damn Will Smith and damn those robots

Being a parent has a way of turning you into a wimp.

I was pretty emotional before I had SidMo - I mean, I am after all a girl and my mother's child - but now? NOW? Now that I've given birth and I have my own child? Songs, movies, poems, cards, just about anything can bring a tear to my eye.

And the sad stuff? It makes me blubber. I'm a major blubber-er.

Take for instance the movie "I, Robot" (which is playing while I write this) - it's a movie set in the future and it's all about robots and fighting and good cop v. bad cop and blah blah blah - mostly guy stuff. It's not meant to be sad or life-changing, although I do find it deep and I think it is equal parts intellectual as it is adventure and all.

So there's this scene in it, and I tried to find the clip on youtube so you can hear it in Will Smith's voice because he does such a good monologue, but alas, I couldn't find it. Anyways, he's explaining why he hates the robots and why he doesn't trust them - long story short, he was in a car accident involving another vehicle. A robot jumped in the river and saved him when it could have saved a little 12-year-old girl, instead. But it chose to save him because he had the higher percentage survival rate. And Will Smith is saying all this, tearing up - and the woman he's talking to tries to reason with him that the robot saved him because he was the candidate most likely to survive based on that percentage.

And he says, and I quote: "That was someone's baby. 11% is more than enough...A human being would've known that."

AND I COMMENCE TO FULL BOTTOM-LIP BLUBBERING. It kills me. I had forgotten this part apparently, or maybe when I originally watched this back in 2004 (when I was child-less) it didn't resonate with me the way it does now.

So, yeah, have kids all you want to. But be totally prepared to be the only one in the room crying at a Will Smith movie about robots.

I'm just happy I'm the only one home right now...Justin would totally be laughing at me.

Pon and Zi

My inner emo just can't get enough of these two.

All images from http://www.ponandzi.com/ - from the mastermind Azuzephre/Jeff Thomas.

I want to have to love you, daughter.

When your child is born there are certain things that must be accomplished regardless of whether or not you want to do them.

The baby needs a diaper. It must be done...

The baby needs a bottle. It must be done...

Caring for your child goes back and forth between "want to" and "have to". I want to give my baby a bath. I have to wash poop-stained clothes. I want to cuddle and rock and snuggle. I have to burp and bathe and sterilize.

The baby needs her fingernails cut. It must be done...

Often times in that first year of parenting, when a baby can no more express her needs than a doormat, the "have to"s pile up and outshine the "want to"s. It's so easy to forget that this time in your child's life is precious and fleeting and so rare. It's almost a guarantee that never again will your child be this dependent on you. Never again will your child ask for so much from you over and over again so relentlessly. It seems almost unfair. You give and give and give and it feels like each day is the same and it never ends. But then one day, all of a sudden, it does.

The baby needs a haircut. It must be done...

The baby needs a teething ring. It must be done...

The baby needs a birthday cake. It must be done...

One day you wake up and your baby isn't your infant anymore. She's pulling away from you in crawls and then steps - then she's running and before you know it, she's long gone. You can't hold onto them forever. She's only yours for so long.

Suddenly all of these infantile "have to"s become "want to"s and "need to"s. We want to have our children being so dependent on us. We want them to crave every second of our attention. We want to be number one in their lives. We want the world to revolve around parent and child and nothing beyond that. All of these things that we felt like we had to do out of parenting duty, these things that once seemed so mundane and boring, suddenly feel like the most momentous occasions of our lives.

The baby needs new clothes. It must be done...

The baby needs some books to read. It must be done...

The baby needs new, bigger clothes already. It must be done...

Every day goes by faster than the last one. Every moment seems quicker. The harder you try to hold on and the tighter you grip, the faster things slip by you. You start to resent yourself for ever bothering to get mad or upset with your child. These moments are gone. Why was I stupid enough to spend them so carelessly? You feel guilty for having to punish your child for their wrong-doings. You have to keep reminding yourself that you are the "parent" and she is the "child" and it is your responsibility to teach her right from wrong.

The baby needs a time out. It must be done...

The baby needs a spanking. It must be done...

Everything revolves around your child. It is exactly how it should be. Even if you want to retain your pre-baby life, you can never fully keep it. Never-ending guilt comes gift-wrapped and express-shipped to your heart right alongside unconditional love and admiration. Every second of every day you feel some degree of guilt for something as a parent. It never ends.

