This Week’s Spotlight: Wente Vineyards Brut Sparkling Wine
My mom is partial to the bubbles, so we were very pleasantly surprised when our waiter arrived with a glass for each of us (courtesy of the lovely folks at Wente who knew I’d enjoyed and shared my Entwine experience). I don’t know if it was because it eased the pain of me watching Pink throw zucchini on the ground of an upscale restaurant, or because it was just so darn smooth and easy to drink, but it disappeared rather quickly. (Funny, so did my decadent, delicious meal.)

While sparkling wine isn’t my go-to drink, it sure does make a celebration more festive. Especially when it’s as tasty as Wente’s was. Cheers!

What occasion in your world calls for a glass of bubbly? Thursday afternoon? A birthday party? Good news? (All of the above?)

Disclosure: While the sparkling wine was comped (a very fun surprise!), it was not with the expectation I would write about it. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Now, almost 15 years (and a whole lotta minutes later), six months goes by in the blink of an eye. So two blinks later, Pink is turning one. Today. She’s one.

And if I look back, it’s been quite a year. It can be measured in all kinds of ways.

In diapers, in babbles, in nose drops, in teething tablets.
In late nights, in scootches, in laundry, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes.
How do you measure a year in the life?

I know it’s a year she won’t remember. I also know it’s a year I won’t forget. I mean, sure, I’ll forget how old she was when her first tooth finally broke through. And I’ll forget how old she was when she first slept through the night. I may even forget how hilarious her slalom butt scooting is since she refuses to crawl. (Though I pray I won’t.)

But I know I’ll always remember how I literally watched hearts get bigger when she entered the world. The peace that came over me as a mom doing this for the third time, and finally feeling completely at peace with my abilities—and inabilities. The way Lenny suddenly seemed to understand that a girl and her dad have a special bond. The way two unruly boys started speaking in soft, sweet voices and using words like “precious”, “sweetie pie” and “beautiful”. The way friends and strangers alike softened when they saw her welcoming smile.

The world changed a year ago today. Well, my world did, at least.

And that overwhelming change, well, it can only truly be measured in one way. Measured in love. Seasons of love.

Happy Birthday, precious, sweetie pie Pink! We love you so very, very much.

Photo by the truly amazing and talented Jenny Lee. Used with permission.

While some people might go crazy spending 18 hours alone, it was this mom-of-three-who’s-admitted-to-being-an-introvert’s idea of bliss. And the whole time, I couldn’t help but think the choices I was making were a lot like the ones my kids would make if they were in charge. Maybe I should let them call the shots more often.

I ate dessert first.

I went to the pool. Then decided I just wanted to sit on the steps.

I left my bathing suit on the floor.

I accidentally fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon.

All I wanted for dinner was a burger and fries.

I ate dinner in front of the TV. (Well, I tried to, but the TV wasn’t working.)

When the TV wasn’t working, I screamed dialed for help. And eventually—probably after finishing a riveting blog post—someone came up and plugged it in for me without asking why I didn’t try to solve the problem by myself.

I didn’t do what I was supposed to.

I woke up far too early. Then laid in bed reading, anxiously waiting for the kids to tell me it was time to get up.

I ran to the door when I heard four of my favorite voices coming down the hall. And I realized that 18 hours was exactly the deep breath I needed to be the best version of my kids’ mom again. (Which, of course, meant a picnic of donuts and a morning of swimming. Together.)

I hope Mother’s Day brought you smiles, love, cards, celebration and maybe even that moment of silence (or whatever else it is) you’ve been needing.

Lesson #1: I should really take my own advice. You know, the one about the three-year old on a two wheeler and the FSA contribution? Yeah, well, I didn’t. And I wore a new shirt. I was just begging for a bloody day, and Little obliged. We can now check chin stitches off our summer to do list!

Lesson #2: While Field & Stream might look like a fun magazine to distract your little animal lover in the general surgery waiting room, only dive in if you’re prepared to explain why the super cool deer has a bulls eye imposed on his chest alongside a rifle ad.

Lesson #3: Big is not going to grow up to be a doctor. One queasy glance at Little and he said, “It would have been a lot easier on me if the stitches were in his knee. I can’t even look at him. But I do know what I’m going to write about at Writer’s Workshop tomorrow!”

Lesson #4: Ice cream cures all. After a quick stop on our way home from the doctor’s office, Little was trying to drum up a game of tackle football. (So when Dr. Big told Little he was crazy, no way he’d be allowed to, he went for a quick bike ride instead.)

Lesson #5: Big may not be headed for med school, but the While House is looking like an option. In fact, he’s already preparing for his MTV interview and has written an awesome song in response to the burning political question: Boxers or briefs?

Lesson #6: Speaking of songs, and some new insight from Big, it turns out I’ve had the lyrics to this one wrong for years: The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone’s connected to the leg bone. The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone. The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone’s connected to the wenis bone.

Lesson #7: The only way to make t-ball and flag football practice more fun than they already are—especially on a crazy hot day—is to practice throwing with water balloons.

