As of next week, I will officially have been in Virginia for two months and Kayla will have been here for slightly more than one. While we're starting to settle in and most days are good, I have to admit that I still have days where it's simply...hard.
I was so incredibly fortunate to spend that first year at home with Kayla. Being there for all of her firsts, for all of those amazing moments where the light bulb popped on over her head, was a precious gift. Being able to take afternoon naps after Kayla had a bad night...likewise, a gift. That said, there were days that I longed for the adult stimulation that work provides and there were days I longed to go back to doing something more intellectually stimulating than dreaming up new mushed food recipes. Now that I'm back here though, I realize how hard it really is to do it all. I'm certainly not the first one to talk about this - there is literature everywhere discussing these ideas in far more depth and eloquent detail than I will attempt here - but it has occurred to me many times over the past weeks that the "freedom" women now have to be both mother and professional, can be its own kind of prison. Certainly, being the feminist that I am, I am glad I have the choice. I am glad that I can choose to work and to raise my child. That said, some days when I am trying to be the best I can be at both of my chosen careers, I find myself feeling tired, a little overwhelmed and, sometimes, stretched a little thin. This schedule...I wake at 0600, hoping to get a shower and to get ready before Kayla wakes up. If that works, great. If it doesn't, it is rush rush rush to get ready while trying to entertain her, keep her happy and keep her from running off to find something dangerous to do. Not easy. Then it's rush to get her ready and to get us out of the house. We rush to daycare because if I don't drop her off early enough, then I don't get to work early enough and then I can't leave work early enough to get back to pick her up at a reasonable time. So, it's up at 0600, out of the house with Kayla by 0715. We get to daycare by 0730/0745 and I get to work by 0800/0815. I work my 8.5 hours and then rush back to pick her up, hopefully no later than 1715, so that we can get home no later than 1800 so that we have time to get her dinner before she is starving, to have some brief playtime together, to have time for a bath and for reading, singing and relaxing together before bed and then it's down to bed for Kayla by 2030 and, let's be honest, by 2130 for me. It's a packed day. And the hardest part is that this leaves me with essentially no "me" time. I have Kayla in the morning, then coworkers all day long, then Kayla in the evening and then one blessed hour in which I basically shovel down some dinner, brush my teeth, wash my face, climb in bed and maybe get in a chapter of my book. I'm not trying to complain. Obviously, there are people who have it way worse, but I'm trying to explain why some days...some days are harder than others. On the days when Kayla didn't sleep well the night before or when I have had stress at work or when Kayla has decided that it's temper tantrum time or when I realize that it's now been three months since I last got my hair done and my highlights start about mid-neck...well, those days are harder. Or one days like today, when Kayla reverts to clinging to me and sobbing hysterically when I drop her off...oh, God. I can't explain how horrible that feeling is...Even knowing she'll be fine before I've ever left the room, even knowing that she likely has a fabulous time playing all day, even knowing that she isn't really mad at me, she is only saying "I love you, Mama. Can't you stay and play too?" Even knowing all that, it still breaks my heart to leave her behind. The guilt of "abandoning" her every day is unbearable. And I don't feel it every day. Not anymore. But there are still those occasional mornings, like today, where I tell her goodbye while wanting nothing more than to pull her back into my arms and to take us both out to the park to spend a Mommy-Daughter day laughing in the sun.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
From The Ether
Hello my friends. Are you still there? Are you checking in religiously and cursing my name for having posted NOTHING in two months? (Ahem, Anna...)
I know.
I suck.
Or maybe you aren't even bothering to read anymore in which case you are missing my self-deprecating confession of sins.
Does that make sense? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Be glad that I'm writing at all, mmmkay? Linguistic feasibility aside.
So...
Where in the world are The Ducks??
As of this week, that question, though still loaded, got a teeny, tiny bit easier to answer. The Ducks are officially back in their home in Vienna, VA. That's right. We have a home, complete with our possessions. To some, this is every day...for us, this is a special special thing. For the last month or so, we've been living in the utter chaos. Here's a little description of how things have gone...
