Go-Go Mommy

Sex, Lies, and Charitable Contributions

If you know me, and I know most of you don't so just to let you know, I LOVE (yes, with caps) the Holidays! I absolutely love this time of year when there is that electric mania in the air. When you can go outside and smell the pines, feel the crisp nights (in California we have to wait until the sun goes down to feel the chill of the season - at least on most days), and go into overdrive to get everything on the never-ending holiday "to-do" list done.

And while I've been enjoying the early start to the television Christmas Specials - Poppy and I have already seen A Charlie Brown Christmas, Shrek the Halls, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas - I must admit that I'm kind of already looking forward to the end of the holiday season for the first time in my life.

It's not because things have gotten too hectic with trying to buy, wrap and send gifts, decorate the house like Martha Stewart, set up an outdoor display rivaling Clark Griswold's (I couldn't pass up the Christmas Vacation reference), or bake wonderfully tastey treats to give to all the important people in our lives while keeping up with the usual over-stuffed schedule. It's just that on Thursday, January 3rd, history will be made. For all you reality tv junkies out there, that's the night Celebrity Apprentice debuts!

I know, I know, another Apprentice. We all know the formula, we've seen it a million times. The couple who "finds love" while competing for the coveted spot, the secret alliances, the usual tasks, the backstabbing and doing "just enough" to be seen as a competent business person so you don't get fired in the boardroom. Yet, how can you go wrong watching Gene Simmons (the quintessential business man who has mastered the art of self-marketing while maintaining his ultimate rockstar playboy status) work with someone like Stephen Baldwin, a "born-again Christian" who has been touring the country speaking and touting his new book "The Unusual Suspect, My Calling to the New Hardcore Movement of Faith."

Mix that combination together with the likes of Tiffany Fallon (2005 Playboy Playmate of the Year), boxing champ Lennox Lewis, Latina media powerhouse Nely Galan (former President of hugely successful Telemundo), and "The Sopranos" actor Vincent Pastore, and you've got a recipe for sparks to fly and fabulous quotes to be made. I may even have enough new fodder to replace some of my standard "Caddyshack", "Godfather" and "Smokey and the Bandit" quotes! (And I will definitely post those later.)

Best of all, and keeping in line with the Holiday Season, these celebreties aren't actually working for a job. (Duh!) Instead they will be raising money as well as awareness for their favorite charities and causes. Definitely a win-win.

Now, aren't you happy you have something to look forward to after the Holidays?!

That's what I call "out of the box."

Poppy has done it again!

When I told her we had to wait until tomorrow to start wrapping our gifts because we needed tape from the store, she said; "Mommy, wait. I have the perfect idea! We can use my stickers!"

I just love the hearts, stars, and flowers. Poppy definitely started a new holiday tradition for the Go-Go household. Why use plain, old scotch tape when stickers look so cute?

Do you have a favorite holiday tip to share? We'd love to try it!

Just when you think you've got it all figured out...

If you're a regular reader (aka - my husband) you know that I usually try to post something new about every couple of days. Needless to say, I feel like I'm a little late - and this is going to be very short.

The problem is that Sweet Pea is cutting another tooth. I just love her sassy smile and it's always exciting to see how much better she handles solides with her ever-increasing set of chompers. The down side? Where do I begin?

KB and I were settling nicely into somewhat of a "routine". Sweet Pea was going to bed early - well, earlier than we liked - but she was getting a solid 10 hours of sleep. For mommy, this was truly a blessing. While this meant she was going to bed about 6:30pm and waking up at 4:30am, it was still better than it has ever been this past year. I was even able to push back her bedtime to about 7:30pm (which was heaven) until daylight savings time rolled around. But I was up for the challenge of figuring it out. It's the new tooth that's another story.

No, KB and I haven't gotten any sleep for the last 3 nights. In fact, I received warnings probably a few days before that when she woke up at 10pm and then 2pm. I took it for hunger - you'd think that with Sweet Pea being my second child I'd know the difference between hunger pains and "a tooth splitting your gum open" pain.

Wish us luck tonight!

Merci! Mahalo! Grazie! Xie xie!

Lucky me, lucky life
loving home, loving wife.

Two girls I need
who need me,
lucky, lucky, lucky me.

A day of thanks to reflect
on a year past so circumspect.

Some days hard, some were easy
some left me euphoric, some queazy.

Mom at home 24/7
can be both hell as well as heaven.

Poppy growing so tall and right
endless energy, boundless light.

Sweet Pea following her sister's lead
her firsts were my rewards indeed.

