My Baby Girl is One!!

So because there was a video involved i didn't make on my phone, I
apparently couldn't do this blog from my phone, which I tend to do. I
guess technology has its limits.  I had to wait until I was on my
computer to add it and because I've been a good little writer, I've been
on my computer more working on some stuff (yay!)



So anyway, my little baby girl turned one on June 27.  She has been such a
joy in our lives. I know it's only been a year, but it is still sort of
hard to remember our lives without her! She fits into our family so
perfectly!

Throwback Thursday: It's All Coming Back to Me Now

So, this song came on and it took mewaaaay back! I had to look it up online, because it couldn't have possibly been thatlong ago, but apparently, it was. 18 years to be exact, back to 1996.

 

I was, and still am, a huge Celine Dion fan. The girl can sing my grocery list and I'd be happy. She was a staple on the radio in the 90s and I ate up every note she belted from her tiny Canadian self.

 

It's All Coming Back to Me Now is on the album Falling Into You, which was one of the first CDs I ever bought (along with Ace of Base The Sign and Amy Grant House of Love from a Warehouse in Bakersfield when I was 12-years-old). I was all about this song in particular, pulling out my hairbrush microphone and lip syncing like my invisible Grammy depended on it. At around the 5:15mark, Ms. Dion busts out a "Baby, Baby, Baby" that was goosebump-inducing. The song was sooo long too! Clocking in at around 7-1/2 minutes, this was the song you wanted on when your crush asked you to dance.

 

I was born and raised a Country fan, but Celine Dion is still very reminiscent of my youth. When this song popped up on my iPod, it took me on a nice trip down nostalgia lane, and I promptly popped in my Celine Dion Greatest Hits CD and rocked out, 90s Top 40 style.  

Confessions of a 30-year-old YA Addict

I've always been an avid reader, and I don't say that flippantly. I mean from the time I started reading just before kindergarten through my Nancy Drew stage to this day, I've always been reading something or another. I read a lot of different genres too. I enjoy everything from Janet Evanovich to Gillian Flynn and beyond. My tastes run the spectrum from F. Scott Fitzgerald-type classics to cheesy Nicholas Sparks romances, formulaic cozy mysteries, and psychological thrillers like Gone Girl, Reconstructing Amelia, and Before I Go To Sleep.

 

While many women my age dove head-first into the steamy waters that were stirred up by authors like E.L. James and Sylvia Day, I couldn't justify reading 50 Shades of Terrible Prose just to get some sort of erotic fix that I didn't really think was missing in my life. I read enough and that was too much. Although, I think you could probably make a drinking game out of how many times Anastasia says some iteration of "Holy crap" and that could be fun.

 

I have another genre that I get really excited about. I have a special place in my heart for Young Adult Literature. I read them when I was the target age (The Outsiders, The Giver, Number the Stars, Little Women,Judy Blume) and I continue to love them now. I will admit to reading Twilight, which, while not written particularly well, wasn't terrible. I of course devoured Harry Potter,even taking an Honors English class on the boy-wizard in college (best. class. ever.).

 

But then came the rash of post-apocalyptic teen dramas and I was hooked at the first Reaping Ceremony. Katniss Everdeen entered my life and I have no regrets. I wasn't happy at all with the last book for a number of reasons, but that's another blog post for another time. I just finished reading the Divergent trilogy and it only took me a week to read all three. I felt like I had an addiction and I couldn't wait for my next fix. That Veronica Roth can sure spin a yarn, let me tell you. And what's even better is that, even though the plot was really good, it was also really well written. She is a fantastic writer. And I'd like to personally thank her (because you all know she's totally reading this) for using words like "Abnegation" and "Dauntless" and "Erudite". She's not afraid of SAT words and doesn't dumb down her text because her target audience is younger. Our country could handle a little vocab expansion.  The next book(s) on my list are Maze Runner and The Fault in Our Stars.

 

A lot of the YA lit that's out now, and not just the end-of-the-world stuff or the SciFi stuff, is not just soapy teen drama (well, maybeTwilight was. And the love story in Divergentreally got to me because I'm a total sap), it is complicated and nuanced. The authors are telling great stories and, for the most part, telling them well. They are making commentaries on the state of our world, and while I don't think we will ever send our youngsters to kill each other for sport or divide into factions based on one single trait, they serve as a metaphorical warning. I think they also provide a keen insight into the human condition as seen by teenagers who haven't yet been jaded by real life like many of us cynical adults. While adults are necessary to make plots more realistic, the teens have to take center stage because they are more open to possibility and hope than adults are.

