She's Crafty. Sort of.

Actually no. Ask anyone and I will deny being crafty any time, any day of the week.  There was that brief period in the late 90s where I scrapbooked but to that all I can say is, "I got caught up in the frenzy, man!" 

I am thrifty.  I like being economical, hard times or not.  Finding a bargain or way to save money kind of gets me all hot and bothered.  It only seems natural now that I combined the two practices and came up with this idea for The Comedian's last birthday.

Yup, I made cupcake toppers and it was free courtesy of Mooo.com

Face masks for the "Cheeky Monkey" theme at Mooo.com.  Only costs me a $1 for the sticks.

The bags were bought at Micheal's in a pack for less than $5.  Inside I printed out a coloring page and personalized door hanger from Mooo.com and added a Target $1 hardback kids book about fall, crayons from a multi-pack in the party section at Target also under $5 for a set of 8 packs.  Bug tattoos and fake bugs from Oriental Trading Company came to $12 total.  Bags complete!

I purchased a helium tank for $20 (with balloons) and let them hang all over the house.  We had a light snack and blew up our hand-me-down fun house.  All total- $60 was spent for a cute, memorable party that was actually no stress.

Frog tattoo on forehead with two half-sleeves on the arms = priceless.

Two Turns Three

"Let's crush her!" I heard it plain as day even though she was whispering it to her older sister.  The talking out of the side of her mouth, the sneaking and stealing of food, hiding out under furniture and popping up where you would least expect it.  That's all Soucy.  She's smiling one minute, charming you with her smile and the next she is telling you that "I yell at you! I put you in a trap and make you cry!" 

She loves eggs and not for eating. She thinks they are her babies that she can carry with her and carry around in blankets. 

She will eat all the fruit in your fruit bowl but you will never know until a day later when you grab an apple only to find half of it bitten and gone.  The girl turns each apple or pear around each and every time. 

If you look in her bed you'll find half your chapsticks, some spare change, a few pieces of candy and probably another egg and apple. 

She is a charmer.  A character through and through. She calls herself "Soucy-boots" and she's three.

Happy Birthday little girl. You make us laugh and nothing is better than one of your strong hugs. We couldn't imagine our world without your sweet, smiling face.  Even when you wake us up each day telling us, "Quick! Darth Vader is fighting in my bedroom!"

And Then You Were One

I wish there was a pause button, a way to rewind all the magic that this first year has held for our family now that The Fifth Element has entered our world. While the year has been rough for us in some ways her arrival was the starting point for so many things.







When Abey Baby entered this world at 6 p.m. EST last August 18 I really do think I had a Grinch experience. My tiny little heart that had grown so much over the last four years decided to just let loose. I felt flooded by the intense sensation that suddenly I was at peace with motherhood. This kid, this one baby, was my golden ticket to finally feeling myself let go and really accept that this was our life. While I felt that our family was complete after we had The Comedian it ended up not being so. The addition of Abey/The Fifth Element opened that final tight, tiny door in my heart that had been glued shut. I felt at peace looking into her tiny, puckered face, her hand glued to her cheek as she did every time we saw her on the inside.


Our minds were blown when we went from a couple to a family of three when TD was born. The addition of a third kid put us in a whole new bracket. We are a FAMILY in all caps. We take up a lot of space in a restaurant and we are a rowdy bunch. The Fifth Elements gap-toothed grin and high pitched squeals of delight fit right in.


This time there was no well of darkness that I fell into after the birth. While juggling three kids under five is sometimes as crazy as asking a cat to make a cake it was so much easier this time around to experience the glow of new babyhood when I wasn't beyond a foggy veil of sadness, self-loathing and anger.


Instead it has been a year of smiles, chubby cheeks, chunky thighs, sweet baby kisses and a baby who can't understand for the life of her why she needs to stay still ever while she has her diaper changed.


We love you Abey. Happy Birthday, Short Stack.

Turning 35

I'm turning the big 3-5 today. My Dad says he is officially old now that he has a kid my age. If 35 is old then what the heck is 90? I've been mulling over this new box that I get to check- no longer 25-34 but now 35-54. What the hell is up with that jump? That is what makes me feel old. The thought that someone could think I'm 54? Really? Well, at least by then some of the kids would be out of the house, so there is that.

