This Moment

This moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A single, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

This Moment

This moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A single, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Hilton Head Island

Hi Ya'll. We went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week and got a little sun. Matthew's parents have a place there along with the rest of the population of Ohio. In case you can't tell us apart, Ceci is in the black and white polka dots. I'm in the blue and white, and my niece is the rebel in the stripes. 

Doesn't this picture remind you of the poster for "10" with Bo Derek? Or am I the only one old enough to remember that craptastic movie? Of course, Ceci is a thousand times more beautiful than Bo Derek and she would never do white girl cornrows. Over my dead body.

Here's a picture of the most delicious lunch I've had on Hilton Head. A Buffalo shrimp Po'boy with sweet potato fries and coleslaw from Roastfish and Cornbread. Go there as quickly as possible. 

I bet you thought I wasn't smart enough to upload a video. You bet wrong bitches. 

The Evolution of Motherhood

Phase I- I'm not going to give her this orange, because she might choke on it.
Phase II- I'm going to supervise her eating this orange.
Phase III- She's abusing the orange and throwing on the floor, I'm going to take it away.
Phase IV- She's smearing the orange into the carpet and the walls, and I don't give a flying fuck as long as she isn't screaming.

Ceci's Bling

You didn't think any child of mine would go around unadorned, did you? Ceci was gifted this cute cuff bracelet by the fabulous Ryan of Umbilicus Designs. Love it. She shines brighter than the galaxy, folks. It showcases her chubby little wrist quite nicely. Cherubs weep in envy. Of course, she frequently tears it off and "looses" it so I retrace my steps all over town to recover it. But it's worth it. She sparkles and I'm burning calories like mad. 

Things have been quiet here in blogville. I'm finding that living with a mobile toddler consumes all my attention during the waking hours. She has three words- "cat", "wow", and "hi", and between the constant stream of babble she's in constant motion. The girl is off faster than a prom dress. In fact, the only time I seem to have to myself is late at night, when I get home from work. I'm spending the wee hours devouring Prime Suspect on hulu (F*^k NBC for cancelling this excellent show!) and my other new obsession- Pinterest. I treasure the time I have to myself- it seems to be dwindling. Cheers my friends. 

Writer's Block

Sorry guys, I don't know what's wrong with me. Every time I think about posting I draw a blank. I guess I'm in a slump. I'm so blocked I'm even having trouble talking about being blocked. Anyhow, here's a pictorial update of our lives- 

Family portrait commissioned by the talented Karie Jane. 

Family portrait in Yellow Springs, Ohio. 

Healthful eating in Springfield, Ohio.

Ceci bathing in her Grandma's old fashioned porcelain baby tub. 

Ceci 12 months ago today! I couldn't resist. 

Birthday Girl

Aloha from Ohio! We're here visiting family and I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Ceci's birthday party. I'm sorry they are so tardy and I'm sorry for my long absence. Unless no one noticed, in that case I'm not sorry. I toyed with the idea of stopping the blog. But that leaves me no outlet for my verbal diarrhea. So here I am. Behold the birthday party!

Guests came over.

Some of them followed my precise instructions "Costumes are encouraged but not necessary". Others ignored these instructions. Some will be punished for their lack of flare. 

The clown pinata I acquired at the Mexican supermarket! 

Ceci's birthday cake!

This was my favorite part of the party. 

The pinata was ugly enough to make children cry. 

Ceci got an obscene amount of gifts. 

Happy family. 

This Moment

This moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A single, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Ceci's Haircut

I'm thrilled about today. I took Ceci to the barbershop and she got her first haircut sitting on my Dad's lap. It was hilarious. My Dad has been talking about it all day. It's funny how babies bring people together. Everyone there was smiling when we left. Tomorrow is her first birthday party. I'm nervous and emotional. This has been the hardest and best year of my life.
Behold, the haircut!

Um, I'd like the extra-large baby cape please.

No babies were choked during said haircut.

Jersey boy haircuts for $12!

Flapping bingo wings free of charge.

Pigtails!

This Moment

This moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A single, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Anatomy of a Meltdown

A friend in California once asked me if Ceci ever cried.  She said all the pictures she's seen of Ceci are of a smiley, happy baby. Therefore, she must be the best baby ever. Miss Tracy, here is my response. Enjoy.

Ceci enjoying the fruits of the season.

Post blackberry binge regret and shame. 

The sweet, sticky tang of remorse. Remorse all over the high chair, the floor, and her sweet baby flesh. 

