Enough time...

 Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.

Brian Andreas/storypeople.com

Benjamin Chomsky...Le petit linguist

So, I recently had the uncanny experience of hearing myself in my 18 month old's voice... and let me just clarify, it was not so precious.

Could it have been any of the following: "I love you", "Thank God", "Thank you",  "Dear Jesus" or even "please"?

Of course not! It was a resounding, emphatic, I ain't messin' around "NO"!

I've had the sheer pleasure of listening to this all week long, and I have to keep reminding myself that, the good thing is, the kid has boundaries.

In the meantime, I'm aware of every "like" and "totally" I say, and the fact is, I could do a serious disservice to him if he grows talking like Spicoli.

I'm chalking this one up to another parental adjustment, considering that I now apparently need to monitor everything I say and choose my words and tone deliberately, lest they be repeated. 

The thing is, I'm not even worried about other people hearing it-- I just don't want to have to listen to myself repeated all day, every day for a week.  Yay.

Make new friends, but keep the old...

Every once in awhile you are blessed enough to meet a new friend who fills a void in your life you didn't even know you had.

I feel like this about Abby. I was totally happy and content with my life, but since I've met her, I don't know what I would do without her.

She has already cracked me up, listened to me cry, helped me clean my house, worked out with me, watched TLC in jammies, window-shopped and neighborhood dreamed, and helped me with my little buster. In just a few months time, I have fallen in love with her and her family.

Abby, I'm so glad you are here and you are you!

Blah grrrh.

So, Jerrad is off to New Jersey to open another store. I miss my husband!

I'm proud of him though, and know this is right for our family.

13 days and counting.

The Inner Man...

Definitely man, not mouse!
The man that I love sometimes blows me away with his wisdom, and sometimes cracks me up with his blunt practicality.

As a reward for giving up some bad habits, he decided that he would treat himself to zoom whitening at the dentist, come next visit.

Well, my visit came first, and the dentist assistant told me that he could have the whitening at a discount with invisalign teeth-straightening trays. 

His response? "My teeth work and I'm already married. Why would I need to spend money on braces?".

Ha ha ha! Oh, to be a man.

To Mop or Not to Mop?

Sniffles, scrapes, a thrown coffee mug, a mud party, smooshed banana hair pomade and 2 baths into our day, Ben and I finally made it to dinnertime.  To be honest it felt like it would never arrive! After eating several stalks of broccoli and some roasted potatoes with winter veggies, a proud mama stripped Ben down to his diaper to have at some banana-strawberry yogurt.

The learning task du jour seems to be feeding himself with utensils, which can be tedious and endearing at once.  After an amazingly clean run at it, I wiped off Ben's hair and face and let him play in the kitchen while I ran to check Abby's blog (I have permission to read it!).  It was hilarious and I was laughing out loud, and catching up on pictures that had been posted since I first found it, thought it was private and never went back to it.

In the midst of enjoying a wee bit of space, Ben started talking to me from behind the kitchen gate.  Curiously enough, his little head was peeking around, but I couldn't see more than that.  A hunch in my tummy told me to get up and look, and to my dismay I found my munchkin naked with a dirty diaper on the floor and number 2 smeared all over several unsavory parts of his body, as well as my floor and the gate.

My biggest dilemma of the day had been whether to mop or not, and I was thrilled to have chosen to veer away from clean-freakishness, give up some control and give myself and ENTIRE day off (dishes excluded).  How quickly these plans were dashed!

The new biggest dilemma was how to pick him up, transport him, clean him and then the floors without a) me gagging or crying, b) him wiping his goods on me, or c) him barging in on the kitchen cleaning and partaking in smearfest II and having to start the whole process over again.

To all of you moms who need to feel like you have it all together, just come hang out with me...you'll feel great!

To everyone, I do apologize that my first blog is about poop. Obviously, I do not have it together. I signed up for this in 6/07! Ha! Introductions another time.

The Harris Family: A Brief History

Who we were in 6/07

This was saved as a draft when I first returned to Portland from visiting California, and was inspired to start a blog.

It never happened! But I had a title and a photo!