i have to say

that i totally love being a mama to little boys.

it took forEVER. three boys, in fact. but i was kissing on my youngest, earlier, and realized how perfect everything was.

is.

how perfect everything is.

it is no secret

i am slightly obsessed with moleskine notebooks. with unlined pages. yum. it is an obsession that started when i worked at barnes at noble at age 18.

it started with a simple, understated hardcover black classic journal.

since then, my love and respect for the cahier journals has grown immensely.
i prefer the kraft look most of all.

i'm less fond of the volant line, though i do love me the rainbow of colors offered so i have a few. the x-small pink ones can be found in my car, for jotting down quick notes or thoughts that i want to follow through on, but will forget while driving.

anyhow, where is all of this going? i don't know, but i am telling myself that i need this 18 month calendar even though i've never been one to dedicate all my doodles, thoughts, and appointments to one notebook for an entire year, much less a year and a half. i already have a red cahier in my diaper bag at all times. do i really need the added functionality of a calendar?


oh, the perplexities of a saturday morn.

busy little bee

i have neglected the blogs (and writing, in general) in the past month or so because i have been preparing for my upcoming nuptials. yup, blessed papa and i are finally making this official.

we've been in the planning stages for a while, after setting a date about seven months ago. but, as with most things, i put things off or wait until the pressure of "last minute" is upon me to really get moving. so. last month i was printing invitations, and in recent weeks i have been working on my vows, selecting the readings for our ceremony speakers, compiling our reception playlist and still have to print programs, water bottle labels, and do a million other little things.

there's like 16 days left.

i just found the right dress yesterday.

so, as much as i'd love to type up a bunch of reviews i've been meaning to post over here and kick off two exciting giveaways for the mama crowd, it's going to have to wait until next month.

i thought i could handle the everday day to day, on top of writing an article, and planning and preparing for my wedding but it's crunchtime and my house is a mess. i have slacked in the blog (and article-writing) department and need to focus solely on wedding plans right now.

needless to say, i thought some tiny update was necessary. i'm still here ;)

if wishes were fishes, we'd all be at sea

yesterday, to represent the fact that i was repeatedly reminding myself that i am nearing 31 years of age and can no longer believe in magical thinking and the power of childlike, frivolous wishing, i wore my threadless "wishless" shirt.

because wishing is absolutely fucking pointless.

so then i started pondering...in this abundant, energy and thought-filled world we live in what is the difference between a wish and an intention. must our dreams (used here to glorify the term "goal") and desires fit within certain realms of possibility? certainly not, as some may argue, then there would never be any innovation or progress for individuals or society. but we're still bound to particular matters of fact or theory, such as gravity. yes, it is times like these i wish that (haha. there i go again) i could leave the young children under the care of my teenager and run away for the day with a notebook and pen and ponder all ponderables in peace until i come to some sort of working solution for myself, until the nagging questions stop nagging.

but if wishes were fishes, we'd all be at sea.

someone once told me that, as a child. i have no idea who but it stuck with me as one of the most gentle phrases i've ever heard to convey the message that we're all basically shit out of luck when it comes to wishing.

and how.

in that strange way that all things connect and make sense somewhere, last night i was driving home with just the pea in the backseat and he, out of nowhere, says, "mama, i wish we could make wishes and they'd come true."

me, too, little one.

and to keep it succinct, i won't get into the whole warning to "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it" - i have a bit of experience with that, too. can't win for losing, sometimes.

oh no, she didn't!

yes. yes, she did.

i was flipping channels early in the morning, which i don't normally do, but i came across the CBS show the doctors and was intrigued by the question and answer format of today's episode. i'm not sure if it was a recent episode or a re-run because i've only watched about 15 minutes of the show ever.

one question came from a breastfeeding mother with a ten month old who has recently started biting her. according to her letter, he bites every time she nurses and HARD. she basically asked what she could do about this nuisance.

i was shocked when the only female doctor on the panel, dr. lisa masterson, stated the only option the woman had was to wean her son. dr. masterson explained that if an infant is biting his mother, it's an indication that the child is saying, "i'm done with you, i've had enough" or something to that effect. just wow.

i was then also surprised that a male doctor not only gave much better advice, but the advice i have used myself, successfully with my youngest two nurslings (i didn't nurse my oldest long enough to experience biting). he said that the natural reaction might be for the mother to try and pull their child off the breast as they bite, but if you've ever tried this, yeah, you know how ineffective and painful it can be so he suggessted, instead, that you gently push the baby's head towards your chest, squishing their little nose and they'll unlatch themselves so they can breathe. it's been my favorite technique and neither of my younger bite for long after experiencing that a few times. i read about it in a dr. sears book, either the breastfeeding book or the baby book, i forget which. so it wasn't all too shocking when i discovered that the male doctor that provided this awesome advice on the show, was dr. jim sears, son of the dr. sears.

while i am still somewhat livid after hearing dr. masterson's terrible advice passed off so matter-of-factly, i am very grateful that CBS has dr. sears on the panel and that he can offer a more gentle alternative to some of the things that pass as mainstream, acceptable medical advice.

sometimes i get my kids happy meals

and yesterday was one of those days.

pea was expecting a madagascar penguin toy and so he was surprised when the drive-thru attendant asked me if the meal was for a boy or a girl. because they still had the madagascar penguin signs up i had no idea which toy would be cooler and decided to be honest, and get the boy toy for my boy child.

it was the better choice, since the happy meal bag revealed that the girl toy was some iCarly crap. the boy toy (don't get me started on how mc donald's just might perpetuate inaccurate gender stereotypes) was star wars related. and as i'm explaining to my four year old that he got some sort of star wars aircraft launcher, he asks, "is that green guy on the bag a star wars character?" yes, that's yoda. "and they use life savers in star wars, right?" yes, *chuckle* that's right.


he's never actually seen star ways, mind you. but he knows all about the extendable lightsabers at target.

don't try this quinoa recipe at home

for health reasons i have tried to embrace quinoa on several occasions.

i think once i managed a hot breakfast cereal that was palatable.

today i decided to heat up some flakes in order to bulk up sprout's fruit and veggie purees.

there was an awful lot of warm, fluffy quinoa left over in the pan after i added some to sprout's lunch and put away what i'd use in his meals for the week so i decided to make pea and i an after-lunch dessert with the rest.

it sure looked pretty.

i had wanted to share a recipe consisting of some quinoa flakes turned hot cereal as per package instructions, with some vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground flax seeds, and a sprinkling of turbinado sugar. sounds pretty, too.

but. well. um.

i asked pea if he liked it and he said, "no. you taste it."

i didn't much like it, either, but couldn't tell if it was because it had grown slightly cold as we finished our lunch, because of the texture, or because i had mistakenly stirred it with the same spoon i'd used to stir my green chili stew.

sprout liked it better than he liked his pureed peaches and bananas but pea wasn't about to eat anymore.

i didn't want it all to go to waste so i finished my helping but let pea leave the table.
the taste and texture improved after i got over my initial gag reflex.


i want to like quinoa, i do. but aside from adding cooked flakes to the baby's food, i think i'll reserve them for baking.