The one where Julian was a frat boy

Today, in celebration of the launch of my book, the Parent Bloggers Network is hosting a blog blast. This means that anyone who wants to should blog on the chosen topic and then send them the link. They post all the links so that everyone can enjoy each other's post on the topic. And today the topic is... activities for a mom's rookie year.

Keeping this short, the story is that Heather and I put both of our sons in her car and tried to go to a kid-centric cafe in a neighborhood a little outside our familiarity. We do such things just because we like a good challenge. If you don't get the challenge here, you probably haven't tried to install a rear-facing car seat in someone else's car while your baby climbs on you. It turned out the cafe was closed, so we decided what we needed was a beer.

Knowing that any place that serves food with their beer probably has high chairs, we went to a family restaurant/sports bar and plopped the babes in two high chairs and ordered two beers.

Then Julian puked. But only on his own shirt.

I grabbed him out of the high chair and ran out the door of the pub. I held him over the gutter where he puked again. Classy.

Then he was fine. He seemed unbothered by having just emptied his stomach. So, I cleaned him up, put him back in his high chair, and finished my beer. I think this is known amongst the fraternity set as "boot and rally", but I went to a women's college on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, so I am not totally sure.

And that, my friends, is just one of many adventures on which I took Julian during his early days. To read more from other parents reflecting on their rookie year, check out the blog blast write up on the Parent Bloggers Network. If you have a blog, share your best, bizarrest, coolest, whatever rookie mom year outing and win some prizes (all weekend long).

Fairyland

This morning, Julian woke up in a terrible mood. He whined and tantrumed and I wanted to make him go away.

Instead, I took him to Fairyland.



We met H & H there, and it was the first time in a very long time that just the rookie babies were brought on a double date.



I think we all loved it. (No offense to the younger sibs.)



There's really no end or punchline to this story. Just a really nice Sunday.

Jimmy Crackcorn

If you don't find this hilarious, you must not be three years old.


Untitled from whitneymoss on Vimeo.

We've heard this song at least 642 times this weekend.

Spring in San Luis Obispo

Every year we get together with Stephanie and Hope, my two best friends from Junior High. That's what we called it before Middle Schoool came to LA. Now we have husbands and hecka kids.

Here we are.



And here are the seven reasons our Sunday mornings together start at 6.30 AM.



More pictures from March are here >

The fashion police live here

Yesterday Ryan came home from downtown San Francisco with about five new items of clothing for each of his kids. Dresses, sunglasses, headbands. You get the idea.

+++

This morning, Julian pulled a pink and white-striped shirt out of Scarlett's drawer and said, "Mommy, when Scarlett comes to pick me up from school today, I want her to wear this."

I wonder where he gets it.

+++

I'm off to preschool pick-up now, and Scarlett is dressed as ordered.

The meaning of Zero

Julian is interested in "none", "nobody", "zero" and "nothing". This is a recent conversation we had:

Julian: Scarlett only has a little hair. Mommy, does Scarlett have no hair?
Me: Scarlett does have some hair.
Julian: Who has no hair?
Me: I guess Milo has no hair.
Julian: Milo has no hair.

I remember something.

Me: Julian, you know who really has no hair? Wayne.
Julian: Yeah! Wayne has ZERO hair!



Wayne and the woman who would become Milo's mom, September 2001

Scarlett swings

Untitled from whitneymoss on Vimeo.

Five things that don't suck about our short-term rental

5. The kids' room. They have plenty of space for their beds and a large play area in between them. Most importantly, they can both cry out in the night and not wake each other up. This feature is actually undergoing rigorous testing this week.

4. Instant Hot. Heather has been telling me how wonderful it is for about a year, but now, thanks to our landlord's Japanese water heater, we have 200-degree water on demand. Effortless tea all day long and warm baby food in a jiffy.

3. Proximity to our home and preschool. While we're not exactly in our own neighborhood, it could have been much worse. We talked about San Rafael. It takes about 10 minutes to drive to our house from this condo.

2. The shower. When I saw the clawfoot tub and not-new showerhead, I knew it was likely to deliver a less-than satisfying stream of water. To my delight, the water is forceful and hot for plenty of time. Again, what I'm after is for it not to suck. I'll head over to the Claremont when I need a real spa day.

1. The view. We could not ask for more. I took this picture from the deck of our rental the other night. A clear night reveals even more detail.

Picture of the day

Shameless self-promotion

If you are as anxious to get your hands on a copy of my book as thousands of first-time moms must be (ha!), go ahead and pre-order it on Amazon!

Heather and I got our advanced copies in the mail yesterday and we are super duper excited! The illustrations, by Amy Saidens who we have never met, are really cute, and Ryan even has a credit as the photographer of the author photo in the back jacket.

Wish us luck with sales!