while he was there, but it was totally worth it.

Quotes from The Kid

2007-09-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

"Hey, dinner was fun, Mom. Now, my tummy is full!"
- Rory's thoughts on our dinner at a sushi restaurant last night - thank goodness he loves it as much as we do or we might have had to trade him in for a different model.

Newsletter 2.6

2007-09-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory -

Well, son, you are now officially two and a half, although sometimes I think you are more like a teenager in a toddler's body! You are so full of defiance and attitude, and it is obvious that you enjoy pushing your boundaries just to see how far you can get. I am constantly saying "No hitting, no spitting, no biting and no kicking!" to the point where you have caught on and you now think its funny to chant it and then fall down on the floor laughing. LAUGHING. AT YOUR MOTHER. Oh , the humanity! But even though you find it amusing to come up with new ways to test my patience, at least I can say that you are one creative little bugger!

The other day I was eating a diet bar for breakfast, and you, the King of Curiosity, were right in my face like you ALWAYS are when I'm eating, asking, "Whatcha eatin', Mama? Can I have some? Can I have a little bite? A little, tiny, tiny bite?" (You can now see why I find it hard to eat breakfast in the morning!) So I told you, "No, you wouldn't like this. It's grown up food. Trust me, it's yucky." (And really, kid, those diet bars, they truly ARE yucky!) A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom and left the bar on the counter. When I came back, there you were, with chocolate all over your face and your hands on your hips, and you looked at me in total defiance and said, "Mama, I TRIED it and I LIKED IT!" Every fiber of your being screamed, "Take THAT, woman!" and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. HARD.

Speaking of laughing, have I mentioned how much I love listening to you laugh? We never know exactly what you're going to find amusing, and then all of a sudden, you'll erupt into a fit of adorable giggles. You recently started an infatuation with the t.v. show "America's Funniest Videos," and I've decided that watching you and your father sit on the couch together laughing your heads off is the perfect way to end the day.

It's rare that you are are ever sitting for more than a few minutes though, and it usually isn't long before you're either running off to the park to show off your newly acquired Big Wheel riding skills, talking someone into making you a fort or cave out of blankets, or grabbing your ever-present guitar and belting out a tune.

Add in starting preschool two days a week, attending your beloved Gymboree classes, going to Sunday School and playing with all your friends in the neighborhood and you, my friend, are one busy little dude! But I know that you love all the buzz of activity - you're so much happier when you are out socializing and keeping busy - and so far it never feels like we've taken on too much. Rambunctious children like you need ways to channel their energy without driving their mommies crazy, and trust me, nobody wants to see this mama go crazy.

But in the midst of all this running around and staying busy, I still try and find time to slow down with you and just savor the little things. Like your newfound love of brushing my hair in the morning for hours while saying, "Nice and gentle, Mama! I'm being very, very, very gentle!" Or how you run around with your camera pretending to take pictures, making me pose my hands or my feet in certain ways and then saying very seriously, "Yeah, that's a good one!" Or how you still reach out to hold my hand when I'm sitting with you in the car, which I secretly hope you'll never stop wanting to do.

We're halfway through those terrible twos which maybe aren't so terrible after all...

Love,
Mama

My Latest Brush With Stupidity...

2007-09-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a woman's drink order yesterday and I ask her what size drink she'd like. "Hmmm. I don't want a small one," she says,"What other sizes do you have?" So I hold up our other two cup sizes for her to see and I say, "Medium or large?" She looks at me and says, "Well, which one's bigger?"

On the same day, while I'm working at the bar, I get a drink order for one black iced tea and one green iced tea. So I make the drinks (which are in clear plastic cups), call the guy's name, and then set the drinks on the counter for him to pick up. He walks over, looks at the drinks and asks, "Which one is the black tea?" Ummm, THE BLACK ONE.

Are people really this dumb?

My Best Friend's Wedding

2007-08-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my best friend Holley got married!

Congrats Holley and Tas!

(And thanks to Holley's brother Bruce for these awesome pictures.)

Hilton Head Vacation 2007

2007-08-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our summer vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. When I tell people that, they look at me and say, "Out of all the places to visit, why would you go THERE?" Well, as a little girl living in Detroit, every other summer we would hop in the family car and drive 16 hours to Hilton Head for a two week vacation. To be honest, I have no idea why my parents started going there in the first place (or why they would drive for 16 freakin' hours in the car with two kids! Oye!), but we loved it and we kept going back. Rory is now the same age that I was when I first went to Hilton Head, and even though I haven't been there in over twenty years (God, I'm old!), very little has changed. Below is a picture of Rory sitting on the same stage that I sat on as a child - we went to see the "Singing Man" (otherwise known as Gregg Russell) who amazingly is STILL THERE singing to kids almost every night during the summer under the big oak tree. And next to the big tree is a big playground with a tree house that I spent hours in as a kid. It was like I was stepping back in time and getting show Rory some of my favorite childhood memories of summer - it was a pretty amazing experience.

We pretty much spent the majority of our vacation either at the beach or at the pool because, well, we were in the South and it was really freakin' hot! Someone joked that it was only 88 degrees, UNTIL THE SUN CAME UP. Between the actual temperature and the 80% humidity, the heat index was somewhere around 107-114 degrees EVERY DAMN DAY. Even the ocean was hot! I've never sweat so much in my life. But my father loves the beach, and there would literally have to be flames coming up off the sand before he'd skip a day at the ocean. And so we went, sweating our asses off, and amazingly we still loved it. Who needs an ass, anyways!

My son, hater of all things sandy, actually began to get over his aversion to sand during this vacation! He still needed to have his hands clean, but thankfully this year, we didn't have to have towels strategically placed all over the beach so his feet wouldn't touch the sand. Look, he even has his leg buried! What a difference a year makes, eh?

The great thing about the beach at Hilton Head was that when the tide was out early in the day, it created a shallow tide pool that had harmless little critters like hermit crabs and starfish for Rory to play with.

Unfortunately in the ocean itself, there were some other critters that weren't so harmless. Below is a picture of my knee several hours after a run-in with a jelly fish. See the tentacle marks? A week later, they are STILL THERE. Sighhhhh, I have all the luck.

Our main mode of transportation on the island was bicycles, which Rory loved, of course. He thought he was pretty hot stuff getting pulled around in his little bike cart and the bike paths were beautiful (even though I was having to continuously wipe the sweat out of my eyes to see them!):

While we were there, Rory's great grandparents, the Andersons, drove out from Florida to visit with us for a few days. And so Rory's entourage grew!

On one of the days when the temperature was well over 100 degrees, we all went to an interactive children's museum called The Sandbox, which was wonderful for Rory, but even more importantly, it was AIR CONDITIONED. Rory had the time of his life there, especially in the part that was set up like an airplane cockpit where he could push buttons, buttons and more buttons. He was in heaven! What I wouldn't give to have a room set up like this in my house! It would keep him busy for HOURS. If you know my son, it will come as no surprise that we had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming.

All in all, our vacation was wonderful. Yes, it was a bit hot (okay, maybe more than a BIT), but the scenery was beautiful and I fell in love with the south all over again. But the best part was getting to spend some quality family time with parents, grandparents and great grandparents - and getting a chance to walk down memory lane a little, too. I hope that Hilton Head will once again become a family tradition for us - I know that we can't wait to go back!

Newsletter 2.3 and 2.4

2007-07-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory,
Okay, so obviously it's been a busy couple of months. So busy in fact that I missed one of your monthly newsletters and didn't even realize it! One minute it's June and then suddenly it's the middle of July and how the HELL did that happen? I've barely gotten into the swing of summer and it's half over already. Sheesh.