After spending some time thinking about this new bracket, the mid-thirties, I can't help but think back to a post I wrote at DC Metro Moms a few years ago. In it I wrote about how I would rather be in my thirties than my twenties. I can still say that I still feel that way today. While I wouldn't mind being able to spend a whole day doing nothing but watching back to back episodes of whatever television show I am obsessed at the moment and getting more sleep I cannot express how much I love how full my life has become. It is insanely full, really busy, sometimes unnervingly so but I really wouldn't trade it. Poop on the floor by the dog or a kid. I don't love it. The deeper understanding of life, the world and connections with my family, career satisfaction are way better than I could have imagined.

And now- my birthday present to you. I never fail to laugh myself to tears over this guy.

Happy Birthday H!

It's H's birthday today. I wish there was a way to surprise him with an in-person birthday wish but that is a bit hard to do when he is in Hawaii for work. I wonder if paradise is just that when you are there without friends or family and you are in a hotel room last designed when Eisenhower was in office.

So today H here are my wishes for you-

If the Nats play today, I hope they win. (Hey, I can't be checkin' baseball schedules. I've got a blog empire to run and three kids to mold.)

You find at least one meal on that island that is memorable in a Diners, Drive-in's and Dive sort of way. No Kitchen Nightmare type establishments today.

Rock Star comes on the hotel room TV for you.

That you know just how much we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. It's been a long two weeks without you!

Where's Mummy?

The sound of a dog barking at an evil squirrel, a baby cries out and two sets of plastic dress up heels clack incessantly through the house.  These are the sounds of my life.  Tomorrow the house will be filled with fourteen girls squealing as a real live princess sings, dances and paints faces all to celebrate TD turning five.  Yeah, I went there.  Just this once, I swear!

At Mummy's Product Reviews we are capping off the week with the final time to enter my beauty grab bag giveaway!  Enter NOW!  Just comment or tweet!  Mascara, bath cubes and more are yours for the taking!

EvoraKids, Athenos Yogurt, Jessica Nails Spring 2011 collection, Splendid Littles for Target, and a book review of Half in Love by Linda Gray Sexton (Anne Sexton's daughter). It is one amazing book!

Over at The Find there's Weleda Almond Facial Oil  and all about NY Fashion Week and the hottest trends for Fall 2011! 

See you all back here on Monday!

Five. No Jive.

When TD was little she went nuts for the Elmo video, "Five. No Jive!"  That seems like eons ago. Today, my oldest girl, my first baby turns five. 

When you were my little bean.

 I've been going through photos this week, looking over our past few years and seeing how she has changed and yet stayed the same.  Those same big eyes looked up at me as a baby that exude an excited charm today.  As a toddler her blond hair took its sweet time growing in and now look.

You are tying your shoes, getting your own snacks, getting ready to ride the big yellow bus to kindergarten next year and already asking me if it is possible to be a "sweets maker", dancer, paleontologist, mommy, a writer and be just like me.  You melt my heart.  You make me smile with your funny words like "Fwuffle" (meaning: warm and cozy.  "I'm going to get all fwuffly now.") and sayings like, "Oh! Peas and Butterscotch!"  Both of which I think should be trending right now and added to the Webster's Dictionary. 

Happy Birthday my sweet girl.  As much as I hate to admit it, you are my little princess.  I love you.

The Comedian Turns Two

The last year.  Where did it go? I try to think back and all I see is a haze of pregnancy and randomness.  Now, here we are, celebrating the fact that already The Comedian is two.  I said to H the other day, "It seems like she should be older.  Must be that second kid thing." 

Or the fact that she can scale walls like Spiderman, makes H want to put up concertina wire over our balcony, is stealthy as the Invisible Man and can leap tall pieces of furniture in a single bound.  The other night she climbed the coffee table, then her chair and jump off the top of it into her seat all with a single, "Heeyah!" sound.  It was actually quite beautiful.  The grace, the swift, solid movement.  She could be a circus performer, I think.

