Wonders, Mishaps, Blunders and Joy.. commentary on my life as a mom in the form of letters to my son
We must be one of the few homes that did not get decked out this weekend for the holidays, but when we do, you better believe our soundtrack will be this….
The winners of the Michael Bublé Christmas CDs are: Mel (comment #3) and Jessica (comment #13)!
Congratulations, ladies! Enjoy and have a very happy holiday.
Everyone in my house has been sick for weeks.
Nothing more serious than colds, but the lingering cough has become beyond annoying.
Poor Lucas has suffered the longest and I feel terrible for him. His sleep is disrupted and play time hindered.
His life would greatly improve if he could only blow his tiny little nose.
We run a humidifier at night and have gone through a tub of Vicks VapoRub.
Like every mother, I don’t want my son to suffer from anything. Ever. And if I could, I’d take away his cough.
I would also make sure he never had a blister, ice cream headache, pimple, paper cut, cold sore, food poisoning, heart burn, hiccups, allergies, body odor, carpal tunnel syndrome, sleepless night, heart break, skinned knee, hang nail, chafing, sprained ankle, jet lag, heat stroke, tennis elbow, crick in his neck, bruise, pink eye, dandruff, stubbed toe, sunburn, tooth ache, dislocated shoulder, cracked rib, electric shock, torn ligament, fever, sore throat, or hacking cough.
I would just settle for being able to prevent my family from passing this nasty cold back and forth and make preschool a healthy place to be rather than a cesspool of germs and ick.
I’m just saying…
Letters For You will resume next week.
Until then, from my home to yours, have a warm, wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!
Look at what Lucas made for me at school ~ swoon ~
The best part?
As soon as he gave me this card, he said he needed to make another one and when I asked if that was because he had more things to be thankful for, he replied “Yes, Daddy!”.
I am so thankful for my family, but especially my little Lucas.
Linking up with Alicia’s Wordful Wednesdays.
Home: the place where my husband and son are.
Both people bring so much comfort and joy to my life, but I am truly at my happiest in one of two other places; walking along the beach with the warm sun kissing my face, watching seagulls fly overhead, getting lost in my thoughts while at the same time completely clearing my mind. The salt air does wonders for my soul and the sound of the waves calm me.
My third favorite place to be, the place I find the most relaxing is a bookstore.
I miss the independent shops and the knowledgeable sales staff, the ones that actually read and can recommend something you’ve never heard of and fall completely in love with after the first chapter.
Books are magical; the way they feel and smell and line up against one another on shelves. I appreciate their ability to take our hand and transport us to another place and time.
Being in a bookstore is peaceful and I have spent hours walking up and down the aisles searching for inspiration, discovering it, exploring new topics, taking in the faint scent of print and coffee and relishing the quiet.
My love of bookstores, I inherited from my father. Sometimes he’d walk out of a one having spent hundreds of dollars and others, not one cent. The smile on his face was detectable either way.
Image courtesy of Pinterest. Click photo for source information.
This post was written for Write on Edge’s writing meme, RemembeRED. This week’s prompt: write about a (real) place that makes you feel peaceful. Where is your quiet place? What does it look like? What happens there? Word limit is 200. Constructive criticism is welcome.
You’re okay, you’ve got your night light and water and books and lovey.
Nothing has brought me more joy as a mother than hearing the things I’m teaching Lucas repeated back to me. I get such a thrill when I can see in his eyes that something has clicked; a new shape or color has been committed to memory or an additional lyric to a song has been learned. I love witnessing his exploratory mind hard at work taking in everything that he encounters and retains. It’s as though all of my hard work as a parent is being paid off.
Your humidifier is on and we’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.
I can’t hide my smile when Lucas uses “please” and “thank you” without being prompted.
I’m tickled every time he blesses me after a sneeze.
My heart is all a-flutter when Lucas tells me he loves me first and asks for hugs.
This morning, I walked into the living room and heard him comforting his Elmo doll just the way his father and I do at bedtime.
