Mr. Rogers would be proud

21 Feb

I’ve been so fortunate to have lived next door to some really wonderful people.  I really can’t take credit for any of it – my mom and dad picked the first house and with our two houses, we had no idea who lived next to us.  Call it fate or luck or God or whatever you want to call it, but so far, we’ve had some of the best neighbors.

The neighbors I had while I was growing up are like family to me.  I’m so happy they are there for my mom and that my mom is there for them.  We’ve always had the key to their house and they’ve always had ours.  We’ve shared in ALL the happy family moments together, as well as the sad ones.  I couldn’t imagine my life without them.  I even got introduced to their culture and religion, attending Greek Bible School with them and even learning some of their language and traditions.  Words really can’t touch the appreciation and love I have for them.

When we lived in Savannah, the couple across the street helped take care of me while Andrew was deployed in Iraq and I was pregnant.  They landscaped our front yard and decorated our house for Andrew’s homecoming.  When they moved away, we tried to stay in touch.  One time, we ran into each other at the Atlanta Zoo and it was only because they recognized my laugh echoing through the trees!  I heard, “Nicole Valles, is that you?!?!”  It was a great feeling and we still continue to try to keep in touch.

Our neighbors now, Allison and James, are just as wonderful.  They’ve done the usual ‘neighborly’ thing of caring for our turtle, Clark, while we’re away and collecting our mail, but they’ve also alerted us to two outdoor spectacles that we would have missed if it wasn’t for them – the snow that fell here last month and tonight’s lunar eclipse.  Allison has even invited me to go with her and her friends for a birthday celebration this weekend in Atlanta!  I was like, “She likes me!  She really likes me!”  And so far, I haven’t done anything embarrassing to change her mind!

 

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Patience Wanted: Apply Here

18 Feb

Stay-at-home mother of two, ages 4 and 2, is in need of patience immediately.  Must be willing to work long hours, lift 30 to 60 pounds (depending on whether both kids want to be held or need to be separated) and endure a short-tempered boss who loses it when asked the same question 20 times in a row.  Must have a proven track record of handling unnerving situations with ease while maintaining a calm composure.  Salary is negotiable between a bag of chips and a pint of Ben-n-Jerry’s.  Benefits include a few beers or a White Russian at the end of the day.

So there it is – my somewhat confession that my patience is gone.  Lost.  Or maybe it just ran away.  For Lent this year, I didn’t give up junk food, chocolate, cuss words – I made a promise to try and be more patient.  Well, the first weekend of Lent just so happened to be the trip to Philadelphia – so much for keeping it together then.  Now though, I feel as though I still haven’t really been trying.  The littlest things set me off – I already wrote about Nia asking me the same question over and over again (even though I answered her 2 or 3 times already) or repeating “Nate” over and over again until my eyes want to bulge out of my head as it pops off and explodes (I think Nate feels the same about that one).  Nate’s tantrums have another kind of effect on me.  I more want to bury my face in my hands and start crying.  He’s just exhausting.  Then there’s the both of them together.  The SCREAMING.  Oh my goodness.  The SCREAMING.  I know I’m going to be deaf.  I can almost feel the damage happening as the shrieks pierce my ears.

Well, so much for my period of peace as the kids rest.  I just heard Nate throw some things out of his crib.  As long as he doesn’t have poop on his hands like he did yesterday – I’ll be fine. Well, I’ll try to be anyway.
 

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The Sweetest of the Sweet

14 Feb

Nate and I crashed Nia’s Valentine’s Day party at her school today and I captured our little sweetie getting ready to dig in to her sweets –

Happy Little Valentine

They passed out cupcakes and chips for the students and Nia made sure her uninvited little brother didn’t miss out – holding her cupcake out for Nate to sample and loading him up with cheesy Doritos.

What more can I say?  That’s what Valentine’s Day is to me – love.  Pure and simple.

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I just realized…

13 Feb

After all that fashion show blog business, I just realized I forgot to tell you all how my dress compared to other ladies at the wedding!

Let’s just say, there was a mix.  There were short dresses, long dresses, skirts with nice tops, plain dresses and super fancy dresses with fur coats – oh yeah and several ladies with poofy feathers in their hair.  I forgot to tell you all that the groom is from England right?  Like 80 people or so came from over “the pond” (as I heard a few people say) and they came complete with feathers/hats and tails on their tuxes!  Oh yeah, and the great accent!  It was just lovely talking with them!

So, all in all, I was appropriately dressed!  Mine blended in quite well and showed no more skin than the bridesmaids (who got to pick out their own style of dress – they all had the same fabric and color but each wore a different style – it was really cool).

Just thought I’d give you that tidbit!
 