She's clever, instigating and a charmer.  Totally different from her sister, TD.  She's the shark to her mermaid.  She's brawn and massive cunning all wrapped into one tiny tank of a toddler.  When you hear her say these two words, "Ready? Ready!"  You don't know whether or not you should batten down the hatches, run for cover or to inspect the inevitable crash, slam or jump from a high place.  She's still our Blutarsky, our Comedian (points if you know where that comes from) and 'sweetness and light' just like her name means.  Just one year older and oh my heavens, wiser. 

Take cover world! She runs, jumps, uses toothpaste and can scream real loud.  She's our Comedian and we wouldn't have her any other way.  Even if she can draw blood as she is hugging you.

The BFF

We dropped a few pennies into a well and made the wish that we would be friends forever.  We were three years old. 

We were so small we took baths together, slept in the same bed, shared movie theater seats, Happy Meals and even toilet seats.  We were that inseparable. 

We thought we were witches casting spells on the other kids at Vacation Bible School.  We were that anti-social with everyone else but each other. Two little peas in a pod.

We peed on the floor because we were pretending to be babies.  We were five years old and that authentic.

We grew into gawky girls together dressing alike, pouring over Seventeen magazines on our bedroom floors together reading aloud the articles and imagining ourselves ten years older.  We thought the movie Ghost was the epitome of romance and true love.

We biked to different states, broke curfew, shared New York seltzers (lime flavored only) with Twinkies, got grounded from each other as punishment and started high school. 

Four years of our own varying hellish experiences in those slamming locker halls.  One went to AP classes and dissected cats. The other "mourned" something new each day and maintained a "C" average, when A's were just as accessible but required slightly more effort.  We shared a hatred for Nirvana and anything that sounded like "DDDDDDDDD SHELTER!!!"  We learned to drive and went in search of coffee bars and broader experiences. Buying countless pairs of brightly colored and patterned tights we wore tiny jean shorts and statement t-shirts with them daily.  She never made fun of the fact that I wore orange almost every day.  High school dances, hours of post-school phone calls, late night drives and obsessive movie watching we were together 24/7 until we left for different colleges.  It was one of the hardest days of my life saying goodbye to her.

All those memories.  Dancing on the beach in the dark.  Watching the sunrise over that same stretch of sand.  Sunning ourselves by my parents pool with Chi-Chi's in hand.  Sharing absolutely everything with each other from proms to bad dates (More cushion for pushin'!), fights with our parents and the same need to break free from our tiny town. 

She went to Boston and traveled the world. I went to North Carolina and cried my eyes out for two years until I transfered the hell out of that too small for me school and found my place and heart in DC.  We wrote countless letters, shared ginormous phone bills on our Sunday post-hangover phone calls and used that new fangled email to describe our college adventures to each other.  She lived in a jungle and I a sorority house.  She studied science and I couldn't stop writing papers about dead people and the past.  On paper we seemed so different but as Anne of Avonlea put it, we were "two kindred spirits".

Our lives continued to grow and change.  We moved to different states.  We saw each other less and emailed more often.  It became harder to see each other on a regular basis but when we did we always picked up where we left off drinking wine, smokin' butts and staying up all hours of the night catching up.  It's what best friends do.

When I was nervous and panicky the night before my wedding all she had to do was hug me and I instantly calmed down.  The scent of her was so familiar it was a safe haven to me.  She handled my nerves on my wedding day better than anyone else could and knew how to make me laugh and smile when I was freaking out.  To this day no one can handle my panic attacks better than her.

She lives on the other side of the country now.  Our lives could not be more different.  It's been years of laughing, crying, peeing our pants and countless "dead soldiers".  To my best friend E- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!   Yeah, it's a day early but who posts on a Saturday?!  I love you and am thankful for you each and every day. 

Kid's Parties- Is It Just Keeping Up With the Joneses?

Cross-posted and archived from DC Metro Moms.  Original post from February 27, 2008. 

My daughter turned two this weekend. Yes, I know, it is hard to believe. I can barely wrap my brain around it either. However, you know what the hardest part of her turning two was for me? It was- To have a party or not to have a party? It was the ultimate question on my mind. What would people think if we opted out of this birthday milestone? Would we be labeled as bad, unloving parents?