The baby needs a baby-sitter. It must be done...

How anyone ever survives these first few years of parenting, I'll never know. I can't imagine what the next five, ten, fifteen and fifty years will be like. These first two have nearly torn me apart. The ceaseless worrying, the constant fears I have as a parent can sometimes consume me completely. Luckily, because I know these fears and worries, I also know love and kindness and sheer joy. I have a blue-eyed, curly-top reminder of infinite happiness and promises for tomorrow. I try to take one day at a time and enjoy each moment with my child and my family. I try to dig deeper within myself to build better relationships with those around me. I try to outshine each day with the next.

One of my favorite lines from a movie goes something like this: "You will never be more lovely than you are now. We will never be here again..." And it's so true. We only have this one moment, this one day to give our child unconditional love and support. We only have one chance to show them how proud we are to be their parent. To quote another great movie, "No day, but today".

The baby needs support. It must be done...

The baby needs comfort. It must be done....

The baby needs love. It must be done...

Now that's a "have to" that I'll always "want to".

is anyone in the mainstream?*

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a "mainstream" person most of the time. I like mainstream music and movies and clothes and books. There's not many things in my life that are left of center or outside the box. And I'm okay with that. I don't have the constant desire to be "in the know" of the relatively "unknown" things out there. For the most part, I'm perfect content to just be a lame duck who knows nothing beyond what the radio or Yahoo movies tells me. I don't look any further for clothes than Old Navy or Cato or Wal-Mart. I don't branch out and be different.....most of the time.

But every now and then I come across something that I love that isn't the "norm" - it's out of my everday genre. I like to think it's the spice that keeps things interesting. And I take a little selfish pride in the fact that I like something that not everyone else does. It's what keeps me "me". It's what helps to make me feel a little bit special and unique.

And right now, I'm obsessed with The Gossip. Beth Ditto is amazing - her vocals, her brass tactics and her insane, very colorful style. I'm impressed. And this song is by far my favorite right now.

So I ask, what makes you "you"? Do you have any secret likes and loves that aren't in the mainstream of things? Is there something you enjoy that most people wouldn't guess you do? We all have our little secrets and desires. It's what keeps us entertaining. It's what gives us that little sparkle in our eyes. I'm sharing a slice of my sparkle with you. So, what's yours?

*Blog title is a snippet from one of my favorite songs from RENT "La Vie Boheme". And since I can't resist myself (I love that play/movie too) here's what I'm talking about.

Admit it or not, you love it.

and the nominee goes to...

Well, that's not really how this works, I guess. But I used random.org and put in all of my 17 entries three times over, and THE WINNERS ARE....

#4 - janelle

#13 - edmontonjb

#7 - casey

CONGRATULATIONS!

I'll be emailing you gals in order to see who picks what prize. Janelle, you get first pick. Edmontonjb you get second. And Casey you get whichever prize is not picked!!

Thanks for playing along, gals!

tick-tock! tick-tock! TA-DA!!!

AND THE CONTEST IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!!

Thanks the everyone that participated - no really, THANKS - winners will be announced tomorrow morning (and contacted by email, if available)!!!

Everyone have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Oh, and someone talk my husband into letting me get one of these, PLEASE!

Those are Westie puppies by the way! (Photo by lucklion13)

hurray! hurray! last day to enter the giveaway!

TODAY IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO ENTER THE

(LITTLE) BIG GIVEAWAY!!!

ENTER HERE

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY ENTERED - GOOD LUCK!

We Got Yearbook'd

I love Yearbook Yourself!

For real...I could do this for hours and hours on end.

(Does that make me lame? Probably.)

Pop-Up Video

'll go ahead and say it: I was never an MTV girl.

VH-1 has always had my heart. What can I say? That's just the way the cookie crumbles. My mom always like to tell this story of how I was watching videos one morning as a kid (I was 6 or 7 I think) and when she came in the living room I was all "Mom!!! You've got to see this new guy on TV!!!!"

Turns out the "new guy" was Meat Loaf. I was so hip. And he definitely was not "new" to my mother. (Luckily for me, my awesome parents took me to see Meat Loaf shortly after this....because my parents were just way cool like that.)

