It's New Year's Eve 2008, and I have yet to post about so much that happened in the last few weeks of December -- Lily's school holiday concert (a treat for your ears! um, sort of), Anna's daycare transition, our trip to Vermont, and Lily's trip to the ER among others.
But for tonight I'm going to live in the moment and focus on the commemoration "du jour."
We were supposed to be in transit from New Hampshire to DC, via a stopover in NJ to see our old neighbors and break up the drive home. But dog sitting issues and viruses too numerous to mention sent us packing days early -- it took us about 12 hours to get from Vermont back home, with me squeezed in between the two car seats in the back for much of that trip -- so we're improvising this New Year's Eve.
Noah cooked a yummy dinner, complete with a few frosty mojitos. It's now 9:20 and Anna's sound asleep, wheezing away in her bedroom; Noah is slumbering on the couch*; Lily is practically propping her eyelids open so that she can watch Wall-E, a New Year's Eve treat (the bedtime breakage that is); and amazingly I'm the most awake person in my house, blogging away on my new blogging-dedicated laptop, fooling around with my new HD Flip video camera (Noah wins the Hanukkah award!). Honestly, I'm normally the one who falls asleep on the couch first...THIS is something new!
Earlier I asked Lily about the holiday. I give you her, in her own words (please don't laugh too hard at my croaking voice...I'm recovering from laryngitis).
And early in the new year I do promise to make sure you're caught up on the tail end of last year. The cliff's notes version -- we had tons of (mostly good) adventures last year and can say, without hesitation, that it was a fantastic year. We were blessed with Anna's arrival and, as our holiday card display demonstrates, many, many wonderful friends.
Can you find yours? Even more have arrived since I took this picture, and if Lily has anything to do with it, we might never take the cards down.
Here's hoping that your New Year's Eve is a bit more rockin' than ours. Best wishes from the four of us for much love, laughter, secure jobs and good health in 2009!
Not the best photo of us...Anna looks stoned and Noah and I both look like we need a drink...but the ONLY photo of the four of us.
*Rest assured that I'm not going to spend my New Year's alone. Noah has since woken up (it's not 10:27) although my eyelids are starting to feel heavy... I'm going to try my best to make it to midnight. I'm 33 not 83 afterall!
One of our favorite holiday traditions is decorating gingerbread houses. While I'm not certain that the Jews in Biblical times glued cookies together and stuck candy atop, it's something that Lily and I cannot resist.
Over the years this activity has taken on a role of increasing importance. This year, for example, we've already decorated two houses and have one more house and one gingerbread train (oh la la!) in the queue.
To help make this year's decorating that much more festive, we invited a few little girls from Lily's new school over for some gingerbread fun recently. And what fun it was! The invitations should have come with a "sugar high" disclosure, what with the 10 pounds of icing and mountains of candy we had on hand.
The extra "icing on the cake," or cookie at it may be, were the princess costumes that the girls changed in to mere seconds after they walked in the door. While I don't have any pictures of that, rest assured that Cinderella (2), Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell make a mean gingerbread house!
The girls were as adorable as the houses. And, yes, I know they're all blonde. Not sure what's up with that. Come to think of it, ALL of Lily's girlsfriends are blonde. Huh...
I guess that this light display really puts to shame the broken strands of lights that adorn the cherry blossom tree in our front yard. The strands that have been there for two years now. The ones that I didn't even bother to plug in last year.
Whenever we drive past houses in our neighborhood that are all lit up, Lily's eyes grow wide and she breathlessly exclaims, "MAGIC. LIGHTS. LOOK!!" Her head nearly exploded when I took her to the Mormon Temple last year; they put on an extraordinary display that's well known around the DC area. My only word of advice -- just smile and quickly walk past the "greeters."
I would have to agree, though, that these lights, in particular, are totally magical.
So a very Happy...Merry...Peace be with you. Whatever you celebrate, may you do it with those you love close by.
I have been waiting to post photos until I got some more, but with 12 inches of snow...and, of course, two infants to take care of and feed...well, Jamie and Dan have a few (million) things on their to-do list that rank higher than emailing me photos. Imagine that.
I'm delighted, though, to report that Abby and Betsy Beth (new nickname) are doing great on this, their third day of life. I'm still in complete awe of Jamie for delivering twins the "old fashioned" way. Especially because, as I've since found out, Betsy Beth (baby b) was delivered sunny side up. OUCH! And the new mommy is doing yeoman's work of nursing both of them. It almost makes my head pop to think about her schedule right now!
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the two newest beauties in NJ --
Today has been a long time in the making. It has been greatly anticipated. And talked about. And thought about. Today was a great day.
Today is the day that my maid of honor, Jamie, delivered her twin girls. The last of my bridal party to enter the world of motherhood (with the exception of Sara and Anna -- and neither of you is allowed to get pregnant any time soon -- and the little flower girls -- DITTO for you guys!!). We studied the calendar and realized that she got pregnant the day I delivered Anna. And today is 10 years to the day that she met her husband. The only thing that could have made today any better was if she'd named one of the girls after me...
All I can say is thank god for blackberries. In my hand and in hers. And her husband's. I got dueling blackberry updates from both Jamie and Dan, starting at 6:24 a.m...."As promised. We're here. Stay tuned!" By 8:20 I got a note from Dan telling me that the pitocin was in. Start the clock. The induction had begun.
Seeing as though today was my last official day in the office for the rest of the year (THANK. GOD.), I could not have been more slammed. It was complete insanity. And yet, with every spare second I got, I'd check my crack-berry hoping for yet one more update.
When, at around 12:15 p.m., she told me that the epidural was in, was working, and she was going to try to take a nap, I almost died. Excuse-moi! Sleep? Now? What was I going to do without my updates!?!
Thankfully the nap never happened.
2:24 p.m. "We're at 10 cm! Waiting for Dr. and moving to LD/OP room to push." Just as I was going in to withdrawal, an update came through. In the nick of time. Not like I didn't have any work to do today...I guess I now could get back to that.
My dear, brave, strong friend, Jamie, who has been on strict bedrest for the last 14 weeks, finally caught a break. At her final OB appointment earlier this week, they discovered that both of the girls were head down an in the perfect position to attempt a v- birth. After lots of consideration, she decided to give it the old college try. Amazing. A-freaking-mazing!! She'd labor in an OR just in case she needed the c-section after all, but she was going to try to push them out.
3:41 p.m. Radio silence. I can only imagine what was going on. And I did. For the two nano-seconds that I had to breathe today. Two of them. Babies. T-W-O. 'Cuz pushing one out just wasn't enough. Jamie had to go and trump all of us by pushing out two. Too posh to push? Not her!
3:52 p.m. Email from Dan. "WE ARE PARENTS!!!!! Details to follow." That's it? One? Both? He was killing me...
4:41 p.m. As I was writing a pitch regarding security of travel to high-risk areas (think Mumbai), a new email crosses my screen. "Both within an hour of each other!!" Apparently they had both arrived when the last email was sent. I nearly have whiplash it happened so fast. From the first real email at 8:20 a.m. to the last at 3:52...
Less than eight hours. Two babies. Holy cow is all I can say. HOLY. COW.
With all the scares early in her pregnancy...to the week 24 scares that lead to the long, painful and boring bedrest...with visions of babies in the NICU dancing her her head...it's now over. They are here. Jamie wins the mommy hero award. One hour in to her new life as a parent, and she's already deserving of sainthood in my book.
So happy birthday, Miss Abigail (baby A) and Miss Elizabeth (baby B). We've been waiting a long time to meet you, and Aunt Courtney cannot wait to get my totally Purelled hands on you!
A big hug to the new mommy and daddy too.
What a day indeed... More/better pictures to follow as soon as I get them!