And KB, you made my dreams come true
I love your heart, your hard work...you!

So with my friends both new and old
before the year of reflections grow cold

a wish of thanks to all today
let tomorrow bring what it may.

Oh lucky me, lucky life,
friend, daughter, mother, sister, and wife.

Thanks for the inspiration, Rose!

You can also find me as "JB" at Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Princess Poppy: Pre-Mean-Girl-Teenage-Angst

We do our best to raise them. We give them love, guidance, and direction while emphasizing the importance of having a "good heart" and being a "caring" person. We do this with the best intention, hoping to somehow ingrain upon their personality a spot of humility, caring, and compassion for others. No matter what our walk of life, we instinctively know that life will be better for those around us and, in-turn, for us by demonstrating "good-will" in our everyday life.

Goodness knows we are not always the best example for this and whether you're 2, 32, or 92, these can be difficult words to live by - especially in certain circumstances and when we seem to be tested daily.

So in honor of this time of year, when we see kindness flowing from others in situations where none might othwerwise exist, I wanted to share this simple tale of Princess Poppy who was headed to her playdate with the effervescent "Miss J" last week:

Me: We're going to have to get ready so we can go and have a playdate
at the park with Miss J. You remember Miss J, right?

Poppy: Oh, was she here when we went through the (collapsible play) tunnels?

Me: Yes, that's Miss J.

Poppy: Oh yeah! I love Miss J. She has such pretty eyes.

Me: Yes, she does.

Poppy: They're blue eyes. And a pretty smile, and very beautiful hair.

Me: Wow, that's very nice of you to say.

Poppy: (While jumping up and down.) Oh YAY! YAY! I love Miss J!
I can't wait to see Miss J!

If girls could only stay this sweet! Love ya, Poppy! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Foodie-Licious

CALLING ALL FOODIES! You know who you are...

You may be a Food Network Foodie, characterized by the following:
- a viewer of "how to entertain" shows like Barefoot Contessa, Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
- a fan of pop culture and food history: Good Eats with Alto Brown, or Unwrapped
- a reality junkie like The Next Food Network Star or the ever-popular Iron Chef.

You may be a Snail Mail Foodie and subscribe to magazines such as Gourmet, Food & Wine, Cook's Illustrated, or The Art of Eating (look here for a top 10 list.)

Or you might be a Tech Foodie and follow great food blogs such as Gluten-Free Girl, Orangette, or Aapplemint.

Whatever your calling, in honor of the upcoming food feasting holidays, it's time to share the love and send your favorites. What makes you a foodie? Do you have a new "Foodie" category? What are your favorite food magazines, blogs, cookbooks (now there's another Foodie Category) or favorite recipes?

Thanks for sharing - can't wait to broaden my horizons!

Photo Friday! 11.16.07

What hip kids love: Grey's Anatomy for the 5 and under crowd.
Thank you Happy Hallow, we had a great time!

Hooray for Scientific Research!

First came the study that "beautiful people are 36 per cent more likely to have a daughter than a son as their first-born child."  Now we learn that women with larger hips (and smaller waists) are more intelligent than women who have slimmer or rounder figures.  While I am focusing on the "large hip" part and not-so-much on the "small waist" part, I must say that I am liking these studies, and myself, more and more.

As a newer SAHM, it's easy to feel self-defeated when caring for your own appearance.  Don't get me wrong, I still get up, get showered, and go through my 5 minute make-up routine on most days - okay, after watching this maybe it's actually a 2-3 minute routine.  And because I have a 3.5 year old and a 1 year old, I feel this is an accomplishment in itself.  The hard part is finding the time (and energy) to actually work-out so I can accomplish the "smaller waist" part of the aforementioned study. 

Well, maybe I don't even care so much about the smaller waist.  I would just be happy to put off the "chicken arm" that's sneaking up on me.  Or tone down the bit of extra padding that is hanging on to the "larger hip" asset I seem to have acquired since my two girls were born. 

Either way, until I can get to it, I'll just have to rely on the fact that I had a girl as a first-born and my larger hips are here to stay!

You can also find me at Silicon Valley Moms Blog as JB.

Wine, mommybloggers, and a great time!

I actually had a grown-up afternoon on Sunday and I am still glowing from the wine event! It was my first Silicon Valley Moms Blog get together and I not only had a great time, but I scored big time!