I've been hooked on VH-1 all my life. And there was nothing I loved more than Pop-Up Videos. Weren't those the BEST?! I could sit and watch them for hours (and I'm pretty sure I did sometimes). I loved them! Sometimes when I'm flipping through the late-night channels I'll catch a marathon or a re-run special going on, and there they are. All those great videos from the late 80s 90s that I used to worship (and still kind of do). Here are some I could find for your viewing pleasure.

iHeart Faces - Week #41

The theme for this week's I Heart Faces challenge is PINK to shine a light on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). For this week's post, I chose my mother-in-law who is a breast cancer survivor. She's an inspiration to me and to women everywhere. And there's nothing in this world she loves more than being a mother and grand-mother. Here's to many, many more happy years as both.

Be sure to check out all the amazing links to photos and stories over at the I Heart Faces blog.

a meaty post

And by "meaty" I mean "full and voluptious". This post is actually about something other than cartoons and wants and farts. It's a "for real" post - yes, I am capable of those once in a blue moon. So here goes...

I need to start celebrating the normacly in my life. What I mean to say is, there are times when I fail as a human and my inner desires (like jealousy, anger, lust, fear, etc.)  manage to conquer my thoughts and then eventually my mood and before I know it, my day or night is spiraling out of control and I can't stop the noise. I fail to remind myself that my life is perfect just as it is. I fail to see the beauty in my normal, everyday surroundings. I fail to appreciate what I have and to forget the things I don't. I fail as a human being. And usually I fail hard.

I have my faults. We all do. And in today's society, with all of our social networking sites, it's easier to look at our faults and compare them to the faults of others. We all feel free to air our dirty laundry - just let it out. We read on blogs and tweets and status updates about other people and their struggles. We think to ourselves, " At least that's not me..." or "I can't believe they would actually do something like that!" We assess and judge, compare and contrast. We look for that one person who is doing worse-off than we are. And it makes us feel better about ourselves. "At least my kid eats her vegetables every day..." So? Big deal. I am guilty of this. I take comfort and pride in the fact that someone out there is more miserable than I am. I shouldn't be this way. I shouldn't get my relief from someone else's grief.

By the same token, I shouldn't covet what other people flaunt. "We just bought two new cars and a house in Bora Bora and my kid knows Latin and ancient Greek and SHE'S ONLY 6 MONTHS OLD!" So? Big deal. My kid can make fart noises WITH HER MOUTH.

I shouldn't compare and contrast, assess and judge my possessions next to someone else's. I shouldn't feel inferior because I'm not going to every blog conference accross the nation, and I don't have a hybrid vehicle, and my house is always a mess because I can't afford a nanny or a maid. So? BIG DEAL. The value of my life doesn't have to measure up to someone else's...especially side-by-side on Twitter. I have to stop doing this. I have to stop failing as a human being and I have to stop wanting what is not mine.

What I do have is wonderful. It's perfect and imperfect all at the same time. I have a healthy child, a supportive husband, and a warm family that loves me. I have friends and co-workers that make me smile daily. I have a house to sleep in at night and food on our table. I have a camera to capture life's moments and a blog to share my stories with the world. I have so much. I need nothing. Sure, there are times when I "want" (heck, my last post was an 'I want' post) but I don't need anything beyond what I already have. Everything else is just icing on the cupcake.

And I'm vowing here and now to stop comparing everything. I'm going to be proud of me and what I've accomplished and who I am. I'm going to flaunt what I've got and be supportive of those who have both more and less than me. I'm going to stop failing as a human...at least on this issue. And I'm going to tell all those nay-sayers out there to SHOVE IT. I'm happy. My daughter is happy. My husband is happy. I could not ask for more.

Except maybe that pocketbook I was talking about earlier....

Just kidding.

(Or am I?)

Momma needs a new bag...

Well, not really. Because I've been carrying around the wonderful bag that my wonderful Sister-in-Law (aka Fanny) got me for my birthday. And  yes, I realize it's not even been one month yet - but I'm looking at pocketbooks and handbags once again...go ahead and kick me now. I've got an obsession. I know it.

Here's the bag I'm currently toting:

And I love it (thanks again, Fanny). It's a lot roomier than it looks - Currently I have the following things in said pocketbook: wallet, 20 oz. bottle of Sprite, 2 headbands, 5 hairbows, 4 or 5 pens/pencils, random school papers, keys, magazine, 1 diaper, 1 pack of wipes, a check stub, an obituary, tweezers and loose change. And that little bag holds ALL OF THAT, doesn't pull or tug at the fabric and still manages to look good. So what's the deal, you ask? There's nothing wrong with it. Like I said, I just love me some pocketbooks!!