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Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

12 Feb

Beautiful Princesses

Wow.  What a weekend!  It really featured a little bit of everything – some of the usuals (being stuck in the car for hours, angry little man fits, arguments over nothing and plenty of fast food) but there were also lots of firsts (taking in the Philly sights, a beautiful little flower girl, dancing with my sexy husband on a “Grand Ballroom” floor and enjoying fancy food that you certainly can’t get at the Applebee’s).  Looking back on it all, I realize that I witnessed some wonderful things about my family.

1. Andrew is a saint and an incredible “baby-daddy”

I would have to say that poor Andrew had to suffer through the worst time of the whole weekend.  He had to struggle with Nate during the entire wedding ceremony.  (It was a Catholic mass so that meant he battled it out for a little more than an hour.)  By the end of the ceremony, Nate’s bow tie was off and Andrew had drool/tear marks all down his tux jacket.  As soon as we realized Nate was not going to be quiet through the ceremony (about 5 minutes into it), Andrew took him outside and stuck it out – only occasionally getting a glimpse of the wedding through the back doors of the church.

I know he was really bummed because he would have liked to see his cousin get married and I would have loved for him (and Nate) to share in the beauty of it all with me – but what can we do you know?  I think what really made it all ok in the end was that an older couple came up to Andrew at the reception and told him he was a saint after what they watched him go through at the wedding.  They told him they couldn’t believe how calm he remained and that they wanted him to know he did a great job.  It brought tears to my eyes because it’s one of those things where you think everyone must think we are such horrible parents – I mean, why can’t we get control of our kids, right? Those few words of praise will go along way and I will always remember how great it made both of us feel.

2. Nia may be tiny but her heart is HUGE

"City of Brotherly Love" for sure

Nia did such a perfect job as flower girl princess. Her Lola fixed her hair in a beautiful French braid that circled the back of her head and she told me that she felt like Cinderella. She even said she would put her hand on her heart when she bent over (bowed) just like Cinderella does.  I’m so proud of her – her personality and her ability to spread happiness amazes me every day. I couldn’t believe how many people kept asking her to do her “dance” and she would do it because it made her happy to make them smile.

Most Requested Dance

3.  Nate – is actually a happy little man

I know, it’s so crazy to write that after reading what I wrote earlier but he really is happy.  His smile is contagious and he always has one to flash at people.  Even if he is in the middle of a fit, if someone walks up to him and talks to him or smiles at him, he smiles back and he still manages to say “please” and “thank you” – even if he’s crying!  He loves to dance and laugh at silly things (like people at our table making faces at him).  He loves to play Hide and Seek and Duck, Duck, Goose (which he tried to do a few times in our hotel room).  He puts his head on my shoulder and says, “Hi Mommy” when he wakes up in the morning.  He says the lines of movies while he’s watching them.  He flirts with the ladies with just his eyes!  He happily yells “PAPA!” during a rehearsal dinner toast and makes everyone laugh.  He finds joy in simple things – Andrew put a quarter, two dimes, a nickel and four pennies in a small box and he didn’t want to let it out of his grip.  He kept saying, “My money.  My money.” That little boy.

Chick Magnet

 

I’m just glad that we got to be a part of such a fairy tale wedding.  Erin (the bride) looked straight out of a bridal magazine and even changed into the prettiest pair of hot pink high heels for her reception which I thought was the cutest thing.  Our extended family is such a caring, fun group of people and it was so nice getting to spend time with all of them. And speaking of family, we would be lost without Lola and Papa.  Not only did they come to our rescue and help take care of the kids (letting mommy and daddy have a few hours of couple time) but they also covered all of our hotel costs!

Valles Moms

This trip also gave us another first.  Our first “official” Philly Cheese Steak.  We had no idea where to get one so we, of course, turned to the internet and discovered “Pat’s King of Steaks.”  Andrew punched in the address in the GPS and it led us to a busy neighborhood complete with kids playing basketball and soccer in the cold and crowds of people surrounding two cheese steak shops – both claiming to be the best.  We ordered ours “one wit whiz” and “one mushroom wit wiz” – one with onions and cheese whiz, one with mushrooms, onions and cheese whiz.  I’m happy to say that the sandwich held its own in comparison to the sea bass, red snapper, beef tenderloin and amazing deserts we were treated to at the wedding events.  Even the kids’ chicken fingers were fancier!

What a weekend!

Goofballs

 

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Hotel Bathroom Blog

8 Feb

So here I am – in a fancy Philly hotel with a beautiful view of downtown – trapped in the bathroom as I agonizingly wait for Nate to stop fake crying and fall asleep.  Don’t worry, I’m not dropping the kids off at the pool or anything like that –  I’m just sitting on the beautifully tiled floor hoping that they clean it really well.