May 16 - Erin packs up as many of her worldly possessions as possible and moves into a lovely hotel room near Dulles International Airport in Virginia. There she stays for one week while waiting to make the transition to living with some very giving friends in "A Land Far Far Away" (or, as it is more commonly known, Gainesville, VA).
May 19 - Kayla, who has been spending some quality alone time with Daddy in Hoboken, gets picked up and transported down to Williamsburg, VA, courtesy of the Grandma/Grandpa Spatz shuttle. There she will stay for the next 3 1/2 weeks while her parents try to figure out how the heck all this is going to work.
May 20-22 - Erin rushes down to Williamsburg to see her much missed daughter. The trip is sweet, but far too short and Erin bawls her eyes out on the drive back to DC.
May 23 - Erin starts her new position in DC (STRRRRESSSSS) and moves in with the Gainesville Friends. She now has a FANTASTIC 1+ hour commute.
May 27-30 - Erin and Chris (who is still up in The Hoboken working) both rush back to Williamsburg to see the Snuzz. They get to spend a long weekend there, which is a Godsend. Erin bawls like a baby on the way back to DC (are you seeing a pattern?)
June 3-5 - Erin rushes back down to Williamsburg for another visit. It's decided that Kayla should stay in Williamsburg through June 12th. Erin bawls the whole way back to DC, but knows it's the right decision - time to pack, time to arrange, time to get ready for the move-in on the 13th, less chance of traumatizing the baby by moving her between three different places in the span of one week...The last week is incredibly lonely and painful all the same.
June 12 - Kayla finally arrives in DC and she, Mommy and a visiting Aunt K spend one more night in Gainesville.
June 13 - Kayla has her first day of "school", although she only goes for a trial two hours. Aunt K and Mommy then get all our stuff packed out of the Gainesville house and unpacked into our new Vienna home. Kayla gets to sleep in her new room. Daddy arrives late that night, after having spent the day with the packers in Hoboken. He and Mommy spend a super uncomfortable night on a blow-up mattress while Aunt K sleeps on a futon in the basement.
June 14 - Mommy has to go to work, so Daddy and Aunt K handle meeting the movers when they arrive in VA. The house gets filled top to bottom with boxes and furniture...it is a mess. Kayla spends four hours at daycare. When she gets to daycare, she gets down, starts to play...but when Mommy says goodbye, Kayla starts to sob runs for Mommy's legs. Mommy sobs her way to work.
June 15 - Kayla goes to daycare for a full day! She gets quiet as soon as we walk into the building. As soon as I try to set her down, she starts to sob and clings to me as though I were a cliff edge and she was about to fall. I sob my way to work yet again. Aunt K and Chris head back up to NYC and Mommy and Kayla spend their first night alone in the mostly unpacked, totally disastrous house.
June 16 and 17 - Mommy and Kayla repeat the pattern of Kayla sobbing when Mommy drops her off and Mommy sobbing her way to work. Mommy thinks her heart might break.
And so on and so forth...Daddy came back down for the weekend through Tuesday night, which was AWESOME. Kayla and Mommy miss him so much and having the family separated for this long is really really really getting old.
The daycare thing...the mornings last week were horrible. Kayla sobbed, I sobbed...It was truly the worst feeling in the world to "abandon" her there every day. That said, when I would come to pick her up, she was always CLEARLY having fun. She would be playing, laughing and they would swear that within 5 minutes of me leaving in the morning, she was fine. It didn't make it easier. But the nights...oh the nights were so wonderful. I would go to pick Kayla up and she would spot me from across the room, burst into a beaming smile that made the sun seem dim, would run at me, throw herself into my arms and hug and hug and hug. She was in the BEST mood every night. No matter how little she'd slept at daycare, she was an angel at night. We would lie in the rocking chair together, singing, reading and cuddling...those moments took my breath away and I have never been more glad to have free minutes with that little person.
This week daycare has gone MUCH better. Monday she got down willingly and ran off to play - I think she'd honestly forgotten the previous week's trauma. She did bawl when I left, but I heard it end before I'd reached the front door. Tuesday - she didn't want to get down, but she cried for an even shorter amount of time and today...today she barely cried at all and I could have cheered. I have now driven to work three days in a row without crying. I mean not one tear. There is hope!