So I was looking at fredflare today and came across this beauty:

Gorgeous, no? I love it. LOOOOOOOOOVE it. I think it's fun and fabulous and perfect for fall. And anyone that knows me knows I love my messenger-style bags. I have no shoulders. Negative degree shoulders (like -5). And so those lovely little things like purse straps (and bra straps) never stay where I put them on my shoulders. Bags like these make it possible to not carry my pocketbooks in my hands of hanging off my arm. I adore them!

So, yeah, anyone in my family or circle of friends looking for a good Christmas gift for me? THIS IS IT. All you have to do is click here. Ok? Thanks.

THE (LITTLE) BIG GIVEAWAY!!!

I'm not sure that many of you know this, but I'll be celebrating my one year blogiversary in just a few short months! And I fully intend to host a blow-out, all balls out, crazy awesome kind of giveaway then...so for now, I'm starting with a smaller, more simple giveway to test the waters and help me figure out what format I want to use when I host the great big blogiversary giveaway in January!!!

So for this first giveaway, the rules are simple. The prizes are simple. This entire giveaway is based on simple!

There will be THREE little prizes and THREE lucky winners! The winners will be chosen at random through random.org - the first winner gets her/his choice of the three prizes, the second winner gets his/her choice of the two remaining prizes, and the third winner gets the last prize remaining! Simple, right?! AWESOME.

Now, for the prizes! Remember, first winner gets first pick of the prizes!

A CUSTOM-MADE "I LOVE TO BLOG" TOTE BAG FROM ZAZZLE!!! (Follow the link to see what it looks like)

A $25 GIFT CARD TO WAL-MART

And last but not least...

A WINNER WILL GET TO PICK ONE ITEM FROM MY ETSY STORE (Follow the link to browse the items - more items will be added before the contest is over, so keep checking back!)

The giveaway contest will be open from today until Friday, October 23rd at 5:00PM (EST). The contest is open to US and Canada residents only (sorry, over-seas friends - I promise the blogiversary giveaway will be open to everyone!). You can enter as many times as you like between now and October 23rd, but you're only allowed one entry per day. All you have to do is leave a comment saying you're entering to win & that's it!

For extra entries per day, you can tweet about my giveaway and leave a link in the comment section to your tweet. (So technically you can enter twice a day every day between now and October 23rd - that's 16 chances to win!)

Any questions, feel free to ask!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!!

I look at you...and I'm home.

Dory is such wise little fish.

the view from my front porch

falling in love with fall

Here are some fall/Halloween photos I've found that instantly chill and warm me simultaneously. I love this time of year so very very much.

Hopefully when it quits all this blasted rain, I go out and take some scenery shots of my own. The leaves are finally getting gorgeous around here. I love this half-way point of fall; when the trees are torn between thriving and dying. Just yesteray I saw a bush that was half crimson red and half jolly green. It looked like it belonged on a table as a Christmas decoration. It was surreal and stunning and made me yearn for things like knit scarves and hot cocoa.

Ahh, fall. You make me so happy.

I want to take a drive to a place that looks like this.

(Photo by LarryPD)

And I want to eat something that looks like this.

Peanutty Halloween Cookie Pizza

(Photo by Pillsbury.com)

And I want to wear patterened tights (I'm loving this look for fall!)

(Photo by ishanchi)

And I want a pair of no-nonsense, purple gloves like these.

(Photo by beutel tiere)

And I want to share a kiss like this with my husband.

(Photo by A Crack in Nature)

And I want to get my pumpkins from a patch, not from a generic store.

(Photo by Teresa_Grant)

And I want to fall in love with fall over and over again.

(Photo by Austrian Alex)

(Photo by Alex Peneva)

I can't wait to get out there with my camera...

Seriously, why aren't we all outdoors taking shots of this beloved season?

P.S. Giveway Info. COMING REALLY REALLY SOON!!

Extra! Extra!

READ ALL ABOUT IT:

I'm hosting my very first GIVEAWAY!!!

 Yes, me - I am hosting a giveaway! And I am so very very excited to tell you all about it....TOMORROW!

