Go-Go Mommy

Poppy's Wedding Plans

We had an incredible day: morning park playdate, swim class for both Poppy and Sweet Pea, picnic lunch at the pool, nap time in the car as I drove to Valley Fair Mall, shopping, and playing at the mall "toddler play zone" - carousel ride included.

After all of our activities, it was time for some "hot and ready" pizza with crazy bread for dinner - one of Poppy's favorite meals! As we were pulling out of our parking space, one of the gentleman from Little Caesers Pizza came out carrying a stack of about 10 pizzas and helped a young woman put them into the car next to us. Poppy saw this and commented:

Poppy: Wow! Look at all that pizza!

Mommy: Yes, that's a lot.

Poppy: Maybe she's getting it for her wedding.

Mommy: Maybe.

Poppy: That's what I'm going to have at my wedding - pizza! Everyone just loves pizza!

Mommy: That's right, everyone does like pizza.

Poppy: And crazy bread too, of course.

The wedding planning has officially begun!

Look out - mommy's on the loose!

It finally happened; mommy had a chance to get together with friends for a couple of her own playdates.

First, I managed to escape get leave get the timing right for a MNO with some awesome Silicon Valley Mom Blog bloggers last week. How "mommy" of me, I'm just getting the time to blog about it now! Anyway, when my uber cool friend Sheila (Xiaolinmama) emailed me for a night out with fellow bloggers Nicole (Not Just a Working Mom) and Robyn (Who's the Boss), the stars were in alignment and KB was actually in town and ready to babysit. Don't I have the most awesome hubby? (BTW hon, I'm not just sucking up for Mother's Day but my cyber sistahs did tell me that Cool Mom Picks has a lot of great choices any mommy would love to receive - just look at the Mother's Day Guide 2008. How easy to just point, click, and secure a great gift?! HINT HINT)

So where do mommy bloggers hang out together in Silicon Valley? We met at the very hip Roux for drinks and great live-jazz, and then dined "al fresco" at Thea for some incredibly delicious mediterranean cuisine. YUM! Besides yelling "Opa!" for our flaming cheese, the highlight of the night was discovering a new favorite drink: the Manjito. I don't remember all the ingrediants but I do know it had some cognac in it. It's a keeper but we did decide that we'd like to come back with our own recipe: "the Mamajito". Any suggestions?

Can you tell we had a great time?! After dinner, we wrapped up our night at Border's and got out our girly giggles by reading tips from a book on where to meet a man. Here's a sample: "at the Playboy Mansion". Need I say more? Excuse me but #1, this mommyblogger is N-E-V-E-R getting an invite to the Mansion and more importantly (and I probably don't even have to list this one) but IF I ever did, I somehow find it hard to imagine that any man would give me the time of day. For me, the proper advice would be more like "go to the Playboy Mansion while every other breathing female on the premises in stuck in quarantine" and even then, odds are I'd better bring my watch with me!

My next outing was not necessarily a mom's day but it felt like it because I finally had a chance to catch up with a great friend and her little one. For those of you who missed it, "E" has a daughter, "H", that is 3 months younger than Sweet Pea and they hit it off immediately at a photo shoot last year. We had a great time "visiting the fountains" at Stanford Mall, trying to keep track of the girls (Sweet Pea was always in the lead while H felt more at home taking her time getting places and exploring all of the sights along the way), and eating pizza for lunch at CPK.

When the girls were together, they were sooo cute and little H was hilarious. She is already very verbal and said a very enthusiastic "hi" to many people passing by us. To top it off, we were there for a historic moment: we got to hear little H say "mama" for the first time. Yeah! I love being a part of one of E's most memorable moments with her daughter - how could the day get any better? I'll tell you...it was such a success both Poppy and Sweet Pea took a three hour nap after lunch!

How to Improve a Classic

I am so geeked! Miss Sweet Pea is just blossoming! Since Grandma and Papa were here, she picked up about 7 new words (bringing her vocabulary to about 12 words); you gotta start somewhere! It's so sweet hearing her say the typical things like "up", "hello", "dog", and then all of a sudden hearing bursts of words like "mom and dad". When she said that string of words, KB thought is was Poppy who said it. It took a lot of convincing to get him to accept that it was actually Sweet Pea who uttered that beautiful line for the first time.

In addition to her vocabulary, she has also become a very hearty, and independent, eater. This stage is great because Sweet Pea is ready to try any food you put on her plate. She loves tomatoes, noodles, peas and a zillion other foods. Of course, some of those bites of new items come right back out after a couple of chews (eewww), and that, coupled with the fact that half of her "favorite" foods still end up on her lap due to her insistence on using her own little fingers to feed herself, is the second reason for my excitement today.

I received a trial "DaBib" in the mail a few days ago and it is like no other bib Sweet Pea has worn. You can see that the bib has a unique, soft "scrunch neckline" that is super easy to put on baby and hugs the neck so no errant peas or sauce-filled noodles sneak down her neckline and end up as permanent fixtures on her shirts. The front of the bib is a wonderfully soft terry and the backing is waterproof. It has a pocket to turn forward when in use to catch those wayward crumbs that try to follow gravity's pull onto her lap saving me from countless "spray and wash" treatments on her meal outfit. Yeah for the attached "optional" crumb catcher!

"DaBib" is an iParenting Media Award winner and you can read more about the incredible mompreneur/inventor of DaBib here. Thank you, Shea, for creating a "new classic"!

