THE Wedding

  There are 3 weddings I've always wanted to attend, an indian wedding, a New york wedding, and a destination wedding.  Well I can mark one down because we went to New York for my brother's wedding last month.   It was amazing; the venue, the flowers, the ceremony, the reception, ALL of it.  I got so caught up in the day and seeing the love between my brother and his beautiful bride; I totally ugly-cried at the ceremony, like seriously ugly cried.  But as soon as the ceremony was over, my brother said some asshole comment and the wave of emotion was gone.   We enjoyed some amazing food, caught up with old friends, and the band was spot on... live mash-up. Awesome.

Here are some pictures:

So do you want to know what made me ugly cry (other than the love in the air)? I will initially default to the raging hormones that seem to have made themselves comfortable in my body since Miss Vivian arrived.  The second reason is the reading.  It's an excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."


"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.


"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."


"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"


"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."


Crying yet?

Just Faux Fun Friday

I've never watched webisodes before, that is until this week when I saw, Burning Love, a web series featuring Jennifer Anniston, Malin Akerman, Ben Stiller, and one of my favorites Kristen Bell.  I encourage you to watch these short webisodes and prepare to laugh your ass off!

Other shows I am loving these days:
VEEP
Girls
Nurse Jackie
Episodes

And we can't end a post with out a little cuteness from my now 3 month old baby!

On Being a New Mom cont.

Thanks to April for reminding me about the poop.  Oh the poop! Yes, you will be pooped and peed on at some point.  My friend who has two children recently said to me, "I have touched human poo that is not my own every day this week." That is not something I would have ever expected to hear come out of her mouth when we were busy partying through college! We're all grown up now, and dealing with the poo.
Here's the story of my first poo experience.  So there I was bathing my precious little Vivian. She enjoys her bath time and always makes funny faces.  I try to entertain her by singing - horribly bad versions of Rubber Duckie and Splish Splash.  So that was going on when I saw something horrible; the poo face. I looked down, and it was a comin.  To my surprise, I shoved my hand under her, caught it, and threw it in the toilet.  After one or two dry heaves, I looked at Vivian and said, "Oh honey, I love you so much."  The thing is its true. I realized that I love her that much more because I didn't even flinch when catching the number 2, because she's my number one.  I'm not sure there is any limit as to what I would do for her.

THIS is the poo face. 

I would do anything for this little one!

PS. When I texted my husband about the incident her just wrote back, "Ew."

On Being a New Mom

Yes, it's me and I'm talking about motherhood and little Vivian again. I didn't think this would become a baby blog, but that seems to consume my life these days so I can't help but write about it. First of all, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  Here's my favorite video of Mother's Day!

 

Since you know I like to keep things real, I thought I'd give all you a few reflections and recommendations since Vivian came into our life - in bullet format of course. 

• Since recovery, I feel like my bladder is just showing off now, going 10 hours without having to go.
• Crying isn't annoying when it's your baby.  I find Viv's cries sweet and often times funny. 
• Lamaze toys are like crack for babies - buy some. 
• Watch "The Happiest Baby on the Block" 
• I never thought I would voluntarily touch poo until my daughter was pooping in the bath tub and I grabbed it. 
• Babies pee on something other than a diaper at lease once a day, no matter how hard you to try to avoid it. 
• Your baby's smile will most certainly melt your heart.  

I'm happy to discuss other items that have come in handy for those interested!

Just Faux Fun Friday

It's been a while since I've posted one of these! So here we go. My mom called me a few weeks ago and said, "You know that 'Opps I crapped my pants' brownie recipe you have?"  I said, "What?"
She claims that's what I used to call my Weight Watchers Fiber brownie recipe (which happens to be 2 points if you're into weight watchers).  I don't remember calling it that, so I was cracking up at my mom calling it Oops I crapped my pants brownies.  Nowadays I call them Fiber Brownies, because I'm a grown-up. ;)  So for Just Faux Fun Friday, I present you with Oops I Crapped My Pants, one of the funniest SNL commercials! Watch it!  You won't regret it.

And just because I don't like to post without pictures, here's my little froggie!