 

My affection for YA is not limited to literature. I also watch the movies and TV shows they spawn, giving life to these stories about high schoolers with the responsibility of the world on their shoulders, who are far better looking than anyone I've seen in real life high schools (or real life. Seriously, Theo James, who looks like that!!?). Are they always good? No (I'm talking to you Tomorrow People), but sometimes they are (Vampire Diaries, The Originals. Teen Wolf on MTV is probably the best of the bunch. Dylan O'Brien is one to watch. He's got a career ahead of him for sure). The Hunger Games  movies have so far been quite good; however, if I were Veronica Roth and the Divergent movie that is in theaters is what resulted from my original novel, I would not be happy. But again, another blog for another time. I also enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, which is also a series I have not read, but I don't think the critics much cared for it.

 

I read recently that 55% of YA literature is sold to people over the target market age, so I guess it's good to know I'm not alone laying my hopes for our post-apocalyptic world in the hands of a bunch of good-looking teenagers.

 

I love having a book list, if anyone has any recommendations, YA or otherwise. Send 'em my way!

Ellen!!!

So, about a month ago my sister-in-law sent me a text asking if I wanted to go see The Ellen Show. 

Um....??? Heck, yeah I do!!!!!!

We, along with two of her friends, trecked over to Warner Bros. studios on Thursday and saw the live taping of Ellen's show. It was sooo much fun! And quite a workout with all the sitting and standing and, oh my gosh the dancing! So much dancing!!

It was a great show (the audience got a copy of a DVD of the guest Ice Cube's movie Ride Along!), I made nice new friends, and I had a great day! I would love to go see her tape again! 

Be kind to one another. :0) 

Preschool: All the cool kids are doing it

So, on April 2, JJ started preschool and I've been a mess ever since. I mean, seriously, my baby started preschool! This isn't just some little class we signed him up for; this is it. He's in school now for the next 20 years of his life! It's been a week and a half, but I still have trouble wrapping my mind around it.

 

I of course am projecting all my worst fears as a parent (does he have friends? is he behaving? is he learning anything? I could on and on), but the reality is, he is doing great. He loves school. He doesn't want to leave and he can't wait to go in the morning. And he's making friends. He's a very friendly kid anyway (I anticipate a lot of parent-teacher conferences  for the foreseeable future about him talking too much. He can't help it; it's in his genes!), but the first day we dropped him off, we left him making the rounds: "Hi, I'm JJ. What's your name?" he said to one kid. "Hi, I'm JJ. What are you drawing?" he said to another. Today, Gary told me that when he dropped JJ off, he introduced a friend of his named Sarah. Gary double-checked that that was in fact her name, and it was. He was also asking the kids if they had magic. (He's been watching Once Upon a Time with us, so it's sort of been on his mind lately.)

 

He has a hard time out-right telling me what he learned in school, but he will start randomly talking about things or asking us to play certain games that are obviously from something he got at school. Yesterday, he was pretending to build a house and then told Gary that he was the big, bad wolf and needed to blow the house down. Clearly they read a certain piggy-tale in circle time. He already has a very active imagination, but his creativity levels are threw the roof in such a short time.

 

I still worry about him, but now that I've met his teacher (timing was off for a few days), I worry less. She's great with him and assures me that he is doing well, especially since he's never done anything like this before. I will never not worry about him in school, but in the meantime, I'm loving what it has already done for him. 

And the unexpected best part? Seeing Kathryn get so excited when her big brother comes home from school :0)

Play Ball!!

Today Kathryn had her 9 month check up and when I came home, I pulled into the driveway to the sight of my husband and JJ playing catch in the yard. I gotta say, it totally melted my heart to see such a great father-son moment! These are memories JJ--and Gary--will have and cherish for the rest of their lives.

The whole time we were out there playing every time someone would walk by, JJ would be sure to tell them hi. And if they had a dog, he would ask "what's his name?" And say "he's cute!" At one point a woman was jogging and as she came around the corner, he ran over to her and said "hi" and jogged right along side her until she passed our house. It was adorable and she was really nice about it. This was the kid we were so worried about never speaking more than a word or two only a year ago! I loved watching the whole scene unfold! I am so ridiculously blessed by this quickly-growing little boy!