Anyway, life is still chaos, but we're starting to sort of settle in. Chris is still back and forth to NYC...Kayla is still figuring out daycare...I'm still figuring out how to work full-time and get dinner on the table...but we're getting there!!
Hang in with me...I may not be great about updating in the coming weeks, but I'll try!! Wait for me!
I know.
I suck.
Or maybe you aren't even bothering to read anymore in which case you are missing my self-deprecating confession of sins.
Does that make sense? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Be glad that I'm writing at all, mmmkay? Linguistic feasibility aside.
So...
Where in the world are The Ducks??
As of this week, that question, though still loaded, got a teeny, tiny bit easier to answer. The Ducks are officially back in their home in Vienna, VA. That's right. We have a home, complete with our possessions. To some, this is every day...for us, this is a special special thing. For the last month or so, we've been living in the utter chaos. Here's a little description of how things have gone...
May 16 - Erin packs up as many of her worldly possessions as possible and moves into a lovely hotel room near Dulles International Airport in Virginia. There she stays for one week while waiting to make the transition to living with some very giving friends in "A Land Far Far Away" (or, as it is more commonly known, Gainesville, VA).
May 19 - Kayla, who has been spending some quality alone time with Daddy in Hoboken, gets picked up and transported down to Williamsburg, VA, courtesy of the Grandma/Grandpa Spatz shuttle. There she will stay for the next 3 1/2 weeks while her parents try to figure out how the heck all this is going to work.
May 20-22 - Erin rushes down to Williamsburg to see her much missed daughter. The trip is sweet, but far too short and Erin bawls her eyes out on the drive back to DC.
May 23 - Erin starts her new position in DC (STRRRRESSSSS) and moves in with the Gainesville Friends. She now has a FANTASTIC 1+ hour commute.
May 27-30 - Erin and Chris (who is still up in The Hoboken working) both rush back to Williamsburg to see the Snuzz. They get to spend a long weekend there, which is a Godsend. Erin bawls like a baby on the way back to DC (are you seeing a pattern?)
June 3-5 - Erin rushes back down to Williamsburg for another visit. It's decided that Kayla should stay in Williamsburg through June 12th. Erin bawls the whole way back to DC, but knows it's the right decision - time to pack, time to arrange, time to get ready for the move-in on the 13th, less chance of traumatizing the baby by moving her between three different places in the span of one week...The last week is incredibly lonely and painful all the same.
June 12 - Kayla finally arrives in DC and she, Mommy and a visiting Aunt K spend one more night in Gainesville.
June 13 - Kayla has her first day of "school", although she only goes for a trial two hours. Aunt K and Mommy then get all our stuff packed out of the Gainesville house and unpacked into our new Vienna home. Kayla gets to sleep in her new room. Daddy arrives late that night, after having spent the day with the packers in Hoboken. He and Mommy spend a super uncomfortable night on a blow-up mattress while Aunt K sleeps on a futon in the basement.
June 14 - Mommy has to go to work, so Daddy and Aunt K handle meeting the movers when they arrive in VA. The house gets filled top to bottom with boxes and furniture...it is a mess. Kayla spends four hours at daycare. When she gets to daycare, she gets down, starts to play...but when Mommy says goodbye, Kayla starts to sob runs for Mommy's legs. Mommy sobs her way to work.
June 15 - Kayla goes to daycare for a full day! She gets quiet as soon as we walk into the building. As soon as I try to set her down, she starts to sob and clings to me as though I were a cliff edge and she was about to fall. I sob my way to work yet again. Aunt K and Chris head back up to NYC and Mommy and Kayla spend their first night alone in the mostly unpacked, totally disastrous house.
June 16 and 17 - Mommy and Kayla repeat the pattern of Kayla sobbing when Mommy drops her off and Mommy sobbing her way to work. Mommy thinks her heart might break.
And so on and so forth...Daddy came back down for the weekend through Tuesday night, which was AWESOME. Kayla and Mommy miss him so much and having the family separated for this long is really really really getting old.