For the last month you've been attending "Summer Camp", which has been sort of a trial preschool run twice a week from 9am-12:30pm. We got you warmed up for your first big day by telling you for weeks that camp was a place only for YOU, not for Mommies or for Daddies - and that it was REALLY FUN, but only for YOU (see a theme here?). You seemed pretty excited about it, but I was a nervous wreck that first time I dropped you off. I thought for sure you were going to have a total melt down and that the teacher would look at me and say, "Sorry, Lady, but you're kid is just NOT ready for this." So I was totally surprised when, after a few minutes of initial hesitation, you jumped in and started exploring your new surroundings - and you barely even noticed when I left.

And how strange it was to LEAVE, walk out the door, WITHOUT YOU. I had to fight the urge to duck down behind a window and peek in at you for the rest of the morning. I forced myself to walk out of the school yard, get in my car and drive away. And let me tell you, Ro, as a mom, that's not an easy thing to do. That first day was MUCH harder on ME than it was on you.

The following weeks actually got a bit harder - the drop off at camp became a blur of crying and clinging - but I knew that you loved being there once you got over your tears, so I sucked it up, peeled you off of me, and handed you over to your counselor, even though it broke my heart into a million tiny little pieces. But I would call to check on you ten minutes after I left, and usually I could already hear you laughing in the background having the time of your life. And only then could I finally breathe again. Unfortunately camp just ended for the summer and you're already asking when you get to go back. I guess it's really time for us to start thinking seriously about preschool, eh?

Not only did you have fun at camp, but your imagination absolutely EXPLODED. Suddenly, you're playing "pretend" all the time and I just love to see what you're going to come up with next. Your favorite game right now is to pretend that something is chasing you - a bear, a crocodile, or today I think it was an owl - so you run away shrieking and laughing until you find a hiding place and then you'll pop your head out and scream "I see it! It's coming!" and the whole game starts again. We probably play this about twenty times in a row before you get sick of it, but I don't care a bit. Watching you use your imagination NEVER gets old.

And you know what else has exploded? Your ability to communicate. You finally have the ability to say whatever is on your mind and we can tell that you're enjoying your new found talent. You ALWAYS have something to say, and your father and I hang on your every word. We never know what's going to come out of your mouth. My current favorites are:

1) You rolling down your window and yelling, "Hi Gate Guy!" to the security guard at Nana and Papa's neighborhood (which sounds a lot like "Hi GAY Guy!", so we hope he doesn't hear you that well!)
2) When we yell "How you doin' Rory?" and you yell back "DOING FINE!!"
3) We had a friend stay with us for several days (Hi Wendy!) who lives in Chicago. Once she had gone home, you continued to ask "Where's Wendy", and when I'd say, "She's back in Chicago." you'd respond, "Oh, yeah! Costco! I like Costco, too!"
4) And of course the ever present, "NOOOOOO - I do it all by myself!

Ro, I have to say that you are probably at one of the coolest ages yet. We can play together, talk together, sing together and just be plain silly together. Yeah, you still have your two year old moments (enter fits and tantrums here!), but I'm enjoying our "Mama Roro" time more than ever. And I think it's only going to get better from here.

Love,
Mama

Don't give up on me yet...

2007-07-13T22:21:00.001-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but things have been more hectic around here than usual - seven people quit at my work in one week (yes, SEVEN!) so we've all had to pick up extra hours, I've been helping with a bridal shower and an upcoming wedding (ie, invitations for both, favors, etc.), and, well, I have a TWO YEAR OLD. That alone is a big enough excuse :)

But there WILL be a newsletter coming just as soon as I can catch my breath.

I promise.

The Big Plop

2007-06-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are a bit squeamish about bodily functions, you may want to skip this blog post...

Rory actually pooped on the potty for the very first time today! Hurray! We went on a little field trip with some friends of his today and all of them were in varying stages of potty training, so I thought that a little peer pressure might work wonders. So later in the day, when I noticed he was doing "The Lean" as we like to call it, I grabbed him and threw him on ended up bribing him with a lollipop, but I figured if I could just get him to do it once, it would "break the ice" so to speak and lead the way to future successes (which is really just a fancy way of rationalizing my use of parental bribery - which worked, HAHAHA!- so criticizers be damned!) Rory was so excited when he heard that "PLOP!" sound in toilet that he immediately jumped off the pot to look at his handy work. Then he refused to flush beause he wanted to make sure that his Daddy got a chance to see his first big poop in the potty - and we all know how things like that can make a father proud!

So congratulations, Ro, on your first Big Plop! May there be many more!

Generation Gap

2007-06-11T15:25:00.001-07:00

I was at the park the other day and I saw a group of young kids hanging out who were probably all around eight or nine years old. A parent walked over to get his daughter, and as they were walking away together, we all overheard one of the kids in the group say, "Yeah, I've got my razor with me!" The dad whipped his head around in alarm and says, "WHAT did he just say?" and the little girl looks up at her father, rolls her eyes and says, "Dad, he's talking about a PHONE. Duh."

Down on the Farm

2007-06-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to the Underwood Family Farms in Simi Valley and Rory LOVED it. He rode a pony, climbed a pyramid made of hay bales, cruised around in a little John Deere tractor, and then got pulled around the farm in a cool cow train. It was AWESOME. We'll definitely be heading back there again soon.

Newsletter 2.2

2007-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory,

Okay, let's be honest. For once in my life, I'm having a terrible case of writer's block. I've been trying to write your latest newsletter for three days and I just can't seem to do it. There's a lot that I could talk about this month, but unfortunately, I'm not feeling very clever or witty - I'm just feeling wrung out and tired. Some of that is due to all the hours I've been working lately, but most of it is because I have a fiercely defiant two year old living in my house that seems to thrive off testing my patience. If we want you to take a bath, you scream that you don't want to, then once you're in the bath, we can't get you to come out. You refuse to get your clothes on in the morning, then later you won't take them off. You don't want to have your diaper changed, your teeth brushed, or your socks put on, and you most certainly don't want to sit down to eat dinner. You won't go upstairs, you won't come downstairs, you want soy milk, then you want apple juice instead. You can be perfectly content playing and then suddenly you're frustrated and in tears. And ALL of this can happen within the span of FIVE MINUTES. You're wearing me out, kid.

There's also so much you're DOING lately - everyday there's something new that I want to remember to write down, but this list is getting so long that I couldn't possibly put it all in this blog. So how do I choose what to write about? Do I talk about how you've suddenly started jumping off EVERYTHING, just because you can? Or how when you ask us questions, you listen to the answer and then nod and say "Oh!", like you totally understand our explanation? Or how you've taken to crossing your arms in front of you when you're thinking because you saw your papa doing it? And how could I not mention your tendency to throw a tantrum whenever I try to do something that doesn't put you at the utmost center of my attention? Oh, how the list could go on and on.

Or perhaps I should just talk about your amazing vocabulary that continues to multiply by the minute. Sometimes it actually freaks me out that you can not only say phrases, but use them in the correct context, like when you say, "Duck your head, Mama" as I try and cram myself into your playhouse, or how you like to yell, "Thank you!" to cars when they stop to let us cross the street. Or like yesterday when you asked where your friend Mikey was, and when I answered that he wasn't home, you shrugged your shoulders and told me, "Yeah, he's probably at preschool." I mean, we're practically having coherent CONVERSATIONS, for goodness sake! Of course, that also means that you're getting good at trying to manipulate us, like when we're trying to get you to do something you don't want to, and you suddenly tell us that you "have to go to potty now" because you know we'll drop everything to rush you to the nearest toilet. Works every time, too, you sneaky little devil.