So often I'm the one behind the camera that photos of me with the kids are few and far between. Of course, that's 100% fine with me. Between the grey hair, circles under my eyes, and extra 15+ pounds, I don't feel super compelled to document myself right now.
But my mother was over for her birthday weekend before last, and she insisted on taking a pictures of the three of us. You know mothers... We love to "insist" (read: demand) until the tables are turned. It was her birthday though, so I had to say yes. As much as it killed me. And it did.
Anyway, I do exist. In written words and in photos.
I've since gotten 2 inches chopped off my hair as well as a LONG overdue color "refresher." A year ago I had to ditch the highlights in favor of an all-over color treatment to camouflage the large and very noticeable grey streaks that shoot forth from each of my temples. It's complete injustice when, at 33, you have far more grey hair than your own mother!
5 calls with the pediatrician; one at 11 p.m. last night.
27 loads of laundry.
5 bottles of pedialyte. The plain kind that is nearly impossible to find in stores.
2 1/2 missed days of work.
1 case of Rotavirus...and 1 totally pathetic baby.
Poor, poor Anna. Just as I was gloating that I had TONS..BOATLOADS..of use it or lose it vacation. Because I had saved all my annual leave to deal with sick children post maternity leave. Of course they'd get sick what with Lily transitioning to a new preschool and Anna starting daycare. But, then, they hadn't gotten sick. Hadn't missed one single day. Until Tuesday. I should learn to bite my tongue...
The email from the Huck came through at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Anna had been projectile vomiting. So had others in the classroom. Something was going around and it was fast and furious. Could I pick her up. Within the hour. They'd just sent NINE other babies home.
Slammed at work, unlike any day in recent history, I couldn't have gotten away if we'd been in the midst of an attack. I had deadline after deadline after client deliverable due before close of business. Noah was at home. Sick himself. Too sick to drive downtown. So my dear sweet mother obliged; Nettie to the rescue!
I've never seen a baby throw up more than Anna has these past 5 days. And when she wasn't throwing up (and, no, this isn't sweet smelling baby spit-up...this is full-fledged quasi-adult vomit...of the most stinky variety), she was lying around looking completely pathetic. And while the bug did make it to my digestive tract too, it totally invaded my mother's. She wins a medal for this grandmotherly tour of duty.
I'm happy to say that, five days later, Anna appears to be on the mend. I've started mixing in a touch of formula to the pedialyte bottles. She's had a few bites of rice cereal, and I've even snuck in a bite of applesauce here and there. Knock on wood, but so far she's managed to keep it all down. Although I do hold my breath every time she makes just the smallest of noise that's out of the ordinary. I fear that she's going to get a complex, but I've been following her around with towels and plastic bags.
With only 4 days of life as a Huckleberry Cheesecake Blueberry left, I hope that she's able to make it to school this week. Her teachers won't forgive me if they miss one last second with her. They might also not forgive me for the shiner she got today. When she took a nose dive off the living room sofa. When I was just steps away and supposed to be watching her. As if the stomach thing wasn't enough, now my baby is getting her first black eye.
Fear not, the guilt is gut-wrenching. Or perhaps that's the Rotavirus raring it's ugly head.
Can't say that I blame her for looking so darn pissed off!
Today my mother turned another year older. To be kind, I won't reveal her age. She's young at heart, and that's what matters. And since I was recently told that 80 is the new 70, well, then, my mother is practically a teenager.
Yesterday, we girls went out for a birthday brunch to celebrate; three generations of "ladies" in the family.
Tonight my mother had a little celebration, complete with belly dancer. Yes, my mama has flair. As Lily says, "me and Nettie are party girls!" So you can imagine her extreme disappointment when she realized she wasn't invited.
Lily decorated a card to my mom, with a drawing of her (my mother) as a princess, declaring that my mother was going to freak out when she saw it. She wrote out "To Nettie, Love Lily" by herself. I almost freaked out when I saw that. When did my baby grow up??
Since Anna's best gift is her smile and fabulous belly laugh, I leave you with her. Mom -- this one's for you. A big birthday hug and kiss from us all!
Note: watching this video may require Dramamine. Some viewers have been known to get sea sick from this segment in particular...it's a bit "rocky."
I am proud to announce that I survived the last 72 hours. Hopefully I look better than I feel. This one was a doozey that I've been dreading a bit for a few weeks.
I wish that I'd kept track of the mileage that I put on the car -- that would have put it in to perspective -- but with gas as cheap as it is right now, I'm no longer eyeing the gas gauge like I used to.
Here's hoping that you're not totally exhausted, or bored, after you've read out it. Internet -- I'm warning you -- this one is long. VERY. LONG.
Friday AKA "vacation day"
9:30 -- My day started with a tour of in-home daycare #1. [I am sure that, once the dust settles and my head clears, I'll likely share all my daycare stories/angst/issues with you. For the time being, though, I will share that lately I have been 150% preoccupied with finding Anna a new home during the day. For a variety of reasons, including waiting lists YEARS long...seriously, one place I called told me they might be able to offer her a spot in their THREE YEAR OLD room...yes, like, in 2.4 YEARS...I decided to expand my search beyond traditional center-based daycare to in-home daycares. Read on.] It took 50 minutes to tour 2 rooms and a bathroom, during which time Anna cried. No screamed. HER HEAD OFF. Because of course you know that they're interviewing me even more than I'm interviewing them. I think we failed. I sort of got that "we'll call you if a spot opens up" kind of a good-bye. Which is fine. I wasn't feeling it.
10:45 -- Trip to the pediatricians. When they asked me why Anna needed the appointment, I simply explained that I was sick and tired of having a sick baby. They needed to fix her. Or I was going to ask for a refund and a model upgrade. Seriously, I think she's been congested since birth. And she's sounded like a 60 year old smoker for the past 2 months. Nothing serious enough to keep her out of school, but after two different medications through a nebulizer AND a round of oral steroids, I expected more progress. Which I wasn't getting. But I did get a long and serious conversation with one of the elder pediatricians in the practice. Who Anna totally charmed with her smiles, raspberry-blowing talents, and chants of "mamamamama" (LOVE THAT!) and aba-aba-aba (well, Mamma Mia was one of her first feature films!). Bottom line -- the pediatricians suspects a dairy allergy. Huh... So she's now on soy formula. Of course we got the diagnosis days after we dropped some $150 on those commercial sized vats of Similac that you can get at Costco. Uugh! Well, here's hoping that this does the trick. We'll know in a few weeks. Naturally dairy elimination takes time. And, yes, the coughing continues...
11:30 -- Since we were so close, and since I can always come up with an excuse to hit "Tar-jjaay," Anna and I stopped at the local Target on our way home to pick up Similac Soy and a new vacuum cleaner. My Mothers of North Arlington mom's group has adopted a few families for the holidays, and their Christmas wish lists were posted on our website. Of course, by the time that I got around to check it out, the ONLY gift left was the vacuum. But since that item was actually on my own list a few years ago, I was more than happy to oblige. Awesome that I can teach Lily about the gift of giving while teaching about cleanliness (next to godliness right? guess you haven't been at my house lately...). Anna and I got everything on the list, plus a few extras, and I was able to resist getting anything at "Cafe Tarjjaay" even though I hadn't yet had breakfast or coffee. Still not sure how I was able to put one foot in front of the other. Screw breakfast...can live without that...but I'm usually not human 'til I've had my coffee.
12:45 -- Got stuck in traffic. Started swearing that I hadn't gotten anything to eat at Target.
1:30 -- Home. Quick diaper change. Restocked the diaper bag. Stuffed my face with various scraps of leftovers.
2:40 -- Picked Lily up early from school. Forgot to sign her out, for which I'm sure we'll be tarred and feathered tomorrow. Oops.