The daycare thing...the mornings last week were horrible. Kayla sobbed, I sobbed...It was truly the worst feeling in the world to "abandon" her there every day. That said, when I would come to pick her up, she was always CLEARLY having fun. She would be playing, laughing and they would swear that within 5 minutes of me leaving in the morning, she was fine. It didn't make it easier. But the nights...oh the nights were so wonderful. I would go to pick Kayla up and she would spot me from across the room, burst into a beaming smile that made the sun seem dim, would run at me, throw herself into my arms and hug and hug and hug. She was in the BEST mood every night. No matter how little she'd slept at daycare, she was an angel at night. We would lie in the rocking chair together, singing, reading and cuddling...those moments took my breath away and I have never been more glad to have free minutes with that little person.
This week daycare has gone MUCH better. Monday she got down willingly and ran off to play - I think she'd honestly forgotten the previous week's trauma. She did bawl when I left, but I heard it end before I'd reached the front door. Tuesday - she didn't want to get down, but she cried for an even shorter amount of time and today...today she barely cried at all and I could have cheered. I have now driven to work three days in a row without crying. I mean not one tear. There is hope!
Anyway, life is still chaos, but we're starting to sort of settle in. Chris is still back and forth to NYC...Kayla is still figuring out daycare...I'm still figuring out how to work full-time and get dinner on the table...but we're getting there!!
Hang in with me...I may not be great about updating in the coming weeks, but I'll try!! Wait for me!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
*Sigh*
Best. Party. Ever.
With perfection in every form, Kayla's first birthday party was a great success. She was the happiest, most affectionate, most entertaining birthday girl I have ever seen. She smiled and laughed and played with not one moment of fussiness, despite being surrounded by 30 people and no time for a nap. She put up with the monster tutu that her mommy put her in, she wore her birthday hat without a complaint and when it came time for her cupcake, she dove right in and made a beautiful photo perfect mess, just as every first birthday parent hopes their child will. She was wonderful. She was perfect. She is my baby and I couldn't help but get choked up a few times yesterday watching her turn into a delightful little kid. She is maturing every day, becoming more and more of a toddler and less and less of a baby. She figures things out at lightening speed and is becoming shockingly self-sufficient in some ways. She is also becoming quite the show-boater and to prove that point, Kayla chose to wait until yesterday afternoon, when she was surrounded by family and friends, to take her very first steps. The room erupted and she beamed around at everyone, clapped her hands and went "Yay!!!!" My daughter...I can't express how grateful I am to have her in my life. She creates sunshine where I might otherwise have had a cloudy day and she is constantly reminding me that "Hey, it's not that bad. It's never that bad." After all the hoopla was finished yesterday, she and I lay in bed reading books before it was time for night-night and I marveled at this cuddly little body who means more to me than anything else in the world. You can't know until you have a child how much your parents love you. There is nothing like it in the world. It's magic.
And so, Kayla Potata, Happy Birthday and Happy First Year of Life. You are a magical, wonderful, special little girl and your Mommy and Daddy love you with all their hearts. Continue to be brave, continue to be curious, continue to be loving and continue to be kind. You become more and more amazing every day and I can't wait to see what this next year brings.
And for those of you who have been asking for pictures of all my arts and crafts, I've tried to include pics below. Hard to capture the full effect, but trust me...it was wow worthy. :)
Front Door - the theme for the party - "Baby in Bloom" (Flower says "Kayla is 1", while the stem spells out the theme)
Month Banner - A number and picture from each of the first 11 months!
The Birthday Girl takes her first steps!
The Spread...
The Dessert Table:
Themed Yumminess:
Custom Labels and Toothpicks with Spring Leaves:
Kayla-ified Cupcakes!!!
The Best Part of All:
And finally, why babies and sugar don't mix:
Best. Party. Ever.
