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I have been working with women and money for quite awhile, and, while it is my profession, it is also my passion. Numbers are my thing. Although there are a lot of people out there who can give all sorts of financial advice, my expertise is women and cash flow – the inflow and the outflow of money. It is my goal to help women understand money basics.
My 10 week old son, Wade, is adorable. Everyone says so. I love him tons. But I’m afraid I may soon start to hate him. He barely sleeps. I breastfeed him, rock him, sing to him, swing him, drive him, nothing works. I need my sleep. Like most human beings, without sleep I am: irritable, forgetful, sometimes nasty, confused, stupid and very unhappy. With sleep I may be some of these things but not all at once. I miss my sleep. No one mentioned this when I announced my pregnancy. At my baby shower. Picking out my layette. Never heard a peep. Is this some kind of a conspiracy?
I had only given my 9 month old daughter rice cereal and banannas – up until yesterday… I hadn’t gotten around to experimenting with other finger foods. She’s my second child, that’s probably why. At this time my older daughter was trying everything. So the other day when my mother-in-law insisted on giving her asparagus I okayed it. I was feeling guilty that she was missing out and I remembered that asparagus is a good finger food. I made sure it was cooked a long time and cut up into little pieces. But the thing is that the bottom of the asparagus is kind of stringy. When my daughter started gumming it, it didn’t really dissolve and she started choking! I lunged to do the toddler heimlich (or what I thought the toddler heimlich should be). By the time I got behind her she was hacking and then suddenly she threw up all over the high chair. My mother-in-law was as pale as a ghost. I have outlawed asparagus from our house until all my children have teeth.
Santa Doesn’t “Esist” as my 6-year old tells it. Apparently he and his friend were discussing the reasons why Santa could not possibly be real. And I was eavesdropping of course…
#1 It’s impossible to remember all the toys kids want. There’s not enough paper in the whole world to write it on.
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“If you know anything about fairy tales, you know that a hero does’t appear until the world really needs one”, so the narrator tells us early on in THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX. And as the curtain rises on this story, the once idyllic kingdom of Dor is in desperate need of a hero. With sunlight lost to a permanent cloud cover, a King mourning a dead Queen, the rat population in exile and, oddly, a complete ban on the savory soup that once made it famous Dor is but a dark shadow of its former self. And to this kingdom, a mouse is born.
I bought my eldest child a sled for Christmas. Nothing big. Just a two-seater plastic thing. While we live a bit south of the nation’s capitol this born and bred New Englander has high hopes for some fluffy white stuff each and every year. Last year? No dice. Pretty please this year Ms. Mother Nature?
Now that I’ve bought this sleek gray sled I’m thinking that Mother Nature just may decide to hold out on me again this winter season. While the Farmer’s Almanac is all about blizzards and fresh powder by the igloo full, our area has had nothing but drizzly rain and not even the icy freezing kind. The giant hill behind our house mocks us each morning as we open the curtains to look for freshly fallen snow. I abhor winter but I love me some snow. I am loathe to see yet another toy in my house regaled to storage and sit unused collecting dust. The sled is a classic! How could I go wrong in purchasing it? Yet, it mocks me daily as our yard turns to mud instead of frozen tundra.
Buying that sled and even saying it was from Santa seems to have jinxed me from ever seeing the great white drifts. Mother Nature you owe me some snow!
Benjamin and I just ate Hannah Montana macaroni and cheese. This is an exciting accomplishment seeing as how just a few short days ago he could not keep down even a slice of toast.
Yep. Christmas did not go well in the Allen household.
At 7:30 AM on Christmas Eve morning, I woke to Benjamin crying. When I arrived next to his Tonka truck-sheeted bed, he was gagging and choking. In an unsympathetic, half-slumber I grumbled, “Calm down. What is wrong?” I ushered him to the bathroom where the poor thing plopped down on his Baby Bjorn potty and proceeded to vomit into his own dinosaur underpants.
The whole scenario repeated itself at 8:30 AM.
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Even though I know I will never keep any of my New Year’s Resolutions, I shall declare them anyway for the entire world to see.
Here are my three New Year’s Resolutions in the order of least likely to be resolved.
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My husband and I had a date night not too long ago. We were, like most parents, ecstatic over the free grandparent baby sitting and the idea of having a dinner not just out but at a place with dim lighting, cloth napkins, flaming candles and no crayons on the table. To me the biggest problem was what the heck I was going to wear. I was not quite out of my maternity clothes (OK, just the freakin’ pants) and not quite fitting into my regular shirts (the girls are nursing and porn star looking these days). However, my husband had a whole list of things that now compile the ‘Date Night Do’s and Don’ts’.
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Ah the holidays. There’s no better time to kick back, relax and spend some quality time with the family. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or you’re waiting for the next Hale-Bop comet to arrive, you can’t deny the spirit of the season. There’s something about the holiday music playing. It acts as a sort of, soundtrack to your life. I feel invincible walking down the street in time to Stevie Nick’s version of “Silent Night” blaring in my ear buds. Just when you had forgotten what an altruist Bono is, “Do they know it’s Christmas” hits the radio again. There’s something about the smell of New York City during the holidays. It’s a perfect mix of gingerbread cookies, pinecones and horse poop. The change of season is such an emotional trip.