3:00 -- Toured in-home daycare #2 with Lily in tow. LOVED IT. Rather than scream, this time Anna was all smiles. Before we left she was on the floor, playing with toys and the owner, laughing. WILDLY.
3:45 -- Piled both girls in the car to race downtown for the Huck holiday party.
4:05 -- Pull in to garage. Thankfully we found a spot right away. We did a quick costume change. I think I used half a package of wipes giving Lily a sponge bath next to the car -- she gets SO FREAKIN FILTHY at school!! But soon enough both girls were wearing matching velvet holiday dresses. We were ready to go. Lily was giddy she was so excited about seeing her old friends and her FAVORITE BAND play. Like, OMG, is that Coach Cotton? Willie Bob? And Boogie Woogie Bennie? Yup, local pre-school heroes, Rocknoceros, were the featured entertainment. These guys have groupies. Just ask Noah (wink, wink).
4:15 -- We arrived with the concert already in full swing. A bit overwhelmed by the sudden attention when we walked through the doors, Lily balked, hid behind me, and decided she wanted to go back to the car. AS IF! Anna and I schlepped all the way downtown just for her to rock out to Rocknoceros. Like it or not, she was going to stay. When she discovered, though, that an old classmate was wearing the exact same dress, she quickly turned her frown upside down and joined the four year old mosh pit. I guess having the same dress as a classmate is cool in preschool. If only they knew how UNCOOL that soon becomes.
Although it's hard to see, the girls were jumping. Because apparently that's how "cool" preschoolers dance. Or that's what they told me.
5:45 -- After too many desserts to count, and lots of "jump up and get down-ing," we headed home. I was starting to feel the day. And guilty. Having spent several hours that day touring new daycares, the teachers and directors at the Huck couldn't have been nicer. They were so happy to see Lily. THEY were practically giddy...
6:30 -- 11:30 -- Home. Dinner. Kids in bed. Noah packed for ATL. Attempted to watch Stepbrothers, which turned in to Noah's out of control laughter and my nap on the couch. Welcome to our Friday nights!
Saturday
7:30 -- Noah left for Atlanta and wished me good luck. His alarm clock, of course, woke the kids up. No sleeping in for me...
9:00 -- My mom arrived to watch the kids so I could make it to my pilates class. I haven't been in three weeks and knew I'd be in trouble. I was SO dreading this class. But I also knew that if I missed one more week I'd be too intimidated to go back. I'll have you know, though, that I'm STILL in so much pain that I can actually feel it in my abs when each finger moves to type. Clearly I love you a lot.
11:00 -- I returned from pilates. Amazingly, the next hour and forty minutes is a blur. I know it was only yesterday, but I honestly can't remember it. I do know that I managed to shower, get dressed myself, and together with my mom get the girls dressed. Much beyond that I don't remember.
12:40 -- Restocked the diaper bag.
12:50 -- We left for the Nutcracker. We got lost. We found our way. We arrived in time to get a good spot in the line for general admission seating. Which I HATE. Put me in a line for general admission seating to watch paint dry, or mold grow, and I'll still get competitive. It's why I hate flying Southwest Airlines too. Hurry up. Wait. Hurry up. Wait. All the while my competitive juices are RAGING. This time, though, I'm happy to report that we got great seats. 7 of them. My cousin Susana had organized us small group of girls to go see the Nutcracker. And while I remembered all the details of the outing, I forgot to prepare Lily for a full-length performance that had NO DIALOGUE. Or at least it wasn't meant to have dialogue. The whisper shouts from Lily and her friend, Charlotte, were likely heard by everyone in the theater.
Lily with her cousin, Camilla, and buddy, Charlotte.
2:00 -- 4:30 -- Nutcracker. Music. Riveted baby Anna who refused to sleep lest she miss a second of it. Lily did very well until 20 minutes before it ended when she declared that she was bored. And wanted to go home. I gave her another snack, which bought me 15 minutes. 5 minutes before the curtain call she fell asleep in her seat.
4:35 -- DASH. We dashed out the door, 35 minutes after the performance was scheduled to end, only to find snow falling and traffic backed up. The whining 4 year old in the backseat added to the fun.
5:02 -- Arrival at a birthday party, 32 minutes late. When I searched for wine I only found juice boxes. Damn. Oh well, it was worth looking for!
6:15 -- Party ends. Pack children in to the car. Head to Williams-Sonoma for a late errand. Because I'm a mean mommy. More snow. Anna's first. Shame that Noah missed it.
Anna's first snow. And, yes, we do call that snow in these parts. Don't laugh!
7:05 -- Home. So tired.
8:30 -- Both girls were fast asleep. Miracle of all miracles! Lovely, just enough time for me to do a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, and watch one of my twelve million shows stored on TiVo. Some day I'll have the time AND energy to make a dent in the queue.
Sunday -- the day of rest?!?
7:35 -- Phone rang. It was Noah. He had figured that we were up (we weren't). He was calling to tell me that he woke up with his eye crusted closed and ask what it might be. Like Lily had had. A few different times. "You know, Courtney, when her eye was pink and crusted closed..." UM, you mean PINK EYE?!? Poor Noah.
7:45 -- Stripped sheets off all our beds. Washed them each. Twice. In scalding hot water. My fingers are crossed that I caught this before it spreads.
8:00 -- While I was down in the basement, I folded three baskets of clean laundry. Amazing that we had any clothes left in our dressers. "Paid" Lily with a candy cane to come get me if Anna started protesting loudly from her exersaucer.
8:30 -- "Paid" her again to watch Anna while I showered.
9:00 -- Organized Lily to create cards for the three birthday celebrations we were about to attend. Major creative session ensued. Lily declared that my mother, "Nettie," was going to "freak out" when she saw her card. Who taught my four year old to say "freak out"???
9:50 -- Restocked diaper bag.
10:00 -- My mother arrived. We had a lovely, and amazingly non-rushed, brunch at Harry's Tap Room in Clarendon. In honor of my mother's birthday. To be kind, I won't disclose which birthday. Lily ordered her own meal. Fruit. Smoked salmon (as in lox). Vanilla bean ice cream. Interesting combo...
12:15 -- Dropped off seriously overdue library books on our way home.
1:05 -- Restocked diaper bag. Again.
1:15 -- Left for second birthday celebration of the day. This one for twin girls at Lily's school. At Monkey Business in Falls Church, VA. Anna spit up on me. Twice. Isn't a party 'til someone pukes! Lily cried. Twice. Not a party 'til tears are shed either. These over some weird oblong bouncy thing that looked like a....well....I'm not going to go there, but the tears weren't worth it.
3:05 -- Departed Monkey Business for the third birthday celebration of the day, this one at Jumping Jack Sports in Ashburn, VA. We had about 30 minutes of travel time. Did I mention that this party started at 3?
3:40-5:00 -- Enjoyed a great party. This one for the son of MY friend. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....and a very long day.
6:30 -- Lily asked for dinner, even though she'd eaten pizza and ice cream cake at the second birthday and birthday cake at the first. I think she's in the middle of a major growth spurt. I hope it's up and not out. With dinner, though, came a little concert.
Sorry it's so dark. And sorry to "out" you Jamie. We still love you even if you give LOUD gifts and sit on the other side of the aisle!
It's now 10:30. Both girls are in bed and sound asleep. Noah's in the air and should be home some time before midnight. I hope. I still have to put the newly cleaned sheets back on my bed, and I have to enter my time from last week...my work computer is booting up as I write. And I'm exhausted. In. My. Bones. So much for a relaxing three day weekend.
But as tired as I am in my core -- way too tired to be funny for you, my loyal blog readers -- I'm supremely relieved to have made the decision about Anna's care situation. While I'm dreading that conversation tomorrow, we are pulling her from the only daycare that we have ever known and putting her in this in-home daycare that is mere blocks from our house and that gets RAVE reviews from parents current and past. I just keep remembering her squeals of laughter when we were there on Friday. I hope. I pray. My fingers are crossed that we're making the right decision. I'll keep you posted.
