Cheers To My Daughter

Girls; they are terrific.  Don't get me wrong, boys aren't so bad either, but my little girl is just fantastic.  Here's all of the things that she's good at: eating, sleeping, cooing, grabbing at things, rolling over, smiling, smiling, smiling... did I say smiling?  If this girl's job was smiling, she'd be the best worker ever.  If there was a competition for who could coo the cutest, she'd be the world champion.

When I was pregnant, someone asked me if I was scared to have a girl.  Without hesitation, I was like, "Nope.  I'm a girl, so I think I got this!" but of course, she meant something other than the literal having of a girl, she meant all the other ish that comes with having a girl.  The years of parenting that will shape her into the woman that she will become.  So, I ask myself, am I afraid of the years of parenting that will shape her into the woman that she will become?  And the answer is still, "Nope!"

Here's the thing, I'm not afraid of raising my daughter and teaching her to value her self-worth and know who she is and what she stands for, I'm afraid of everyone else who thinks that they know her self-worth, what she is and what she stands for.  Girls these days are under pressure to be something like Instagram-famous,-Youtube-viral,-Facebook-million-friend-having young ladies and that's not realistic or fair.

What I want for my daughter is pretty simple: to have a happy, healthy, well-balanced, meaningful life and so far, she's got the the happy and healthy covered.  Honestly, she shines in a way that I've never seen; I damn near need sunglasses.  Her smile is breathtaking and it gets me every time.  She is the brightest spot in my days and I'm the luckiest to have her.

So, when people ask if I'm afraid to raise a girl, the answer will always be a variation of no, because that's not what this world needs.  What the world needs is for mothers who celebrate their daughters and vice-versa, together, we are going to make a happier, healthier, well-balanced, meaningful world.  Cheers to us!

Mom Powers

Since I was little, I've wanted super powers.  Big ones like flying or lesser known super powers like Ma-Ti had on Captain Planet... and incase you're wondering, Ma-Ti's powers were Heart and Telepathy.  When I was little, I thought Heart powers sucked.  As I grew older, I realized that these powers may have been less dazzling, but they were no less important.

So, after my desire for super powers like flying, X-ray vision and invisibility waned, I thought that maybe I could come up with something more realistic and equally as impressive.  Recently, I came to fully understand a super power that was so unassuming, it nearly passed by me without recognizing the awesomeness of it's impact.  Drum roll please: I know the size of any article of clothing that my children are wearing, including accessories.

Harnessing these powers usually results in conversations like this:

Me: Did we wash those clothes from H&M?
Jim: Yes.
M: Did we wash her shorts?
J: Everything for her was too big to wear right now...
M: No, it wasn't.  She had shorts in there that were a size 4-6 months.  Can you please look again.

5 minutes later....
J: You were right, she did have shorts in there, they're being washed now.

Do all Mom's have this power?  It seems more than likely that they do.  As a mom, you get asked that a lot.  What size clothes does so and so wear?  Or what size shoe is so and so?  And almost always, a mom can not only tell you the exact size her child is now, but she can also give you their sizes for the next two seasons.

So for all those other super mom's out there, this talent might seem unassuming, but cheers to us who keep our children not only clothed today, but clothed in the Summer and Fall too... now we just need to figure out our costumes.

My Little Faux Hipster Guy

Arden is a lot of things: cute, stubborn, adorable, adventurous, handsome... you get it, the list goes on and on.  He's also good for being willing to do anything that I want.  Who wants to go to Target?  Arden does.  Who wants to play outside?  Arden does.  Who wants to water the plants?  Arden does.  He's my "go to" guy, for better or worse, so when he agrees to do things with me, I try to make it as fun as possible.

During our Target trip the other day, Arden and I played the modeling game, he was the male model and I was the older-Mom model.  I have to say, he was workin' it; these faux Warby Parker's are looking fly, right?  I quickly snapped some pictures, because a) it was ducking adorable and b) why the duck not? and sent them off to his Godfather, Dan whom he looks like and has similar glasses himself.  This has given birth to the possibility of trying to do some sort of Tumblr and blog period about Arden and Dan having "pose offs", because how cute would that be?  Totally cute.

So, the next time one of your littles is willing to do something you find enjoyable, remember to make it as enjoyable as possible for them, because you never know how cute that enjoyment may turn out to be.

