I've been gone for a while and I know I've lost a lot of you in the process. If any of you are still around and are still interested in my loopy little corner of the world, I wanted to let you know that I've officially made the move to WordPress. You can find me at my new blog, Lost In AlyTopia. Hopefully you are up for a new adventure!
Feb 15, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
Fave Photo of January
We had so much fun on this Saturday afternoon. Lil Buddy was napping. SweetPea and I took a stroll out to the little pond near home, she on her Princess scooter and me on foot. The outfit was one of a kind. "I like flowers and I like polar bears" she told me that morning. Made sense to me. I watched her float dried leaves out on the pond. She said they were for the fish to use as boats. That made sense to me, too. I mean, what fish doesn't need a good leaf boat? I tore her away long enough to get her to stand near the woods and let me snap a few shots. Yep, she's my little gypsy.
Jan 23, 2012
I Heart Faces: By The Book
For reasons I still haven't figured out, Lil Buddy is obsessed with my book of Houston street maps. On this day, not only did he beg to see it, but he wanted to know exactly which map showed where we live. Hmm, well...it's not that simple. Our sub-division is less than five years old and that map book was written before our streets were even official enough to be on a map. So I flipped through to the page where I thought our street should be and pointed to the closest street that was actually on the page and said, "we live right there." Not really, but I figured it was less confusing than pointing to the big, empty place next to it with no roads on it. He seemed happy with the answer and, hey, that's all that mattered!
Jan 20, 2012
At the End of the Day, We're All Just Moms
As usual, I'm really late to the debate, but it seems there is still a lot of lingering conversation buzzing around about Anderson Cooper's recent show about so called Mommy Wars between working and stay-at-home Moms. Some say he did it just to stir things up for ratings sake. Maybe. Not that I've even seen the show because *gasp* I was too busy working. But here's the thing...I'm not sure that his premise that "a divide exists between moms who work inside the home and moms who work out of the home" is completely off base.
I'm a Mom who's lived on both sides of the fence. I went from a working, first time Mom, to stay-at-home Mom of two small kids, right back to a working Mom...and either way, I got crap from other Moms for either working or not working.
While I was pregnant with SweetPea, I heard a certain female member of our extended family say that "a mother's place is at home with the kids" and a felt a lot of negative vibe come my way from some of the older Moms I worked with because I had to put SweetPea straight into day care once my maternity leave was up. "I waited until my kids were grown up" and "You want strangers raising your baby?" were just some of the gems I heard.
A year and a half later, I was pregnant again with Lil Buddy, we moved to Houston and for three years I had a chance to be at home with both kids. When I told people that I was going to take a break from working for a while, things were turned around on me and I was asked, "Why waste all of that education? What about your career? Won't it be hard to get a job the longer you are out of work?" I'll admit, those were (somewhat) legitimate questions, because, let's be honest, transitioning back to the working world after taking time off to be a stay-at home isn't easy. I learned that the hard way. What I resented, though, was how often I felt dismissed by working Moms I met who had no idea I hadn't always been a stay-at-home Mom. Some of them assumed I was uneducated and had "no other option" but to stay at home. I can honestly say, no one ever accused me of being lazy or a "do nothing" but it drove me crazy that very few people who didn't already know me thought I was staying home out of choice.
As for the out and out "us versus them" thing, yeah, I do think it's exaggerated. At least to a certain extent. I don't believe that most Moms have it out for one side or another. I do think there are a lot of preconceived notions on both sides. I hear offhanded comments (usually behind someone's back) about how working Moms care more about their careers than their kids or how stay-at-home Moms have no ambition or life outside of their kids. It might be hinted at or just an undercurrent of sentiment...but it's there.
So here's the thing...at the end of the day, we're all just Moms. We want what's best for our kids and we do what's we feel is best for our family. What's good for my family might not be good for yours and vice versa. Sure, if you are locking your kids in the car so you can earn a few extra ones at a strip club to support your crack habit, yeah, maybe I have a problem with you. If you are too busy playing Farmville all day to change your kid's overflowing diaper, I've got a problem with you too. Other than that...work, don't work...if it makes you happy, then hooray for you.
We're all in this together Moms. Make it a non-issue and folks like Anderson Cooper won't have anything to talk about. And that's all I have to say about that.
I'm a Mom who's lived on both sides of the fence. I went from a working, first time Mom, to stay-at-home Mom of two small kids, right back to a working Mom...and either way, I got crap from other Moms for either working or not working.
While I was pregnant with SweetPea, I heard a certain female member of our extended family say that "a mother's place is at home with the kids" and a felt a lot of negative vibe come my way from some of the older Moms I worked with because I had to put SweetPea straight into day care once my maternity leave was up. "I waited until my kids were grown up" and "You want strangers raising your baby?" were just some of the gems I heard.
A year and a half later, I was pregnant again with Lil Buddy, we moved to Houston and for three years I had a chance to be at home with both kids. When I told people that I was going to take a break from working for a while, things were turned around on me and I was asked, "Why waste all of that education? What about your career? Won't it be hard to get a job the longer you are out of work?" I'll admit, those were (somewhat) legitimate questions, because, let's be honest, transitioning back to the working world after taking time off to be a stay-at home isn't easy. I learned that the hard way. What I resented, though, was how often I felt dismissed by working Moms I met who had no idea I hadn't always been a stay-at-home Mom. Some of them assumed I was uneducated and had "no other option" but to stay at home. I can honestly say, no one ever accused me of being lazy or a "do nothing" but it drove me crazy that very few people who didn't already know me thought I was staying home out of choice.
As for the out and out "us versus them" thing, yeah, I do think it's exaggerated. At least to a certain extent. I don't believe that most Moms have it out for one side or another. I do think there are a lot of preconceived notions on both sides. I hear offhanded comments (usually behind someone's back) about how working Moms care more about their careers than their kids or how stay-at-home Moms have no ambition or life outside of their kids. It might be hinted at or just an undercurrent of sentiment...but it's there.
So here's the thing...at the end of the day, we're all just Moms. We want what's best for our kids and we do what's we feel is best for our family. What's good for my family might not be good for yours and vice versa. Sure, if you are locking your kids in the car so you can earn a few extra ones at a strip club to support your crack habit, yeah, maybe I have a problem with you. If you are too busy playing Farmville all day to change your kid's overflowing diaper, I've got a problem with you too. Other than that...work, don't work...if it makes you happy, then hooray for you.
We're all in this together Moms. Make it a non-issue and folks like Anderson Cooper won't have anything to talk about. And that's all I have to say about that.
Jan 15, 2012
Ducks and Bikes
After a long and somewhat frustrating week at work, nothing sounded better than a morning at the park. The ducks were more than happy to see us.
Those ducks know how to make short order of a big bag of bread crumbs. But feeding the ducks was only the prelude. The main reason we were at the park...a pretty big and special reason, was so that SweetPea could have her first try at riding her bike without...
her training wheels. Well, that and so Lil Buddy could practice riding her old bike (with training wheels, of course).
She was excited. At first anyway.
She caught on to balancing on two wheels pretty quickly, but would freak out a little as soon she realized no one was holding on...
There were some spills, but no real damage. There were tears of frustration, but Dad kept convincing her to keep trying. And Lil Buddy? Once he got the rhythm of peddling down, he was off. He even lapped his sister a few times.
He didn't even care that his sister's old bike is pink and has Princesses on it. Then again, he knows if he keeps practicing and getting better that he will probably get that Spiderman bike he's been begging for since before Christmas. And of course, there's always that super cool alien helmet he gets to wear.
Later that same day, we went out for a second round of bike rides. That time, there were a few more crashes and some bleeding scrapes, but no one was too damaged. At this rate, we're going to have a house full of bikers!
Those ducks know how to make short order of a big bag of bread crumbs. But feeding the ducks was only the prelude. The main reason we were at the park...a pretty big and special reason, was so that SweetPea could have her first try at riding her bike without...
her training wheels. Well, that and so Lil Buddy could practice riding her old bike (with training wheels, of course).
She caught on to balancing on two wheels pretty quickly, but would freak out a little as soon she realized no one was holding on...
There were some spills, but no real damage. There were tears of frustration, but Dad kept convincing her to keep trying. And Lil Buddy? Once he got the rhythm of peddling down, he was off. He even lapped his sister a few times.
Later that same day, we went out for a second round of bike rides. That time, there were a few more crashes and some bleeding scrapes, but no one was too damaged. At this rate, we're going to have a house full of bikers!
Jan 10, 2012
When It Pours It Really Pours
For whatever reason, Mother Nature doesn't know how to do things small in Texas. When we had drought this summer, we had a drought. Rain levels were feet below normal and wildfires burned out of control. And when it rains...
The building I work at down in the Texas Medical Center is right next to Bray's Bayou. On a normal day, there might be maybe a foot of water flowing in it. During the summer, it was so dry it was nothing but pavement. As you can see, yesterday, the water almost flowed over the bridges. As the torrential rain came down, all I could think was "and how will I get home?" I have to cross the Bayou to get to my train stop and if the bridge flooded it meant the train couldn't get through (it has to cross the bridge too) and I had no where to walk to get to the train. Yup. Thankfully, what you see is the highest it got. Other areas weren't so lucky. Underpasses and off ramps all over town were flooded.
Less than 24 hours later, the Bayou looks like this...
The water has gone back to normal in most places and whatever rain we are supposed to get today shouldn't be anything like yesterday's.
Dear Mother Nature, we wanted rain, but maybe next time, could you spread it out over a few days instead of dumping it on us all at once?
The building I work at down in the Texas Medical Center is right next to Bray's Bayou. On a normal day, there might be maybe a foot of water flowing in it. During the summer, it was so dry it was nothing but pavement. As you can see, yesterday, the water almost flowed over the bridges. As the torrential rain came down, all I could think was "and how will I get home?" I have to cross the Bayou to get to my train stop and if the bridge flooded it meant the train couldn't get through (it has to cross the bridge too) and I had no where to walk to get to the train. Yup. Thankfully, what you see is the highest it got. Other areas weren't so lucky. Underpasses and off ramps all over town were flooded.
Less than 24 hours later, the Bayou looks like this...
Dear Mother Nature, we wanted rain, but maybe next time, could you spread it out over a few days instead of dumping it on us all at once?
Jan 3, 2012
Australian, European and What Santa Said
Lil Buddy: "Mommy, where dis baby dragon come from?" (he knows exactly where it came from but I played along)
Me: "It's from Santa."
Lil Buddy: "Oh, Santa, you right! And I told Santa, 'Thank you, Santa!' and he say (talks in a deeper voice) 'You're welcome, Lil Buddy' and I say 'Merry Christmas, Santa' and he say (talks in the Santa voice again) 'MERRY Christmas, Lil Buddy'"
Weird, how ever did I miss that whole Santa interaction? Maybe I was asleep?
And then, of course, there are the high brow discussions we have at the dinner table, like this one from tonight...
Lil Buddy: "Mommy, are you Australian?"
Me: "...am I...Australian?"
Lil Buddy: "giggle, giggle...YES!"
The Man: "No, but EuroPEAN"
Lil Buddy: "giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle...no YOU'RE a peein' (points to his sister) and you're a peein' (points to me) and you're a peein' and I a peein'."
(The entire table breaks down in a laughing fit)
Seriously, how can you not love this kid?
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