Fast Forward

            (A photo of me in July 2015)

I actively posted to this blog for six months in 2011. Coincidentally (or more likely not), my final post was right around the time I discovered I was pregnant with twins. I don't remember with certainty, but it is my assumption that I stopped posting because I was so completely and totally preoccupied with this news. It's also hard to write in a public forum while keeping such a significant piece of your life a secret. So, for that reason...or perhaps another...I stopped blogging in August 2011. 

Fast-forward four years. Two more kids, a major move to another state, a fabulous new job, the purchase of our first home, new friends, an almost-sister-in-law, and a newly-discovered passion for feminism. 

I had forgotten this blog existed, until I accidentally stumbled upon it this evening. I just read through all of the old posts, laughing again at the funny moments, while at the same time finding it hard to remember life with Y as a toddler. Today, life seems busier, more hectic, and louder. 

In 2011, several friends kept blogs about their lives; today, our inner thoughts are instantly broadcast on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and I can't think of anyone who casually maintains a blog to document their daily encounters. Blogs today seem more sophisticated, professional, and designed with a specific purpose. 

So the question I grapple with tonight is this: do I reinvigorate this blog or not? In this busy, hectic, loud life of mine, is there room for one more thing, especially when it's essentially a glorified journal that nobody will ever really see or read? I'm not sure.  

Foul Revenge

AM eats a LOT. He never stops eating, really. He sometimes takes food to bed with him at night, and in an average morning he eats three breakfasts. While his big brother tends to be a pickier eater, AM has rarely met a food that he doesn't like or won't at least try.

Since yesterday was the last day before the Nine Days, the period of mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av when we don't eat meat, we decided to have a fleishig lunch as one last hoorah. We went to Carlos and Gabby's, our favorite neighborhood Mexikosher restaurant, where the boys love to eat chicken fingers and french fries. AM ate his fair share, and we packed up Y's leftovers to take with us to the zoo, where we planned to spend our afternoon.

As we walked through the zoo, the boys munched on their chicken fingers. Maybe it was the scent of dead chicken on AM's face and fingers that precipitated the unfortunate event that happened as we were walking to the exit on our way home.

D and I were attending to Y, who had managed a slow-motion-totally-predictable collision with a slightly older boy that resulted in the older boy walking away unharmed while Y did two somersaults and landed on his tush (he was fine, just upset). As we were comforting him, AM decided to say hi to the chicken that was wandering around outside the petting zoo.

He did everything right...or so I thought. He got close, but not too close, and he didn't try to touch the chicken. He just stood next to the chicken, waved, and said, "hi chicken." Apparently the chicken decided to seek revenge for his brothers lost in the process of making AM's lunch, because he suddenly flapped his wings, jumped up on AM, and attacked him! He jumped down, took a second to regain strength, and did it again! D ran over and yelled at the bird, who decided to fly away rather than attack D as well.

Poor AM was stunned. He just stood there in shock. I quickly examined him and discovered two small scratches on his lower back. We consulted our on-call pediatrician, who didn't seem concerned and talked me down from rushing AM to the emergency room, and we left.

Now, when talking about the incident, AM says, "Chicken ate back. Chicken ate AM." When he's in therapy at age 46 over a strange fear of farm birds, he can refer to this blog post for the origin of it all.


p.s. Y's reaction to the attack: "Now AM learned his lesson. Never talk to a chicken while he's busy."

A Day of Numbers

7.26.11

2 kids
6 years
6 needles
61 lbs (and 1 oz)
73.3 inches
1 poop in the potty

1 ima.

Snack time

Today's snack had a theme. Introducing Mr. Dipsy and Mrs. Sunny Doodle. If they had a child, it would be named "Cheese." Hee hee.

Sameach b' Pringles

We all know that I did not grow up keeping kosher, and although there are very few foods that I truly miss eating, I'd say the two at the top of my list are Skittles and Sunchips.

Well! Wasn't I happily surprised when I used a coupon to buy 6 cans of Pringles and discovered multigrain Pringles with cheddar. They taste just like sunchips...only kosher! Hooray!


Now if only I could find kosher Skittles...

I'm a Gleek!

Somehow I joined the Glee bandwagon a bit late in the game, but once I discovered the show (near the end of the first season), I was hooked. It's like the show was designed with my interests in mind: teen dramas and musicals! What's not to love?!

When I discovered that the Glee Live tour was coming to my area, I decided that I just had to go. Unfortunately, my Glee compatriots at work had a previous engagement, and D was busy running in a charity run, so I went by myself. It was SO worth it.

I arrived before the doors opened (after taking car, train, and bus to finally arrive at the Izod center) and enjoyed observing the many different costumes I saw in the crowd. The crowd was largely filled with teenage girls, their parent or guardian, and gay men. I was part of the larger-than-expected minority of frum 30-somethings that I saw wandering around.

The opening act was the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, a group of dancer-acrobats who entertained for a while. They were good, but it was clear that nobody in the crowd was there to see them perform! As soon as they finished, some movie producers came on stage and announced that the concert was going to be filmed for the Glee 3-D movie coming to a theater near you this summer. They had the crowd do a few exercises that they filmed for the movie, and there were cameras and sound guys EVERYWHERE. Pretty cool.

The Glee show itself was nothing short of AWESOME!!! The cast, including Sue Sylvester, was all performing in character, and they performed nonstop for about 90 minutes, then finished with 4 encores. A real highlight was when Gwyneth Paltrow made a surprise appearance and performed Cee Lo with the cast. I was up, out of my seat, busting a move and screaming my head off. This, I have realized, is a great reason to go to a silly concert by yourself. Even if the lovely gentlemen next to me thought I was a lunatic, I will never see them again! The dancing and singing were fabulous. The energy was great. The whole night was just perfect (except for getting stuck in construction traffic on the West Side Highway and getting home after 1am).

There's something about Glee that just makes me truly happy and inspired. It may be a cheesy tv show, but it's feel-good and happy and fun. I can't wait til next year's concert!

The Happiest Mug Shot I've Ever Seen

Thank you CNN.com