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I Wanna Hold Your Hand

In my family, we talk a lot about physical features.  My sister's hands and feet are long and slender; we call them Grandma Edna fingers and toes.  My hands are the opposite of hers and I affectionately call them my pirogi fingers.  I have Grandma Midge fingers.  She was a tiny Polish woman who was pretty fierce in the kitchen, hence the pirogi fingers.  To be candid, my ring size is an 8, but I got them upsized so that when my fingers swell I wouldn't feel huge.  (Have you ever seen when a woman's rings are strangling her fingers?  Not attractive.)  It's amazing how these features can define who you are, when I look at my hands I see a hard working woman who was a nurse in WWII and raised 5 girls.

My daughter's hands are beautiful.  They're soft and chubby, kind of like mine.  She's got a powerful grip, always letting me know that she's doing more than hanging on;  she's taking my hand, holding it because she wants to.  I wonder if she will have my features?  If she will be a powerful woman?  Powerful women are awesome, but don't confuse awesome with invincible.  Even powerful women need support.

I want to hold my daughter's hand both literally and metaphorically.  Her tiny hand in mine.  One day, I know that she won't want to hold my hand and that her power will eclipse mine, I am fine with that...  Until then, I'm going to give her my hand every single time she wants it.  I'm going to pull her up and she's going to guide me through this mother-daughter-thing.  So, what I'm trying to say is, look out!, cause here comes another powerful woman; pirogi fingers and all.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

After we bought our house, I knew that we had a good thing.  Like a really, really, really good thing, but this past year has been a little bit of a roller coaster.  Jim keeps a running tab on everything that's been "screwed up" by the previous owners; we all do this though.  When you live in a house, you do things your way; "sorry for ya, next owners!"  It's cool though, we've had so many other wonderful discoveries along the way that it kinda makes up for the other not so good things, like the toilet paper holder, the busted pipe, etc.

We are coming to love the yard, it's a huge difference from our last house that was perched high up on a cliff.  Just last night, we were all getting our mad Frisbee skills on; look out neighborhood tournament, that prize has our name written on it... Just kidding, there is no tourney and if we entered, we'd place last; but it's not all about winning now is it?  There is one thing that we are winning at right now, the flowers.  I realize that they were planted by the last owner and that there is no up keep, but they're in our yard, so we can take some ownership.

This weekend, as we searched high and low for bugs (it's insect week at school), we rounded the corner and right there were these two beautiful flowers.  Perfect for what they were, I whipped out my iPhone and snapped away.  I'm thinking that these little things make up for the fact that we've got to paint all of the trim downstairs (who paints trim taupe?) and that the siding is warped because they grilled too close to the house; but, it still doesn't make up for the toilet paper holder that one sucks.

Check out our perfect flowers, they're pretty awesome, right?

#Instasize

For a little while now, I've been seeing hastag-Instasize.  I'm all like, "what the heck is that?"  Turns out, it's kinda everything.  For too long I have had to crop out way too much when I upload a picture to Instagram, it's too much if you ask me, but now, I don't have too.  Feast your finger (via the app button) on Instasize.  Instasize has put an end to cropping all sortsa good things out of my pictures and for that I say, "thanks, Instasize!"  So, use it Ladies, use it all up!

The Announcement

Well, sorry to disappoint my Mother, who guessed a puppy and my Sister and Father who both guessed another baby, but the big announcement is that I will be doing 30 blogs in 30 days.  Anyone who blogs knows that doing 30 blogs in 30 days takes a lot of commitment and time, but I've done it before and I will do it again.

However, I do have my naysayers; when I let Megan, my sister know about my latest endeavor, her response was, "yeah, yeah, yeah."  Well, to that I say, self-proposed challenge made and self-proposed challenge accepted... starting June 1st!

Parenting Truth II

I care more about what my children wear than what I wear. One of my greatest fears is that my "styling" of them will somehow negatively impact their social career.

Kinda obessed

See, I'm obsessed with bigos.  So delicious!

It's about half as good

I see things like this all the time and think, if only I could do something half as good as that; so I did... or at least I think I did.  And if you don't, please don't burst my bubble.

Here's how I did it:

Supplies.

Trace the letter.

Start gluing.

Start layering the buttons.



Taadah!  The finished product.



Brunch

Check out this amazeballs brunch that Jim and I hosted in honor of Megan's birthday.  That's right, I'm a hostess.  Eat it!

1 egg bite with wheat toast and freshly cracked pepper and sea salt.

German pancake.

Homemade vanilla glaze.



Perfectly glazed cinnamon roll.



The birthday girl.

Corn, onion, tomato and avocado salad with a cilantro and lime vinaigrette.

Nutella and greek yogurt fruit dip.

Smoked cheddar cheese from our local growers market.