Although we've got our hands full with just you alone, we've also had plenty of other things going on around here. This month's activities kicked off with a visit from your great-grandfather. Your "GG Pop," as you call him, is still able to travel by himself all the way from Florida, even though he's 95 years old, which is pretty damn impressive. Unfortunately, he broke his hearing aide right before he came to visit, which made communicating a wee bit difficult for everyone, but somehow the two of you managed to get along just fine. You loved how loud he was, and he couldn't hear how loud you were, so it worked out perfectly. And I know it meant a lot to your Papa to see the two of you laughing together.

Another big thing that we did this month was go to the Santa Barbara Zoo on the train with both your grandparents and your best buddies, the twins Yash and Neil from across the street. You had all of your favorite people in one place AND you got to ride a train - talk about Nirvana for a two year old! And there was no doubt that you loved every minute of it. Your smile was so big when that train pulled into the station - it made watching the "Polar Express" movie 5 trillion times totally worth it. It was definitely one of our best Saturdays ever.

Probably one of the only things better than seeing you smile is hearing you laugh. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE your laugh? That sound is one of the best sounds in the whole world. It's so cool to watch as your developing your own sense of humor, and I get a big kick out of seeing what makes you laugh. The most random things on a TV commercial or in an episode of Dora can leave you rolling on the floor in a fit of giggles and I almost want to cry sometimes because it makes me so darn happy. It's moments like those that I can forget about all the whining, the tantrums, and the tears, and I just revel in how amazing you are. And I actually start thinking that maybe, just maybe, you might like a little brother or a sister to laugh with you...

Love,
Mama

Finding New Ways to Keep the Kid Busy

2007-05-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was hard work!

DEVO

2007-04-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

While at Grandma Judy's house this weekend, Rory kept asking to essentially "rewind" things on tv and watch them over and over again like we do at our house. I overheard Judy say to Rory, "Sorry kiddo, but we don't have Devo." Rory gave her a funny look and then shouted, "Tivo, Gramma Judy! It's TIVO!"

Perhaps we're watching a little too much tv at home, eh?

A Weekend in Mariposa

2007-04-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we drove up to Mariposa to visit Papa Stan and Grandma Judy. If you haven't heard me talk about Mariposa before, just imagine a beautiful rural town outside of Yosemite where there are just as many deer as there are mullet hairdos. Rory absolutely loves it in Mariposa, where his Grandma Judy gives him toy guns to play with and an endless supply of whipped cream to lick off his fingers. He also gets to ride bareback on the family's 30 year old horse, Frosty, and pee outside in the rain if he so pleases. Basically, it's a little boy's dream come true.

Luckily, Mariposa is also a blogger's dream come true. Where else can you find people landscaping their front yards using old tires and blue tarps? Or see your mother-in-law give her dog Dodger his heart medicine in a big, fat, artery-clogging pat of butter? Or have your bartender, who is chewing tobacco and spitting into a clear cup right in front of your face, checking his "Bartending for Dummies" book when you ask for a drink? Yup, there ain't no place like the 'Posa!

Unfortunately, I forgot to charge our camera before we left for the weekend, so I was only able to snap one picture during the entire trip:

Sorry I can't provide you with the chew spit visual I so wanted to share with the world. Next time, I guess!

Want to read more Mariposa stories? Get your fill here

Newsletter 2.1

2007-04-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory -
Along with your new two year old status, I decided that I needed to change the title of your monthly newsletters a bit. I can't very well continue to title them according to how many months old you are (ie. 25 months now!) since that is certain to annoy the crap out of everyone who doesn't have a toddler at home, so instead I've decided to roll out the newsletter 2.0 title system. Basically, this month will be Newsletter 2.1, next month 2.2 and so forth until your next birthday when we upgrade to 3.0 ... but I shouldn't get ahead of myself - the terrible twos are FAR from over!

So now that I have that out of the way, what can I say about the last month? Actually, I don't feel like I've been saying much of anything lately since I can hardly get a word in now that you've turned into an unstoppable chatterbox. I swear that the second your eyes pop open in morning, your mouth pops open too with an endless stream of dialogue that doesn't stop until we put you to bed. I may not understand everything you are saying, but you have no problem repeating a word or phrase over and over again until we get it right. And I mean OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

Speaking of repetition, you are also very into listening to your favorite three songs ("Up and Down", "Spin Around", and "Big House" - all titled as such by you) until your father and I end up walking around all day at our various places of employment singing these songs under our breath and driving our co-workers crazy. But watching you sing along to these songs word for word while making up silly little dances to them is totally worth the death glares from my fellow baristas. And because your singing is so damn cute, I'll continue to press the repeat button when you scream, "AGAIN, MAMA, AGAINNNNN!", even though every fiber of my being wants to rip the disc out of the cd player and chuck it out the window into oncoming traffic. I love you THAT MUCH.

And as if there isn't enough repetition in our lives already, I couldn't get through this newsletter without mentioning the word we hear constantly throughout the day, EVERY DAY - the ever popular, "NOOOOOOOOO!". Whether I'm asking you to be still for a diaper change, trying to get you dressed in the morning, or attempting to get you to follow any sort direction whatsoever, it's inevitable that it's going to be met with a very loud "NO!". I get that this is a normal thing for two year olds, but boy, does it get old. Really, really, really old. I have to admit though that lately I find myself saying it just as much as you do - so perhaps it's something we BOTH can work on, okay?

Aside from the repetition torture you're inflicting upon us, I have to say that everything else is going fairly well. Your vocabulary continues to wow us on a daily basis - it never fails to amaze us with how much that brain of yours can hold. You love playing pretend these days, especially in your new play kitchen, and I can't even put into words how cool it is to watch you imitate me when you pretend to cook. Like seeing you grab a dish towel and use it to pull something out of your "oven", or watching you pour "tea" into a cup and then blow on it just like I do. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but nothing prepared me for the way my insides would turn to mush while watching you try to act "just like Mama." It's moments like those that make me forget all about the "No, No, No's" and the little tantrums and just make me happy to be a mom.

Even the mom of a two year old.

I love you, Ro Ro Monkey!

Love,
Mama

Well, At Least He's Wearing a Helmet!

2007-04-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

Mama's Little Helper

2007-04-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Just one video couldn't quite convey the cuteness factor so here are two for your viewing pleasure!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2007-04-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

We've been teaching Rory the names of the different cities that his various family members live in, so today we were playing a game in the car where I said the name of the person and he would yell out where they live:

Me: Papa?
Rory: CALABASAS!
Me: Dada?
Rory: CAMARILLO!
Me: Grandma Judy?
Rory: MARIPOSA!
Me: Mama?
Rory: STARBUCKS!

OUCH.
Is this a hint or what?

The Sands of Time

2007-03-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you who might not know, Rory does not like sand. Kind of odd for a kid, I realize, but what can I say? Rory has NEVER been your run of the mill child. Even when we went to Hawaii, land of beautiful white sand beaches, we ended up having to lay towels down strategically so that his feet never touched the ground. I'm sure people were walking by shaking their heads at our crazy towel configurations...

Since then, it has been sort of a mission of mine to make Rory get over his fear of sand. My mom found him a turtle sand box (who didn't have a turtle sand box as a kid!) and several times a week, Rory and I have been "practicing" playing with sand. At first, his reaction went a little something like this:

"EEEW ICKY!"

But we kept working on it, starting with putting one hand in the sand, then two, and then finally -FINALLY - last week, he SAT DOWN IN THE SAND! And he didn't freak out!