With perfection in every form, Kayla's first birthday party was a great success. She was the happiest, most affectionate, most entertaining birthday girl I have ever seen. She smiled and laughed and played with not one moment of fussiness, despite being surrounded by 30 people and no time for a nap. She put up with the monster tutu that her mommy put her in, she wore her birthday hat without a complaint and when it came time for her cupcake, she dove right in and made a beautiful photo perfect mess, just as every first birthday parent hopes their child will. She was wonderful. She was perfect. She is my baby and I couldn't help but get choked up a few times yesterday watching her turn into a delightful little kid. She is maturing every day, becoming more and more of a toddler and less and less of a baby. She figures things out at lightening speed and is becoming shockingly self-sufficient in some ways. She is also becoming quite the show-boater and to prove that point, Kayla chose to wait until yesterday afternoon, when she was surrounded by family and friends, to take her very first steps. The room erupted and she beamed around at everyone, clapped her hands and went "Yay!!!!" My daughter...I can't express how grateful I am to have her in my life. She creates sunshine where I might otherwise have had a cloudy day and she is constantly reminding me that "Hey, it's not that bad. It's never that bad." After all the hoopla was finished yesterday, she and I lay in bed reading books before it was time for night-night and I marveled at this cuddly little body who means more to me than anything else in the world. You can't know until you have a child how much your parents love you. There is nothing like it in the world. It's magic.
And so, Kayla Potata, Happy Birthday and Happy First Year of Life. You are a magical, wonderful, special little girl and your Mommy and Daddy love you with all their hearts. Continue to be brave, continue to be curious, continue to be loving and continue to be kind. You become more and more amazing every day and I can't wait to see what this next year brings.
And for those of you who have been asking for pictures of all my arts and crafts, I've tried to include pics below. Hard to capture the full effect, but trust me...it was wow worthy. :)
Front Door - the theme for the party - "Baby in Bloom" (Flower says "Kayla is 1", while the stem spells out the theme)
Month Banner - A number and picture from each of the first 11 months!
The Birthday Girl takes her first steps!
The Spread...
The Dessert Table:
Themed Yumminess:
Custom Labels and Toothpicks with Spring Leaves:
Kayla-ified Cupcakes!!!
The Best Part of All:
And finally, why babies and sugar don't mix:
Monday, April 11, 2011
Spring Things (The Good, The Bad and The Bizarre)
Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...
So, Kayla has had the never-ending cold from Hades for about six weeks now. I think it was a train of two, maybe three colds, really, but it has basically left her sniffling and coughing for the last month and a half. And though she seemed like she was starting to feel better yesterday - great appetite, in great spirits, conquering all kinds of new feats (more on that), today she seems to have taken a few steps backward and she's having a tough go of it. The poor thing is just dripping snot and her cough is horrendous. To top it all off, she is pulling constantly at her ear. To this, I say, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" You can not do this to me Virus Gods! You can not give my baby her first ear infection on the week of her birthday. I will not allow it. You back on off of my baby and you leave her healthy and happy, preferably forever, but I'll take until next Monday. Honestly...timing is a b****.
In other news though, yesterday was a major Big Girl Day for Kayla. We are supposed to be transitioning her from the bottle to a sippy cup. She has been drinking water from her sippy cup for a long time now and does great, but we are now supposed to be giving up bottles and only drinking from cups. Sigh...my baby is a toddler. Anyway, the first couple of times I gave this a go, she pretty much refused to take her milk from a cup. She would eagerly grab the cup, take a big sip and then go "Waaaaait a minute! This is not water!" and she would set the cup down, give me a look of disdain and then patiently refuse to drink any more milk until it was transferred to a bottle where it belongs, silly woman. So, realizing that her birthday is now almost here and that most of the daycare centers we're looking at have kids transitioned to sippy cups by 12 months, I decided yesterday that I better give it another go. This time, I tried it with her first bottle of the day, thinking maybe she'd be too hungry to refuse. Sure enough, without hesitation, she sucked it all down. Victory! Then, her second bottle of the day...I was 100% anticipating she would now be less hungry and would return to giving me the "Are you a moron" look...Sluuuuuurp. Sucked it right down again! Victory x 2! I have absolutely no idea what made the difference yesterday, but she didn't even blink while drinking every last ounce of milk from those cups. I wasn't brave enough to try it before bedtime but, despite a little hesitation this morning, her first milk of the day once again came in cup format. Looks like the transition may happen after all!