As I mentioned earlier, while we escaped hosting any of the THREE Thanksgiving meals we gorged ourselves at last week, we did volunteer to bring desserts. Lily had been begging forever (literally since September) for a pumpkin pie, but I thought that I'd do something a bit different. As Emeril would say, "kick it up a notch!"
So, BAM!, that's just what I did.
Luckily for me, before I had even had time to crack the spine on my copy of Joy of Cooking, Daily Candy DC delighted me by forwarding along a recipe for pumpkin bread pudding. To continue with my celebrity chef quotes -- YUM-O!!! -- as Rachel Ray would definitely holler.
This one came from the chef at Washington's own 1789 Restaurant. And while my kitchen looked like a small roadside bomb had exploded after I made not one but two of these, it was SO worth it. CRAZY YUMMY!! And something that could as easily be served at a holiday dinner as it was at Thanksgiving. If I make this again, I might consider sneaking in some golden raisins... Sadly I didn't take a picture of it, for which I was chided by my food blogger buddy WhereInDC, but it was as rustically pretty as it was delicious.
Olson’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe Pie is for the birds. Wow Thanksgiving guests with a sinful bread pudding straight from chef Travis Olson’s pastry pantry at 1789 Restaurant. Pumpkin Bread Pudding Serves eight to ten
Ingredients 1 loaf challah bread, with crusts discarded 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 1½ tsp. ground ginger ½ tsp. ground nutmeg¼ tsp. ground cloves 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 c. granulated sugar ½ cup water 1½ cups pumpkin puree 1 c. light brown sugar 5 eggs, lightly beaten ½ tsp. salt 2 c. heavy cream 1 c. whole milk
Preheat oven to 375°.
Cut bread into ½-inch cubes.
Combine the spices in a small bowl and then evenly sprinkle the mixture over the bread cubes.
Toss the seasoned bread cubes with butter and then spread the cubes on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for about twelve minutes, until just golden.
Reduce heat to 325° and place an empty two-quart baking dish inside to warm.
Add the granulated sugar to a small sauce pot. Whisk in about half of a cup of water until it makes a pourable consistency. Boil without stirring until the mixture turns amber, about twelve minutes.
Remove the warmed dish from the oven and coat the bottom with a thin layer of the caramel mixture. (There may be leftover caramel, which you can save and use as ice cream topping.)
For the custard, add the pumpkin to a mixing bowl and whisk in the remaining ingredients, one at a time in the order listed.
Add the toasted bread to the baking dish and pour the custard on top. Press down on the bread (yes, with your hands) to help it soak up the custard like a sponge, cover, and let sit up to an hour.
Return the dish to the oven at 325° and bake until puffy and no liquid appears when pressed, about 45 minutes.
Enjoy warm with ice cream.
Of course, despite the list of ingredients, the finished product is completely fat- and calorie-free. In fact, it's practically a diet food, so go ahead and enjoy that second serving. You know you want to!
My only words of caution -- in the interest of full disclosure -- is to not try to trick any VERY literal four year olds with this bread pudding when they've had their hearts set on pie. So while it kicked the pants off of the traditional dessert, we will be making one of those in the very near future to satisfy my daughter's craving.
And that gear is reverse. Lily, at around the same age, started crawling backwards. But she started off slowly. Anna, on the other hand, hit the ground "running." Backwards that is.
I needed to put new sheets on her bed tonight before putting her to sleep, so I put her down on the ground and turned my back for a second. One minute and she was sitting next to my feet. The next minute she was in Lily's room. And back again. Soon she'd gotten herself stuck underneath her swing. I couldn't believe my eyes. It did help that she was in her PJs and our floors are hard wood -- it was a nice slick surface.
Boy can she move!
And, apparently, move from sitting to tummy. She almost made it from tummy back to sitting.
So just for good measure, her crib was lowered to the middle height before I put the newly sheeted mattress back on the bed.
I'm not sure that I'm ready for her to be hitting these milestones so quickly in a row. Then again, no one asked me. One thing is for certain, it's the girls under four feet tall who rule the roost in our house!
While most people were out hitting their local shopping malls, trolling for deals, we hit the National Mall in search of a little post-Thanksgiving family outing. We almost had to bail. Traffic was HORRENDOUS as soon as we got close. And just as we broke free of the traffic I spied a parking space, located on a one way street, that I swore to Noah was a "dream spot!!" It turned out to be a permit spot. And since we had turned on to that one way street to get to the DREAM. SPOT. we had to retrace our steps. Back in to the traffic. I think that the makers of Excedrin had a spy-cam in our car, because just as we hit the traffic, for the second time, Lily started to whine that she was bored. And had to pee. And, to add to the chorus, Anna started to cry.
But we didn't bail. We kept going. And we found another dream spot. This time a real one. Right in front of the Sculpture Garden. So we stopped there for a mediocre, but expensive, lunch. OK, it was pretty bad. But with the fountain converted to a skating rink for the winter, at least the ambiance was fantastic!
We then went to see the Sant Ocean Hall at the Natural History Museum; our real destination. I have colleagues who worked on the grand opening of this exhibit, so I've been hearing about how awesome the exhibit is going on two months now. It IS awesome. Totally awesome. But also, perhaps, a bit too awesome for a four year old. Although Lily loved seeing all the fish -- she even found "Nemo" in one of the live tanks -- I think that we'll have to wait another year before she'll really be able to "get it."
So to finish out our adventure on a high note, we hit the National Carousel. And it was a huge hit with Lily. Even though she's ridden on approximately one thousand other carousels, riding up and down around in a circle always makes her smile.
Anna and I watched from the sidelines. We watched Lily and Noah on the ride, and we watched from afar the grand stand being built for THE. GRAND. OCCASION. The one that had workmen out on November 29th even though it's not happening until January 20th. THE SWEARING IN of President Barack H. Obama.
And as busy as the Mall appeared today, it's nothing compared to the sea of people that'll brave below freezing weather to witness that moment in history.
If you stretch your eyes, you can see the structure being built just to the left of center, no pun intended, of the Capitol.
I'm looking forward to seeing the 1.20.09 photos from space. I'd bet money that the crowd of people between the Capitol and the Washington Monument actually shows up on pictures taken from satellites!
There is so very much to be thankful this year, and I've finally had a chance to catch my breath from the holiday. Which, of course, only happened because I actually unbuttoned my pants. Ah, dieting...two steps forward, one step back!
My list of things for which I give thanks is a long one. Here's the top 10.
My Uncle Lake's health. One week before Thanksgiving we got a terrible scare in our family. The "C" word. Lung cancer to be exact. But on Tuesday the biopsy results came back and, amazingly, it's a fungus. Not cancer. I can't tell you how thankful we all are for this news!
My two amazing children. My life is forever better because of those two girls. And, hopefully, we are enriching their lives just as much as they're giving to ours.
My incredibly understanding and forever patient husband. Since I routinely fall asleep on the couch long before 10 p.m...and when I'm awake I'm often a raging bundle of hormones (I have found that post-partum PMS lasts almost the entire month and is 10 worse than it was before I had kids)...poor Noah is taking one for the team right now. I am VERY grateful for his patience and sense of humor!
Family. In my family we claim just about anyone as a "cousin." But that's because we've got so many awesome people in the family that we want to lay claim to them all.
Friends. Old friends. New friends. Mommy friends. Work friends. Parents of Lily's friends. Our lives are rich with friendship.
My job. Although I do complain...a lot at times...I am grateful that, in this tough economy, I still have a job. That in my own little way I am able to contribute to society. And that I am setting a good example for my girls.