Rage when Dad attempts to remove her from the high chair. 

Shame that the paparazzi captured her moment of half-naked defeat. 

And the final humiliation- the wet towel across her face. 

Wednesday Bling

Austin Modern

I've got bling on the mind again. What else is new, right? I seem to have the constant desire to adorn myself with objects shiny and dangly. In fact, I've been stalking a necklace downtown and I might just go buy the thing this week. I can't get it out of my brain. It's a bit pricey but I deserve it. I work really hard and my baby shrieks loudly and it makes my brain feel like it is seeping out of my ears. Bling makes me feel fancy. And fancy makes it all better. 

I love this ring depicting Perseus and Medusa. I had a fetish for Greek myths when I was a kid. The violence! The romance! The mythical beasts! Those ancient Greeks and their Gods really knew how to party. In fact, if the Bible was half as interesting I would be in church every week. I guess I shouldn't say Christian stories are boring, because I don't know much about them. Obviously, I was not raised in a religious family.

One time I brought The New Testament on a vacation in an attempt to educate myself on our culture's dominant religion, but I couldn't get past the Book of Matthew. Dull dull dull. It also suffers from poor narration and writing. One moment Jesus is an infant and in the blink of an eye he's an adult. What happened to his teenage years? Also, who is the narrator supposed to be? God? I didn't get it. I heard The Old Testament is more exciting, so maybe I'll give that a go. 

Happy Wednesday!

Still Here

Hola friends, I'm still here. It's just that the flipping sun doesn't show up until August. So blogging is on my back burner. But last month, while I was ignoring this blog, my one year blog birthday came and went. It felt kind of good. I'm always picking up projects and abandoning them, so it feels good to do something for a year. It's small accomplishment. And it was a wild year. I had a baby. I changed my job. They didn't fire me. The cat ran away. Then she came back. I had mixed feelings.We were attacked by fungus,  and we prevailed. We went to Hawaii, and the volcano did not erupt violent torrents of lava upon us. Through this blog, I reconnected with some old friends, and I made some new ones. I'll try for another year of blogging. I'm so glad you people make encouraging comments and such.
Here's what we've been up to.

 

Matthew at Shipwreck Day snagging a funky old toy while creepy dolls look on. 

Ceci playing on the floor of her room. Maybe some of you remember this situation? Well, I covered that terrible floor with some fake wood soft tile stuff. It's a dream come true. The baby's room no longer looks like a scary dream, and the floor is SOFT. So we can roll around on it and she can bang her baby skull against it while she throws her baby tantrums and no one ends up with a head injury. It's a win win situation. 

Admiring the yellow brick road our neighbor built in our garden space.

8 Months Old

Our girl turned 8 months old today. I know it's not a year or anything but it sounds so BIG. I can hardly believe it. It feels like last week I was waddling into the birth center desperate to get the nameless, heavy blob out of my body. And now that nameless blob is my daughter. And I am so in love with her I can't stand it. She makes the stars shine brighter. She fills every cell of my body with love.
One thing that keeps me up in the wee hours of the night is this thought- now that I have fulfilled my biologic potential, am I wilting on the vine? I've replicated myself, so now I just need to get her to a point where she can care for herself, and after that I'm just wasting oxygen. Right? Being a mammal with feelings is too much sometimes.
Maybe that's why the Duggers of the world keep determinedly spitting out babies? They might be trying to prove to the boss upstairs that they are not redundant.
Eeek. I've officially given myself the creeps

Big Island Friends

Aloha friends. I had a great Hawaii post planned out, but it went into the crapper. When I was looking through my pictures of the Big Island, I realized that almost all of my photos were of my friend and her daughter. I love them so dearly, but I'm kind of shocked that I spent two days following them around with a camera and forgot to take any photos of the lava, the palm trees, the turtles, or the beach. I guess being my friend is like being stalked by paparazzi. And unfortunately, I'm not going to share those pictures because not everyone wants photos of their kid on the world wide web (shocking, I know). So, here's more photos of us-

Beach 69 North of Kona.

I love this photo. I'm praying this doesn't come back to haunt her in 20 years. Cecigate.

Lunch at Don the Beachcomber

We are a family.

Around These Parts

Ceci has a strong neck. Tummy trouble has ended.

The weather is summer-ish.

So we spent a day in Edison.

We had some wine next to the slough.

And admired some art.

Then we took a family photo.

And the cat came home. I heard her meowing in the basement and found her wedged between some pipes. God only knows where she's been this week. She's very thin and seems exhausted.