Don't you hate when your formulu dispenser leaks that powder all over your bag...even worse your minivan?!  That's a great way to kill a couple of hours you could be spending getting a manny/peddy.  I breastfed my daughter for 2 years because it was easy, free and I didn't have to sterilize anything....that would have hurt.  My sister has three kids: a 10; 8; and 16 month old (needless to say, no one is ever happy at her house) so she has no patience for loading her bag up with containers...and there's just no room!  Between her blackberry, their PS2s, juice boxes, Twilight paperbacks for the 10 year old and diapers for the baby, there's no room for containers of formula.

My 7 year old still won't eat salad.  She likes cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, asparagus and Brussel sprouts but lettuce??  No way.  That's a big yuck from her.  Last night I even put green apples in the salad but it was still a no go.  I don't go on and on about it either because I don't want to create issues and battles around food the way it was done when I was growing up.  When it comes to parenting I'll pick my own battles and I don't want to make dinner time a war zone...life is too short and she is eating her vegetables.  It's not like she's not eating any of them.  However, my sister's kids love salad and have been joyously eating it since they were 3 years old.  The annual Memorial Day Barbecue is this weekend and I'm sure my sister's going to roll her eye balls once again when Lily turns down a serving of salad which will be followed by the annual you're-not-as-good-a-mom-as-I-am sigh.  Do your kids eat salad?  What's your secret?  Around what age did they take a shine to it?

It appears that I don't have to wait for the opening of Sex In The City 2 for some drama around here.  Lily is only 7 years old but OMG! she's officially become a drama queen...I think they're easier going.  I asked her to put her shoes in the shoe bin last night, something she's been doing for years.  I don't like shoes in the house because it's like bringing the street in your home.  All she had to do was reach over 3 feet and put them in the bin but instead she had her nineteenth nervous breakdown.

  Okay, not that you care and you're probably just as sick of them as I am by now......but I have to tell you.....I used to be a big fan of Jon & Kate Plus Eight.  I loved the show before it degenerated into a perpetual kate-cry-fest.  I truly enjoyed when it first started:  when they snapped at each other from exhaustion; looked miserable; and Kate was relentlessly putting Jon down.  Ahhh.  Those were the good ole days.  The fact that they were constantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of kids they had made me feel better about my own infertility.  Now, between her hair and her lackluster performance on Dancing With The Stars, can this woman ever go back to just raising those kids??....oh I forgot, that was Jon's job.

Hey there!  Just wanted to invite you to the official launch of Tommee Tippee at Babies R'Us at the flag ship store, Union Square, in New York City this Saturday, 5/15, from 1:00-3:00pm.  There's going to a lot of fun things going on including mommy centric stand up (performed by moi) and an informative discussion with Peg Moline of Fit Pregnancy.  Storytelling and facepainting are just some of the fun activities they have planned....and it's all FREE!  So come on down.  Join us. 

It's spring and you know what that means?  It's "baby registering" season.  If you're pregnant (congratulations!!) remember these two things:  only register for the items you can see your husband successfully assembling (stay away from those elaborate changing tables); and give the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature line of baby bottles a second look.  I know that giant wall of bottles and pacifiers in Babies R'Us can be a little daunting, I like to call it the "Wall of Confusion".  I remember registering there too and being completely overwhelmed by it.  Which do I chose?  Which is best for my baby?  It took me almost 4 hours to register and then the computer crashed while I was inputting all the information.  Uuuugghhhh.  I thought I was going to cry....or fall asleep.  I was so tired at the end. 

It's been a while since I've written about our attempts to adopt because they were.....well they were very frustrating.  Trying to adopt a child in this country, meaning taking them out of 'care', is a very difficult thing.  We found a great agency and a great social worker to boot and two years after starting this process, we have been matched!!  Yes, it took a while but we're here.  We've been matched with a beautiful, healthy, bouncy girl - a 156-month-old or 13 years.  We started this process thinking we'd be matched with a younger child but that just never worked out.  What's that old Yiddish expression?:  "Man makes plans while God laughs."  Through an adoption interruption, someone else's loss has become our gain.  She is a blessing.  We visited with her earlier this week - all three of us, including our 7 year old.  They both got on easily and it all seemed so natural.  Who knew?  I thought I'd be getting another little one and it looks like someone who can help set up my printer instead is coming.  I'll keep you abreast of all the developments and post pix when I legally can.

I hosted the annual Easter/Passover dinner this year again and it was a blast.  I cooked for days, and when I say days I mean 5 days, but it's all good because now we have leftovers for a month!!  Oh yeah baby, spin around and do a Michelle O'Bama fist bump to me sister.  Here are some of the desserts the family brought over.  That's the deal in our family, one person does the dinner everyone else does the dessert.  Watch out Weight Watchers, here are some of the sugar filled temptations that graced our table:

We are so winter weary these days.  We finally had a blast of warm weather this past weekend so we were all over it baby!!  54 degrees in the northeast woohoo!!   Here's a pic of Lily and her two friends playing Girl Island at the park.  Girl Island is like the kid version of Lost and Survivor only their island had only girls on it hence the name.  They even had their own tribal council, some girls were voted off and they even had a dramatic rescue.  It was a blast.

"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it."

"Now I'll give you something to cry about."

"I have eyes in the back of my head.  I can see you all the time." 
-- My mom was an X Man or just a deranged house wife with anger management issues.

 "The police have a special crime lab and they can test your tooth brush to see if it's been used." -- That one built a lovely summer home for my therapist.

Do you ever hear yourself repeating one of your mother's gems and think OMG!  It's happening!  I'm turning into her!  I had a moment like this with our daughter Lily last week.