Noah's job. Considering he works for a certain GSE company that is routinely mentioned in current Congressional hearings, on C-SPAN and CNN...we are lucky, indeed, that Noah still has a job. And, at least for the time being, it's a secure job.
The Nation's Capitol. I LOVE that we live a stone's throw away from the White House, the Capitol, and all the sights and culture that this grand city has to offer. Noah and I sometimes fantasize about "the simple life," trading it all in for a MUCH larger and nicer house at a fraction of our mortgage...in an area that's just a bit slower and, perhaps, even friendlier. But we always come to the same conclusion. Can't do it. This city is far too rich in experiences for us to move away. Free babysitters certainly help to sweeten the deal! Nope...this is the place we want to raise our girls.
CHEAP GAS! You can actually buy regular gasoline around us for less than $2 a gallon. I can't remember the last time I saw numbers like that at the pump! You might recall, but during our family vacation to Vermont this past summer, we paid something to the tune of $4.35 a gallon.
Pumpkin bread pudding. I'll soon post the recipe that I used for the dessert we brought to both of our Thanksgiving dinners. It was awesome. Totally deserving of its own post. I refuse to weigh myself now, but it was worth gaining an extra pound or two for! IT. WAS. SO. GOOD.
Leave it to Anna to come up with a completely unique way of moving. She's not crawling on her hands and knees. She's not shimmying on her belly. She's scooting. On her tush. But she's actually getting places. Slowly. V-E-R-Y slowly. Which is the perfect speed in my book!
Yes, my baby is on the move. Which, I guess, means that she's less and less of a baby each day. She sits up at the table with us. She eats cheerios. She's got two teeth. She laughs at Lily's jokes. She's already developed a love for Barbies. And, of course, if she spies something across the room, she's figured out a way to go get it.
But her little head still fits in the crook of my neck, and I can still quiet her cries almost instantly with my hugs. So even though her legs fall over the arm rest of the glider when I rock her at night, I'm happy to say that she's still my baby! At least for the time being.
On of Lily's best, best friends recently transferred from the Huck to Children's House Montessori. She, like Lily, has a November birthday and will be almost six when she starts kindergarten. Her family recently moved to Arlington, her older sister is in elementary school near CHMS, and her mother (a former Montessori student herself) was thrilled that this option was available so close to home. While they originally applied for admission next fall, a classmate of Lily's recently moved to NJ and KATY GOT HER SPOT!
These girls couldn't be cuter together. It's ridiculous. Katy and Lily have been in school together since they were four months old. And it shows. They learned to crawl together. To walk together. To eat together. And they learned to get in to trouble together. Yes, these girls can be trouble. It was with Katy that Lily decided to ditch her teachers, and her class, and take a tour of DuPont Circle near Downtown DC. When they were two. Luckily they didn't get but a few feet past the gate to the park. But those few feet cost me a few years off my lifespan I'm sure.
Since Noah was still in Boston and I needed a diversion, we joined Katy's family at a local Mexican cantina for dinner Friday night. It was there that Katy's older sister, Sophia, presented Lily with a card that she'd made.
I mean...I wanted to kiss her myself. And frame it.
Lily, who is in the tulip room at CHMS, and Katy, a CHMS sunflower, have the appropriate "headdresses" in the drawing. A detail that it took me a second to notice.
"FRUM" -- I nearly died when I saw this. I LLOOOVVVEEE the phonetic spelling. As a graduate of a Seven Sister women's college, I also love the fact that my four year old daughter already has such a close "sister."
What you may or may not know (I didn't), is that many retailers offer a kickback to websites that send happy shoppers their way. Yup, they're getting a commission on the money that you spend.
What I recently discovered is that there is one virtual mall, stocked with over 900 retailers, that will share the kickback with you. Win-win!
CHECK OUT http://www.ebates.com/. It's awesome. Totally rocks. I haven't found a store yet that they haven't had. And you can ask both Noah and American Express...I do ALL my shopping online. With two kids, packed parking lots and busy shopping malls, it's the only way that I can stand to make my purchases.
Register, for free, at ebates.com. Use me as a referral when you sign up (supreme_courtney@yahoo.com or Courtney Fox) and we both profit -- $5 in each of our ebates account. Then start shopping.
By clicking through to online retailers through your ebates account, you can get up to 26% of your total purchase back, although truth be told my purchases to date have been more in the 3-4% range. Still, it's money. Cold hard cash. Bonus -- Ebates is also always on the look out for coupon codes, which are posted to the site too. You get a BFC (Big Fat Check) mailed to you up to four times a year. Or, if you're feeling generous and the economic downturn hasn't pinched you too hard, you can donate the money to a charity of your choice!
Of course, ALWAYS do your own searches for promotional codes when shopping online. Naughty Codes is a great site, but there are literally a zillion to chose from. I usually just Google "promotional code for XXX" (xxx being, of course, whatever store I'm shopping from) before I make any online purchase. And I have never come up empty. I ALWAYS find some sort of discount, even if it's just free shipping. Except for Hanna Andersson. Those Swedes don't like to cut us a break.
It's always fun when it's actually appropriate for me to don my mommy hat at the office. During business hours. Even better when it's a "mommy blogger" hat.
So imagine my delight when, throughout the week, during the like two nano-seconds I've had to breathe, I've been able to follow the "Motrin Migraine" story. And while I can't bill the time against a client code, it certainly counts as work. It's my business after all.
Have you not heard?
It's started on twitter on Friday.
Spread to the blogs over the weekend.
Then it hit Madison Avenue on Monday.
From wire articles to Ad Age to blogs right and left of center, this is the talk of the internet.
So for those people who think that blogging is not serious stuff, go talk to the execs at Motrin. Better yet, talk to their ad firm (likely to soon be FORMER ad firm). First watch the not-so-brilliant-and-completely-patronizing ad that has, apparently, been running since the end of September.
This isn't the first piece of marketing material that has targeted moms and referred to their babies...our babies...as accessories. I actually saw a PR pitch about 6 months ago, issued on behalf of trendy Phil & Ted's. You know, the cool double-decker stroller company. While they were talking about "toting" children around, they may as well have been pitching a hot new handbag. It amazes me that people think this kind of outreach might actually fly. Just because we have mommy brains doesn't mean that they're completely useless!
So the online mommy mafia was in an uproar over this Motrin ad. Bans and boycotts were called for. Tweets abounded. If you Google the words "Motrin" and "headache," most of the results talk about this ad debacle, not the painkiller. It's an online phenomenon.
End result -- Motrin has pulled the ad, issued an apology, and will no longer overlook, nor underestimate, the clout of mommy bloggers. Perhaps they'll also do a bit more research in to their target audience before launching any new creative campaigns.
That mommies united over one issue and effected change -- major change within a company -- over the course of one weekend is testament to their power and to the effectiveness of this thing we call social media. Whether it's someone as visible (and crazy amazing) as my blogger idol Heather Armstrong, or someone like me who gets a few dozen hits a day, people are out there and listening. I am woman, hear me roar. Amazing!
I must give MAJOR props to all those single parents out there. I have NO. IDEA. how you do it! None.
My day today started at 6:15 a.m. Rather than play a volley with my snooze button, hitting it several times before actually dragging myself out of bed, I got up with the first obnoxious buzz (I had to switch from music to buzzer because I was regularly sleeping through it). The next hour and 50 minutes is somewhat of a blur, but I know that I got up/showered/dressed, I got both girls up fed/dressed/bundled up in winter gear, the coffee did get made, the bottles did make it out of the fridge and in to the car, and we actually made it out of the house by 8:05.
There was, of course, way more negotiating with Lily to get up/eat/get dressed/put her coat on than I'll ever admit. I did loose my cool once or twice. She did cry, declaring that she wasn't happy with me "not one little bit" and that she missed DDDAAAADDDDDDYYYYYY. (Me too kiddo!)
