Go-Go Mommy

Sweet Pea's Preschool Prep

So far, Sweet Pea has had a pretty easy time meeting and making friends.  And there's a good reason for that - since she was born, her big sister, Poppy, was always there to make the introduction.  Whether it was at the park, in the play zone at the mall, or wherever the two happened to see another kid who would instantly become the girls' new "best friend," Poppy was always there to take the lead.

A few weeks ago I realized that all of this was going to come to a screeching halt when Sweet Pea would walk into to her own classroom at her very first session of preschool.  So... we began the first of many practice sessions entitled "meeting new friends" and "asking new friends to play."  

I'm happy to report that the following unsolicited questions have been asked in the Go-Go Household about half a dozen times a day for the last week - I just hope Sweet Pea will not forget all this on her first day of preschool this week!

Sweet Pea:  "Hi Mommy, I'm Sweet Pea.  What's your name?"

or

Sweet Pea:  "Hi, my name's Sweet Pea.  Would you like to play outside?"

or

Sweet Pea:  "I'm Sweet Pea.  Would you like to play with me, Mommy?"

Friday's Findings: A Photographer that is Part of the Family

Living in a new area is giving me a chance to meet new people and make new friends.  Sometimes it's overwhelming knowing who to turn to ask those everyday questions like:  Where can I find a good pediatric dentist?; Who has the best sales on party/holiday goods?; and Do you know a great family photographer?

I found the last question, however, easily answered when I met the mother of one of Poppy's newest best friends.  

It's strange when you meet someone that is so good natured and easy-going right off the bat.  Stranger still when you get to know each other a little better and find out that you share the same birthday.  And maybe the strangest of all when, through casual conversation, you find that that person is living and working in one of your ultimate dream jobs: family photography.

Her name is Jessica Galeazzi and you can read her blog here or view her website here.  With two kids of her own (miraculously close to Poppy's and Sweet Pea's ages - yeah for playdate time), she really knows how to just have fun with kids and grown ups alike which allows her to truly capture the personality of her subjects.  One look at her photographs and you'll see when I mean.  

Jessica just has that "photographer's eye" that I wish I had.  Viewing things from a new perspective and getting just the right expression of sweetness and charm in her shot.  If you're in California's East Bay Area and are looking for a good photographer, have I got the friend for you!

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!

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!

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!

"Women with Good Taste"

Back in 2004, a friend of mine and I had our first daughters around the same time - hers was born about 7 weeks before mine. The great thing was that as new mothers, we always compared notes. Notes about feeding and sleeping schedules, motor development, toys, and when the time was right, foods. That's when I first really thought about "partially hydrogenated oils." Funny how I'd never really been concerned for my own health but now that I was responsible for the growth and development of my little one, it was time to pay attention to what I'd been eating all these years. As our daughters were ready for "finger-foods" she warned me to look at the labels and not choose anything with "partially hydrogenated" in the list of ingrediants - and avoid them like the plague.

Since that time about 3 years ago, I have gotten a bit lax. Now that my second daughter is at the "finger-food" stage, another reminder has been sent my way. Eric Armstrong has written a great article about "What's Wrong with Partially Hydrongenated Oils." It was a great wake-up call for me (literally read it at 5:15am since Sweet Pea has been awake since 4:20am today - but that's another blog), not only for my concern for my little ones, but myself and my husband as well.

And what did I discover? I little history and what what I hope will be a tasty find. Welcome to the world of Laura Scudder. Not only was she Ukiah, California's first female attorney, Laura Scudder moved to Monterey Park, California in 1926 and was the first chip manufacturer to pioneer packing chips in bags to seal in freshness rather than use the standard barrel or tin packaging. And to top it all off, Scudders chips are one of two on the market today that are free of hydrogenation! (Click to find a retailer near you.)

I was also reminded by Armstrong that products may contain partially hydrogenated oils but still state they have 0% trans fats. As always, the key is the label. Since the food labels are based on a "standard" portion size, a portion could contain up to 2 grams partially hydrogenated oils (2.2 grams is the highest amount of trans fat permitted per serving) so it can still say "0% trans fat." Who knew?! I'm probably the only mom on the planet who has been looking at the calories/fat ratio but totally missing this important point.

Here's my question for those of us looking for tasty snack foods without partially hydrogenated oils: do they exist or are they merely an oxymoron?

Cross-posted at Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Project: Life Change - Update!

