Inevitably Keely

Performance Artist So, I decided to get the crayons out for Zoe again since she grabbed a pen and paper off the table and obviously wanted to draw. When I asked her if she wanted crayons, she quickly responded "Please!" instead of doing her usual when she's got something she shouldn't: Running like a bat out of hell. Up she went in the highchair. I took a sharpie and wrote her name in block letters. I drew a cartoon of a cat, flowers, numbers. Basically it was my quick answer to a page from a coloring book. She went with it. She carefully chose her colors. Red. Blue. Purple. Green. She was partial to the blue. I left her alone for a second. OK. Maybe 30 seconds. She ate 1/2 of the blue crayon. Well, maybe just a 1/4 of it because a good amount came spilling out of her blue stained mouth when I exclaimed, "Oh, NOOOOOO! What did you doooooo?!" (In slow motion, of course.) And she laughed and said "Blue!" Great. At least I'm teaching her colors. A...

When I signed up for GIST , I thought it would be the perfect thing for me. I thought it would keep me grounded, positive and appreciative for all the amazing things going on in my life and I looked forward to reading everyone else’s lists. But somewhere between giving birth to my son on December 31st of 2008 and now, I lost my zest for blogging. Slowly, I’m trying to get back into it because I’ve been missing the release that writing gives me, and the connections with other bloggers. Also, I’ve been seriously lax in my letters to Zoe. So, I haven’t quite figured out what my participation level in GIST will be, but I thought I’d start by jotting down some things I am grateful for as they relate to having a newborn AND a toddler. Here Goes: 1. Halo Sleep sacks with swaddler… a swaddled baby is a sleeping baby. Yay! 2. Soothies. Sometimes a breastfeeding mama needs a break. 3. Easy latching. It wasn’t easy the first time, at all. 4. Finn is a great eater. My boy likes his food and is ...

I'll tell you: - People who don't return their shopping carts to the shopping cart corral. Really? Is it that long of a walk? Do you feel good about taking up a parking spot that someone (maybe me) might want/need to park in? If you're too lazy or too busy to take the cart back, why not offer it to someone just getting out of the car? I know when I've got my toddler AND my newborn in tow and it's just me, I sure would appreciate someone offering me their cart. - And while we're talking about parking lots.... What gives with these HUGE vehicles and their bad parking? You don't need two spaces. You certainly do not need to park diagonally across two spaces. That is just plain inconsiderate. Learn to park, get a smaller vehicle, or learn to drive, whatever applies. And hey, if you have such a large vehicle that you do not fit in a space, consider parking further back in the parking lot where it's less crowded. Just a thought. - Smokers. I'm sorry. I...

Forty-six days ago we were spending our last day as a family of three. We were anticipating your arrival with a lot of excitement and some nervousness. Daddy was dropping Bailey and Max off at the doggie hotel and Mama was taking the last shots of her pregnant belly so she could document one last time just how big she’d gotten. Mama and Daddy got ready and we took your big sister to your Cheryl and Chuck-Chuck’s where she would stay the night before you were born and until Nana and Baba could arrive. And then we went out for a quiet dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. We had some appetizer that I can’t remember now and I had the Tequila Lime Chicken Fettuccine. You must have liked the food, because you kicked a lot and Mama had lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. Mama had so many that Daddy got out his pen and paper and logged each contraction and we laughed because wouldn’t that be funny if you decided to come out on your own after all! But the contractions subsided and we went home t...

See all the Finn pics HERE . Watch me and the kids here: Zoe is saying hello to Torrie's daughter, Willa after seeing her on flickr this morning. She says "Hi, Willa." and then again - but I thought she was just pointing at the baby. Sometimes it's not so easy to understand "toddler speak" right away.