Mommy and Daddy love you so much. Have a good sleep.
It was our bedtime routine verbatim. Not a day goes by that I am not simply amazed by my son.
What has your child done lately that has stopped you in your tracks?
Don’t forget to enter my Michael Bublé holiday CD give away!
It’s already mid-November.
Thanksgiving is ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!
How did that happen?
Five weeks after that, it’s Christmas!!
Have you even thought about Christmas shopping? I haven’t! Not in the least bit.
My sister sent me her “wish list” the other night and asked me what I wanted. My first reaction? MORE TIME!
We all say it every year: “the holidays start earlier every year”, but I don’t know why we’re so surprised, we know it’s coming.
Red and green decorations started making their debut the day after Halloween.
We received our first holiday card BEFORE Halloween. Can you say anal? Truth be told, I’m more than a little jealous.
For the most part, I enjoy seeing festive decorations at the mall and the holiday merchandise at the super market and I don’t even mind hearing Christmas songs in doctors offices or elevators, but the pressure that comes with the decor and the music just makes me think about all the things I need to do to get ready for the holidays.
And then I get cranky.
I spent an hour on our holiday card yesterday and finally got so frustrated with trying to find the perfect photo and the right words, I had to give up and go for a walk instead. I don’t know about you, but a walk always helps me clear my head of all the junk rattling around.
Donned in tank top and cropped yoga pants (it’s still 70 degrees in Southern California in November), I listened to what will soon become one of my favorite holiday albums, Michael Bublé’s Christmas.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Bublé in concert and think he is just dreamy so I knew the album would deliver!
Bublé’s voice is smooth as silk as he belts out 14 traditional Christmas songs and one original that he and his piano player wrote called Cold December Night.
As I sang along to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, all of a sudden I had visions of tree trimming and envelope addressing, present wrapping and multiple trips to Target on my mind. Listening to this album was exactly what I needed to kick start my holiday mood.
Click for track listing
In the spirit of the gift giving season and as a gentle reminder to truly enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays instead of them driving you crazy with a “To Do” list a mile long, I would like to give away TWO copies of Michael Bublé’s Christmas CD.
All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite Christmas carol. Simple, right?
Two winners will be selected at random on Monday, November 28, 2012. Winners will be notified via e-mail and/or Twitter.
Happy holidays, everyone and good luck!
My Letters For You guest this week is the very pregnant KLZ, otherwise known as, Kristin, who writes the hilarious blog Taming Insanity and if that isn’t enough, she is also one of the co-founders of Eli Rose Social Media.
Plus, she can rock a pair of reindeer antlers like nobody’s business!
Dear 8 year old self: that perm is a terrible idea. At least do us all a favor and if you do forge ahead and get it, please destroy all visual evidence.
Dear 13 year old self: just because you saw a model wear nearly black lipstick does not mean it is fashionable nor does it mean you can pull it off. You’re making an ass of us and you’re too stubborn to admit it.
Dear 16 year old self: stand up for yourself now or your feelings will get so pent up that they’ll explode. Trying to be “nice” is going to backfire.
Dear 17 year old self: I didn’t mean stand up for yourself quite that much. That’s what I meant about things backfiring. PS the shade of lipstick you’re wearing now is fine. Keep it.
Dear 18 year old self: yes, your hair has some wave but you can’t pull off “curly” or really even “wavy”. You are the only one buying this hairstyle as legitimate.
Dear 20 year old self: get over him.
Dear 21 year old self: slow down. Bigger things are coming.
Dear 23 year old self: marry him. Even though he’s going to make you want to stab him sometimes, you will get back more than you ever expected.
Dear 26 year old self: you’re welcome.
Dear 28 year old self: you’re overwhelmed because you take too much on. You expect too much of yourself. Also, you’re welcome.
Dear 30 year old self: no big deal.
Dear 39 year old self: be careful. You have a teenager.
Dear 40 year old self: still no big deal.
Dear 50 year old self: Seriously, this age stuff is no big deal. What is a big deal is that some of your kids are out of college now.