I drove myself mad with this conundrum. I wanted so badly for her birthday to go right I kind of freaked out. There were blog posts about it. I consulted friends and family. Everyone had an opinion and an idea of what I should be doing or forgetting all together. When it came right down to it I felt like my husband and I would be pretty bad parents if we went, what I call the "70s route".

The "70s Route" is a term I use whenever I refer to how things were done when I was a kid. Meaning, no big fuss, usually family-oriented and things were simple. I sometimes think my whole parenting style could be some bad retro comedy in itself except that I'm wearing 'flared' or 'boot-cut' jeans and not bell bottoms.

But I digress...

After talking it over with my husband and feeling that it would make no difference to our daughter we opted for a family day. Meaning just us. Not even grandparents. Why go nuts and spend gobs of money for a kid that did not fully absorb the concept of a birthday anyway? Instead, we made waffles for breakfast complete with extra syrup and let our cutie assist in the making of her cake. She ate raw cake batter too. Before breakfast. The shame. We took the tot to Toys R Us and had just as much fun as she did playing with balls, bikes and blocks. My spouse had to rip me from the Wii games section as I claimed to no avail that the trivia games and underwater discovery discs were for our kid and not me. We spent almost two hours wandering the aisles of this kiddie holy land until we decided to take her out for a birthday lunch. When posed with the question, "Red Robin or Thai?" She yelled out, "I eat Thai food!" So there you go.

It was a good day. Full of fun, presents (the kid got a cart of toys, clothes and more from friends and family) and good old fashioned from the box Duncan Hines cake with chocolate frosting. She wore a birthday crown and blew out her candles. She ran around the house on a sugar high yelling, "BIRTHDAY!" and I have to say I was a bit envious. That 'no care in the world' attitude is infectious but it is also hard to sustain as an adult.

It made me realize that all my fussing and analyzing over what would be the perfect way to spend her day was not only ridiculous but not about her and more about me. I cared more about how other people would view me as a parent if I didn't throw my child a party than I did about the actual day. That is not only insane but also not the '70s route' I so adore. After having all that fun in such an easy manner I've learned something. Next year? I'm not throwing a party then either. Unless of course she wants me to and if that is the case, then she can plan it.


Comments

Stephv said...


Right on for you for common sense. So much of kids stuff (comparing grades, sports teams,etc..) is for the ego feeding of the parents or the need to "look" a certain way. I say who cares?


Here in Silicon valley helicopter parenting has reached absurd


levels, preschools are chosen for their college cachet and God forbid little Katie eats a Cheetoh or anything that is not from Whole Foods.


Retro rocks.


Reply February 27, 2008 at 08:23 AM Gunfighter said...


Brava!






I think that you did the right thing.


Reply February 27, 2008 at 09:36 AM Linda said...


yes, I have to say that we've done this twice now and this is the first year...my oldest is turning four that he has even asked about a party, guests, cake, etc. We're still going the super easy route. Cake at the playground!!!


Reply February 27, 2008 at 10:20 AM Sue said...


That is MY KIND OF PARTY! Way to go. What is better than pancakes and raw cake batter for breakfast?






Another 70s mom here.


Reply February 27, 2008 at 11:20 AM Andrea said...


Good for you!! We like to keep it simple, too. No big parties. The birthday boy gets to pick what he wants for breakfast and dinner, though hubs likes to go all out on making the birthday cakes.


Reply February 27, 2008 at 01:43 PM natalie said...


Yay for the 70's route! I've got a 6-month-old, and I've found myself already thinking about how we'll celebrate his first birthday. Crazy, no? I love the family only silliness approach, and now have the perfect name for it. I keep hearing about the pressure to put together the perfect goodie bags for kids to take away from your parties - way too much stuff and way too much pressure for me! Thanks for this!


Reply February 28, 2008 at 06:49 AM Kristin DeLoach, Graco said...


I love it 70's style! That's the route my husband and I chose for our little lady. Simple, classic fun is the most memorable. Plus we wanted to keep it focused on the "guest of honor" and not everyone else.






By the way, to this day I still ask for that artifical strawberry flavored Duncan Hines cake with the bright pink strawberry icing -fortunately my mom stills obliges :)


Reply February 28, 2008 at 03:10 PM svmom3 said...