Lesson #8: When your baby is making animal noises as loud as she possibly can at the party store (where you’re stocking up on water balloons for your own yard), and the people in line behind you don’t even crack a smile, you can’t help but be glad you weren’t invited to their party.

Lesson #9: While deciding to ditch the rash guard for a tan chest may be cool, insisting on pulling your swim trunks up over your belly button kinda defeats the purpose.

Lesson #10: There is such a thing as too clean. In Lenny’s amazing attempt to make sense of my organized chaos, he also cleaned out my car. He didn’t just take out the trash, he removed the sitting-on-the-lawn-at-practice blanket, the keep-Pink-napping-during-the-transfer-inside blanket and the baby carrier. (But it really did look good. I even took it to get washed before I threw everything back in.)

Thanks for spending some of your very special day with me. Now get back to your celebrating!

This Week’s Spotlight: Echelon 2010 Red Blend & Echelon 2010 Chardonnay (California)
Last week, I got to answer red and white. (Well one on Friday, the other on Saturday.) The Echelon Red Blend was a perfect pizza wine. It was flavorful, but not overpowering, with a hint of sweetness. (Sounds a bit like me, really.) Both Lenny and I enjoyed it and agreed we’d add it to our list to have on hand for Friday nights. On Saturday, we drowned our Cinco de-saster with some friends and we cracked open the Chardonnay. It was really different from my go-to whites, but my friend and I both thought it was a pleasant change of pace. Again, it was very flavorful and—before I read the label—it made me think of pear. Turns out I’m getting pretty good at this tasting thing and I was right. Guess I better continue to practice!

Have you been pleasantly surprised by a new wine recently?

Disclosure: As a member of Clever Girls Collective, I participated in an Echelon Vineyard’s program. They sent me three bottles of wine to taste and tweet about. I was not required to blog about the wines, but enjoyed them and wanted to share. All opinions expressed are my own.

So imagine if, How will I pay for diapers? was on that list.

Not, Oh man, how did I not realize I was down to five diapers and now I have to run to Target again for the third time this week. Ugh, how will I find the time? No.

Not, Can you believe she grew out of size 3 when I have a brand new pack and now I have to buy size 4s…these things aren’t cheap. No.

But, How will I pay for diapers?

Honestly, I never really thought about the fact that I’ve never once had to worry about the answer to this until I met Lisa from Help A Mother Out. And this Mother’s Day week, she and her organization are doing their best to ensure other moms won’t have to either. The hope is that with one less basic thing to worry about, these moms will be able to move forward and create a better life for those babies. Just like Katelyn has. I hope you’ll take a minute or two to hear her story of hope.

Katelyn from Help A Mother Out on Vimeo.

If you’re inspired to give a gift this Mother’s Day, click here to learn more. And if you have diapers the little tushies in your home have outgrown, please consider donating them to one of the Help A Mother Out drop off locations. (If you live near me, I’m happy to add them to my collection and I’ll drop them off at Day One soon!)

Happy Mother’s Day to each of you! May it be as worry free as possible (then again, we are moms).

Lesson #1: If at first you don’t succeed, stalk Kelly Corrigan at another event. (But realize that when she said, “Let’s stay in touch,” she might not have meant you should start inviting her to family parties. Or did she?)

Lesson #2: Though my dad’s been gone almost 7 months now, it’s still a bad idea for me to be in a room of 250 people when someone talks about how much they love their father. (Especially if that room has really fancy napkins and I don’t have tissues with me.)

Lesson #3: There’s nothing like kids to keep you humble. After arriving home from my ladies’ luncheon (which involved a fair amount of hugging), Little asked when I was going to shower because I was so stinky.

Lesson #4: There are times my dirty minivan feels a bit out of place, so I could totally empathize with the woman in the preschool parking lot the other day. No doubt she was coveting the conveniences of my swagger wagon as she hurried away in her itty bitty Ferrari.

Lesson #5: While people may question the quality of a public school education in California these days, I have no doubt Big has learned more about isopods and oviparous animals in kindergarten than I ever did.

Lesson #6: Apparently keeping them safely trapped wasn’t among the lessons they covered. This week we found a roly poly on the dining room floor and a lady bug on the kitchen ceiling.

Lesson #7: If the dentist insists on giving your kid floss, he should really explain that its purpose isn’t to turn your playroom into Spidey’s web.

Lesson #8: Just when you think your kids don’t notice all the little things you do to make them smile, you find a backpack pocket stuffed with old lunch napkin notes you’ve packed along the way.

Lesson #9: You know your kid is sensitive when he sips his milk and refuses to drink it because he can taste that it came out of a cardboard carton, not a plastic one.

Lesson #10: When you leave the car all packed for your nanny to take the kids (and the team snacks) to a t-ball game while you head to a baptism prep class for the day, it’s really best not to take the keys with you when you leave. (Yeah, Saturday morning was a Cinco de-saster.)