Nate and I should be at a wedding rehearsal with Andrew and Nia right now but the little angry man decided he was going to have a terrible-two fit and not eat and not take his nap.  (I mean, what did we think?  We did just have him strapped in his car seat for the most part of the last 24 hours!)  Nevertheless, a No-Nap-Nate wasn’t going to work for us because there was no way we would have been able to make it through a church rehearsal without causing a major scene.  Nope.  We – number 1 – aren’t that brave to test it out and – number 2 – aren’t that stupid to test it out.

Wow.  I wrote that whole last paragraph in peace.  I don’t hear Nate anymore.  That, of course, doesn’t mean he’s sleeping but still, at least I don’t have to be tortured with the whines anymore.  Nope, instead I’ll just be stuck in here – me, some toiletries and this computer until the battery dies because I left the adapter out in the room.

At least I have a yummy (free) dinner to look forward to tonight!  I’ve already got my fancy jewelry on that I got for Christmas!  I just hope I don’t smell like Eau-De-la-Toilet!

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The Best Hints Ever

3 Feb

Lately, Nia’s been playing this game where she’ll say, “Momma, guess what I am.  I have wings and I fly.”

I pretend like I don’t know and that I need some help. To that she replies, “It starts with a b-b-b sound. B-b-b. B-i.  B-i-r.  B-i-r-d.  Bird.”

It is the cutest and most interesting thing – watching her try to quiz me and then sound out the answers. I don’t know where she learned it but it amazes me and leaves me asking, who is less than 3 feet tall, completely adorable and super smart?  N-n-n.  N-i.  N-i-a.  Nia.  My Nia.
 

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Charge me with a B.U.I.

2 Feb

I’m now guilty of Blogging Under the Influence.

Yep, four beers (shouldn’t it technically be beer since you don’t put the ‘s’ on deer?)  – that’s all it takes to get my cheeks all warm and red.

I don’t really have any more to say – I just thought it would be fun to blog while buzzed.  (Although I’m sure I’ll regret it later. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to backspace to correct my intoxicated typos!)

I really wanted to write about the 2 and a half hours of my life that I can’t ever get back after I let a Kirby vacuum salesman into our house.  (I really wanted to tell you about it but I’m afraid I really needed the beer after the experience.  Stay tuned for the next post on why you shouldn’t ever answer your door to people you don’t know – that is unless you entered the Publishers Clearing House or the person has your amazon.com order or a bouquet of flowers!)
 

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Too Cute to Correct

31 Jan

Instead of “Getting on my nerves,” Nia says, “Getting on my nerds.”
 

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Why ya gotta diss the mermaid?

31 Jan

Sometimes I just don’t understand people.  They pass judgment left and right but never look at themselves with those same eyes.  Here’s my beef –

I’ve been trying to check out more and more blogs written by moms – partly because I’m looking for people who are going through the same things I am so I know I’m not the only one and partly because I am curious about how other people write about/capture their experiences. (You know, the whole art of it all and stuff.)

Well, I kind of wish I would have stuck to my old reliables!  I feel so dirty to have cheated on you!  And for what?  So I could get all pissed off after reading one mom’s opinions?  In one post she talks about how she’s banned The Little Mermaid from her house because Ariel is an anti-feminist who gives up her legs, her voice and her family after just seeing a man who’s twice her age.  The mom thinks she’s being a good parent to keep something like that from her children.  Fast forward a few blogs later where she posts pics of herself with her laptop on her lap and her sleeping child (appears to be between one and two years old) sleeping on her stomach right next to the computer.  I’m sorry, but before you go and say you are such a good parent by shielding your kids from the bad example that is The Little Mermaid, shouldn’t you consider the example you’re setting by choosing your computer over your child?

Now, I’m not saying using the computer around our kids is wrong.  (Please, I’m totally guilty of that and in some cases, people are paid to have their computers around all the time.)  My main issue with this mom is that she doesn’t see how skewed her thinking/actions are.  It’s cute to have my child drooling on my computer but not cute to have them enjoy a Disney classic? Besides, what about what Prince Eric did for Ariel?  He sacrificed his life to save hers and fell in love with her even when she didn’t have a freakin’ voice!  Now it may just be I’m feeling all passionate about this because I love my girl Ariel!  Sure, there are some days when I wish I hadn’t shared my love of Disney movies with Nia at such an early age (she already has every princess doll) but then I think why not?  THEY ARE MOVIES AND MOVIE CHARACTERS.  I mean, if my child thinks that the only way to deal with someone who is different or a confrontation is by grabbing pitch forks and torches while singing “Kill the Beast!” or the only way to get what they want is by going to see a gigantic witch octopus then I have a lot more to blame than a movie.

What’s really messed up about all of this – if it wasn’t for her dissing my BFF Ariel – I probably would have thought the picture of her child sleeping next to her computer was cute too!  I’m a total psycho!
 

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