Two amazing first birthday ideas I've heard of:






a bubbles party. This one is all about the adults anyway, so pass the champagne (and have a few bottles of bubble soap for people who arrive with toddlers to play with) (I know several people who have gone this route; one who blames bubbles parties on why her kids are all spaced 1 year and 9 months apart)






a thank you ladies for your support party. Leave baby home with dad, and go out with all the women who supported you at the birth and beyond (midwife, doula, close friends, etc). go home and take photo of kid and cake later.


Reply February 28, 2008 at 03:14 PM Vicky said...


Awesome Kristen! I love the strawberry cake and frosting. That was my 6th birthday cake and I still think of it fondly!


Reply February 29, 2008 at 05:20 AM terri said...


my hubs grew up w/the full-fleged bday parties. my parents didnt have the means, just cake & candles. my hubs still smiles remembering. and i see the same in my friends' children, who would plan and anticipate months in advance. so for us, it's not keepin up with the jones, but creating these wonderous-filled moments for our children. cause to be perfectly honest, i'm alittle envious of my hubs' childhood.


Reply March 02, 2008 at 07:34 AM Violet said...


I'm so glad to hear someone else say this! My daughter turns two next week, and we're planning a day at the aquarium and a cake at home. My mother is SO disappointed with me, and thinks I'm terrible for not throwing a party, but we don't know that many kids her age, and I really don't see the point. She'll have more fun at the aquarium with us, and isn't she the one that matters?


Reply March 03, 2008 at 06:12 AM selfmademom said...


It's funny you wrote this because I have a post in queue that I will put up tonight about how I can't put on a low key birthday party no matter how hard I try. But I actually am having fun with it. I think that if it's not fun anymore then it's not worth it.


Reply March 05, 2008 at 07:05 PM children party clowns ny said...


such a very interesting post, i had fun reading it. i am sure your child's birthday party was a splash.

You Say It's Your Birthday!

My birthday wish (because it's my blog and my birthday) I give to you is this-



Chad Vader After the Dentist



Lord Vader's birthday

Call me a dork but a day that is filled with sunshine, Darth Vader, the new SATC2 soundtrack and Beastie Boys Intergalactic as the first song you hear on the radio and it has to be a good day.  An added bonus- Memorial Day weekend is in a few days. Time to start the summer season off right with the annual viewing of Jaws (this one's for you E). 

That's My Girl

While giving TD a bath yesterday the subject of my birthday happened to come up.  As of Wednesday I will no longer be a Triple Threat but Trente-Quatre.  Another year come and gone.

While washing a particularly precious bath toy TD said, "Mommy, your birthday is this week?! I will have to buy you a present.  It will be jewelry.  A ring.  You like rings. Great big ones!"

The kid is so right. I'm like a freakin' magpie.  Oversized cocktail rings from anywhere be it Target, Etsy, H&M, B&R or something nicer I don't care, I love them.  That girl knows her Momma.  Too bad she can't drive. 

Four

It is hard to believe that four years ago we were in the midst of another series of Winter Olympics.  As I labored with you I complained to H, "I've already seen this figure skating couple!" To which he replied, "Uh yeah hon, it's 3 o'clock in the morning.  They are repeating things now."  Right. We had been at the hospital since seven a.m. for your induction.  You clearly did not feel like making your entrance into this world even though you were already two weeks late.  Today you are four and you still hate getting ready in the morning, putting on anything that isn't "pajammies" and heading out the door.  You much prefer to while away the hours bare foot and comfy with copious amounts of blankets, pillows and stuffed friends surrounding you.

I know it is so cliched to say that I cannot believe you are already four.  In some ways and on some days it feels like it has taken us centuries to get here.  When I see you spell your name and your sister's on paper or watch you help her brush her teeth, feed the dog by yourself or race down a hill on your scooter I just can't believe you are already this big.  We never thought you would have much hair and now the curly mass can barely be contained on most days.  You are shy and also quite outspoken or as your teacher says you, "quietly stand your ground."  You are independent, bold, a risk taker and a lover of adventure in ways I never was as a child. I would have wanted to be your friend because you are so daring.  Now I am proud to be your mother.  In four years you have become generous, loving, kind and sweet with a busy sense of purpose and stubborness that can only be attributed to having two stubborn parents.  You are just learning to take the easy way versus the hard way.  We love you despite all the tantrums and screamfests.  We love you because of them too.