I got both kids to school on time, essentially, and arrived at my office before I was noticeably late. Since I'm currently working on a client press announcement (stay tuned for breaking news on Monday), my day FLEW by. Before I knew it it was a few minutes after 5, and I was technically late to start the evening child retrieval process.
Anna was happy to see me, the traffic gods were on my side tonight, and I got Lily with 12 minutes to spare. Just as I was contemplating what to fix for dinner, though, my Outlook reminder went off, alerting me to the fact that we're on the hook to bring birthday snack for Lily's class tomorrow. No nuts. No chocolate. No frosting. (No fun!) Dinner would have to wait...we were on our way to Harris Teeter for the ingredients.
I'll spare you all the details of the next hour or two, lest you be forced to relive my pain. In short, Lily chose banana muffins for tomorrow's snack, so we snagged the groceries and zipped home for a quick dinner (it's 10 p.m. though and I have yet to eat mine) pre-baking. Pleased with myself for some uber multi-tasking, I got Lily situated with her meal and a movie while I fed/bathed/bedded Anna. Once I resurfaced from Anna's room, though, I realized we were missing 4 eggs needed for the recipe. Great.
Perhaps you can see where this is headed. Sadly. I packed a sleeping baby up in her carseat, threw PJs and sneakers on Lily, and back to the grocery store we all went to purchase those pesky eggs (I still can't believe that we didn't have them in the fridge...we ALWAYS have eggs in the fridge!). BTW, call me a terrible/horrible/negligent parent, but for about ten seconds I actually considered putting the kids to bed and THEN sneaking out, quickly, to the grocery store 3 blocks away. Thankfully, it was only a fleeting thought.
We got home 20 minutes later, and I redeposited Anna in her bed while shuffling Lily off for a bath of her own. OK, the night was back on track. Or so I thought. I breathed a sigh of relief.
But just as I was getting Lily out of the tub, I heard an all too familiar cough coming from Anna's room. The cough that made her spit up last night...which required a late night sheet change, of course. I dashed in to Anna's room, picked her up and started walking around to lull her back to sleep. But then it happened. MAJOR projectile vomiting all over me. All over her. All over my bedroom rug. Yup, all over the hardwood floor in the hall. And everywhere in between.
By 9:30 I was able to get Anna cleaned up and put back to bed. The mess cleaned up. Lily -- 'til then frozen in place so horrified by what she saw -- to bed too.
Of course, the muffins weren't going to make themselves, so in the 45 minutes since then I whipped up two dozen delicious smelling (sadly very homemade looking) banana muffins. With sprinkles on top. Because even though they frown upon sugar at school, I can only ratchet down the fun by so much.
And now it's 10:15. I'm about to eat dinner. And then I will go apologize to my TiVo for breaking our date that I was SO looking forward to tonight. From a Discovery Health show about polygamy, to a BBC America documentary about legalizing marijuana, to Criminal Minds, ER and Little People Big World...I've got some serious TV watching that I need to do. But not tonight. Because the bottles for tomorrow still need to be made, the laundry needs to be switched from washer to dryer (remnants from the vomit incident), the muffins need to be packed up, clothes need to be laid out, and a few of the 2,564,892 toys that currently litter my living room floor need to be put away. And there's no one here but yours truly to get it all done.
How in the world do single parents do it? I'm 27 hours in to my single parenthood experience, and I'm already counting down until Friday night when Noah returns! TGIF will have a whole new meaning this week. N -- we miss you!!
I can't believe that it's been almost a week since my last posting. For those of you who wonder how I do it all -- work full time, parent two delicious but demanding children full time, and blog -- this just proves that I'm far from being a super mommy blogger. If I were I would have managed to survive the insanity of our lives AND pontificate about them online. But I'm not. In fact, I barely lived to tell the tale.
To recap, in the past week we...
...started a diet (me) and while I've started to see results (3 pounds!) my mood has become more annoying, though, with each lost pound. Perhaps you can't buy happiness, but I think that ice cream and bagels can get you pretty darn close to it!
...went to NJ to visit my bedrest-ridden friend, Jamie, who is close to delivering her twin girls AND managed to sneak in a visit to our favorite former neighbors who now live 20 minutes from Jamie.
...made TWO trips to the pediatrician. One for a sick visit where I discovered that Lily's 6 week old bronchitis had turned in to a raging ear infection. One for a "well" visit where I discovered that Anna was, apparently, recovering from croup and too sick to get her flu booster and polio shot...and that Lily was fully in the 75th percentile for both height and weight amongst four year old girls. Oh, right, and her hearing is great (check!) and vision is perfect (check, check!!).
...delivered one MAJOR client presentation (me), which was well received. I was able to create, memorize and deliver my slides without embarrassing myself or the firm. I might have even gotten a small smile from my boss after I concluded.
...nearly did an all-nighter, my first one in a LONG time, preparing for said presentation and other client work due the same day.
...decorated (Lily) and wrote out (me) some 18 thank you notes for birthday presents. Amazingly we're not done yet. I'm hoping that like with the year-long grace period you get for wedding presents, the same is true for four year old birthday thank you notes.
...packed up (Noah) and left for the Green Building Council's convention in Boston. Noah will be gone for the next three days and, god willing, the girls and I will survive on our own until his return.
...managed to work out Lily's social calendar, which I'm convinced is far more complicated than even President-Elect Obama's. Today's great challenge was figuring out how we can make it to 5 birthday parties (she was invited to 6 but sadly we had to turn down the last one because it directly conflicts with the time of the ballet) , 1 Nutcracker Ballet, 1 pilates class, 1 dinner outing....and a partridge in a pear tree....during the first weekend in December. And, oh right, Noah will be out of town that weekend.
...survived a fire drill drama at one daycare center than shall remain nameless. I can't get in to the details as I'm still too fired up. No kids were harmed, thankfully, but in the haste to get them outside all coats were left inside (thankfully my roving sources around the city spotted this and alert me). Which wouldn't be a problem if we lived in Miami, but it snowed today in DC. Well it flurried today (is that a word?), but I'm feeling pissed off and dramatic so I'll stretch that one to "snowed." But I finally stopped spitting fire about 15 minutes ago. The situation has been addressed and is being rectified. I've got to let this one go!
So my apologies for not posting an entry over the past week, but my energy and creative juices are gone. They officially left the building, and in their wake I discovered a whole clump of new gray hairs. I do promise, though, to crack open the new case of Diet Cokes I just discovered in the mud room and opine for you all in the coming days. I've missed you!
Well, do you? Sadly I don't. Speak Spanish. But I got a nice email from the Univision reporter who included me in her article about breastmilk and baking. The article is done and live on the site! Click here to check it out.
In fact, the reporter wrapped up the lengthy article with my quote:
Courtney Fox es una profesional, residente en Arlington y madre de dos hijas a quienes ha amamantado. "Aunque estoy a favor de darles pecho a mis bebés, la idea (ceder su leche a adultos) me asusta y la encuentro completamenteimproductiva. Pregúntenle a cualquiera que haya amamantado, especialmente si trabajan fuera de casa y les dirán que apenas pueden cumplir con la demanda".
The irony is that the article was published just as I started to wean Anna. Not that the weaning was premeditated. In fact, quite to the contrary, I had every intention of nursing her for at least as long as I nursed Lily. But Anna doesn't seem all that interested in me anymore. And my supply doesn't seem all that interested in sticking around anymore. So it just sort of started happening. The weaning that is.
I'm certainly torn over this one. I feel that what I provided for one child I should certainly provide for the other. And while the American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend mother's milk for at least 12 months, the reality is that most babies get far, far less than that. My pediatrician told me that everything beyond 4 months of age is gravy...so perhaps I should take comfort in the fact that I gave Anna a good 3 months worth of the proverbial icing on the cake.
