oh yes, we've hit THAT phase of life

Guess what McKay brought home from school this week:

I'm thinking of inventing earplugs so tiny that children performing nightly concerts cannot see them and will think you are listening.

They will be impervious to ALL sound.

I will make millions.

love, in all its dimensions

If this does not capture true sibling love in all its glory, I don't know what does:

And let's have a good one for the camera

(it is the day of showing our love, after all):

Have a happy, happy, happy VALENTINE'S DAY!

Having a girl changes EVERYTHING

I took stock of my life yesterday - and realized I am a completely different person than I was five years ago. Where did this dramatic self-introspection take place, you ask? It was none other than the very poetic, very thought-provoking T-Mobile store in La Jolla. Let me explain...

Five years ago, my closet was filled with khaki, white, black, and gray - and for those days I felt really wild - maybe red thrown in. I opted for a simple, blending-in kind of look. Maybe not the most fashionable, but I was a mother of two boys and - truth be told - didn't have much time or inclination for frills. My life was spent making sure these rough and tumble boys were safe. Heels would NEVER have worked as I chased after them, saving them from passing cars. I never got manicures and pedicures. There was nobody to tell me my earrings didn't match my shirt. Nobody shoved me out of the way so they could get to MY make-up. We never had to have matching plates and cups. Nobody cared what color our hand soap was. Nobody wanted to hang up hundreds of Valentine's Day decorations.

I was in control.

And I had a black cell phone.

Fast forward to today - my closet is filled with all the colors of the rainbow. Yes, I even wear pink now and then. ME. The person who ordered loving grandmothers not to buy anything in pink for their new granddaughter. I now have my outfits critiqued by a four-year-old who would dress like a Disney princess every day. I get weekly mani/pedi treatments. I wear shoes that were not designed solely for comfort. Things have changed. I now have this tiny, talking shadow. I have a daughter.

And this precious angel, with powers of persuasion stronger than any communist interrogator, TALKED ME INTO GETTING this phone yesterday:

I was powerless to resist. The store clerks found her hilarious and charming. They just don't know her like I do. They don't know that I have surrendered complete control of my life to this CHILD. She has a way of nagging/pleading/asking until you will give her whatever she wants - just to get THREE MINUTES OF QUIET.

While I certainly don't attribute my new self solely to this little person, I do feel glad to have some girly company in my otherwise boy-oriented life. I look forward one day to many Broadway shows, shopping trips, and spa days with this little friend. (I also feel certain that someday McKay and Chase will fully appreciate having a sister as they will not be forced along on these kinds of outings).

Yeah, I do love her to pieces. Even if I have no say in the color of my cell phone.

last week's lessons

So I enjoyed doing this one so much last week, that I've decided to make it a weekly column, if you will. Here are some lessons learned:

• A third-grade squid dissection is not "gross;" it is "interesting" and clearly I don't have a very "scientific attitude."
• It will rain all day Sunday, except for the time you spend at church.
• Strawberries always taste better with angel food cake and whipped cream.
• Making a beard like President Lincoln's is not as easy as it looks.
• Playing baseball with my family is really, really fun.
• I should always check to make sure the shower head is actually pointing INSIDE the tub, and not at my face, before turning on the hot water.
• When your husband asks you out on a date and you assume he's asking your four-year-old daughter - it has been WAY too long since you've been out.
• Babysitters are worth their weight in gold.
• When cleaning out the garage, do not be surprised that you will throw out more than you thought you had to begin with.
• Getting takeout is always better than cooking.
• Favorite stores of the week: Costco and Banana Republic.

Anything you've learned that you'd like to share?

this is serious

I am sitting at my desk reading emails when I hear this lively number from the t.v. in the other room that Hannah is watching:

It's a puppy
he has to go pee-pee
But he caaaaan't
Becuase he's stuck in the house.
This is serious...
Sooner or later, everyone has to go pee-pee.

This life lesson brought to us courtesy of The Wonder Pets.

It is serious. And sooner or later, everyone does have to go pee-pee. So there you have it.

I was my own secret admirer

Last night, Josh and I got to talking. This wasn't just end-of-day analyzing, it was actual conversation. It was great (at least for me). Somehow, the topic came around to junior high school, and I got to reminiscing (Josh can't remember last week, let alone his childhood). I started telling the man I currently sleep with just how nerdy I used to be. I bared my BIG NERD SOUL for the guy I want to find me sexy. That must be love, no?

Some of my less-than-cool moments included:

• Daily lugging a huge alligator-skin case (filled with a huge tenor saxophone) on the bus, whacking everyone in the head as I passed. When presented with the choice of taking band or art, I convinced myself that I was not an artist and should therefore take band. A mistake of COLOSSAL proportion. That saxophone was my constant companion for four years. Why the saxophone? I honestly don't remember. Don't think I could play a note today to save my life.
• Racing through the halls after getting off the bus in the morning to get a library pass. My even nerdier older brother had convinced me that this is where the cool kids hung out during lunch. It wasn't. Took me a few rounds of dungeons and dragons to figure that one out.
• The baby blue eyeshadow pasted from eyelid to eyebrow...seriously don't know what to say there.
• The permed mullet. If I had any digital pictures of this, I would post them so you could appreciate just how beautiful my hair is now. I topped off those lovely feathered sides with about a gallon of aqua-net. That hairdo wouldn't have moved in a tornado. Oh, and I got really cool when I figured out how to mousse the back so it stayed crunchy, while the top was smooth and feathered. Yikes.
• Big, red, Sally-Jessie-Raphael glasses.
• Turquoise-blue flood pants and pink high top sneakers.
• Future Problem Solvers of America - does anyone know what that club is? I never really figured out what I was supposed to accomplish, but I was a proud member.

And my most shameful moment (can't believe I'm baring this sad part of my nerdy soul):

• Sending myself a valentine. It was sixth grade and for a dollar you could send a "secret valentine" to anyone in the school. I was wise enough then to recognize that I was so pathetic that nobody would be sending me one, so I paid my dollar and sent myself a balloon. It CANNOT get any more tragic than that.

The good news is, my story has a happy ending. I figured out (somewhere between high school and college) how to be a little more cool. I married a GREAT, smart, good looking, ambitious man who loves me, I have three beautiful children, and a fabulous rack. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, I won't have to buy myself a valentine this year. Here's hoping...