Jonah

As a little girl, my dream in life was to get married and have a big family. Mission accomplished (twice, lol!) So when the holidays roll around, I’m not going to lie and pretend I dread the holiday card frenzy. I don’t! I love it. I love having a reason to hire a photographer and get pictures of us all together. I even like the process of stamping and labeling envelopes. I know, weird. But the thing is, we all know that behind these photos, children were screaming, the house is a mess, mommy is counting down the seconds until the kids go to sleep, and daddy is checking the ...Read More
For the Win Maybe it’s his age, (I hope it’s his age), but according to Jonah, everything we do is soooo boring and not cool. He “barely gets to (insert ANYTHING a 10-year old would like to do),” and he never, I repeat NEVER gets to stay up late or have a sleepover in our bed. Also, I should mention EVERTHING I cook “is soooo gross and is always organic or made with stevia.” (Okay, I admit, that’s like half true. One point for Jonah). At seems like lately, on a daily basis, I become THAT mom: “Do you realize how lucky you are? How privileged you are?” I list all the ...Read More
My “Particular” Guy Almost every night, without fail, about 45 seconds after I walk out of Jonah’s room and finally sit down on my bed with the loudest internal “Ahhh,” he calls me. “Mommmmmmmy.” Trying to summon every ounce of patience I have left, I tiptoe down the hallway quickly so as to not waking his sleeping baby brother right next door. Except as you may recall from several other posts, our floors seemed to have been transported from the Little House on the Prairie and they creak as if Pa is a’comin. “Yes, bud. What is it?” Usually, it’s a “can I have water, it’s too hot, why is the sky blue, can you ...Read More
Food Loves Milk: Awesome After School Snacks You know those kids who only eat basic foods… You know the ones that will happily eat a PB&J sandwich for lunch every day and macaroni and cheese for dinner every night? Yeah, that’s not my kid. MY kid is a foodie. There’s no such thing as basic! This is a kid who will try anything– there’s no such thing as too spicy, too saucy, or too sweet. He’s got an adventurous appetite and it’s awesome! But… it’s also hard. How does one please a child who’s palette is on par with Anthony Bourdain but is only 8! and needs wholesome, healthy, food to help him ...Read More
When Jonah was born, I had the privilege of being able to stay home with him for a year before returning to work.  Initially, I chose to have a full time nanny come for a short time (an old story about her here). Eventually, however, it made more sense (financially and scheduling wise) to have him go to a local daycare. It ended up being the best decision ever as Jonah thrived in a setting with other children. (I attribute his early talking and social skills- at least the ones he had until he turned 8 and learned how to do an armpit fart- to daycare). While this was the right move, ...Read More
#WeAreLucky: Supporting Children’s Hospital Los Angeles I can remember at about 3am, a nurse, (I can’t remember his name. Was it Herbert? Let’s call him Herbert) came  in and checked Oliver’s vitals. Half asleep and in a daze, I watched as then he picked up my baby boy, and gently sat him on his lap to feed him the bottle of breastmilk that he offered to give (so that I could sleep). But I couldn’t sleep. Should I get up? I can’t get up. It was night 2 of our 3 day stay at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and sleeping wasn’t in my cards. It wouldn’t be for a few days. But I could ...Read More
The 5 Emotions of Sleep Training When Jonah was 5 months old, I had probably already read 468 books about baby development. From what to expect each minute of his precious life to breastfeeding because formula is the boogeyman, I was well versed in all things babyhood. Except sleep. Well that’s not true. I knew WHAT to do. I just didn’t do it. But I was 31. And 31 year olds can go without sleep more than almost 40 year old’s can. “And I’m going to be 40… When? Someday…” (By the way, if you don’t get that reference than you’re definitely too young to be reading this). Anyway, I’ve been feeling ...Read More
It’s 9:36am and I’m racing out the door to get to 9:30 workout class. I have spent the last 45 minutes telling myself that this workout is really important because not only will I not be able to workout for the rest of the week, but I totally fell off the wagon on day 9 ½ of my 21 day diet. Fucking Girl Scouts. But TODAY, I’m going to make it to class. To clear my head. To sweat. To work off 350 of the 3500 calories I consumed at the Chinese restaurant last night. I mean, if I go, I will be queen of the world. I have roughly 5 ...Read More
12.08.15
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The New Old Mommy When you have a baby, at some point, you forget how overwhelmingly overwhelming “the beginning” was. From the delivery room to those first days and weeks (that feel like months) at home, you forget just how much pain you were in, how scared you were, how agonizingly awful the sleepless nights feel, and how petrified you are by the body you see in the mirror that you’re convinced will never be the same. And then, magically, strangely, sadistically, you FORGET… It wasn’t that awful. It wasn’t that painful. Overnight, your birth story becomes an old war story: You literally survived D-Day. You’re able to sit around with your ...Read More
Holiday Cards: Jumpstart with Snapfish.com Confession: I’m not on my A-Game these days (did the rat’s nest on my head and spit up on the shoulder of my 3 day old tee give it away?) My stove hasn’t seen a pan in months and my curling iron might just die, literally, if I were to re-introduce it to my hair. Ah, the joys of having a newborn. While eyeliner, nice hair and fabulous home cooked meals may be a thing of the past (or at least months from being a norm again), there is one thing I’m not willing to drop the 8-ball on: making and storing memories of said hygiene ...Read More