But, of course, we mothers are fantastic when it comes to guilt trips. And self-punishment. So, for the time being, Anna and I are maintaining our morning nursing sessions. Although what, if anything, she's getting is likely negligible. But I just can't quite let it go. Yet.
Hopefully the day won't come when, in a fit of sibling sparring, Lily turns to Anna and declares that I loved her more because she got 2 extra months at the breast. If it does, it'll just get added to the long list of things that I'm sure Noah and I do, knowingly or not, to screw our kids up. Add those counselling session bills to my tab!
Secretly, I'm looking forward to returning to my non-nursing bras. Not that these 1950's style milk machine slings aren't sexy. I mean, they do have front AND rear entry available. What's not sexy about that!?!
People always ask me for recommendations -- what car seat should they buy, what bottles should they use, what kind of mattress should their baby sleep on, where can they go to test drive the newest strollers, what website offers the best selections AND cheapest shipping, who can they turn to to for parenting advice (certainly not me! just ask Lily, who now threatens to run away from home on a near daily basis) -- and I always seem to have an answer. I'm weird like that.
See, I'm a complete geek when it comes to this stuff. My dogeared copies of Baby Bargainsand Toddler Bargains are testament to the amount of research I do before I shop. My favorites list of websites is a mile long. By no means an expert, after four years of being the consumer I have a pretty good grasp on what you need (vs. want), what is essential (vs. frivolous) and what's worth splurging on (vs. what is overpriced and worthless).
I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me for a rec and then said -- "why do the research myself when I know you've already done it!" or "if it's good enough for Lily/Anna, it's good enough for XXX."
Going forward, I'm going to try to post at least one "LOVE IT" product, "CHECK IT" website, or "HIRE IT" service each week. Disclaimer -- I have no stake in any of these products, sites or services, just a desire to share my favorite finds. And if the technology gods are on my side, I'll create a separate section where just these posts are archived...'cause who has time to search through tons 'o old posts when you just need to make a quick purchase!
Without further ado....
Under the category of hire. HIRE.H-I-R-E....Dr. Rene Hackney from Parenting Playgroups, otherwise known as my parenting guru. I'd build an addition on the house tomorrow if Rene would move in with us. I don't know what I did before my path crossed with hers. I owe my friend Laurie Ann and HUGE debt of gratitude for introducing me to Rene.
Tearing your hair out 'cause your sweet, darling, angel baby has suddenly started throwing tantrums? Saying no? Throwing food? Hitting? Biting? WHINING (my personal anti-favorite)? Issues between siblings? Rene to the rescue!
Her 8 Weeks to Positive Discipline workshop, which is actually done over the course of 4 weeks, has been a lifesaver for Noah and me. We took it right after Anna was born. Maybe, as a bonus, we won't have the same discipline issues with her since she was there to hear the lectures herself...strapped in the Baby Bjorn through it all. The theories are, essentially, all common sense but IT. WORKS. Totally works. Quickly. Of course, it only works when we remember to use the techniques. One of which is consistency. No wonder poor Lily is threatening to run away. We are SO not consistent.
For those of you who are out of town or don't have the time to commit to a full workshop, Rene does private consulting as well, in person or over the phone. Money super well spent. I should know. We've tapped her for that too.
Finally, for those of us who just can't justify the expense in this scary economy, Rene has a lecture series online. This is one site definitely worth bookmarking. And since she has a family of her own and likely won't be moving in with us any time soon, I frequently turn to our home computer just to hear her voice when Lily is hollering at us from bed, for the millionth time, that she just needs ONE. MORE. DRINK. OF. WATER. The advice is great, simple and easy to follow. And Rene always dishes it out with a smile!
One thing that you quickly become acclimated to when you become a parent is grossness. Comes with the territory.
Baby spit-up? Gimme a break. Doesn't phase me; bring it on!
Urine? So not a big deal. While Noah has been peed on more times than I have (not sure what's up with that), it has happened more times than I can count and doesn't make me blink.
Bowl movements? OK, so some are more gross than others, and Anna's have definitely pushed the grossness envelope from Lily's. But we just hold our breath, go as fast as we can, and then wash, wash, wash the hands. Or the clothes that it got on. Or the sheets. That stuff goes everywhere.
Preschool vomit? Definitely gross. I used to get sick just thinking of that scene in Stand By Me where the entire pie eating contest audience throws up. But I've been so desensitized to it that it no longer even makes me gag. I just hold back the hair, wipe up the tears, and then clean it all up.
I made a discovery earlier this week, though, that is one for the history books. It redefines GROSS. GRODY. TOTALLY UKK. I was watering our completely gorgeous hibiscus plant. The one that had about one million blossoms in full pinky bloom. And about one million more buds. Ah, it was the punch of cheerful color that was going to get us through the long, grey, cold winter. And covering both the pinkalicious blossoms AND the cute green buds were black dots. TONS 'o black dots.
After 48 hours in the cool fall air, the hardy ones are still munching away on the blossoms.
Hoping against hope that it was some kind of a fungus, I quickly did a Google search. Turns out it's not a fungus. Not at all. Unfortunately we had a nice infestation of Aphids, otherwise known as PLANT. LICE. Yes, a zillion bugs had taken up residence on our hibiscus. I haven't stopped scratching since I made the discovery; my scalp automatically started tickling as soon as I read those dreaded words on the computer screen. Noah hasn't stopped itching. Even Lily was grossed out by this one!
The "cure" for aphids is involved, not guaranteed, and takes up to a year. So this family, that doesn't have even one green thumb between us, decided to just enjoy the hibiscus through glass. It's now living on our front stoop. It'll likely die a slow death as it gets progressively colder. C'est la vie. I wonder if our hibiscus benefactors....our favorite former neighbors who moved to NJ....had anything to do with the bugs. I think we've been Punk'd!
Now that the dust is starting to settle, and President Obama merchandise has hit the shelves, the to-be-expected finger pointing has begun.
But I am amazed (and somewhat delighted) that FOX News is one of the largest finger-pointers. Or, more accurately, that they are providing a platform for the finger-pointers. So much for that "liberal media" critique; it doesn't get more conservative than FOX News.
It honestly scares me that Sarah Palin could have been sworn in to the second highest office in the land. And although President Bush has been mocked for his gaffes, "Bush-isms" and poor pronunciation for the last 8 years, at least he knows that Africa is a continent. At least I think, and hope, that he does.
The President -- and by extension Vice President -- of the United States is very much a figurehead. Don't get me wrong, the buck does stop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. But the POTUS isn't the only one that takes up residence there on January 20th every four years. One could argue that the Chief of Staff, core group of senior aides and members of the Cabinet influence things as much as the actual Commander in Chief. So that takes care of things here at home.
But what the Chief of Staff cannot do, and what has been SO FREAKIN LACKING FOR THE LAST EIGHT YEARS, has been someone in the role of Chief Diplomatic Officer. The rest of the world has been watching and laughing at us for the last 8 years. And somewhere along the way their jeers and jokes turned to distrust. But that changed some 36 hours ago. Now they are celebrating with and for us. One man, who had a dream, has united so many of us. It gives me goosebumps to see the reaction from all points of the globe. It makes me sad that his grandmother didn't live to see it.
Obama's win is a victory for America. It's a victory for the world. And it's a victory for our children. For my children. When we woke Lily up yesterday morning and gave her the news, she "yahoo-ed" and danced wildly around the house. She was gleeful!
Gerald Ford was President when I was born. But I have no memory of that. Carter, on the hand, was in office during my childhood and I DO remember him; I can even picture him in my minds eye at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. I think I was 4. Maybe 5.