I, of course, had to get photographic evidence:

Hurray, Rory!

24 Month Newsletter (or Rory's 2nd Birthday Blog)

2007-03-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory,

Well, I am now officially the mother of a two year old! You had a WONDERFUL time at your birthday party - we had it at Gymboree, which is your favorite place in whole world at the moment - and 8 of your little friends came to celebrate with you. You loved being the center of attention and I just wanted to burst watching you prance around with a big huge smile on your face. It was worth every last penny.

Here are your twin buddies, Yash and Neil:

Here is your girlfriend, Avery:

Here you are main-lining sugar in the form of apple juice before stuffing your face with pizza:

Yup, it truly was an awesome party.

Now, as your mama, I know that it's important for you to learn that birthdays are not supposed to be all about the presents, but my God, child! You made out like a bandit! You even got your own house!

You also got a cool little scooter that came with knee pads, elbow pads and a toddler helmet (which barely fits your above average sized noggin, but it sure looks cute!).

(Notice in the picture above that even though you are now the ripe old age of two, your shirt is still covered in drool...)

And don't forget your Dora Backpack and Video Camera (yes, you are a Dora fanatic, and no amount of coaxing from your father can get you to start watching Diego instead!)

Little man, I'm so happy that you enjoyed your birthday - watching you live it up with your pals is definitely one of the perks of parenthood.

Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to be your mama?

Love,
Mom

An Early Birthday Present...

2007-03-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

23 Month Newsletter

2007-02-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Rory -
Today I sat writing out the invitations to your 2nd birthday party, and it wasn't until I was halfway through them that I realized exactly what I was doing - WRITING OUT INVITATIONS TO YOUR SECOND BIRTHDAY PARTY! - Holy cow! Obviously I've been in complete denial over the fact that you are turning two, even though I've planned your party and have everything ready to go. Everything, that is, except ME.

I'M NOT READY.

But apparently what I think is not important, because the truth of the matter is that March 10th is coming quickly, and I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that I will soon be the mother of a two year old child. A very fiesty, opinionated, fast-moving child, but a two year old, none the less. Oye.

But enough about me. Let's talk about YOU.

This month I can honestly say that I'm seeing your true personality come to life. There's no doubt that you know EXACTLY what you do and don't like - and you aren't afraid of expressing it - EVERY CHANCE YOU GET. Here are some examples:

- DISLIKE: Getting your diaper changed - My GOD, child, can't you just hold still for a second? I'm pretty sure that I'm one of the quickest diaper-changers on the planet right now, and it STILL isn't fast enough for you. And your displeasure comes with kicking. Which makes it one of Mama's least favorite things to do, too.

- DISLIKE: Drinking anything but apple juice - Repeat after me. "Hello. My Name is Rory, and I am a juice-aholic." It may only be 1/3 juice and 2/3 water, but heaven help me if I don't get the ratio EXACTLY RIGHT.

- DISLIKE: Being left in the church nursery - we're able to leave you with babysitters at home now (hurray!), but we have yet to conquer leaving you in child care on Sundays. Five weeks in counting and you are still crying as though we're leaving you FOREVER. I wish we could make you understand that Mama and Dada ALWAYS come back.

- LIKE: Dora the Explorer- Okay, so it's kind of the same show over and over again, but watching you sing along and wave your arms to the "I Did It" song at the end makes the repetitiveness worth it.

- LIKE: Eating - Apples, apple bars, apple juice (seeing a trend here?), not to mention whatever someone ELSE is eating. I haven't been able to eat anything lately without seeing your head pop up over the plate and hearing you say "Hey, Roro eat that!" or "Little Bite, Pleeeeeese!" No wonder I'm losing weight.

- LIKE: Going to Gymboree classes - Let me tell you, people, Gymboree may be pricey, but it's been worth every single penny. You absolutely LOVE it, and therefore, so do we! And you plays so hard while you're there that you nap for at least 2-3 hours afterwards, and that in itself is PRICELESS.

- LIKE: Music - Your love of music has absolutely exploded, and during a rare time when you're not rocking out on your guitar or banging on your drums, you are singing and dancing all over place. And I LOVE IT. Watching you shake your groove thing and wave your arms around makes your dad and I dizzy with pride and joy. It's truly one of the best things ever.

The other best thing ever is finally being able to put you down to sleep with a kiss and then walking out the door. No more sitting on the floor waiting for you to fall asleep, no more tip-toeing out while trying to avoid the creaks in the floor. We just say goodnight and LEAVE. And amazingly, you are OKAY WITH THAT. How this happened, I'm not sure, but why question a good thing, right?

Speaking of good things, have I mentioned how much I've been enjoying being your mama this month? You and I have spent A LOT of time together these last few weeks since Nana and Papa were out of town, and although it took some tinkering, we finally found our rhthymn together. It may have taken almost TWO YEARS, but I think we're starting to get the hang of this mother-son thing. And it's WONDERFUL.

Happy 23 months, little man.

Love,
Mama

Introducing the Next Child Guitar Playing Prodigy..

2007-02-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

My kid can ROCK...

A Day for Stacys Everywhere!

2007-02-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, this package was delivered to my door step:

I opened it and found all this:

Apparently, Stacy's Pita Chips (which already happen to be a family favorite) did a big promotional campaign yesterday that included delivering one of these gift boxes to everyone in California with the name STACY. How cool is that! The box included five different chip flavors, "I LOVE STACY" stickers, coupons for more chips, and a mailer that allows me to select a friend to get a free gift box just like mine. (Any takers?)

It's the first time my name has ever come in handy :)

Happy Stacy Day to me!

More Than a Little Oops

2007-01-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I had to take Rory to the local Urgent Care for yet another sinus infection. The doctor prescribed something called Duratan, and since I haven't had much luck with my regular pharmacy carrying liquid medications for infants, I asked the doctor to recommend a different pharmacy. He told me that The Medicine Shoppe usually has these types on medicines in stock, and it was conveniently located across the street, so Rory and I headed over there.

Okay, so the place smelled a bit like old cigarette smoke and cheap air freshener, and the woman at the counter barely spoke English, but hey, who am I to judge? I picked up Rory's prescription, went over the dosage details with the pharmacy assistant, verified that Rory should take 1 teaspoon every 12 hours, and left.

Since I've never given Rory this type of medication before, I decided to read the bottle for possible side effects to look out for and happened to glance at the dosage directions. And here's what I saw, "Adults- 1 Tsp every 12 hours". Um, wait a second, isn't that what Rory is supposed to be taking? Why would Rory need to take the adult dosage? Something wasn't right.

So I called the pharmacy back and said "I'm a little concerned over the fact that my son's medication says that the adult dosage is 1 teaspoon, and that's how much I'm supposed to be giving my son - AND HE'S NOT EVEN TWO YET. What's up with that?" So the person put me on hold and got the pharmacist on who says to me in broken English, "Oooooh, so sorry, Miss. Make mistake. Supposed to be 1/4 a teaspoon, not 1 teaspoon." WHAT!!!! You're so sorry? I almost gave my son FOUR TIMES the dose he was supposed to get. I could have KILLED him. And you're just "sorry"? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Needless to say, we won't be going back to the Medicine Shoppe in Camarillo. Ever. And neither should you.

Top Five Things That Annoy Your Coffee Barista: Part 2

2007-01-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

Back by popular demand...

1) People who spend ten minutes holding up my line complaining to me that Starbucks doesn't offer enough low calorie items for people who are watching their weight, and then they finally go on to order a venti caramel mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream and extra chocolate and caramel drizzle both on top and in the cup. I'm getting a sugar headache just thinking about it.