Thanks Grandma and Papa B!

We had such a great visit... so many memories were made. Here's just a glimpse:

Watching Poppy at gymnastics, ballet, and swim class;
Going for our train ride (maybe next time we'll make it farther than San Mateo!);
Having a swim/beach weekend in Carmel when the weather couldn't have been any better;
Listening to the roosters and making new friends at the park;
And who could forget our trip to San Francisco Zoo? Sweet Pea had her first
carousel ride and I even got my exercise in for the day!

But the sweetest moment by far was when Poppy went the movies with Grandma and Papa - without mommy and Sweet Pea! Her first venture into independence! Yes, my baby is growing up and I'm the one suffering from separation anxiety. At least I can report that in addition to Papa sharing the popcorn, Horton from "Horton Hears a Who" is "very funny" and says "I'm as light as a feather" - which is really funny to Poppy since he is a huge elephant and so far I've heard her say it between all the giggles a few times a day.

So thank you for a wonderful two weeks. We can't wait to see you soon!

In Support of Friends

I just learned two very important things today. First, a friend informed me that an ex-coworker and friend of ours has just been diagnosed with IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer) this past week. And second, as I went directly to Toddler Planet to review "Why Mommy's" information on IBC, I learned that she just received a clean bill of health after her long battle with IBC.

Both pieces of news rocked me to my core. Both have shown me the fragility of life.

I hope everyone can take the time to visit Why Mommy's site and please share your positive vibes with each woman.

Here's a BIG HUG to all the woman warriors that we all know!

Practicing Etiquette & An Awesome Photographer

A few weeks ago I got the brilliant idea of creating homemade cross-stitch thank you cards for Poppy's birthday party. Everyone had such a great time at her "morning sleepover" that I wanted to do something more meaningful than the typical store bought card to say thank you. (Actually I think I may have been channeling Soulemama!)

So here is the result of my work. All designs are my original Go-Go Mommy designs and while I started off with a contemporary "circles" theme (lower left), it evolved into a card of girl accessories (shoe, purse & boa) and then sleepover essentials (pillows and pajamas).

What I'm even more excited about is the fact that I also had the most incredible photographer at the party; Alie Leeflang. (If you don't believe me, just check out her website!) I can't believe that in a house full of 4 year old screaming girls she was able to get such beautiful shots. One look at her portfolio and you can immediately sense her innate gift of uncovering little ones' personalities. I can't say enough good things about her! I think this is the year we actually take a family photo for the holidays - I hope you're ready for the entire Go-Go Clan Alie!

Photo Friday! 04.11.08 (In the works!)

Posting has been a little sporadic lately due to my new business venture. While some of the more mundane details can obviously be left until a later date (like never), I just thought I'd give a little "sneak peek" of what's to come...I think you'll like what I have in store for you!

The Sleep Fairy.

We're trying a new experiment at the Go-Go house: having Poppy and Sweet Pea room together. Now that Sweet Pea is almost 18 months old and is sleeping through the night at almost the same schedule as her big sister, I thought this would be a good time for us to try this new arrangement.

So, what led to this decision? Why did we do this when each girl seemed perfectly settled in her own room? Well, did I ever tell you about my little penchant for causing trouble? Actually, there are two main reasons for my madness: (1) my own childhood, and (2) my pediatrician.

First, as the youngest of 10 children, you can bet your last pair of shoes (whatever that means) that I had to share a room with my sisters. As a result, I got to know my older sisters in a way I would have completely missed if I had my own room. For instance, I wouldn't have known that the reason it took my sister, "G", 45 minutes to get dressed in the morning for high school was because she had to try on a minimum of 5 outfits before she could settle on "the" one for the day. Nor would I have had known that my lovely sister, "N", was so good at telling bedtime stories.

The second, and main reason, was that my pediatrician was all for it. When I took Sweet Pea in for her one year check up, I asked him what he thought about having Poppy and Sweet Pea in the same bedroom. Without hesitation he said "definitely yes, as soon as you think they are ready!" (My mother-in-law, who was at the appointment gasped as she thought the doctor would suggest that it would be best for the girls to have their own space.) As we talked, Dr. H emphasized that the girls would develop skills that would help them down the road. Things such as negotiating living with someone, learning to share possessions, helping to displace "night-time fears", and facilitating a closer sibling relationship were all mentioned. This sounded great to me!

So it's going on night number three and so far there haven't been any major bumps in our road to Sleepville. Oh, there are the usual details we need to address: what to do when it's time to read to Poppy and put her to bed but Sweet Pea is already asleep, and how we need to rush in at 5:30am when Sweet Pea is crying and ready to get up but Poppy is still trying to sleep. So far, however, these seem issues seem to be minute in comparison with the benefit of being together that we hope to see in the long run.

Now, I just have to figure out how to talk KB into converting Sweet Pea's bedroom into our new playroom/Go-Go Mommy HQ. Any tips out there?

Photo Friday! 04.04.08 (Fire Safety)

Last weekend KB, Poppy, Sweet Pea and I went on a tour of a local fire station with our Parents' Club. The kids had a great time learning about when to dial 9-1-1, what to do if there is a fire at home, how to develop and practice practice practice an emergency plan for leaving the home and meeting outside at a specific location, and even watching one of the firefighters put on all his gear so they wouldn't be afraid of a fully-suited firefighter.

For the kids, the highlight was definitely getting their photo taken in the fire truck.

Hats off to all firefighters and rescue workers for all you do everyday!