john's mom works

the letter "h"! sleepy buddha last night, john proved to me again what an awesome kid he is. he wanted to have a dance party in the living room and asked daddy to put on the radio. daddy did, to a pop/top 40 type station. i can't remember what song it was, but john said, "no, daddy, a rock and ROLL dance." so daddy changed. next station was a country song. "no, daddy. rock and ROLL!" finally, daddy landed on an alt rock station. "that's it daddy! rock and roll, rock and roll ..." (insert cute hip/butt wiggle here). what song had my kiddo rockin' and rollin'?  "under the bridge," by red hot chili peppers. that, friends, THAT, is my child. meantime charlie was sitting in his seat just smiling and laughing at big brother's antics. *  *  * and i needed that. i needed to be reminded how amazing my children are, because it was a rough afternoon before that. it started with a...

mmm, baby for breakfast! every week, like almost every human being i know, i look forward to the weekend. and every week, i find myself so utterly overwhelmed with weekend - mostly awesome weekend stuff! - that i start the next work week less rested than i was on friday. each activity that our family does is wonderful. but the sum total wears me out. this weekend started easy - delicious breakfast cooked by my husband, then off to tailgate at the lsu game. my husband had scored some awesome tickets, my cousin and her husband were in town from new york, lots of family was going to be around, it was going to be AWESOME! close enough to the bench to see that those players are BABIES. infants, i tell you. and awesome it was. but it was also something close to 10 miles of walking, up until nearly 3 a.m. (which even with daylight savings is still 2 a.m. ...) and then up to teach sunday school and do laundry and etc. etc. etc.. so. how do you do it? how do you make sure...

pig pile on mommy i propose a survey. what is the funniest part of this picture: 1) that even lying down for a pig pile, john can't sit still for an instant 2) that buddy thought the pie-slice between my feet was the perfect place to rest 3) that little lizard. why am i holding a little lizard? this was just a day ago, and i can't remember. whichever is your favorite part, my favorite part is this: what a picture of perfection that is. i'm not perfect. john's not perfect. buddy's not perfect. (the lizard may be perfect - the jury is still out.) my husband can't be in the pic because he's taking it, so that's not perfect. but the sum of those imperfect parts is pretty amazing. and damn close to perfect. p.s. i am psyched to say that i just had a couple of articles published on yahoo! i'm not a big fan of shameless self-promotion, but if you enjoy the blog you may enjoy these as well. this one  is just a little thought on some music th...

big boy eating goldfish. hey parents, john's mom could use some advice! john has recently been having some problems with sharing. i know, that's pretty universal two-year-old stuff. i'm not concerned, per se, but i am interested in how other people have helped coach their kids into being better sharers. here's how the problems show up:  seems to only be at daycare/sunday school. with cousins/friends/etc, he seems ok when another kiddo has something john wants, he will, of course try to take it. when a teacher or the child says no, he will throw himself to the floor for a massive fit. when he doesn't get his way, he will cool off quickly (a matter of minutes) and then be totally fine. if another kiddo comes to play with something john has (even if it is big enough to share, like the toy house or kitchen etc), john will "defend" his toy - he will say the child's name, say no, and sometimes even push the other child away. when a teacher co...

please, mom, no pictures! the flash ... oh, the flash! one day, i hope john will thank me for sticking my camera in his face and trying to document his cuteness. for some reason, the way he looked sitting in the backseat of the car with i got to daycare this morning just made me want to capture him ... unfortunately, 6:30 a.m. with no light and the bright bright flash on my iphone didn't cooperate. the flash-free version, which is mirky but lets you see what i was going for: juice in hand, 'cuz that's how i roll. i think i have identified the one universal subject that moms seem to agree on: our own inadequacy. our own not-good-enough-ness when it comes to raising our children. no matter what we're really good at as mamas, we're painfully aware of the things we "fall short" on. we loudly lament our shortfallings. we don't do enough of this, or we do too much of that. we're too concerned about one thing, but we neglect another. we give t...

just so you know, that video is completely unrelated to my blog post for today. but somehow it seemed naked without some direct john-content (johntent?) so i added a little hoop-action for your viewing pleasure. if you were wondering, he's saying "hoop hoop hoop" over and over again. the creep but what i am thinking about is the creep. not some unsavory individual, but rather the slow descent into disorder that overcomes my home. the onset of clutter, the encroachment of entropy. the inevitable downward spiral of disarray. it starts so well-meaningly. on sunday, we did the dishes. every single one. we hand-washed the un-dishwasher-able ones. we scrubbed, we ran two loads in the dishwasher (because you know, it backs up. by the time you run it, there's a full load stacked in the sink). we dried every item, and put it carefully away when it belongs - because lo and behold, even clean dishes create clutter when you leave them out on the counter to dry. and the count...