Lesson #11: Until I clarified today, Little thought that when I went to a shower, it involved a bunch of ladies getting naked together.

Lesson #12: I need to go to (fully clothed) baby showers more often. Today, after a lovely lunch with friends, I came home to a cleaned out playroom and loads (figuratively and literally) of laundry done. The downside? I also came home to a husband who suddenly wonders why I don’t get anything done every day.

May your week be full of surprises—with the scales heavily tipping toward the good kind.

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.

• Tell us seven things about yourself.

• Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers

While I’m a huge fan of following rules, I’m going to break a few. First of all, I don’t want anyone to feel they have to participate. Something like this should be fun, not a burden. Second, I don’t remember how to count to 15. These are just friends with blogs that I wish I had time to read. (But if I want to continue to write, I’m afraid reading isn’t always something I can squeeze in.)

So, Christine, thank you. Thank you for not only sharing me with your audience, but for making me feel like I wasn’t just invited to the party, I was welcomed with open arms to play with all the other kids. (Read her touching post about her daughter and you’ll get this.) You have a wonderful way with words and it’s always great to connect with you.

Here are 7 things about me you may not know:

1) I can’t touch cotton balls. The feeling I get when I do is equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. And, yes, I had to admit this to Little’s preschool teacher when she wanted me to help kids rip them apart (about 1000x worse than just touching) to make Santa’s beard. There are other extensions of this phobia, but I’ll save those for another time.

2) I’m a master grape peeler. When you have 3 babies with allergies and grapes are one of the few things on the “ok” list, you learn the hard way. If you cut them lengthwise in fourths, you get a little of the part that was attached to the stem on each piece and peel from there. You’re welcome.

3) It doesn’t matter how much I psych myself up, I’m still shy. Even with people I know. (Weird for someone who writes about anything and everything, I know.)

4) Lenny and I call each other by our middle names (which explains his pen name) because we always had roommates with the same names as us.

5) My favorite movie is Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin version…still haven’t seen the original) and I can pretty much recite the whole thing. When I’m trying to calm myself down, I say his opening monologue.

6) I can’t think around clutter, but I can’t seem to get organized. (Which is why this took me almost a year.)

7) My favorite lullaby is Sweet Child O’ Mine. Yes, the Guns & Roses song.

Ok, enough about me. Here are some of my friends that I’d like you to meet.

Amy, Trembling Ovaries- Ever since I met Amy, I wanted to be like her when I grow up. Our maiden names differ by just two letters and I like to think that’s not the only thing we have in common. She recently started blogging and I stop everything when I see she has a new post. She’s hilarious, honest and loves her family as much as her Chardonnay.

Aimee, Everyday Epistle- My friend Julia connected me to her friend, saying I had to check her out because she’s such a beautiful writer. She was right. I love reading Aimee’s posts. If you’re Christian, you’ll love the way she can connect things like shoes and grocery shopping and ads to scripture.

Cristie, Real Life Wellness- I know some people think I’ve gone off the deep end drinking green smoothies and skipping pizza at parties. But there’s a good reason. Lots of them, actually. And Cristie does a great job of reminding me why eating right isn’t about being skinny, but being healthy (in mind, body and spirit).

Jessica, Sassafrass- Jess is a beautiful writer with a fetish for shoes and the sweetest love for her son. She shares her experiences as a single mom with the humor, grace and insight I aspire to.

JJ, Unfrump My Mom- Let’s face it, we’ve all changed a bit since having kids, but how low can we—or should we—go? Enjoy some laughs and easy fashion pointers from a mom who cares about helping other moms avoid frump. Have you seen my “everyday” sassy tight black pants (of the non-yoga variety)? You have JJ to thank.

Kimberly, Pier to Peer- All you (LA) South Bay moms will want to be sure to check out this new-ish, but booming blog. Kimberly has a wonderful eye for decor and a passion for family fun in and around Manhattan Beach.

Linda, Carpool Goddess- I got to meet this hilarious Parenting Guru last year, so I know not to believe she indulges in as many cupcakes as new pairs of shoes. Reading about her experiences with a high-schoolin’ daughter and college-aged son, makes me realize how fabulous I’m going to be when my kids get older.

Lori, Mommyfriend- Meet my fellow Parenting Guru who actually deserves the title. I’ve linked to her Facebook page because Lori is a mad Babble blogger as well and you’ll want to catch those posts too. She covers everything from postpartum depression to songs to get busy to. What’s not to love?

Laurie, Manic Motherhood- Yes, another Guru. She’s very witty and someone I know I should meet. And maybe I will someday since I’m pretty sure we live close to each other.

Saralynne, MerelyMothers- Saralynne is another Guru with a more educational slant. As a teacher and military wife, she brings an interesting perspective to motherhood that she does a lovely job of sharing in her writing.

Ok, I have lots more to share (seriously, I just keep thinking of more), so I’ll do this again soon. But, it turns out Little needs someone for his bear to attack. (Hopefully I live to see round 2!)