Mama Thoughts

Today my little lady and I hung out together just the two of us all day. I timed her naps perfectly.  She slept 1.5 hours in the am, and then 1.5 hours in the pm. We went for a walk.  We hung out in the living room and played and danced.  She ate some good strawberries from the farmer's market.  She laughed at my singing.  We ran an errand and took the L. She was pretty much sunshine and radiance all day long. She went down for the night at 6:30 without a peep. I'm sitting here while the husband has band practice, and I'm watching Top Chef and drinking a beer.  And I miss her.  How is this even possible?!  I love that little person.  More than I ever thought possible. Being a mom is pretty awesome.  And that's all I have to report.  

So! We made it.  We flew with our little person to San Francisco and lived to tell about it.  :)  She was actually a huge trooper on the way there and back, considering her extraverted tendencies and how she can't sleep when there are exciting people to interact with (I have no idea where she gets this from).   On the way to SFO we lucked out and had a seat in our row that was empty, which we stuck her carseat in and she promptly passed out after feeding for a solid two hours.  Then it was only two hours of lap play and walking up and down aisles entertaining her and the other passengers.  That was actually incredible.   We took BART to Glen Park and hiked up the "hill" (those are mountains dammit), to our place.  Me with the stroller and Yan with two suitcases and a backpack up a 45 degree incline.  Dear lord in heaven I forgot what SF feels like on the tuchus.  We didn't take that hike again, we Uber'd every time.  We're b...

Little lady has hated swaddling for quite some time.  She would get straight up ticked off when we swaddled her and we had to use a safety pin to keep her from kicking out.  That girl has chutzpah.  So... we decided it was time to quit the swaddle three days ago.  We walked with her that night for like 30 minutes and she was showing no signs of falling asleep... she was clearly tired but wasn't having it.  I decided it might be time to sleep train her and Yanik agreed (he always agrees... it's kind of amazing). We put her down in the crib and walked away.  She didn't like it and let us know by screaming her head off.  We went back in in 3 minutes and picked her up and calmed her down, then left again.  Then went back in in 5 minutes and repeated.  Then we left her for 10 minutes... and she was asleep by the end of that time period.  20 minutes.  She took 20 minutes to calm herself down.  Magic.  She slept until 3:00am f...

Today a woman who taught me much about being a woman passed away.  This poem was a favorite of mine in high school and college, and unfortunately my little girl won't have the opportunity to hear her live.  But here's a little piece of Maya for my Lilah to take in someday. Phenomenal Woman BY  MAYA ANGELOU Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size    But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips,    The stride of my step,    The curl of my lips.    I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman,    That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please,    And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees.    Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees.    I say, It’s ...

This past week has been insane at work... and it's not over.  I have to go in today (Sunday) and put in another 3-4 hours for the Accolades ceremony.  I've been running around at 60mph and haven't really had a chance to reflect on the fact that I'm leaving this home of mine in four weeks.  Eleven years I've spent in this place... and that really does leave quite a huge amount of emotional baggage.  It all caught up to me yesterday. Dance Marathon has been a part of my life since college.  I helped start it at Bradley University as a morale exec and when I came to Niles West and saw that they had one I got involved as soon as I could.  I put in nine years.  Nine charities, with a new exec group of incredible teenagers each year, and a new incredible cause.  We have raised over $541,000 for amazing home grown charities and have transformed their future possibilities.  We helped kids with autism, youth in Africa, kids with cancer, refugees, a...