The anticipation will kill me! But you must wait - and trust me, it's worth the wait!!!

GET CRAZY! There's a giveaway coming your way SOON!!!

(Image via andrew fladeboe)

I almost picked this one...or that one.

This one was my second choice for the I Heart Faces category this morning -- what do you think? Did I pick the right one? I usually blast the world with SidMo, so I thought I'd pepper in some faces you're not so used to seeing on this blog. But she is a cutie, isn't she?

And there is always this one:

This is from the sytrofoam war she got into with her Daddy the other night -- needless to say our living room carpet looked like it had snowed inside the house. But they were having such a good time, who was I to stop them.

She gets excited a lot, you know. And she's always had the squinty-eyes smile.

Just like her Aunt Dobby.

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!

*(Yes, you too, Dobby)

iHeart Faces - Week #40

The theme for this week's I Heart Faces challenge is EXCITED!!!

Two old pictures popped immediately into my mind as soon as I saw this week's theme...but since we're only allowed one photo, I had to pick and choose. And I chose this one:

This crazy gal is Cassie, one of my best friends. It was Christmas 2005, and I had just suprised her with a personalized bag with the image of her little cousin and herself, along with their sweet little saying that's personal and adorable and so I won't disclose that BUT TRUST ME - it was super cute! And as you can tell from the picture, she was so shocked and so EXCITED!

Be sure to check out all the EXCITING moments over at the I Heart Faces blog!

V.A. ink*

My wonderful new tattoo - yes, I love it! (Thank God, cause there's not much I could do if I didn't love it, right?) It's special and beautiful and not too girly but not too butch. It means the most to me (apart from my tattoo for SidMo) and I'm so glad I got it!

(I'll post better pictures later....)

I can't wait to go out tattoo-browsing with Justin tonight (he's dying to get another one, too!) so maybe I'll have all kinds of tattoo pictures to share with you all soon! I hope everyone has a marvelous and fun-filled weekend. I'm looking forward to the giant Eastman yard sale tomorrow - CANNOT WAIT! I get to spend Q-time with my favorite MIL & SIL :)

*And that's supposed to a total har-har play on words (i.e. L.A. ink) even though technically I got this in Tennessee. But that's just splitting hairs, right? Right....

What's In a Name? Vol. Two

I have another round of baby-naming stories from some great bloggers!!! I am so fortunate to "know" these gals and to be able to converse with them daily (on Twitter - why do you not have your own account yet?!).

Their stories are heart-warming and funny and entertaining and wonderful - everything that being a parent is. I hope you enjoy this second round of guest bloggers as much as I do! Thanks again, gals, for playing along.

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Megan from My Embellished Truth

Naming a baby can be a daunting task, even if you and your baby are the only two people in the world with no one to answer to, even if you mom can't make fun of your choices and your grandma can't look at you cross-eyed and say 'Whaaa??' .. squatting in the woods, squeezing out that slimy bundle of joy, staring into your gooey newborn's eyes as you snuggle close, and having only the heavens to listen as you speak your child's name for the first time...

Where was I?

Oh yeah.. Baby naming. My oldest was not only my first child, he was also the first grandchild for my parents. And? He was the first grandchild for my husband's parent. Oh, and the first great-grandchild for both sides as well. Yeah, you get the idea. No, I wasn't 15.. though I wasn't far off. We were 19 (him) and 20 (me) when we welcomed our first shortie into our life and married just over a year.

My husband tends to be rather mysterious about his name on the internet.. So I'm not going to tell you what it is. Those of you who know him online, know him as 'OnlyAman' or just 'Aman'. I'll just say, his name is long. And it is tradition in his family that the first born son (though honestly, there really hadn't been any girls for a couple generations) would receive the father's name as a middle name. Great. So we had a big long name as a middle name and had to find a first name to pair up with it.

 I won't bore you with the details of all the discarded names (Dante, Dermot, Tristan, Max..) or all the ways my parents made fun of them. But I will tell you how we found the one we bestowed upon him. We used to do Renaissance Fairs. Yes. We did. As in dress up and perform reenactments. Now, when one performs in a Renaissance Fair, one dons a persona. My husband? His fair name was Aidan. Through all the names that we pondered over, Aidan stayed in the running. We loved it. Also, we were all for giving our kids Gaelic names. So Aidan, or 'little fiery one', it was.