First, it was a great opportunity to finally meet my fellow mom bloggers face to face. XiaolinMama and I took advantage of the "moms day out" opportunity and rode together so we could do some catching-up - look out loves, 2 hipster mamas on a 10 minute road trip - hey, you take what you can get! The really weird part came at the event, I didn't realize that after reading these awesome ladies' posts for the last 5 months, it already felt like I knew a lot of the people there. Kind of freaky; like being in the middle of a conversation before you've even met the person, but with awesome ladies like BonggaMom, CityMama, and Glennia (who I actually did meet once about 3 years ago), they eased my "semi-stalker" sensation and made it seem like the most natural thing in the world. I love blogging and bloggers!

Second, the event was sponsored by Graco who introduced their new soothing center called "Sweetpeace". It is this incredible machine that is built to actually sway like a person. Yes, a person (side to side) rather than a machine that simply goes forward and backward. In addition, it truly blends in with modern decor. It's a very beautiful beige color with some very tasteful light green trim, rather than being a primary color eyesore in your home. When the awesome Graco people were showing us that it not only has a variety of settings and sounds but that it also had a hideaway drawer so you can hook up your ipod, I was immediately hooked. When I said, "Wow, I wish I could bring it home to let Sweet Pea (my 12 month old) test drive it, they instantly said, "No problem, we'll let you take it with you." GASP! Did I just hear correctly? SCORE #2!

Of course I immediately set up the soothing center when I got home and Sweet Pea went in it at the first opportunity. Here she is looking all cute and cuddly.

She was having a ball being soothed giggling and kicking her legs to the beat of my 70s Dance Party mixes. Which, by the way, leads me to mention that the sound on this center is surprisingly good whether you are using your own tunes or the prerecorded selection. And oh, by the way, when I returned from the park with a sleeping Sweet Pea, I didn't have to take her out of her carseat and ruin her nap - I just popped the carseat onto the Sweetpeace stand and she was all set to finish her nap. All I can say is - I wish I had this soothing center when she was 1 month old and colicky. Oh well, at least I've got it for the next five pounds (t's approved up to 25lbs.). Finally - being a premmie is paying off!

Hey mommy, I really love your boyfriend!

In a certain context these words could be very sweet and innocent. In my world, where I've been happily married extremely happily married for the last 13 years, they instantly raised my blood pressure and brought a nervous sweat to my brow.

My brain immediately started to go through the mental exercise of flipping through the images of the last few days. As a SAHM, the images were mostly all the same: Sweet Pea up at 4:30am (apparently 10 hours of sleep is her limit, whether we like it or not), Poppy up at 6:00am, breakfast, lunch, nap, dinner, bath, bed. Of course I did go to the grocery store with the girls, however, I had a female cashier and no assistance out to the car. No opportunity there. Wait, we also went to the San Jose Children's Museum on Friday for a playdate with one of our hip and cool SAHM friends and her beautiful 14 month old girl - nope, just more moms and babies there.

Did Poppy, my ever-observant 3.5 year old, see me talking to some stranger I couldn't recall? Maybe while we filled the car up with gas? How had I led Poppy to believe that I had a boyfriend?! My mental rolodex of possible scenarios ground to a halt and I finally said: "What did you say?"

Poppy: "I really love your boyfriend, he's very nice."

Me: "You're silly, you know mommy doesn't have a boyfriend."

Poppy: "Mom (pronounced as a 2 syllable word like "Mo-ohm"), yes you do."

Me: "Oh really, who is it?"

Poppy: "It's daddy, of course!"

Whew! I breathe again and lean over to give Poppy a big hug and rumpled-hair kiss. Kids, you just never know!

Photo Friday! 11.09.07

Poppy was teaching class today, here were the attendees.... Maybe I do have a fashionista on my hands.

Protect Our Children, Protect Ourselves

Well here's a reality. Victories are usually short-lived.

Here in California, we could finally claim a victory in the struggle to keep our children safe. In the midst of the "toy recall controversy", Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed into law legislation banning the production, distribution and sale of products for young children which contain more than .10% of the harmful chemicals called phthalates ("THA-lates") which is added to plastic to help make it pliable. While this mostly effects things like teething rattles, pacifiers, etc., and doesn't take effect until 2009, at least it's a step in the right direction.

Then, POW! We get knocked down again with another disheartening discovery. After what I read today, plastic concerns are passe - the new threat is "GHB" for babies. Millions of "Aqua Dots" toys are now being recalled after two U.S. children went into comas after ingesting the "Aqua Dot" beads. This toy is made of beads that are arranged to make designs and then fused together with water. Apparently when ingested, a chemical in the beads converts to the "date rape" drug. Where does this end?