The time I became afraid of heights

Husband and I love to travel.  (Things may be different now that Baby is here.) We are also very competitive.  We will turn everything and anything into a competition.  (I'll have to document the great Mac and Cheese bake-off of 2009 later.) So where am I going with this?  Can you give an exact date you became afraid of heights? Spiders? Tornados?  Probably not, but I can tell you the exact date, location, and incident that made me afraid of heights.
The date: August 9, 2010.
Location: Wet 'n Wild - Orlando, FL
The Ride: Der Stuka and The Bomb Bay

While in Orlando, husband and I had an "adventure off" as in who would ride every ride and not chicken out. Day One- Universal Studios went pretty well.  We started with the Hulk and ended with Harry Potter.  Side Note - Roller coasters are nowhere near as fun as I remember.  I think I pulled something in my neck the first day.  But I would NOT be out-adventured.
Move to Day Three- Wet 'n Wild. I was doing pretty well, riding every ride and enjoying myself. Enter the afore mentioned ride. So it's a double slide, the right being Der Stuka where the rider pushes himself off the edge and down the slide.  The left is The Bomb Bay, where the rider steps into a capsule and the bottom drops out and the rider plummets down the slide.  Which would you choose?

I made the wise decision to ask the 10 year old in front of me which one was less scary.  In his infinite 10 year old wisdom, he suggested the Bomb Bay noting, you don't have to make yourself go off the edge, the ride makes you go.  I thought, this kid is on to something. So I got in that line.  Husband said 'no way in hell' and got in the other line.  He went down before me. I should have made the same choice. 

As I stood there, waiting to get in the capsule and have the bottom drop out from under me, I began to doubt my decision.  But as I saw child after child enter the capsule without hesitation, I thought, 'I can do this.'  Then came my turn.  I entered the capsule and looked down at the end of the slide where a man with a flag signaled to the ride operator.  As she came to close the capsule door I put my hand out dramatically and said "WAIT!" with desperation and fear in my voice.  To this she just rolled her eyes and answered, "It lasts like 2 seconds."  But I stood there like I was about to end my life; like I was making a life and death decision.  Then I made it.  I got OUT of the capsule and began my walk of shame down the spiral. 

Husband was waiting for me at the bottom, but I appeared next to the slide, not on it.  As I approached him with tears in my eyes, I defeatedly admitted "You win."

Ever since then, even going down the escalator (especially the ones at Rosslyn and Dupont Circle) gives me a little vertigo.  Is it pathetic, hilarious, expected?  Did I set myself up for this?  You tell me.  

She's Here!

We're alive and Vivian is here.  Actually, she's been hanging out with us in the real world since March 4.  Arriving 12 days early, Miss Viv entered the world tipping the scales at a whopping 5 pounds, 9 ounces and 18" long.  The delivery itself went pretty well despite some drops in her heart rate and several threats of a C-section.  She is beautiful and I am more in love with her than I ever thought I could be and all those cliche things you hear new Moms say.  They're true.  This blog is about truth... I can't make this stuff up.  So with that I'd like to give you the real truth - in bullet points because Vivian is getting restless - about delivery and life after.

• Within 5 minutes of checking in, all modesty goes out the window.  After getting in my gown and attached to the monitors, I had to walk to the bathroom with my ass hanging out.
• The hospital staff was great, but as soon as Vivian arrived, I felt like I was man-handled.
• I threw-up and passed out after my first trip to the bathroom. Lovely.
• No one prepared me for the sheer amount of blood there would be in the days following the birth. It's like a waterfall ya'll. Thank you hospital for the biggest pads I've ever seen.  They were necessary and greatly appreciated.
• Hospital underwear is the best, most comfortable ever.  I may have taken 10 pairs home.
• Since returning home, personal hygiene has taken a backseat. I'm lucky to brush my teeth most days.  It's all about the baby. 
• Life revoles around Vivian's feeding and pooping schedule. The most common sentences are, When did she eat last? and Did she poop today? 

I haven't been on my own yet, since my Mom is still in town, so I am petrified about when she leaves how I will handle all the night feedings on my own.   I'll let you know how it goes, but it might be a while before I can post again.  Not that I'm not still stalking others blogs whether I know them or not.

I leave you with some pictures of cuteness that is my baby.