Happy Fourth Birthday TD!  We couldn't ask for a better daughter.  We love every little bit of you today and always. 

It's Her Birthday

Lying across a green and orange paisley and floral couch, I would twist and turn always trying to find a cool spot to rest my face against the fabric. The music was always there. Playing softly, sometimes loudly, always there carrying me along as if I was floating down a river. The soft pumping of the foot pedals accompanied it all in the distant background.


Sometimes I would rouse myself from my own little world of imaginary friends and lost lands to request a tune, most often it was, "Play the mosquito song! Play the mosquito song!" She would laugh and wordlessly pull out the children's music book and play the juvenile tune that buzzed across the keyboard. After it was over it was usually her favorite Chopin that she would play.  Sometimes if I was lucky, I could pick out my favorite Rachmaninov in between all the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven symphonies too. As a classically trained, concert pianist she never tired of sitting at her piano and playing for herself or an audience. Whole evenings, especially in the cold winter, were spent with the family gathered on those green and orange sofas listening to her play and talking while having a few drinks.

I remember this so vividly and during every season it was such an integral part of my youth. Many years after I had ceased to spend weekends and long summer weeks at her and my grandfathers home and I had gone off to college I would hear my favorite Rachmaninov tune being played through an open campus window.  The strains of the music drifted through the air making me stop in my tracks and just breathe it all in for a bit as I savored the moment and felt filled with memories.  There were late nights of watching The Love Boat, the need she had to dress my stark naked Barbie’s in disco dresses and wedge heels, the way she allowed me to touch absolutely everything in her home no matter how valuable or breakable are all part of those countless memories. She didn't mind when I would ask her to "take your teeth out, Memere!" as she brushed her teeth each morning or that I always wanted to use her watermelon pink lipstick and soft, fluffy talc-filled powder puff. She made no apologies when I slammed the front door in her friend's face one day when that woman called my long-desired and much loved Cabbage Patch Kid Zenia Kelly, "a precious little chocolate baby." She knew who was in the wrong. She liked to flip her eyelids inside out and scare the bejeezus out of her grandkids when we bothered her and let me roam the house, yard and neighborhood as I pleased. Her home was music, comfort, love and freedom in the most secure sense. She made it that way because that was and is who she is as a person.

Today, my grandmother, my Memere, as I like to call her has turned ninety. I used to joke with her that she didn't look like a groundhog and every time she would laugh. While Alzheimer's has her in its grip right now I had the privilege of being able to visit with her this past weekend as the whole family turned out to celebrate this momentous occasion. She couldn't believe it herself that she was turning ninety. She had to be reminded often of who people were and why she was there but she was happy the whole day. When she thanked me for her gift and H explained to her that I was her oldest grandchild she smiled and grabbed my arm and shook it with affection just like she used to every time I saw her as I grew up. She may not remember me all the time but that gesture alone completely made my day.

Happy 90th Birthday, Memere! You are so loved.

 

The 90's

Next week I will be journey into the cold, arctic North known as New England.  My grandmother is turning ninety.  Ninety, y'all.  That's a big-time, lets all party down event.  Cake and ice cream will be served. There might be a sash or crown.  Like my grandmother, this event will be ...wait for it...LEGENDARY.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Here is four generations of the family right here.  Many more will be present and I can't wait. 

Overheards- Hmph!

Scene: H, the girls and I are celebrating The Comedian's birthday with a dinner out. TD is dismayed at our choice of venue.

TD: Hmph! This isn't a good restaurant. It's not pretty and it smells!

H: What does it smell like?

TD: (She grumbles) Smelly. It smells like hot dogs....

A little while later-

TD: (Surveying the restaurant from our table.) Hmph! No one is looking at me! This is a birthday. People in the restaurant are supposed to be looking at The Comedian and they aren't!