So, that was the first big girl thing. The second thing was that we went out to dinner last night and Kayla used a straw! She has tried numerous times before, but usually just winds up chewing frustratedly on the straw, looking at me like "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" This time, she chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped then sucked! And then sucked some more! And then got all excited and drank the rest of my very yummy carrot juice. Can kids have carrot juice? Let's hope so! But yep, two Big Girl mountains conquered in one day. This kid is growing up way too fast.
In non-Kayla related news, it is spring time. It is spring time and this means that the Easter Bunny has returned to a mall near you. Can I just say, right here, right now, that the Easter Bunny is a scary bizarre freak of nature? I mean, really...A gigantic, walking, talking rodent that steals some poor chickens eggs, paints them funny colors and then hides them in strange and unlikely places? Who came up with this? The Catholic Encyclopedia, of course, says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." So, the fertility god rabbit brings pretty painted EGGS to small children? Creepier and creepier. Laugh all you want, but the Easter Bunny seriously freaks me out. I mean, really...
Do I really have to introduce my child to this? Can't we do egg and basket hunts (because those are just way too fun) without having to get into the whole "The Easter Bunny brought it," thing? Can't we just celebrate spring and talk about flowers blooming, chicks being hatched, etc., without discussing some humongous rabbit who somehow managed to get past our security system? I keep seeing Easter bunnies around town and, let's be honest, this is the weirdest tradition in the history of holidays. Well, no, that's not fair. There are some pretty bizarre holiday traditions in every corner of the world...ever been to India? But that is a story for another time. But this bunny...why? I can't help it, I am a little bit glad that Kayla is still too young for Easter and we have time left to figure out how to handle it. Easter Bunny...ugh.
So, Kayla has had the never-ending cold from Hades for about six weeks now. I think it was a train of two, maybe three colds, really, but it has basically left her sniffling and coughing for the last month and a half. And though she seemed like she was starting to feel better yesterday - great appetite, in great spirits, conquering all kinds of new feats (more on that), today she seems to have taken a few steps backward and she's having a tough go of it. The poor thing is just dripping snot and her cough is horrendous. To top it all off, she is pulling constantly at her ear. To this, I say, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" You can not do this to me Virus Gods! You can not give my baby her first ear infection on the week of her birthday. I will not allow it. You back on off of my baby and you leave her healthy and happy, preferably forever, but I'll take until next Monday. Honestly...timing is a b****.
In other news though, yesterday was a major Big Girl Day for Kayla. We are supposed to be transitioning her from the bottle to a sippy cup. She has been drinking water from her sippy cup for a long time now and does great, but we are now supposed to be giving up bottles and only drinking from cups. Sigh...my baby is a toddler. Anyway, the first couple of times I gave this a go, she pretty much refused to take her milk from a cup. She would eagerly grab the cup, take a big sip and then go "Waaaaait a minute! This is not water!" and she would set the cup down, give me a look of disdain and then patiently refuse to drink any more milk until it was transferred to a bottle where it belongs, silly woman. So, realizing that her birthday is now almost here and that most of the daycare centers we're looking at have kids transitioned to sippy cups by 12 months, I decided yesterday that I better give it another go. This time, I tried it with her first bottle of the day, thinking maybe she'd be too hungry to refuse. Sure enough, without hesitation, she sucked it all down. Victory! Then, her second bottle of the day...I was 100% anticipating she would now be less hungry and would return to giving me the "Are you a moron" look...Sluuuuuurp. Sucked it right down again! Victory x 2! I have absolutely no idea what made the difference yesterday, but she didn't even blink while drinking every last ounce of milk from those cups. I wasn't brave enough to try it before bedtime but, despite a little hesitation this morning, her first milk of the day once again came in cup format. Looks like the transition may happen after all!
So, that was the first big girl thing. The second thing was that we went out to dinner last night and Kayla used a straw! She has tried numerous times before, but usually just winds up chewing frustratedly on the straw, looking at me like "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" This time, she chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped then sucked! And then sucked some more! And then got all excited and drank the rest of my very yummy carrot juice. Can kids have carrot juice? Let's hope so! But yep, two Big Girl mountains conquered in one day. This kid is growing up way too fast.