So while Lily may walk around right now, shaking her head and declaring George Bush as "not good...not good at all," when she's older her first real memories of a sitting President will likely be of President Barack Obama. And that gives this "Mama for Obama" goosebumps. Not only is he a brilliant, articulate and charismatic leader, but he is, after all, African American. Or, as Lily would say, he has "pretty chocolate skin."
So my sweet, curious and inquisitive Lily -- a female Jew and, as such, a minority herself -- is going to grow up thinking that there are no limitations on anyone. Anyone can be anything. And that is just awesome. THAT is victory!
I had goose bumps during President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech. I was proud of the crowd of supporters in Chicago for being exuberant over the victory but respectful of the failed opposition (the same can't be said about the crowd in AZ).
Noah and I are still debating this one, but we're pretty sure that Sarah Palin got booed during McCain's speech. If that's the case, wow. I'm sure that the finger pointing has already begun. But she'll go back to Alaska. First Dude Todd will pursue succession, and she'll run for President of the Bridge to Nowhere.
Today is election day. As I sit here typing, I can hear from the living room that Ohio and Pennsylvania have been called for Obama. No republican has ever been elected to the White House without Ohio. Pundits are saying that McCain's campaign staff is already admitting defeat. And it's not yet 11:00 p.m. I'm afraid to put it in writing, but I actually think that we might pull this election off.
Lest I jinx the race, I'll save my election reflections for another post. For another day.
But as I try to sort out my thoughts -- which are racing around my head -- regarding this election, I can't help but think back 4 years to the last time a President was elected.
I was working for a lobbying firm at the time, so for us an election...a Presidential one no less....was comparable to tax season for an accountant. Things were slightly less intense for me -- I was one of the few non-registered lobbyists on staff -- but they were still nuts. People were walking around wearing their party affiliations on their selves. Literally. I've never seen so much red and blue attire in one place.
Monday, November 1 was, as you can imagine, completely crazy. I had a to-do list a mile long. I got through 98% of it, and almost wrapped things up for the day, but a nagging feeling told me to stay late and finish it up. I was 36 weeks pregnant.
I ended up racing straight from the office to my book club where I had a great time drinking wine with friends, eating a great meal, talking about kids and husbands, and discussing our book....whatever it might have been...for exactly three seconds. Why is it that book clubs always revert to supper clubs?
My back started aching at around 9:30. I had one bad cramp, down low on my right side, at about 10. A few minutes later I felt dampness. Down there. And I was sitting on my neighbor's BRAND. NEW. LEATHER. CHAIR. The one she and her husband had splurged on. I was almost too scared to stand up and look lest I discover a puddle. Thankfully when I did stand up the seat of the chair...and my pants....was dry. I feigned a headache and quickly got myself home. We were about to adjourn anyway, so suspicions weren't peaked.
Of course, when I got home I discovered an empty house. Well, empty except for my 8 pound dog, Truman. Who was totally cute but completely worthless. Turns out that I had just missed Noah. He left probably 5 minutes before I got home. To go work out. In a loud gym. Where cell phones don't hold a candle to blasting music and machines.
Long story short, when Noah returned an hour later I was fit to be tied. My "where are you darling?" voicemail messages had digressed to "you'd better get home immediately or I'm going to kill you!" I was fairly certain that I was in labor. My husband was missing. And my mother was in New York. For one night. Because of course I wouldn't go in to labor 4 weeks early, right? And she'd only be gone for 24 hours.
The good news was that there wasn't a lick of traffic between our house and George Washington University Hospital in downtown DC. And while my totally favorite OB, the one that I adore, wasn't on call that night, my second favorite OB was. And said second favorite OB showed up at 2 a.m. looking totally cute and completely perky wearing the most adorable black patent leather Dansko clogs. I now own two pairs. And I always get compliments when I wear them!
In the few hours between our arrival at the hospital when it was confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid and, thus, wouldn't be leaving the hospital....and when Lily was born just after 5 a.m. I must have made a dozen calls to my office, leaving messages for everyone about what work would need to be done in my absence. I was having a baby but the only "baby" I could focus on was my job.
But at 5:08 a.m., on November 2, 2004, after about 40 minutes of pushing, Lily Lewis Israel was born. And her little life only cost me three stitches. A minor price to pay. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was a tiny 19 inches long. And though covered in vernix and a fine white fur, missing her eyebrows and eyelashes (and early birth will do that to ya....you betcha!) and sporting a nose flattened like a pancake thanks to my birth canal, my OB took one look at her and declared that she was a gorgeous baby. And she wasn't blowing smoke up my stitched up arse either. She was completely amazed by Lily. I told you that she was my second favorite OB...for good reason!
It was a surreal moment. The room was quiet. It was just Noah and me, my OB and a nurse. Not the hustle and bustle that you see on medical TV dramas. There was no drama at all. Just a teeny tiny and totally perfect baby. And a sunrise outside my hospital window.
I will admit that it took me a few weeks to really bond with Lily. And during those weeks I spent a good amount of time crying. And when my milk came in I was in agony. Neither Lily nor I took to nursing naturally. And because she was pre-term, and super jaundiced to boot, there was some kind of crazy amounts of pressure on me to nurse, nurse, nurse the baby. It didn't help that I was sick when she was born. I probably could have pushed her out in half the time had my head not been full of 900 gallons of mucus.
But I did bond with my baby, and quite frankly I've been in awe of her ever since.
Lily has a heart bigger than most and frequently expresses her love. For her family. For her friends. For the random girl she met trick or treating. Who she had never seen before. Who she hasn't seen since. Alexa -- wherever you are, Lily loves you! Not only does she have a huge capacity to love, but she's a kind person who is concerned about others. Even Mr. Charles, who parks our car, or Ms. Ross, who is a security guard in the Huck building.
She is smart. CRAZY. SMART. And wonderfully curious. I'm not just saying that because I'm her mother. Everyone tells me the same. When Lily was two you could have an adult conversation with her. Now that she's four, I have a hard time keeping up.
She's incredibly outgoing. The mother of a classmate sent me an email after Lily's party on Sunday. "I was so impressed with how outgoing and friendly Lily was. Quite a little miss you have there!"
She's funny. Anna thinks she's hysterical.
She's a beautiful child. Inside and out.
She's my first. She's my baby. She changed me.
So while the 2004 elections were a dismal day for me, November 2, 2004 was an amazing one. Not only did I give birth that day. Not only did I become a mother that day, and Noah a father. But that was the day that my priorities changed for good. Yes, I had left a dozen messages for colleagues while I labored away. And yes, I had promised to come in, wrap up a few loose ends, and clean up my office. Did I? Yes. 4 months later. The minute they handed that tiny baby to me, work melted away.
I have learned so much from Lily these past four years. FOUR. YEARS. I still can't believe that she's four. Going on 34. She woke up on Sunday and announced that she felt different. Taller. Older. Definitely different.
We had a wonderful celebration at the National Zoo this past Sunday, on her actual birthday. She got to pick the guest list. And while she thought about it for a long time -- someone as outgoing as Lily was tortured by the process of choosing only 19 friends to invite (BTW, I don't even think I have 19 total) -- she chose a wonderful group from her new school, a tiny handful from her old, her cousin, and her swimming partner in crime. Working with her on the guest list reminded me of the process of widdling down our wedding invite list. LORD HELP ME when it comes time for Lily's wedding. This child is way too friendly for my pocketbook to handle.
And now we're in the midst of another election day. This will be a far better one politically. I think and I hope. And for me personally. I get to enjoy it with my family. Noah and I get to experience this one, this moment in history, with our completely amazing gift. Happy Birthday big girl! Happy Birthday my darling Lily. Perhaps your best gift of all will be a blue Virginia and a President "A-rock" Obama!!
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