Our second child was much easier to name. I read a couple of Frank McCourt's books. One of the characters in the book was named Kieran (his brother, I think). I loved the name. Our next son would be Kieran, or 'little dark one'.

Next came the baby who's name has little meaning.. or rather a hard to determine meaning. Our neighbors in the apartment above us also loved Gaelic names. Their son's name was Torrin. I loved it. I stole it. Our next child was Torrin, or 'from the hills'.. or 'little bird'... or 'the boy with the name that really doesn't mean anything'. Whatever.

So. I had three boys. I really wasn't sure if we'd have any more kids. But we did talk often about adopting a daughter. On more than one occasion, during church and during prayer, I prayed for a daughter and felt God's assurance that we would one day have a little girl. One afternoon, as I was putzing around on the internet a few months after Torrin was born, I came across a lovely name. Eliana. It means 'my God has answered me'. And I knew that that would be my daughters name. A couple months later, I got pregnant again. This time we waited until birth (our first homebirth) to find out the sex. It was a girl!

When Eliana was a year old, we moved from California to Iowa. Before moving, I gave away all of my 'baby stuff' that we no longer needed. I also left behind every stitch of maternity clothes I had. I warned my husband 'I'm leaving all this baby and maternity stuff behind.. you know what that means, don't you?..... I'll get pregnant as soon as we get there.' About two weeks after we arrived in Iowa, I found out I was pregnant with number 5. Again we waited to find out the sex of our baby upon welcoming the child into the world in our own bedroom.. Another girl! And another Hebrew name - Joella, meaning 'my God be willing'.

We haven't had a whole lot of rhyme or reason behind our baby naming.. but have kept with the Gaelic boy names and Hebrew girl names. We like unique names (who doesn't?) but of course are not immune to the 'we thought it was unique and now every other child the same age and younger has that name too' issue.. Sorry Aidan. Still, I'm quite happy with the names we've picked. And if you're not, you can suck it.

You can find Megan on her blog and HERE.

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Lisa from Unfiltered Insanity

When I was pregnant with Sophia, Mr. B and I talked a lot about names because we were both really adamant that her name either mean something, or that she was named after someone. We came up with Sophia Arielle. We both loved the name Sophia and after looking up the definition,  /_wise_/,  we decided it was even more beautiful. I'd always wanted an "Ari" (which is funny, because we never call her that!), but we came up with Arielle because it flows with Sophia better than Ari and when we looked it up it means, _/lion of God/_. So, Sophie's name means "Wise Lioness of God." And we loved it almost as much as we love her. And her name is perfect for her.

Annabelle Kate was actually going to be Lilian Kate, because Mr. B always liked the name "Lily." However, it didn't flow into our criteria of naming after, since "Kate" is after my best friend, Katey. "Annabelle" just came to me. I wrote it down and I fell in love and it works for us because a few key people in our family have the middle name, Anne, and my little cousin is named "Anna." (who is the daughter of my aunt who I was named after, so I kinda kept that rolling a bit longer!) We got a lot of crap for this name. No one really liked it. I didn't care. She was Annabelle from then on and she's so sweet that she couldn't ever be any other name.

You can find Lisa on her blog and HERE.

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Sara from In Lahman's Terms

 My son's name is Isaac Benjamin. The middle name was easy; my husband's name is Benjamin and I nixed the Ben Jr. suggestion as soon as we found out the baby was a boy. We could not agree on ANYTHING for a first name. We shot down every name the other came up with (kinda like that scene in "Friends" where Ross and Rachel veto every name). I was pulling for Elliot, and my husband just flat out said no. We picked so many names, but nothing felt right. We had ALOT of input from family and friends, most was not constructive. One night we were watching TV and out of the blue, my husband suggested "Isaac." He said it just came to him. We decided to sleep on it. The next day we both still liked it, and it just felt right to us. We knew that was our son's name. We said nothing to family and friends. 4 days later our son was born, and the name fits. Isaac means "he who laughs" and he is one happy little baby.

Find Sara on her blog and HERE.

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Stephanie from Mommy*Mama*Mom

My husband and I both have fairly common names, Christopher and Stephanie. We were each one of 5 or 6 people in all our classes with those names. Even before we were engaged or truly talking about having children, we had agreed that if we had kids, our children would NOT have extremely popular names. We wanted pretty, not too out there, but still unusual names.