In non-Kayla related news, it is spring time. It is spring time and this means that the Easter Bunny has returned to a mall near you. Can I just say, right here, right now, that the Easter Bunny is a scary bizarre freak of nature? I mean, really...A gigantic, walking, talking rodent that steals some poor chickens eggs, paints them funny colors and then hides them in strange and unlikely places? Who came up with this? The Catholic Encyclopedia, of course, says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." So, the fertility god rabbit brings pretty painted EGGS to small children? Creepier and creepier. Laugh all you want, but the Easter Bunny seriously freaks me out. I mean, really...
Do I really have to introduce my child to this? Can't we do egg and basket hunts (because those are just way too fun) without having to get into the whole "The Easter Bunny brought it," thing? Can't we just celebrate spring and talk about flowers blooming, chicks being hatched, etc., without discussing some humongous rabbit who somehow managed to get past our security system? I keep seeing Easter bunnies around town and, let's be honest, this is the weirdest tradition in the history of holidays. Well, no, that's not fair. There are some pretty bizarre holiday traditions in every corner of the world...ever been to India? But that is a story for another time. But this bunny...why? I can't help it, I am a little bit glad that Kayla is still too young for Easter and we have time left to figure out how to handle it. Easter Bunny...ugh.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Forgive Me Father
I have a confession...
I have gone into total geeked out Martha Stewart mode for Kayla's first birthday. I can't stop. I have been to Michael's three times, Target four...I had to cut myself off when I almost bought a craft punch because, seriously...who owns a craft punch? Actually, I'm willing to bet money that a few of you do...am I wrong? Craft dorks. But anyhow...so the decorations and supplies are piling up and poor Kayla is being tormented by all the colorful things that she's not allowed to touch. She is eager to help me when I am cutting, gluing or otherwise crafting, but unfortunately, babies and Super Glue just don't mix.
Now, obviously, I can't allow you to see any of the projects-in-the-making because I don't want to spoil the surprise for those of you coming to the party, but let's just say that it is going to be darned cute (if I do say so myself) and you are going to be wowed by my creativity once pictures are finally posted. And, if you're not, well, keep it to yourself because ain't no one gonna rain on this paper butterfly parade. *GASP* I have said too much...
But okay, now I just feel bad for you because I know you are DYING to see the decor. Being the giver that I am, I will give you one SMALL preview, but that is IT. And don't come asking for more. Take this little teaser and then get excited for the photo barrage you will undoubtedly receive in just a couple (ACK!) weeks.
Ready?
How will it be used? Where did it come from? Never you mind for now. But, seriously...is it gonna be a cute party or what?
I have gone into total geeked out Martha Stewart mode for Kayla's first birthday. I can't stop. I have been to Michael's three times, Target four...I had to cut myself off when I almost bought a craft punch because, seriously...who owns a craft punch? Actually, I'm willing to bet money that a few of you do...am I wrong? Craft dorks. But anyhow...so the decorations and supplies are piling up and poor Kayla is being tormented by all the colorful things that she's not allowed to touch. She is eager to help me when I am cutting, gluing or otherwise crafting, but unfortunately, babies and Super Glue just don't mix.
Now, obviously, I can't allow you to see any of the projects-in-the-making because I don't want to spoil the surprise for those of you coming to the party, but let's just say that it is going to be darned cute (if I do say so myself) and you are going to be wowed by my creativity once pictures are finally posted. And, if you're not, well, keep it to yourself because ain't no one gonna rain on this paper butterfly parade. *GASP* I have said too much...
But okay, now I just feel bad for you because I know you are DYING to see the decor. Being the giver that I am, I will give you one SMALL preview, but that is IT. And don't come asking for more. Take this little teaser and then get excited for the photo barrage you will undoubtedly receive in just a couple (ACK!) weeks.
Ready?
How will it be used? Where did it come from? Never you mind for now. But, seriously...is it gonna be a cute party or what?
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