She continues to give the restaurant the stink-eye and refuses to eat her macaroni and cheese. Later she tells us that, "This place is NO Red Robin."

The Comedian, One Year Later

Just think, a year ago today I was tweeting it up and doing this. One minute I was watching Oprah, the next The Comedian, formerly known as Dash Two had arrived.

You looked up at me with those big, unblinking eyes and I instantly fell in love. While you are named The Comedian for laughing at all the wrong times and reasons you are also my little cuddle bug. As a 'no-touch, non-cuddler' I am powerless to resist you. When you burrow into my neck it is like kryptonite.

In the past year you have been the bruisin' Blutarski of the house. You have learned to crawl with your head ducked down to avoid licks from the dog and you can topple your sister in a simple headlock. You like to yell at the neighbors from your kitchen window perch. You climb head first into the shower regardless of who is in there and are always looking for a missed crumb or whole cake, pile of cheese or pasta to cram into your piehole. You do not like to miss out on even one scrap of food.

Today you are cruising around, yelling your head off and smiling with a charming under bite that makes people smile back no matter what. You think your sister is the bees knees except when she takes your toys. Then holy hell must be paid or just an extreme case of sticking out that lower lip pout. You could give lessons on that one.

I can't wait to learn more about your sweet and crazy personality as this new year unfolds. You'll always be my baby. Happy first birthday Comedian!

The

A Bit Gaga Over Here

I'm addicted to this right now. Thanks Mamapop! In my moments of insanity today I just want to watch this over and over again then run to my make-up collection and start painting away until H comes home to something truly beautiful yet terrifying. Way more than this, that's for sure.

Except I can't.

I'm planning a first birthday party for The Comedian for tomorrow. Apple cupcakes seemed like a great idea at the time, all cute with pretzel stems and green jelly bean leaves. Then I caught the death that was hanging in the petri dish that is my doctor's office and I've been down for the count all week. Work has been left by the wayside, the house went insane and the non-stop rain has both kids acting like escapees from the local asylum.

The vacuum is glaring at me from the corner. Says she has other places to be and things to do. Those cupcakes aren't frosting themselves either.


I couldn't resist-


Is it art or total freak-show melodrama? There's so much about this video that I absolutely fall in love with each time I watch it. It has drama, comedy, a bit of horror and um, that annoying "let's dance for men" factor that always pisses me off.

The Triple Threat

I turn 33 today. H has been calling me 'the Triple Threat' for the last few weeks. Technically, I think I need to be 333 years old if I really want to be a triple threat but if I were 333 I don't think I would be too much of a threat to anyone except Medicare.

In the past I've had my share of bad birthday karma but since my twenties I have evaded it quite nicely. H works his butt off each year to make sure it doesn't happen. This year we went away as a family for a quiet weekend at my MIL's on the water. We had an amazing night out with drinks followed by a perfect dinner for two. The next day as I was reading on the couch (read: half asleep for the second nap of the day.) my parents burst in the door surprising me with a visit. If I count the night out, the surprise visit, and a fabulous dinner of cheeseburgers and my fave coconut cake, H really did provide a triple threat of sorts for my big 33.

Today, it's rainy and humid. My hair is a frizzy mess and I'm spending the day tackling the laundry monster and doing PBS homework with TD. Honestly? I'm just so happy that I'm not desk jockeying it and that is enough for me.

Say a big 'Congratulations!' to Lattes and Life. She gave birth to a beautiful 9 lb plus baby girl on Friday!

What Would You Do for Cupcake?

Meet Cuppy.


Cuppy apparently turned two yesterday.


After a spin on the Disney circuit sharing top billing with a certain Ms. Lohan, years of being a flat Stanley type character in my life, doing hard time in a box in storage, Cuppy got paroled last year and has now found a home in the heart of TD. But Cuppy has not gone completely straight yet. She whispered a little magic in TD's ear yesterday and told her it was her second birthday. It was time for a celebration TD declared.


Cuppy needed cupcakes too. How convenient! We just happened to be at the grocery store.




So there you have it. Happy Birthday you sneaky little Cuppy. I'm on to you too TD. I know only too well just what lengths a girl will go to for a cupcake fix.