Dear 53 year old self: If you’re concerned about the way that your ass looks, go to the gym and quit whining. Even I can’t stand listening to you.
Dear 67 year old self: Life happens outside of books too. Be sure to get out there and live, you dumb slut.
Dear 80 year old self: You better not have messed this up for us.
It’s inevitable.
Bound to happen, as it does to all of us.
For some, it happens sooner rather than later. Much later.
I was in the second grade.
His name was (and is, we are now Facebook friends) Scott Brewer.
Lucas has been in preschool since August and has adjusted very well. He attends three days a week for three hours each day.
He’s braved the last 10 days without a lovey. This is HUGE!
He loves his teacher and has made friends. I have to smile when upon arriving each day how many of classmates greet him.
I have a roster of all the children in his class and we review it daily.
There are 24 boys and girls in Room 2, but only one that makes him light up like a Christmas tree.
Her name is Sophia.
When I think of vacation, I picture quality time spent in a poolside lounge chair with a great book, a pile of magazines and being served too many cocktails.
I also associate vacations with letting my hair down, uninterrupted conversations, new experiences, sleeping in and room service.
Costa Rica, October, 2005
I envision escaping it all: laundry, bills, TV; the mundane of my every day existence at home.
Vacations are meant to be memory-making adventures sprinkled with a little more indulgence than usual and hopefully some decent photos to bring home and frame.
Cabo San Lucas, April, 2001
My perfect vacation [and only because it has been so long that I’ve had one quite like this] would be somewhere sunny and coastal and alone with my husband.
Grand Canyon, Summer, 2008
My perfect vacation would also include:
1. Someone to pack for me, first class tickets and a limousine ride to and from the airport would all be wonderful, but I honestly don’t mind shuttles or coach seats (just so long as I don’t get stuck next to a screaming kid or a stinky fat man).
2. The ability to enjoy the vacation without any mommy guilt!
3. Having been rained on, snowed in and caught in a hurricane, the perfect vacation would include perfect weather upon arrival and for the entire length of our stay.
4. The ability to pack everything I might need and nothing I won’t, in other words, as many shoes as I want without any questions from my traveling companion and no emergency stops at a mall or drug store for something stupid I forgot at home, like a bathing suit. Yes, I have done this before. More than once!
5. Souvenirs. In the form of a special trinket, new friends or the rekindling of an old relationship with a true BFF.
Visiting my BFF, Sophie in New Caledonia, May, 2010
6. The ability to truly relax. This is so much easier said that done, especially for my husband when confined to a lounge chair. For me, if in a beach or pool setting, I could hang out in the sun all day every day, breaking only to eat, sleep and shower, but for him, it’s not so easy. I’m open to water sports and boat rides.
7. The ability to indulge in sweet treats and pretty drinks without gaining a single pound.
8. The ability to NOT get sick. I have had some of the nastiest colds in my life while on vacation.
9. Spa services. Enough said.
10. Returning home to a clean home, fresh sheets on the bed, mail sorted and someone to do the mounds of laundry.
Hawaii, August, 2011
This post was inspired by Stasha’s Monday Listicles, a linky right up my alley, as I LOVE lists! This week’s topic: 10 Things That Make A Vacation Perfect (selected by Hopes@StayingAfloat)
Some days the sadness wins and you just can’t fight it.
Some days the questions outweigh the answers.
Some days there are more tears than smiles.
Some days it would be so much easier to pull the covers way up over your head and stay in bed all day long.
Some days holding on to the past is more comfortable than being in the present or looking forward.
Some days the thought of looking anyone in the eye is too much to bear.
Some days all you feel like doing is curling up with a box of donuts and throwing yourself a pity party.
Some days your spirit is so broken that you can’t remember the last time you laughed.
Some days feel so completely out of control that all you can do is breathe from one moment into the next.
Some days there are not enough distractions and too many memories.
Some days, thankfully, there is this: 
Some days are better than others.
If you find yourself in hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill
