My kitchen is my personal runway

I have neglected anything resembling “style” in my life since having children.  This is for several reasons, but it generally comes down to a combination of laziness and the fact that I don’t own much that fits me anymore.  Plus, I like to dress in activity-appropriate clothing, and how stylish can you be when you spend your time at playgrounds or with a baby chewing on your sleeve?

Well, a large portion of my time is also spent in the kitchen (who knew toddlers had to eat so much and so frequently?), and Kristy has pointed me to a wonderful opportunity to actually look stylish while I’m cooking!  I know that very few people will be able to witness this potential stylishness of mine, but it’s a start.  And I do believe that feeling good, even in privacy, goes a long ways toward making you feel good all around.

This opportunity for domestic style is sponsored by “Bringing Lady Back” – a blog dedicated to freeing the world from “insipid insults and protruding panties”.  Personal integrity, dignity, and a sense of propriety are qualities that are in dire need of a revival, so I am in full support of it!  And I’m looking for the male equivalent, which I would call something like “Banishing the Guy” (in favor of the Man).

Now available in 3D

After nearly 7 months of existing primarily in a horizontal plane, Mei-mei is very close to inhabiting vertical space as well (this is just a really geeky way of saying that she’s sitting up)!  Kind of.  She’s still very bendy and she supports herself with her arms, and if her head moves anywhere off of the z-axis she tips over, but it’s a start!

In addition to sitting up, she’s already an expert at rolling over.  She rolls her way around the room pretty quickly (she’s usually got her eye on a toy), so I have to keep tabs on her before she disappears under the couch.

This is starting to feel dangerously close to mobility.  I’m not sure I’m ready for that, and I know Cowboy isn’t.  He’s already got his paws full just trying to stay out of Z’s way!

Friendly reminder: mamarazza is your source for photos!

Chris told me I should put out another reminder about my mamarazza site.  That’s where I post my favorite pictures, so if you don’t see many pictures on this page in awhile it’s probably because they are over there.

If you look on the sidebar of this page, there is a section called mamarazza underneath chatter box.  mamarazza lists the five most recent mamarazza posts, so you can check that to see if it’s been updated since you last visited.  To see the new posts, you can either click on the post title or click on mamarazza (the title of the section).  If you click on mamarazza instead of an individual title, you will get to the main page.  that’s where you can see all of the new posts at once.

I tend to post pictures in batches (I usually do one picture per post), so you will see a whole bunch of new posts show up at once.

With these eyes, I thee own

Introducing: Chatter Box

As I’ve mentioned before, Z likes to talk to himself when he is in his crib.  Actually, he does a running commentary all day long, which makes it easier to keep track of him and stop him before he does something dangerous.  (“Mommy say Zachary no touch outlet…no touch!”  or “Zachary climb…jump!”)  But the crib chatter is the cutest, because he doesn’t know we can hear him (via the monitor) and he uses that time to practice new words or sing songs or reminisce about things.  I don’t want to forget all of the funny things he says but I can’t catch them all on video, so I’m going to start keeping track of as many as I can on this blog.  I’ve added a section to the sidebar called “chatter box”, which is where his latest ponderings will be posted (via Twitter).  Enjoy!

Tinkle Tinkle

Tinkle Tinkle, originally uploaded by Wenmei.

Our budding American Idol finalist (with support from his high-kicking backup dancing sister).

Happy 5th Birthday, Cowboy!

 

 

Happy Chinese New Year Valentine’s Day!

As with many things, the third time is the charm when it comes to taking pictures of the Hillions.

My version of the story

Here are some of my pictures from my fun photo play date with Judith.  Hopefully some of Judith’s wisdom and skill will rub off on me and I can reduce the strange color tones and blurry images that seem to be my forte.  Mei-mei was a very cooperative model until we started putting lots of hats on her (as you can see from her expression in the last picture).  But I think she’s resigned herself to being my photo model, at least until she can say “No” and run away like her big brother does.

Another parenting experiment

In my never-ending quest to figure out the best way to fully, er, appreciate my child’s 2-year-oldness, I tried a new trick yesterday.  When Z plays in his playroom, he turns into a little hurricane and everything ends up on the floor. Note the chaos behind him (coupled with his cute “who me?” fake smile):

Getting him to help me clean up is a bit of a challenge.  He’ll usually help put away a few things (especially if I turn it into a “my turn/your turn” game), but he quickly gets distracted by other toys and forgets what we’re doing.  He’ll pull out the drawer to put away his fire engine and suddenly notice his rocket car sitting there in the drawer.  So the fire engine is put away, the rocket car comes out.

Yesterday he barely helped at all.  While I was putting things away, he happily played with his garbage truck and Mr. Potato Head.  When I was done, I said, “Well look, I cleaned up all by myself!  Time to put the gate up.”  Z and I left the play room and I put the baby gate up – locking him OUT instead of in.  I stepped over the gate and sat in the middle of the play room floor with a book.  Z stood at the gate looking in, obviously confused.  He said, “Play music bus!” and I said, “Oh, but the music bus is in here, in the play room I cleaned up all by myself!  I’m enjoying the clean play room since I worked so hard on it.”  He said, “Play music player!  Listen Jai Ho!” and I said, “Oh, but the music player is in here too.”  He said, “Play violin?” and I said, “Oh that’s a fun toy to play with.  But it’s in here too.”

Z stood there and watched me for a few minutes, clearly figuring something out in his head.  Then he ran to the living room and opened up the drawer full of his little knick-knacks.  He took them all out and put them on the floor.  He grabbed some plastic containers from the kitchen and put them on the floor too.  Then he announced, “Zachary clean up!” and put the knick-knacks and plastic containers away.

Another reason why I love that boy.

Photo play date

Mei-mei and I had a fun photo play date with the always fabulous Judith and her wonderful helper Annie this week.  Judith has three children and her photography business, and she still got her pictures posted before I've even had a chance to go through all of mine.  I think this means that I need to work on getting my act together...

Anyway, here is a link to her blog showing some pictures from our play date.  I'll post some of my pictures soon, and I'm sure you'll be equally as confused about why it appears that my pictures were taken in a different room with different light and an impossibly fast-moving baby (that explains the blur, right?).  Of course, there's a reason we always go to Judith when we want great pictures!

JFP Photo Play Date

Kimochi Mommy

Z has a Kimochi Cloud toy that we've been using to help him identify and verbalize his emotions.  He's got a collection of pillows with various emotions written on them and he can put one of them into a pocket on Kimochi Cloud's belly.  When I am sad because Z tried to hit or kick me, I talk to Kimochi Cloud and put the "Sad" pillow in his pocket (while Z watches).  When Z is throwing a fit, I tell Kimochi Cloud about it while putting the "Mad" pillow in his pocket.  Z's favorite pillow is "Happy", although he does get "Sad" out when he's hurt himself.

This afternoon, we went to Mosaic to meet up with some friends in the playroom.  Z was extremely easy the entire afternoon, staying away from the doors like I asked and playing nicely with the toys and the other kids.  As we were getting ready to leave, I thanked him for making it such a nice afternoon and I told him how happy I was.  He ran over to the toys to pick out a round plastic sunshine toy with a big smiley face.  He came back to me and dropped it down the front of my shirt, announcing, "Mommy HAPPY!"  Apparently, I'm his Kimochi Mommy.