In addition, we are finding out more everyday about harmful carcinogens which are now in everyday products like shampoo and babywash. While we can't test every product we use, I did want to share a cool find: a cosmetic database called Skin Deep. You can find loads of cosmetics and bath care products for adults and babies that have been tested for ingrediants which are linked to causing cancer, reproductive/develpmental toxicity, etc. One thing you'll find on this site is a "buying guide" for parents of safe products for children. Whether you're looking for babywipes, diaper cream, or sunscreen, you'll find brand and off-brand products that are rated on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 = safest, 10 = highest hazard). You can even create your own shopping list.

Hope you get a chance to check it out!

Welcome to Mommybloggers

I'm so excited! I've just been invited to blog with another incredible group of women on Mommybloggers. I must say that I love to blog, I love to write, and I definitely love the opportunity to read about other incredible women. As a recovering overachiever, I am having the time of my life blogging and becoming a part of the cybersphere. In honor of this, I thought I would admit to my overachieving addiction, and how I'm taming the beast.

I was just watching "The Amazing Race", okay it's more like the tv is on as white noise while I look through my latest recipie magazine. Anyway, I just heard someone from one of the teams say "____ and I are both overachievers, we don't like to lose." Oh yeah, I was the classic overacheiver from grade school through law school, I was always more involved than necessary. And as the youngest in a family of 10 kids, I hated to lose. Probably the crowning achievement came when I was pregnant with Poppy: KB and I went in for my check-up after my initial lab work. My wonderful OB knew me a bit too well and the first thing she said during that visit was: "Okay, you'll like this, your bloodtype is A+." And I said "YES!!" pumping my fist - only half jokingly.

But today, when I heard those words I began to think, oh yeah, I remember that feeling - it just seems like "competing to win" was another lifetime ago. Don't get me wrong, it still rears it's ugly head every now and then. When I'm playing Monopoly or poker, when I try to teach myself a new skill, or at it's worst, when KB and I get into a "disagreement" about something meaningless and I have to be the one who is "right." But for the most part, I think the "overachiever" in me is pretty much contained. After all, now that I'm a SAHM with a 3.5 year old and 1 year old, who has time to be an overacheiver? Right?

Well, wait a minute, I am rather proud that the other night I felt like I was a "Food Network" Chef as I made an awesome dinner:
Peppered filet mignon served on top of sauted garlic and red pepper spinach with buttered sweet potatoes and drizzed with a balsamic reduction. And come to think of it, I was pretty happy that I managed to get family photos of all of our guests at Sweet Pea's first birthday celebration, print them the next day, and then get them out with our "Thank You" cards in a record 2 days after the event. Oh, wait a minute, I just remembered that I actually found a cute kids project in one of my parenting magazines and when I took Poppy to her 3 year check-up, she proudly presented her doctor with a beautiful flower she painted and put together from a tube of toilet paper, tissue paper, wood skewer, and construction paper leaves complete with heartfelt message. We even made 2 more (sans leaves) for our own house (see above).

So maybe even though I have piles of laundry waiting in the wings, dishes that need to be taken out of the dishwasher, beds to make, and a general mess of toys and blankets strewn about, I can still hold my head high knowing that the overachiever in me may be more discreet but is definitely alive and kicking.

Hip Events: Sing-Along at Stanford's Pottery Barn

Last Friday's outing for Poppy and Sweet Pea included a trip to the Pottery Barn Kids at Stanford Shopping Center for a Sing-Along and it was quite a success. The featured performer was James K - a guitar-wielding songwriter who really got all the kids up and moving with his infectious energy and image-rich songs.

James performed his own collection of songs that cover all the bases in a very lively, toe-tapping way. In fact, Sweet Pea (who is just starting to walk more than crawl) couldn't be held back and left my lap to join in the fun with the "big kids" who were up and dancing. James K makes learning the abc's, days of the week, and months of the year fun and easy. I especially loved a beautiful "Good Morning Sun" song that is very catchy as well as a terrific "Crocodile" cajun tune set in the bayou - just perfect! In fact, his CDs have won "Parents' Choice" awards.

The great news is you havent' missed your chance to have your own fantastic outing! James K will be at the following Pottery Barn Kids stores next week:

Walnut Creek - Wednesday, November 7th
Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara - Thursday, November 8th
Stanford Shopping Center - Friday, November 9th
*Check his schedule for other locations and dates

All shows are at 10:00am and 11:00am. And don't forget to invite a friend to join you for a perfect playdate. I promise you'll have a great time!

If you cannot attend, you can still find James K's music here and at Pottery Barn Kids stores. It's definitely worth picking up for your kids or it can be a unique gift for the upcoming holidays - then you can set up your own "sing-along" playdate.