2) Fellow Starbucks employees who come into the store on their time off and order the most obnoxious, time-consuming beverages they can think of, especially when it's BUSY. One girl actually asked specifically for ten ice cubes in her drink, and when I handed it to her, she asked, "Did you count them?" I looked her straight in the eye while trying to keep up with a rush of drink orders and said, "NOPE. Have a nice day!" You Starbucks people know what it's like behind the counter - give your fellow partners a friggin' break and save the complicated drink orders for when you are on shift and can make them your damn self.

3) People who leave their trash on the tables. There are garbage cans EVERYWHERE - not to mention the ones right next to the doors on your way out. There is NO excuse for leaving your garbage laying around and it's insulting to those of us who have to pick it up. Do you really have so little respect for people in the food service industry? What you people need is to walk a day in our shoes...

4) People who bring their little dogs into our store. I hate to break it to you folks, but they are DOGS, not people, no matter how many cute tiny sweaters you may dress them in. Dogs have FUR, and fur SHEDS. Enough said. So don't give me grief when I tell you that we don't allow dogs in the store - because I, like most people, prefer my lattes fur-less.

and last but not least...

5) I thought that people just talking on their cell phones while ordering was bad, but I've actually found something that's WORSE - people who ANSWER their cell phone while ordering! Let's face it, in this age of technology, we ALL have voice mail. Is it going to kill you to let the phone ring for a second while you finish ordering so we can get to the next person in line? As as I've said before, just HANG UP YOUR DAMN PHONES people!

Sighhh. Yeah, it's just been one of those weeks...

The Alphabet Song

2007-01-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah. My kid is DAMN CUTE.

Pucker Up!

2007-01-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

Oops...

2007-01-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

The other evening, we were walking home from the grocery store with Rory in his stroller. We stopped at the corner, where there was a car waiting to turn right who was blocking the cross walk. The driver looked over in our direction and saw that we were waiting to cross the street, so without looking, he threw his car in reverse to make way for us in the cross walk - and totally smashed into a car that was also waiting to turn right behind him. Ugh! We felt TERRIBLE. Luckily, no one was hurt, but I don't think that mattered much to the two people involved in the accident. All we could hear were cuss words flying as we continued home feeling awful... with Rory repeating "Cars go CRASH!!" over and over again.

What a bummer...

Month 21 and Month 22 Newsletter PLUS A Mariposa Christmas 2006

2007-01-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Rory -

Okay, so I'm running a little behind on your monthly newsletters, but since you've been the one keeping me so busy, I'm hoping that you'll let it slide. These last few months have been a whirlwind of holiday activity in our festive interfaith household - and it's only made it more crazy having a Mama that works in retail during the biggest shopping season of the year. But although it's been a bit exhausting, it's been wonderful watching you take it all in with that enormous sponge brain of yours. You have loved reading about the 8 nights of Hanukkah, especially pretending to spin the dreidal and eat latkes (you like pretending to feed all of your stuffed animals some latkes, too!) You also became OBSESSED with your very first DVD, The Polar Express, which taught you about the North Pole and Santa Claus, as well as one of your new favorite sayings "Watch the MOOOOOVIE!".

The holidays also meant our annual Christmas trip up to Mariposa to visit with your grandparents on the Pearce side, which is ALWAYS an adventure. (For those of you who are not familiar with Mariposa, a tiny, rural town just outside of Yosemite, you should check out a more descriptive post here.) It's the kind of place where people have wood burning stoves that they actually chop their own wood for (see your Papa Stan below) and people have bumper stickers on their cars that read "Man + Woman = Marriage."

As always, you had your fair share of soda pop from Grandma Judy and watched your five year old cousin Joaquin play with pocket knives, but this year, instead of being given a BB gun as a gift, you and your cousin were actually given your very own machetes. REAL ONES. But yours came with a leather carrying case that could be strapped onto your little leg because as your Uncle Dubby said, you "might be a bit too young to just carry it around on your own". Thanks, Uncle Dubby...

Actually, aside from the machete, you got some pretty terrific, more, um, age-appropriate gifts, including your own little vacuum cleaner and a little motor bike from your grandparents that is sure to make you the envy of all the other boys on our block. I think your face would have split in half if you had smiled any bigger:

You also got to spend some quality time with your cousins and grandparents, and that, in itself, is priceless.

Speaking of priceless, now that you are practically speaking in sentences, some of the things that come out of your mouth are definitely noteworthy enough to be mentioned here:

- "BATCHIPOSA" - your way of saying "Mariposa"
- "CARRY YOU" - which means, carry me
- "ELMO-ZOE-ROCCO!" - your demand for a specific episode of Sesame Street
- "MORE BOOTY PLEEEZ" - Now, now, it's not what you think! This is your way of asking for more Pirates Booty from Trader Joes aka crack for toddlers.
- "MAMA ALL DONE!" - The new way you ask to get out of your high chair since I always say that you can't get down until I'm done eating. (You sneaky devil, you!)
- "WAITING...CHANGE!!!" - The endless demand that we hear in the car for your favorite song by John Mayor, "Waiting for the World to Change".
- "STARBUCKS - VANILLA MILK! - Well, this one is pretty self explanatory, and I guess a hazard of your Mama's job, eh?

I'm sure I'll think of more, but these are the gems for now. You amaze us everyday with the new words that you're picking up - it's one of the highlights of my day to see what's going to come out of your mouth next.

I have to say that in these last two months, I really feel like we are beginning to find our rhythm as mother and son. As other kids your age start heading towards their "terrible twos", and scaring their parents with sudden personality changes, it seems to me like you are just getting better and better. Yes, you have your melt downs and your tantrums, but we're able to communicate so much more now and usually we are able to resolve things fairly quickly and get back to having fun. And I love that. I love playing "boo" with you and watching your eyes light up when you help me vacuum the house or we read your favorite book. I am SO PROUD of you, Rory - you are unbelievably smart (sometimes almost TOO smart for your own good!), and I wonder if you know how much I beam when people tell me how impressed they are with your ever growing vocabulary. "He's not even TWO?!" they always say and I think to myself, "I KNOW! Isn't he AMAZING?" And you are. You REALLY are. In EVERY way.

Happy 22 Months, little man.

Love,
Mama

Just thought you all should know...

2006-12-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

That I can't breathe through my nose. AT ALL.

I am truly miserable.

Tagged

2006-12-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay - I usually don't do this sort of thing, but I was "tagged" by my friend Amanda, who I don't think usually does this sort of thing either...so why the heck not?!

My 3 Things...

3 Things that scare me:
* Fire
* Heights (I'm only 5'1", so obviously God didn't intend for me to be far off the ground!)
* The idea of my son Rory getting hurt

3 People who make me laugh:
* My husband, Hoby - have you met him? He's a total dork :)
* Rory - especially when he dances. It's TOO funny!
* My friend Allison who lives on the east coast. We have some terrific inside jokes from our college days at Humboldt State ("Say it with me now - MIATA!" Ha ha ha!). We don't talk as often as I'd like, but when we do, her sarcastic sense of humor makes me roll on the floor and cry with laughter. Boy, do I miss her...

3 Things I love:
* My family and friends
* Singing to the radio in my car with the windows down
* Reading a good book

3 Things I hate:
* People who talk on their cell phones while you are trying to take their order at Starbucks. Hang up your damn phone, people!
* Saying "No" all day long to my son. (The terrible twos have started early!)
* Getting up in the morning. I am NOT, and will NEVER BE a morning person!

