Good Intentions

November 16th - November 22nd

BEST

When I became pregnant I spent 9 months planning, reading, browsing, researching, conversing, about what kind of mom I wanted to be.  Among the day dreams of nursing in the glow of sunlight sitting in the rocker in my perfect baby room, starring lovingly into my baby's eyes as he gazes back and wraps his little fingers around mine, was making pure, organic, home-made baby food. And here we are almost 9 months later...nursing in the sunlight turned into just barely surviving 6 months of being hooked up to a pump like a cow, mother and baby gazing at each other turned into figuring out how to change a diaper with one hand because you have to use the other one to pin him down so he won't crawl off the changing table, and home-made baby food turned into one disastrous attempt which ended up in dirtying two pots and every slicer, dicer, blender thing I have in my kitchen.  Guns and Roses had it right...welcome to the jungle!

So I picked up the pieces of my broken day dreams and headed to Whole Foods to see what mooshed up food in a jar they had to offer my Babyhead.  Thank God for Earth's Best...totally organic baby food, each ingredient label reading "organic sweet potatoes, water" or "organic winter squash, water" etc. It put my guilty-momma heart at ease that I was not up to doing the task myself.  So the refrigerator shelf got stocked with many, many little jars and a little tummy got full of yummy, good baby food.

Then my Fabulous Neighbor Laura saved her William Sonoma catalog for me with a page rabbit-eared.  "Beaba Babycook."  European baby food maker finally sold in the US.  Reading through the description I became very excited...steam basket, yes...self timer, yes...powerful blender, yes...all in one counter top device...YESSSSS!!!  This is exactly what I need to bring the momma day dream of home-made baby food alive.  4 weeks later (because everything takes longer with a baby)  I finally made it to WillSo to purchase the Babycook. 2 weeks later I actually took it out of the box.  And a few days later I actually tried it. Now my life is changed forever. It is the best thing a new mom could have in her kitchen.  The first time Tavian tried my home-made yams, cooked and blended with love just for him, his eyes lit up and he opened his toothy little mouth waiting for more.  Like a little bird being fed by a momma bird. Dear Beaba Babycook...I heart you!

WORST

Saturday night used to be incredible dinners at new, hip restaurants. Saturday night used to be fun bars and lots of dancing to the latest releases.  Saturday night used to be hitting a great wine bar before seeing the next Oscar nominated movie.  Saturday night used to be ordering in our favorite pizza, cuddling on the couch, and not even giving it a second thought to start a movie after 9:30.  Saturday night used to be just the two of us...Eli and me.

Saturday night is now Eli, me, and the buzz of the baby monitor while our beautiful son is sleeping.  Saturday night is now eating left over delivered Thai food and being too tired to have even a semi-stimulating conversation.  Saturday night is now only being able to watch one episode of The Office on the TiVo because some how it is already 9:00 and we have to get ready for bed soon. If this sounds like complaining, I'm not (well maybe a little) it's just that life has changed in so many ways with the Babyhead and sometimes it is hard for me to realize it.

This particular Saturday night Tavian and I were sitting in our living room with Fabulous Neighbor Laura and she mentioned she didn't really have any plans for the evening.  Thinking she would be great company to help me pass the time until Eli came home I offered to make us all dinner and maybe we can see if there is anything good on PayPer View.  She kinda laughed and said "No, I mean why don't I babysit and you and Eli can go out."  It took me a second to realize that yes, we actually could leave the house on a Saturday night!  I called Eli and he was excited for the opportunity too.  He would head home soon, I would get Tavian in the bath and into bed, Laura would come over and listen to the baby monitor buzz while we went to a movie.

The sudden shock of being able to go out numbed our ability to realize that there is no way you can go out on a Saturday night at 8:00 and expect to not sit in the very front row of a movie you might not want to see, but it was the earliest one playing.  We stood at the movie theater counter debating on whether we should try to stay up to see a 10:00 movie, but just thinking about it made us tired.  I made a few calls to other theaters near by...same story everything sold out until 10:00.  Defeated we decided to just head home.

We needed to drown our sorrows, but couldn't risk a hangover so we opted for chocolate milkshakes.  We headed toward Cold Stone to get the real deal, instead of our usual non-fat frozen yogurt.  As I was sampling the gingerbread ice cream, Eli order his milk shake only to be slapped in the face with a "sorry our blenders are broken we can't make milk shakes."  Two strikes for our "night out" and we promptly headed home to the buzz of the baby monitor before we ran into strike number 3.