(Hands-on learning)

(Cheering on the boys!)

For the love of all things pink & sparkly...

So, the theme for this season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (don't judge me) seems to be "labels" as in "don't label me," which is something Carlton must get paid extra for each time she says.

 

I normally don't side with Carlton when watching my guilty-pleasure show because she's about 50 shades of crazy, but in this case, I think she's onto something. We live in a society that loves to label. We seem to need to put people in boxes so that everyone is neatly organized with some sort of black & white, either/or stereotyped definition, but it doesn't work that way. People--most of the people I know, anyway--are not that clearly defined.

 

I am a girly-girl and I always have been. This is a controversy that seems to be really popular these days. I feel like I'm seeing articles and blogs everywhere! For some reason in the blogosphere, it has become not OK for girls to be girly. I understand that people are taking issue with advertisers pandering to gender stereotypes, but I'm not going to lie: If those girly Legos had come out when I was a kid, I would have been ecstatic! The problem is, the bloggers and whoever else are up in arms about the Pinkification of toys are treading dangerous water. In their rally cry about not having pink and blue toy aisles, they are coming across as saying if you like the pink stuff, that is wrong. A modern girl should want to play with regular legos and if you play with dolls, you are a silly twit.  Girls shouldn't be playing dress up, they should be playing with chemistry sets.

 

But why? Playing with dolls fosters creativity and imagination. Who's going to argue that's a bad thing? Why can't a girl put on a frilly dress-up dress and those plastic "heels" andlook through her magnifying glass? Is there something wrong with having a tea party with your friends instead of building a tower with blocks found in the gender neutral aisle at Target? No one is going to fault my son for playing with his Jake and the Neverland Pirates action figures, but if my daughter is into Barbies, it's almost as though she is failing her gender, but really, the basic activity is the exact same, right?

 

(on a side note about tv shows. PBS tends to show a lot of gender-neutral shows and both my kids like them. Disney Junior has a nice variety of shows for both genders and neutral. My son love Mickey and Jake, but he also asks for Sofia the First and Sherriff Callie and Doc McStuffins [who is a wonderful addition to pop culture for other reasons]. My daughter is only 8 months, so she is stuck watching whatever is on, but she always seems really into Jake along with the other "girly" shows.)

 

My brother and sister were the athletic ones; I was not blessed with that gene! I was into drama and music. I had a box of dress up clothes and would put on "shows" in the backyard. When my dad and brother would play roller hockey in the driveway, I always started off the game singing the National Anthem. I still have two huge boxes of Barbies and more boxes of American Girl dolls and accessories from my childhood that I plan on passing on to my daughter. I love pink and purple and sparkles. I love to do crafty things. I appreciate beautiful clothes and shoes and purses.

 

But I also read. A lot. I have aspirations to become a writer (if my self-confidence issues would just kindly get out of my way). I am college-educated with a job I do well. I'm a smart girl. I enjoy action movies and football. I like to think in another life I could have been a secret agent (another life where I was Jennifer Garner, perhaps. There's that imagination again...). Another example: My sister-in-law works for the water department. She's college-educated and chemistry-smart. Educators are always saying that girls need more S.T.E.M. education; well, Carley has that. She also wears a bright pink hard hat to work.  Another? I was raised by a mom who was a police officer who used to carry her Glock in her Dooney & Bourke handbag. 

 

As my daughter gets older, I want her to know that it's OK to walk the line. She can be whatever she wants: girly and smart and sporty and... and... and... She can be the next President of the United States and wear a pink sparkly dress to her inauguration, if she wants to. Or she can be a teacher or chef or a secretary or a CEO or a stay-at-home mom.  

 

I get what these bloggers are saying, I really do, but I think in their aggression, they are fostering an "us" vs "them" mentality and that is just wrong. They are also leaving out the most important argument and that is you can be whoever you want to be and you can be into whatever you want to be into and no one has the right to tell you that you are wrong for liking something. Toy makers should offer "boy" toys and "girl" toys and "neutral" toys. Your kids know what they like, regardless of what advertisements are shown and you know where to find those toys. If your or my children's interests happen to lie within gender stereotypes, then so be it. Telling a girl she shouldn't like pink is just as bad as telling a boy he shouldn't like pink. The point is, we should be more concerned about raising good, kind people who are productive members of society than about what color their toys are.

(And now for a gratuitous picture of my little princess, because why not?)