3 Things I do not understand:
* How to get Rory to listen to me more often
* Why religion is the cause of so many wars
* why food that tastes good is bad for you and why healthy food costs more

3 Things on my desk:
* Wow! For the first time in my life, I can actually say that I don't have a desk!

3 Things I am doing right now:
* Blogging
* Trying to get over the Flu and a cold :(
* Craving chocolate and peanut butter (even thought I probably couldn't taste it right now anyways!)

3 Things I want to do before I die:
* Go to Israel
* Write a book
* Get this parenting thing under control!

3 Things I can do:
* Play the cello (really!)
* Stand up for what I believe in (and trust me, it can get me in trouble)
* Pack a suitcase really well. (Think "Optimum Space Value")

3 Things I can not do:
* Throw a Frisbee (really, it's ridiculous but true)
* wrap a present (thank goodness for bags!)
* Do math in my head on the fly

3 Things I think you should listen to:
* John Mayor's Continuum CD - I'm hopelessly addicted
* The Garden State Sound Track
* Anything by Sarah Mclaughlin or Dave Matthews Band

3 Things you should never listen to:
* BARNEY!!!!
* The B-52's
* Did I mention BARNEY? Ugh!

3 Things I'd like to learn:
* to speak Spanish fluently (I Do live in California, after all!)
* to sew with a sewing machine
* To drive a stick shift

3 Favorite foods:
* Gyros
* Sushi (Dynamite rolls rock my world!)
* Lobster

3 Beverages I drink regularly:
* Iced Chai Lattes from the 'Bucks
* Iced Chai Lattes from the 'Bucks
* Iced Chai Lattes from the 'Bucks (see a trend here?)

3 Shows I watched as a kid:
* Growing Pains
* Smurfs
* Fame

3 People I'm tagging:
* Sara
* Cherylynn
* Kristie

Dreidal Ornaments?

2006-11-21T22:01:00.000-08:00

Found this item in the Crate and Barrel catalog and couldn't help but laugh at the irony... most people who play with dreidals would not have a use for Christmas tree ornaments!

But I'll be buying some, of course. :)

20 Month Newsletter

2006-11-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Dear Rory -

Recently you turned twenty months old - that's TWO ZERO, people! - and it's such a BIG number that I've been considering just calling you a year and a half when people ask because saying that you're "twenty months" just sounds awkward (doesn't it?). Although it's kinda sad to think that you're so old now that I'm actually going to stop referring to your age in terms of months. WOW.

You've become such a little PERSON this past month, Ro, and you're so full of personality that you little body can barely contain it all. You're talking up a storm - I swear you say at least three new words a day - and you're even starting to put together some short sentences and sing bits of songs, which never fails to surprise me. When I realized that I could begin humming something and you would chime in with the words (like "RO RO RO BOOOOAT" or "SHINKLE SHINKLE ITTLE STARRR"), well, my mouth just dropped open in amazement. And you totally looked at me like, "Geez - I've known these songs for AGES! Duh, Mom!" I guess I slightly underestimated how much information that brain of yours could hold. And if your off-the-charts head circumference is any indication, I'm sure you'll keep on wowing me with your brain powers for years to come.

I've also noticed lately that not only are you smart, but sometimes you're actually TOO smart for your own good. For instance, you can now open every child safety latch in the house, you've figured out how to use our car keys to get into and START our cars, and most recently, you've realized that you can open and close the automatic windows in the car from your car seat with your toes. And these are just the highlights of a long list of things that keep your father and I busy 24/7. I realize that the word "NO" has taken over my vocabulary lately and I apologize for that, but try to understand that I love you and I want you to be safe. I hate being the "Mean Mama" and giving you time-outs, so give me a break every once in awhile and surprise me by actually listening the FIRST time I tell you to do something. Let me feel like I'm the boss sometimes, okay?

But even though there has been a battle of wills going on at our house lately, you've still had plenty of time to indulge in your obsession with Elmo. I have a hard time denying you your furry red monster because I think your rapidly expanding vocabulary is in large part due to him. And it's the only time of day that you sit still for longer than five minutes. You've now figured out how to work the TiVo remote so you can turn on the T.V., find an episode of Sesame Street, and then fast forward to the part with Elmo in it. It's a little scary, actually. And yes, I know how bad T.V. is supposed to be for kids and all, but you've learned so much from Sesame Street and there are definitely worse things you could be watching. (Like BARNEY! Ugh!)

There are other things you love besides Elmo, like:
- Eating Pirates Booty from Trader Joes
- Doing ollies on Dada's skateboard (on carpet, of course!)
- Pushing down sprinkler heads (it's a long story...)
- Drinking vanilla milks at Starbucks
- Sipping Dada's beer and coffee
- Removing your socks - you LOVE to be barefoot just like your hippie mama
- Scrubbing the blinds with your tooth brush (don't ask.)
- Shoving whole bananas in your mouth
- Dancing to almost any music (your favorite right now is the "Fruit Dance" from Sesame Street
- and last but not least, washing your hands after pretending to use your training potty

I know that we butt heads a lot lately, Buddy, but I want you to know that no matter how exasperated I may seem to get, I love you unconditionally. You are my baby boy and you make me so proud of you EVERY DAY. I'll get the hang of this toddler parenting thing eventually - I promise. Just hang in there with me until then, okay?

Love,
Mama

Yes, You ARE at Starbucks

2006-11-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, this woman came into Starbucks with the kind of attitude where she thinks that people who work behind counters are obviously beneath her and she orders a Caramel Ice Blended. Okay, at Starbucks we call them Caramel Frappucinos (Ice Blendeds are a Coffee Bean thing) but no biggie, we baristas are used to this. So I called out "Caramel Frappucino" to the person making the drinks, which caused the following ridiculous conversation to take place between me and the Lady with a 'Tude:

Her: Excuse me, but I ordered a CARAMEL ICE BLENDED. I don't know what you just said, but that's not what I ordered.

Me: Yes, I know you want a Caramel Ice Blended. But we call them Caramel Frappucinos here.

She just glares at me and hands me her card. Her COFFEE BEAN card.

Me: Um, sorry, but I think you gave me the wrong card.

Her: So? It's for Coffee Bean. Same thing.

Me: Actually, it's not. Coffee Bean is our competitor.

Her: So you won't take it.

Me: Uh, NO.

Her: How ridiculous! I'm taking my business elsewhere!

ME: Super! Coffee Bean is just down the street...

Okay, so I didn't actually say that last line, but it sure was tempting.

Why are people who drink coffee such idiots?

Halloween 2006

2006-11-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

Rory absolutely loved Halloween this year! He was a puppy dog (for no other reason than it was the last costume left at Target that would fit him the night before Halloween) and he looked adorable. I just kept wanting to squeeze his little cheeks! Even Avery couldn't keep her hands off of him:

This was the first year he went trick or treating and I just kept wondering what was going on inside that little head of his. I mean, if you had no idea what Halloween was and then suddenly one night all these random people start ringing your doorbell dressed in weird costumes, and then your parents dress you up in funny clothes and send you out to knock on people's doors after dark. Just think about how confused you'd be! You could tell that he was like, "I have NO idea what's going on here, but you know what? I sorta LIKE it!" He was even able to manage saying trick or treat (which sounded more like "Too Twee Tweet!") and I was so proud of him. What a long way he's come from last year when he fell asleep before the first kid ever rang the door bell...

Lalalala - Elmo's world!

2006-10-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Please excuse my obnoxious singing, the fact that Hoby is bribing Rory with ice cream and that my child obviously watches too much tv - just focus on how damn cute my kid is!