Our first child came much sooner than we expected and in the midst of chaos and turmoil. We were newly married and facing an issue that most couples (thankfully) never have to deal with on top of living over a thousand miles apart. I immediately told Chris that I wanted her name to be Hope. She was the one shining beacon of hope that we saw in our lives right then. Chris did not want that to be her first name for some reason. He agreed to it being the middle though. I think I went through 5 different baby name books. None of them we could agree on. Finally he gave up and said that I'd just have to figure it out myself. That night he called me. He had been (re)playing a video game that he really liked -- Kingdom of Hearts. The main character's name was Kairi, he wanted to know what I thought of it. I will be honest, it took me 3 months to remember how to say it right. I finally figured out how to say it after playing the game myself. I fell in love. (Kairi is pronounced K-eye-ree.) Kairi Hope is my princess. She reflects her name to me: pretty, unusual, but not completely "out there". Her name means melody which is also fitting as she loves music of all sorts.

Our second (and last) child was a boy. We didn't even begin discussing names until we knew he was a boy. I had dreamt my whole life of having a boy named Caleb James. Unfortunately, right about the time I found out I was pregnant, I had 3 cousins born named Caleb/Kaleb. Chris didn't want our son to be confused with someone else and nixed the first name. I didn't give him a choice on the second. It WOULD be James. I think I sent Chris 6 or 7 lists of names I liked. All were nixed. One day he came home. He had a name he loved. Alex. I was told that night "You can name the boy whatever you want to, but I'm going to call him Alex." I'm still not sure how Alex fit the prerequisite of an unusual name, but Chris was in love. And I loved the idea of calling him Alexander James -- especially when he was in trouble, it just flows off the tongue. How bad is it that I agreed to my son's name based off of how authoritative it seems when I'm yelling? LOL Chris and I primarily call him Alex, but from time to time we call him Alex, Axis (how Kairi pronounced his name for months), and Alexander. His name means defender of the people, and he will defend his sister, his mommy, and his puppy to the end of the earth.

Find Stephanie on her blog and HERE.

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I have to say "THANKS!" again a million times over. I love getting bloggers together for guest posts. It's a lot of fun and it spices up the norm! Hopefully, I can wrangle up some more gals and get a Volume 3 out soon! Please take some time to visit these amazing women on their blogs....

And for the love of all that is good and right, GET YOURSELF A TWITTER ACCOUNT!

I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!

THIS CAMERA....

So I can take some AMAZING pictures like this:

Oh, and I'll need a pack of this, too:

What'dya think? I think this is the perfect Christmas gift for ME! But I have the distinct feeling I'll be buying it for myself way before then! I'm in love with fredflare - how did I not know about this site?!?!?!

(Thanks to Mrs. Julie Tew for linking to fredflare on Twitter yesterday!)

13 again

one of the many conversations...
Nov. 17, 2008

one of the many conversations we had coming home in the car today got me thinking: if i could back and re-start my life at any age i wanted, which age would i choose?

i just spit out the age 13 - because it seemed logical at that moment. if i knew then what i know now, my childhood would be totally different. i definitely would NOT have embarrassed myself so many times over stupid stuff. i would've learned what really matters in life - and i would've taken 1,000 more pictures and held onto to so many more memories. there's something so magical about that age - when you're just starting to form your own personal identity and create your own "signature" style in life. most kids are too afraid to branch out and become someone unique and different - lord knows i tried to fit in with EVERYONE. and i think i did for the most part: i kind of floated around being the mediator. i was never in the middle of any exact thing, but somehow always in the middle of everything. 13 just seems like the jumping point of life to me: people finally start to give you a little attention for the things you say and do - you can finally start to break out of that "kid" mold and become someone totally new. if i had known then that there was so much possibility at that point, heaven knows where my life would be right now.

but that's the thing: thinking back on it now, there were plenty of people telling me to "treasure those moments" and to "make my mark" and to "seize every opportunity" BUT DID I LISTEN. maybe to some of it - when i wanted to. but i never really sat down and thought about what they were saying. it's almost like i didn't believe them. and that scares me poopless. because someday, i'm going to try and tell sidney about these little lessons in life - and i know her first impression will be to dust me off and say "she's old. what can she know?" because that's what little teenage brats do!