Feeling grateful

November 9th-November 15th

His name is Bret Anthony.  But I have been calling him Bretski for so long that he should think about officially changing it.  He is our very funny and very good friend...who we get a chance to see every 6 months or so.  Because when you are a very funny and wonderful person your social calender is usually full, as is Bretski's.  On this particular visit he showed up with an amazing story involving a friend's weird brother, a junked out car that was towed, and a mysterious backpack which resulted in him now owning a very expensive and professional looking camera. He brought it along to visit Mr. Tavian Babyhead and used us as test subjects to learn about his new treasure.  So not only did we get a very fun afternoon with our favorite Bretski, but we got some pretty good pics out of it too.  Thank you dearest Bretski...to a new mom adorable photos of her little baby are better than diamonds!

BEST

We had an incident...there were crocodile tears, but they quickly turned to...

Scrunchy-Nose-Smiley-Face!

Imagine Bruce Willis is saying this a la Look Who's Talking...

"Can I help you? I am trying to crawl here."

"Yes I agree...this IS my good side."

"Did you say bottle? No seriously..."

"I got places to go people!"

"Ahhhhh bath time. Bathe me, bathe meeee!"

"No photos please, this is a private bath session."

"Momma, bottle, jammies...this is the Babyhead life."

Best thing to do with a self-timed camera shot

Our fore mentioned dear friend Bret Anthony has developed the next hottest trend since blogging.  You have to check out his website "SelfTimerJump" to get the full explanation, but it is fun, fun, fun!  Oh and do not skip the video demonstration!!! This is such a great tradition to start with your friends and family.  We'll be setting our timers on our upcoming trip to Costa Rica for sure!

WORST

In an attempt to get through a very early morning I flipped on the news as I was watching Tavain crawl around in search of something to chew on.  I was feeling a little grouchy and a little sorry for myself due to lack of sleep from our too early wake up that morning, but as I watched the news I realized how petty I was being.  The segment was covering a community in the Eastern San Fernando Valley that was completely demolished by the fires.  The journalist went on to describe how more than 500 homes were completely destroyed as the cameraman panned around the street they were standing on.  It looked like a scene out of a epic movie, but it was real.  Real homes, real people.  Real ashes of people's treasured possessions. Real fears of what they are all going to do? Where to they sleep, eat, shower, play, cry, love, live?  Although my heart ached for those who had been affected by the fires, I felt very lucky.  I might be tired, but I only have to try and imagine what it would feel like to lose everything, to lose not just a house, but a home.  Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers as well as the brave men and women in the fire, police, and emergency services who are doing there best to stop this horrible tragedy.

Bitter Sweet

November 2nd - November 8th

BEST

Barak Obama WINS!

WORST

Prop 8 Passes

BTW...not only did CA voters decided to pass Prop 8 the majority voted against Prop 4.  So even though gay people can't get married, 14 year old girls can get as many abortions as they want without their parents or legal guardian ever knowing. Mind you Prop 4 was not about parental consent, but just to require notification. As a Pro-Choice supporter I don't believe that Prop 4 is about restricting a woman's right to choose, but a child's right to choose.

Rant and Rave

October 26th - November 1st

BEST

It almost didn't happen.  I believe the word is ironic.  When everyday for the last 6 months have been sunny and beautiful and then the one day we plan a specific event outside the weather becomes an issue.  Yes it rains in LA. Which is why at 3:00 pm on Saturday Jasmine Star and I were in a slightly panicked phone conversation.  At 3:30 Eli, Tavian, and I were supposed to meet her outside to have a family photo shoot and after all our preparation and planning...it was raining.  So it almost didn't happen, but we decided to go for it!  And thank the heavens we did.

I know this is so cliche but I don't know a better way to say it.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and I want to let these pictures do tall the talking. Not only do they express why our shoot with Jasmine is this week's "best," but they also say a little something about how talented and amazing the photographer is...oh and she also happens to be a fabulous friend too.

Click here to read Jasmine's blog about our shoot and a slide show of the pictures.

WORST

I know that many people have been worried about the issue of taxes because of the election.  But what some people might not realize is that whether or not your taxes go up the governement needs money to function, and also now to pay off the massive national debt...oh and don't forget the bail out... with tax payer money. The money has to come from some where and it happens to be from the taxes we pay.  The big issue seems to be, who should pay more? If you make more should you pay more?  But this is really a trick question because the reality is The Man will get his money no matter what. So even if your taxes don't go up, instead traffic fines will go up, and those weird fees listed on your phone bill will go up...or in the example I witnessed this week, parking meters will go up.  Now any parking meter in the Brentwood area is $2.00 for 1 hour. Come on people! I might as well valet, at least I usually have dollars bills on me as opposed to 16 quarters!! So let's say our taxes don't go up...honestly whoop-di-do cause now I am paying $75 for a parking ticket cause I could only dig up $1.15 in change which only gave me 23 min on the meter which therefore expired.