18 and 19 Month Newsletter

2006-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory,
Today you turn 19 months old. Somehow you’re 19th month managed to sneak up on me so fast that I never even had a chance to write your 18 month newsletter. We’ve had a busy couple of months, you and I, so you’ll have to forgive me for not being on top of things like writing in my blog or having time for little things, like BREATHING.

You’ve always been a handful, son, but now that you’ve begun to process what goes on around you and you’re able to somewhat verbally express what you want, you’ve become a bossy little dictator. You walk around the house barking orders at us like “UP!”, “DOWN!”, “OFF!”, and “ON!”. And when all else fails, you point at things and grunt things that sound like commands, and amazingly, your father and I always seem to end up doing whatever it is you want us to. There’s no question that you’ve got us wrapped around your little finger.

Luckily this past month has seen the “Daddy” phase begin to disappear and as your Mommy, I have to say that I am unbelievably relieved. You still put up a fuss when Dada leaves in the morning, but it’s nothing like it was before and I can usually distract you with a book or by letting you pick out your own shirt to wear for the day. All I can say is THANK YOU for finally getting through this phase. Instead of feeling like your babysitter, I’m starting to feel like your MAMA again.

These past two months have also come with an explosion of words. At the very least, your vocabulary has quadrupled. I don’t think I can continue to keep a list of all your new words because there are just too many. But here are a couple of my favorites:

- Aubrey, Autumn, Avery, Amy, and Julia (names of your friends that you love to repeat over and over!)
- Suitcase (pronounced “Boot- Case”)
- Apple (used for EVERY piece of fruit, not just apples”)
- Outside (heard ALL THE TIME! You love to be outdoors!)
- Drive (pronounced “DWIVE” and used to describe one of your favorite activities, which is pretending to drive Dada’s car in the driveway)
- Whoa (used to point out spiders and spider webs outside)
- NanaPapaMamaDaddaRoro – (a verbal run down of the people you know are eating out of the palm of your hand)
- Tutu – (our word for your, um, wee wee, right next to the “BOYS”)

Speaking of your “Tutu”, we were watching a baseball game the other day and you heard the announcer say “and it’s 2-2” and you immediately grabbed your crotch and yelled “TUTU!” I could see that you were thinking, “Hey, how cool that they talk about THAT on T.V., Mama!” There’s no question about it, Rory, you are a boy, through and through!

I also could not write about these past couple of months without mentioning your love of music. Your Papa Stan gave you a set of small conga drums and along with a couple of wooden spoons, you go at them with wild abandon. And while it may not have been my first choice for you (a nice quiet acoustic guitar, perhaps?), there is no doubt that you love drumming and that you’re actually pretty darn good at it. I mean, how many other 19 month olds can actually keep a beat? So I plan to foster your talent in whatever way I can, even if that means that I will be eating aspirin like candy for the rest of my life. You also love to go crazy on the ukulele that we got you in Hawaii, you even sing like a little rock star. Rock on, Roro.

And while I may be busy running after you as you see how fast your little legs can carry you, or trying to get you to eat something that I swear you loved just yesterday, I want you to know that although I can seem frustrated sometimes, I’m truly enjoying the fact that you are becoming your own person. Someone said to me today that you no longer look like a baby, that you’ve suddenly become a little boy and I realized that it’s more than just looks. You’re growing up, Rory, and I’m so glad that I’m able to be home with you as much as I am so that I don’t miss a step.

I love you, little man.

Love,
Mama

Finally... The Hawaii Trip Run Down

2006-09-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

I felt it rather appropriate to begin my blog about our trip to Hawaii with a picture of King Rory - because really, when you get right down to it, this vacation totally revolved around him.

The plane ride there (including getting through airport security) was definitely not fun. We were seated at the very back of the airplane, and since we didn't know any better, we hadn't gotten Rory his own seat and it was a very full plane. As people were taking their seats, I could see them eyeing my feisty toddler with a wary eye, and who could blame them? But then Ro fell asleep the minute the plane took off and I could feel all the passengers around us sigh in collective relief - and no one was sighing louder than ME. But an hour later, the peace was shattered when Rory suddenly popped his head up, looked around wildly at the tight quarters and then proceeded to kick the seat in front of him in an effort to be "released" from my lap. (To the people in seats 40C and D - I'm SOOOOO SORRY!) And then the marathon of running up and down the aisles began...

We arrived in Hawaii feeling unbelievably travel weary, only to have to wait outside in the withering heat for our bus to come and take us to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for two nights before the cruise. And so started the endless waiting in lines... lines to get to the bus, lines to check in, lines for the elevator - just what you want to be doing after having sat on a plane with a toddler for 5 hours. Ugh. But once we got to our room and saw our beautiful view of the ocean, we finally started to feel like we were on vacation.

Fast forward two days later when we were herded in large groups to wait in more lines in the burning sun in order to board buses to take us to the port terminal. Tempers were about as hot as the temperature and people were really pissed off about how un-organized this whole supposedly "seamless" process was. Don't they do this several times a week? Never did being stuffed into a bus - an AIR CONDITIONED BUS - sound so good! But once we got to the port terminal, there were even MORE lines and poor Rory was so tired of being either in his stroller or in someone's lap - and who can blame him? By the time we actually got on the ship, we were one grouchy bunch.

The ship itself was interesting - there were 12 restaurants onboard, a large pool with a slide, a basketball court, and an enormous Broadway style theater. Our stateroom was a little larger than we expected it to be, which was good considering that we ended up spending quite a bit of time in there with Rory while he napped. But it was an all American crew that was totally burned out and a brand new ship that still had a lot of kinks to be worked out, and the service onboard was not what it should have been. They were trying this new type of dining called "Freestyle Cruising", which is advertised as meaning that you can just walk into any restaurant you want on the ship whenever you want - no specific seating times and no specific table that you have to sit at. What it really was: long, long lines of people waiting to get into restaurants that were under staffed. Thank goodness my Dad had the foresight to make us reservations - most people didn't know to do that, and so they had to wait to eat, sometimes for hours, every night. Not cool.

But enough about that.

We were in port every day, so each morning we would get up, have breakfast in the buffet, and then prepare Rory for a day of fun in the sun by gooping him up with tons of sunscreen.

Then we would head off the ship to see the sights or in search of a decent beach to hang out at. Rory spent a lot of time riding around the Hawaiian islands in his stroller looking like this:

The beach was interesting with our little man since he seems to have a slight aversion to sand. At first, we'd have to lay out towels and various other items like surf boards so that he could maneuver around without his feet touching the beach. Hoby and I would just look at each other and think, "Where on Earth did this kid come from?" Who ever heard of a kid not liking sand? Oye!

Here he is after a long day of avoiding getting sandy:

Luckily, by the end of the trip he started getting the hang of things and he would even sit on the sand with a shovel and bucket, just like a normal child (thank god!).

Sometimes we could get Rory to nap during the day at some point, but many times he was just too riled up to try and close his eyes. So you can imagine what would happen when it came time to sit down for a two hour dinner. TOTAL MELT DOWN. Nope, it was not a pretty sight. Not pretty at all. But what toddler could sit through that long of a dinner after being cooped up in a stroller all day? After all, my kid isn't super human.

So basically, after dinner, Hoby and I would be so exhausted that we'd just take Rory and we'd all go to sleep in our nice, dark room. That doesn't leave a whole lot of night life to speak of, which is actually kind of okay, because the couple of shows that I did catch were so bad that they were painful to watch. Just a little example for you: They had a crew talent show one night and one of the performers read a poem that she had written. I was politely tuning out her monotone voice when I heard her say "like a bomb in Hiroshima with flesh eating bacteria melting their faces..." Um, WHAT???? Did I really just hear that? This is ENTERTAINMENT??? And there was this magic show with a magician who's only trick for his ENTIRE HOUR LONG SHOW was to make plastic flowers appear. WOOHOO. Definitely two thumbs down.