Not to toot toot myself, but seriously this was a very chic, sophisticated brunch; two things of which I am not.  My version of a Sunday brunch is a bologna and ketchup sandwich with a side of cheese balls around 11ish.  So props to me (and Jim) for pulling this off.

Our Collective Heritage

Jim and I are both Polish, which means our kids are also Polish (wasn't that really Polish of me to say that?). Today we decided to go to a Polish festival.  Please enjoy these pictures.  Also, much to my sadness a few things couldn't be captured on film, most notably, the priest who was wearing a red cowboy hat and the Polish band who sang, "Sex on the Beach" by The Vengaboys; mark my words, I shall be prepared next year!

Taking it in.

Steamed kielbasa with sauerkraut. Delicious.

Bigos.  Amazeballs.  Totally youtubed the recipe on the ride home.






The placki was to fantastic.



I'm a sucker for a shirt that makes a cultural statement.  We bought 2.

The golumpki was terrific and I don't even like golumpki!

And we saved the dessert for the ride home.

Sister

I have a sister and I love her.  She is beautiful and intelligent and always knows the right thing to say to make me laugh hysterically.  She's a great friend and actually, she's my best friend.  Megan is the person I call up and say, "I know this is gross but..." 

Don't get me wrong though, she can be frustrating as hell but that is what makes her uniquely my sister.

Frustrations and stubbornness aside, she's a wonderful woman, mother, sister and friend; my life is better because she's in it and that's not something I can say about very many people.

Happy Birthday, Megan!

(Uhm, doesn't Arden look so tiny?  It's flying by.)

Lost

The circular didn't come in the mail yesterday.  I'm lost without it.  And there were no coupons in the Sunday paper.  What is going on?!

Etsy

I used to be so disappointed that I couldn't find anything divine on Etsy,

but the rocky start we got off to has ended.

I officially love Etsy.  Here is the latest art work for Arden's room.

I love that song

And now for a song challenge.  Warning: please excuse the middle schoolishness of this, thanks!

• Your favourite song right now: It’s You by Melissa Rapp and Jess Hudak
• A song that makes you happy: Auto Happy by Slow Runner
• A song that reminds you of someone: American Pie by Don McLean
• A song that reminds of you of somewhere: Livin’ On a Prayer by Bon Jovi
• A song that reminds you of college: Ladies by Sarai 
• A song that reminds you of a certain event: Pachelbel’s Cannon in D 
• A song that you know all the words to: Shoop by Salt n Pepa (Not all the words, but a lot) and the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Air
• A song that you can dance to: Forever by The Beach Boys (think about it...)
• A song that is a guilty pleasure: Ignition (Remix) by R. Kelly
• A song that no one would expect you to love: I Love this Bar by Toby Keith
• A song that describes you: Lullabye by Billy Joel
• A song that you wish you heard on the radio: Clap Your Hands! by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• A song that you listen to when you’re angry: Move Shake Drop Remix by Dj Laz, Flo Rida and Casely
• A song that you wish you could play: Ode to Joy by Beethoven

Parenting truth

Here's a parenting fact:


If one child's name is "unique" all subsequent children should have "unique" names too.  It's not fair for one child to be able to walk into any novelty store and select a crappy item with their name on it, while the other one(s) can't.


You're welcome, parents.

The Urban Dictionary of Me

Here's my Urban Dictionary:


Meep: expression meaning ut oh!  For example: I forgot to take out the garbage. Meep!


Double meep: expression meaning Big ut oh!  For example: I forgot to take out the garbage and there was a poopy diaper right on top.  Double meep!


Amazeballs: describing something that's awesome.  For example: This is amazeballs!


Rhut rho, reorge:  expression meaning someone or myself messed up.  For example: Rhut rho, reorge!  I forgot my wallet at Target.


Mayjah: expression meaning something is big, or epic.  For example: Katie's after prom party in 2001 was mayjah!


Eeek the cat: expression meaning ut oh!  For example:  Eeek the cat, I forgot to wish someone I saw 10 times today a Happy Birthday.  Meep!

Almost...

Cullen is asleep.

Arden was asleep in his crib

and then he threw up. 

Almost had two kids asleep before 9 pm.

Almost.

A little blue-eyed company while we're watching TV
is a-okay with me.

We'll try again tomorrow.

I will definitely take a "by default" victory

Well, Irene knocked out our cable, so we weren't able to watch it all day.  It was restored around 4:00 pm, but we were really busy until dinner was over, so I only watched about 1/2 hour.  By default, this meets my New Years resolution commitment to turn the TV off on a Sunday.

So, like I said yesterday, nice try Irene but we pretty much out-smarted you at every turn.  Word.