we had a scare this morning. or more accurately, i guess i had a scare. i was in my bathroom, fixing my hair and doing my makeup, etc. john is old enough now that he can play in the living room or his room while i get ready; he doesn't have to be right by my side. when he's in the living room, i can hear him since it's right around the corner. when he's in his bedroom, i can hear him through the wall of the bathroom, which is also the wall of his room. about halfway through my makeup, i realized i didn't hear anything. nothing. silence. it's *never* silent in our house. so i called out to him. "john?" walked into the living room - nothing. "john?" walked into the kitchen - nothing. "baby? john?" walked into his bedroom - nothing. i've checked almost all of the house now. he's nowhere. he can't have gotten out. what if he's hurt? what if he knocked himself out somehow? what if - oh, the terrible what-ifs of a mo...

the funny thing about balance is that it does not look like what you would expect. here is my mental picture of balance: a beautiful, lithe girl, on tiptoes on a balance beam, perfectly poised as she is about to spring into her next leap or tumble or flip or pirouette. she is grace personified. she knows exactly where she is and where she's going. for me, balance is so fluid. some days i feel i've got it. those days i'm superwoman: awesome wife, excellent mother, great marketer, decent housekeeper, generous giver, hard exerciser, active participant. other days ... i think i hit mediocre at best in each of those categories. here is what balance winds up being like in my real life: a scrambling, well-padded woman, wearing workout shoes for support but a sport coat in case the media shows up, juggling knives while keeping her active child from grabbing them. she is quick-reflexes personified. she doesn't know what she's standing on or where her next step will tak...

i have a question for you, dear readers. i have reached the end of my 30-day promise to post a picture a day of the little bug. i did really well right up to the end there - i think i missed days 29 and 30. so, please comment here (or on my facebook if you have difficulties here): should i keep posting daily pics? is it annoying? or is it entertaining? do you think, "oh, what's the little dude doing today?" or do you click "ignore" on my facebook status? (and do be honest!)

if you've spent any time within a mile of john and me in the past day and a half, i apologize for the screams. i assure you, i'm not pinching, beating, neglecting, or otherwise mistreating my son. what am i doing? putting him down. suddenly, the only time john is happy is when he is being held. it doesn't have to be mommy - daddy has done quite a bit of holding as well - but in extreme situations only mommy will do. john's not hungry. he's not hot or cold. his diaper is clean. he's just ... screaming. i miss my chipper little dude - haven't seen much of his smiling face lately. i know, i know - it's a phase, this too shall pass, etc etc etc. and it's really not so terrible - this phase coincides with john's ability to hug onto us, so it's pretty gratifying to pick up a little monkey who reaches for you then squeezes you once you have him. but i miss smiles and belly laughs. any mamas or daddies out there have any suggestions?

so i've recently found out that in march, i will be traveling to las vegas for a conference for work. it will be a great conference - i attended last year in dc and got a TON out of it, and like last year, my credit union is up for at least one and possibly a couple of marketing awards, so i'll be attending the awards dinner to see what - and how many! - we've won. since a lot of what we submitted is my creative work, it's really exciting to me to see what is "award-winning." the drawbacks? 1) i don't love vegas. i'm not a gambler, and i find vegas to be a little bit of ... sensory overload. from the moment you step off the airplane, you're accosted by flashing lights, loud noises, and people desperately plunking one more coin into a slot machine. if you've never been there, know that i'm not kidding: there are actually slot machines at the gates at the airport so you can get your fix. 2) this is the biggie ... i will be away from john ...

i am not a singer. if you've sat behind me in church, you know this to be true. (and i'm sorry.) a musician, yes. a singer no. and yet i find myself singing to john almost nonstop. and the beauty is, he seems to actually like it! (there's no accounting for taste. he also thinks i'm the most beautiful woman in the world. i'm no ogre, but i'm certainly not winning any beauty contests outside of my son's brain!) and actually, i've written some lullabies for john that are pretty nice. and it made me think: did your parents sing to you? do you remember what they sang, and better yet, if you have kids, do you sing the same songs to them? reply in the comments!