I finally did it - another step toward making significant strides in my life! It was not a huge step by any means. But as one of my favorite movie's explains, it's all about "baby steps!"

I actually got to go on a MNO last week at the oh-so-quaint Vino Locale in Palo Alto! The Food was organic and yummy, the wine was delizioso, and the company was the best part of it all. First, I got to go with my newest PAMP Parents' Club friend, "E". She is an awesome mom of a beautiful 9 month old daughter. We met at the oh-so hip photo shoot that our girls participated in a couple months ago. Thanks for a fun night, E!

Also, I learned that it's never too late to make new friends - especially when you are participating in Project: Life Change and you are making yourself available to change. I really enjoyed meeting the other moms there: "A" and I had a ton of fun talking about our little ones and found out they are even close to each other in age! And I even met a killer WAHM, "W", who has an awesome business creating and selling babyslings (among her many other ventures). She is a real inspiration and really made my night by saying that she already read Go-Go Mommy and especially liked "the potty blog." Wow! What a night.

Thanks again Stefania and Jessica - hope you enjoy the update!

Project: Life Change - I'm Enlisted!

Thank you Stefania/ City Mama and Jessica/ Sassafrass for initiating Project: Life Change!! I heart blogging and I heart you! For the past 11 and 1/2 months (I can't believe it has already been that long) I have been in the midst of my own Project Life Change. Now, thanks to you I have an official title for what I've been doing with the last year of my life. I'm very excited to join your fun-lovin' community of support as I continue to work at making life-changing progress.

Here are some of my own life changes. Some are bigger than others but all have been made to find the "balance" we all seek... to enjoy our families while keeping in touch with ourselves, our communities, and (for us SAHMs) our sanity by having contact with the "adult" world. TGFB! (Thank goodness for blogging!)

1) This all started with a difficult second pregnancy, 5 months of bedrest, and still my second daughter was born 5 and 1/2 weeks early - my little Sweet Pea. After realizing how lucky I was to have her (and my own life) after the premature delivery, I decided it was time to focus on family. So, I excused myself from the "professional" world to take care of Poppy (daughter number one) and Sweet Pea full-time. A real live SAHM. (God, that was scary!)

2) I sent a poem into cyberspace (as JB): After months of recuperating (with HUGE thanks to my mother-in-law who traveled from MI to Silicon Valley to help us for the first 7 weeks) I ran across a "makeover" contest on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog and created an extemporaneous poem about why I deserved a makeover.

3) I became a contributor to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog (pen name JB): While I didn't win the makeover contest, I was a finalist and got a free manicure where I met Beth and agreed to accept her invitation to blog. Thank you, Beth, for saving my sanity as a newly minted SAHM and connecting me to a great new network!

4) I made a new friend, and so did Poppy: Xiaolinmama was also a makeover finalist and we had a great time chatting while getting our manicures. In sum, we hit it off and she has been my inspiration for Life Change #5. You rock Sheila!

5) I started my own blog: Who knew that the poem I wrote on the fly would have opened these new doors for me. I now have a creative outlet, a place where my voice can be heard, and a new more intimate network where I can share my parenting challenges and successes with others who totally get it. As I commented when CityMama began her Project Life Change: "It really is true - when a door closes, a window opens. Welcome to the greatest opportunity - living your life with your beautiful family. Enjoy every moment! (& call me during the tough ones!)"

6) I have a maid service every other week: Yes, I admit I cannot "do it all" at home. I'm finding I do love to cook, I'm becoming obsessed with recipes, I don't mind doing dishes and laundry but I have never loved or been the best at the rest of the housework. (I told you they weren't all earth-shattering.)

7) I have entrepanurial thoughts almost daily: This may not sound like a Life Change but I try to give myself some time during each week to sort these out, bounce them off my sounding board (KB), and continue to work on the best ones - once in business, always in business I guess. As I continue to meet new people in the blogging world, it will be interesting to see what will develop on this level.

Again, thank you Stefania and Jessica! We Life Changers need all the freebies support we can get. Seriously, Sheila and I are working on a Mommy Martini & Manicure night out at Santana Row. Anyone else out there in too? If so, we could have something else in common on our Project Life Change list!

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

Photo Friday!

Go-Go Mommy is starting a new tradition: Photo Friday. With summer coming to an end let's stop to smell the roses (or tulips). Poppy, Sweat Pea and I did it with a friend and her toddler who visited us in April. Here is a photo from our trip to Filoli Gardens. Thanks, K & I, for a great visit!