honestly: tonight i was thinking about how much i want her to treasure her life. i want her to understand from an early age that this life is precious - that just because she's a kid or a teenager or a young adult, it won't show any mercy. life can end for any of us at any moment and there's nothing we can do about it. now, i know this is heavy stuff and that i'll have to figure out what age to approach the deep part of this subject: but i think she has every right to learn to appreciate her life from the moment she can understand it is her life. why shouldn't she know that every day, kids her age lose the opportunity to grow older? she should know from the get-go that we aren't promised anything here on earth: that every breath is a gift, and she can't wait until she's 20 or 40 or 65 to start acknowledging the fact that we're all lucky to still be here - that it's a gift and it must be regarded with the utmost respect and love.

sure, growing up is a pain. growing up is fun. once we grow up, we think back about how we wish we could've grown up differently. or we treasure the fact that we got to grow up in such a wonderful way. but the point is - at least we got to grow up at all. there are so many children out there who never get that chance. who are we to mock our lives by wishing we could go back and change things? we should all just enjoy what we have - never wish for days gone by. only wish and hope and pray and dream of days for tomorrow. that's my philosophy - all from a simple ride home in the car.

Baby Izzy

If you're baby-making parts aren't tingling right now....then I think they must be broken.

Baby-sitting is dangerous business!!!

As soon as Justin came home and saw my face he just started going "No! NO!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

suck it, Mr. P*

I HAVE A POST ON AIMING LOW.

Yes, you read that right. Some of my work - my very own words - are posted somewhere out there on the interwebz OTHER than on this blog. And I'm so stoked.

THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST BIRTHDAY WEEK OF MY LIFE.

First, I won tickets to see Cage The Elephant on Tuesday.

And now I'm on the same website as amazing gals like Angie, Heather and Maria (just to name a few - all those gals are AMAZING bloggers!)

So please please PLEASE go check out my post and then join me in patting myself on the back - this is the perfect way to end my week!

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!

*Mr. P was my 9th grade math teacher who gave me that whole "You'll Never Amount to Nothing" speech. SUCK IT, MR. P.

rock me momma, any way you will

The Art of Baby-Rocking
December 18th, 2008

to some of you out there, this will make about as much sense as a NASA shuttle mission codebook - but to some of you out there, I'm sure you'll just "get it".
my daughter hasn't let me rock her to sleep since she was about 6 months old. that may not sound like such a big deal - but realize this: for the first 6 months, she DID let me rock her; as in, I got used to being able to rock my child to sleep knowing that she was being comforted by my presence, my movements, the sound of my voice, etc. by allowing me to rock her, she was in fact rocking me - she was giving me the opportunity to spend precious, sweet time with her moments before she drifted off to sleep. there's nothing quite as magical as rocking a baby to sleep - it's the biggest feeling of pride and accomplishment you can have as a first-time mother, believe me.

so when she hit 6 months and decided she no longer needed the rocking, it was like someone taking away my crack cocaine. I went into withdrawl - at first I was glad to be rid of all the rocking; it became easier to put her to sleep, it gave me more free time. but after a little while, I missed it. I still miss it to this very day & that's been over 9 months ago.

well, last night - I got to rock my daughter to sleep for the first time in a very damned long time. people: hear this. there is nothing sweeter than feeling this warm, mushy baby all bundled up on your chest. there is nothing sweeter than bending your head down into a curly mane of hair that deliciously reeks of Johnson's baby shampoo (isn't that the greatest smell in the world?). there is absolutely nothing sweeter than looking down and seeing a baby with binky-face (you know, how the binky smashes up their cheeks & gets all slobbery and pink?). there is nothing in this entire whole wide world sweeter than putting your baby to sleep, to peaceful easy sleep, by using your body & voice.

I swear - this morning I feel like superwoman all over again. I feel absolutely recharged and alive. my wonderful daughter knew I was feeling over-stressed and under-loved, so she gave me the greatest gift she ever could: the gift of love. she let me feel important and needed again. I know this will only grow stronger over time - her pulling away from me, letting me know that she doesn't need me around so much anymore. but I hope she always has the ability to step back, realize momma needs some loving, and be a "baby" for 20 minutes for me - because believe you me, even at 15 months, this child is a grown woman. she's independent. she's vocal. she's a big kid.

but everyone now & then it's nice to see that sweet little baby she once was creep out & say hello to her momma. thank heavens for little ones - how did I ever survive without her?