Dogs, birthdays & slavery.

Well, I am 29 now. There is no going back. Really it was a wonderful birthday. Ryan and I got to do some kid-free shopping, see the movie Reign Over Me (Adam Sandler), and go to dinner. On Sunday, my actual birthday, we attended the conference, One Voice to End Slavery, in Costa Mesa. That is a whole other blog in itself, one that I am trying to get my mind around but don't even quite know how to do it justice in a blog. Maybe after some more thinking I will venture to write about the 27 million slaves (many of whom are kids) in the world. Here is a website, at least, in case the slavery issue is new to your realm of thinking too: http://www.freetheslaves.net/

On a funnier note, Sage and I had this conversation today:
We were walking on a the bike path and we saw a black Labrador. I told her that Jasmine (our walking dog) is a Yellow Labrador. And the rest of the conversation went something like this ...

Sage: Robert has a black lab
Mom: Yes, Robert does have a black lab. What is her name?
Sage: Shadow. She is a girl, mom?
Mom: Yes, she is a girl. What about Cheyenne, what kind of dog is she?
Sage: (silence)
Mom: A border collie.
Sage: Oh, yeah, a border collie.
Mom: What kind of dog is Tina?
Sage: A chiwawa.
Mom: Who else is a chiwawa?
Sage: Pepper.
Mom: Right. What kind of dog is Shea?
Sage: (silence)
Mom: A Brussels-Griffen.
Sage: A BrusselsGriffen.
Mom: What kind of dog is Chica?
Sage: A big polka-dot dog!
Mom: Yeah, you are right, she is a big polka-dot dog. She is called a Pointer.

Just the sweet moments of life .... now Aspen is up from her nap so my blogging time has expired. No picture today : )

Emerging Again

So after Aspen recovered from her double ear infection, Sage (Sunday night) barfed from 1-3 a.m. and was running a fever all day Monday. Then I came down with the stomach flu on Tuesday and it literally took me out. I could not move. Wednesday I felt about 75% and today I feel pretty good but lots of stomach gurgling. But, the kids feel good, it is sunny, and I turn 29 on Sunday! Tomorrow, Ryan and I get to head off to Santa Barbara to play around and eat at Chad's (thanks Holly & Joel!), which is where I had my first taste of lobster at the prime age of 21. One thing's for sure, you couldn't pay me to be 21 again. Here are some recent pics of the kids ....

Guilt

I don't remember coming across the chapter titled, "Guilt" when I was reading my parenting books and magazines. And yet it is a part of my every day life, sometimes in the background and sometimes in the forefront. Like today, for instance. Aspen has been cranky since Monday and running a fever since Tuesday, so I took her to the doctor today. Come to find out she has a double ear infection (i.e. ear infection in both ears). Oh, that's why she has been screaming at me for two days. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Then of course it is I who made her sick because I weaned her from her morning snack/recreational suckling on Monday and so she must not have been getting the antibodies that she needed to fight the infection. Again, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt. We moms have to make so many decisions everyday that we are bound to mess up here and there and feel guilty for things that are out of our control. At least I took her to the doctor today and didn't decide to wait it out over the weekend!

Ice Cream Sandwhich

My latest indulgence is a raspberry sorbet ice cream sandwhich. Take one Trader Joe's Cinnamon Grahm crackers and break in half. Spread a couple tablespoons of Haagen-Dazs Raspberry Sorbet on one of the cracker halves and then top it with the remaining cracker. Nutritional Info: 120 cal, 2 gms fat. Never mind the fact that I do this about 3x/day ....

Summer in March?

For all intensive purposes it is summer, so we are "doing" summer. Yesterday we dusted off the kiddy pool, blew it up and let the kids splash around and get soaked until about 6:30pm. Today we went to the pool and tonight Sage and Ryan rode their bikes around until about 7:15 pm. As if it isn't hot enough Aspen insists on wearing this puffy striped hooded sweatshirt that one of her aunties got her. She sees it and sqawks at us until she is all suited up, ready for snow? And Sage cannot be parted with a skirt my sister got her for Easter last year. She pairs it with her pj's, under dresses, over shorts, or with whatever she is wearing. If I had to pick an item that she would wear over and over again, this would be the one. Thank God it's not one of those Dora shirts or something! While I would probably be okay with it, Ryan would have some serious issues, being the fashion police of our family and all.

Seasons

I asked my friends today if being tired is just our new way of life as moms. One of my friends responded that there are seasons of motherhood; some with energy, some without. I continued to yawn as we discussed the afternoon lull that hits right around 2pm, and the pot of coffee (at my house anyway) that is brewed and consumed to march on through the day. I am even getting sleep -- straight sleep at that! The girls have been sleeping through the night for like 7 days now. I have to laugh at myself while I write this down. Okay, so 7 days of great sleep is suppose to repair the gazillion hours of sleep I have lost over the past 3 years? Not totally logical. But, I did have a spurt of energy today and I cleaned our bathroom. It had been a while ... like a really long while. Those of you who know me best know just how long this could be, so I am glad the energy burst came today before some green monsters started crawling out of the toilet bowl!

Half-a Paper Towel

My grandpa (well, he is actually Ryan's grandpa, but by default he is mine since I don't have any other grandpas), tears paper towels in half as a form of conservation. Well, this was until he could buy the nifty little half-a paper towels. Have you seen them? Maybe by accident you thought you bought the "big" towels and then you go to tear one off and realize it's a bit smaller. This is after you have already bought the economy pack, which will now last you well over a year. It used to bother me. The tearing of the paper towel, I mean. I don't know why it did. Something inside of me screamed, "But I want the whole thing! Not just half!" Sounds like good old American consumerism to me. However, after using these half-a paper towels for quite some time I started to see that they weren't so bad. And somehow a roll of the "big" towels snuck it's way into the house and I tore one off only to find myself tearing that huge towel in half! It felt too big in my hands ... like, who needs such a large towel to wipe their face off with? So thank you Grandpa for inadvertently showing me that I need to put away gold fish laying about that might grow stale, and reminding me to re-use paper plates that have only crumbs on them from a piece of toast, and most of all, that half-a paper towels are the only way to go!