But even though the onboard entertainment sucked, we were entertained in other ways, like when Rory would play at the pool on the ship and go down the big slide with his Dada:

And the fact that Rory got to spend quality time with his Nana, Papa and Uncle Jer for nine days - PRICELESS.

And this look on his face - well, this made it ALL WORTH IT:

Thanks to Grandma Jo and Grandpa Al for Rory's first vacation paid for by NBD (National Bank of Dad).

We love you!

Summing The Past Week Up In A Handy Diagram

2006-09-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

We're Back!

2006-09-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Until I get out from under our mountain of laundry and get a chance to write about our trip, here's some photos to tide you over...enjoy!

Rory, Papa and the Ship

Me and my bro, Jeremy

Rory and his Nana

Surfin' with Dada

Ro and his ride

Fear of Flying

2006-08-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, we will be leaving tomorrow on our very first vacation with Rory - a 7 day cruise of the Hawaiian Islands, which includes a 5 hour plane flight there and back. And while this may sound like a FABULOUS vacation (and I'm sure it WILL be once we actually get there), the idea of flying with my EXTREMELY ACTIVE 17 month old absolutely terrifies me.

Unfortunately, since we've never done this before, we didn't realize that it would be a good idea to get him his own seat and take his car seat (which would be familiar and more calming), so instead, he will be sitting on our laps for the entire flight. And for those of you who know Rory, have you EVER seen him sitting on our laps for five minutes let alone five hours? My God, we must be crazy.

Yes, we thought about trying to "knock him out", but we followed the advice of our pediatrician and did a trial run with Benadryl, and of course our Rory is one of the 10% of kids in which Benadryl has the OPPOSITE effect. So instead of falling asleep, he was running all over the house like he was on speed for 2 hours. Good thing we tried it out first, eh?

Yup, we're just THAT lucky.

So Plan B is to try and keep him entertained with a bunch of new little gifts, all beautifully wrapped for maximum attention grabbing potential, and perhaps we'll just save the Benedryl to take ourselves. Haha.

Well, if all else fails, at least we'll have some fabulous blog stories for when we get back!

Wish us luck...

17 Month Newsletter

2006-08-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Rory,

Summers have always gone by quickly, but this year August snuck up on me out of no where. I'd swear that I just wrote your last newsletter a week ago - where DOES the time go?

But as fast as the days have been speeding by, you are unfortunately still stuck in this mind-numbing phase of "ALL DADDY, ALL THE TIME." Everything is "Dada this" and "Dada that", and when he's home, you cling to him like a little monkey on a tree. He can't be out of your sight for even a minute or all hell breaks loose. And heaven forbid that your father should try and hug or kiss me! You get ridiculously jeolous and squeal like a little pig. It's like you're shouting "He's MY DADA! HANDS OFF, LADY!" I must say, child, this is getting REALLY OLD. Everyone keeps telling me that this is just a phase so GET ON WITH IT ALREADY! Just once I'd like you to call for ME when you first wake up in the morning, and it would be nice if you'd show just a teensy bit of interest when I leave for work, especially since I have usually just spent an hour consoling you over the fact that your Dada has left for the day. So, just in case I haven't made myself clear before, ANYTIME you want to move out of this phase would be just fine by me.

But amazingly, even though it may seem like almost every word out of your mouth is Dada, I am starting to hear a lot of new words creep into your vocabulary this month. I'm sure this isn't a complete list, but here are some of the latest:

- Pool
- Cheese
- Pita (Pronounced "PEE TAA")
- Boys (unfortunately used in reference to what we are cleaning when we are changing your diaper!Oops!)
- Off (Pronounced "AWWWFFFFF" and used most often when you want out of something, like a stroller, car seat, etc.)
- Papa and Nana
- Slide (pronounced "IDE")
- I Do (pronounced "EYE DEEEWWWWW, which is your way of saying YES and my personal favorite!)

This month has also seen you get excited about reading, and although I've read you "Knuffle Bunny" approximately 5 million times, I'm still overjoyed that you'll finally sit still long enough for a story. And it's pretty damn cute when you wake us up by carrying your book into our room and saying "PEEEEZ". Luckily, your obsession with the Teletubbies has died down considerably (THANK GOD!), but you've now found Barney, that ridiculous purple dinasour, and I'm beginning to think that maybe the Tubbies weren't ALL that bad. When you get older, you'll understand how painful it is to sit through an episode featuring child actors who are exaggerating every word they say. It is THE WORST ACTING EVER. Truly. But because your eyes light up when you watch it and you dance when they sing songs, I'll sit through it. I'll even Tivo it. Just for you.

Now, I couldn't report on this month's activities without mentioning the whole sleep issue. In my last blog entry, we were doing the bedtime routine and it was going amazingly well... for a while. Apparently the world has become just too interesting of a place for you to close your eyes and miss a minute of it. So while we are still sticking to the rountine, it's certainly not working like it did. Most nights it takes at least a half an hour to get you down to sleep, and then you don't stay asleep all night. You don't make things easy on us, kid. It's a good thing that you're DAMN cute.

But as much as you may drive me crazy, Rory, you still manage to do something every day that makes me melt into a pool of mommy-jello. Like when you come over and play with my hair. Or the way you love to hold my hand in the car. Or how you've FINALLY started to give me little hugs and you always pat me on the back while you're doing it like you're saying, "It's okay, Mommy. It's okay." And you're right, Ro, it IS okay. It's better than okay.

It's WONDERFUL.

Love,
Mama

Sweet Success

2006-08-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things I've approached the wrong way with Rory, especially when it comes to getting him to sleep. I always held him in my arms and rocked him, and I never had the heart to let him cry things out - but hey, he's my first baby, so truly I didn't know any better. But finally - FINALLY - I did something RIGHT!

After almost 17 months of bending over backwards to get Rory to bed at night, we finally realized that what we were doing wasn't working anymore. His bedtime was getting later and later and it was always a fight to get him to sleep. So after talking it over with a friend (THANK YOU, ERIN!!!), she made me see that we had a choice here. We could either nip this in the bud now (with maybe a week or two of crying), or we were going to be dealing with this problem for years to come. And I knew she was right.

So I took a deep breath and went right home to tell Hoby that we were starting a bed time routine that very night which something looks like this:

1.Bath and Jammies
2.Bottle
3.Brush Teeth
4.Read 2 Books
5.Kisses/Hugs and off to Bed!

As we were going through the new routine that first night, I braced myself for the worst - I know that my child has a temper that can make our house rattle - and I expected hours of angry crying once we tried to put him to bed. We had already decided that our best "cry it out" approach would be to have one of us sit in the room with him while he cried until he fell asleep because we know he can climb out of his crib and we didn't want any cuncussions. And although it was HARD listening to my little man cry his heart out that first night (along with several upset sounding "Dada, OUT! OUT! OUTs!"), he fell asleep after only 40 minutes. Then, the second night, it was only 15 minutes. The third night was even less.

Tonight was our fourth night (and the first night minus Dada, who is on a business trip), and I'm thrilled to report that it took less than FIVE MINUTES to get him to go down with only a few prostests and almost NO crying. And after I heard him begin to snore, I did the happy dance all through the house (quietly, of course!)

So here's to finally doing something right!!! I may get this parenting thing under control after all...