The Five Virtues

I've discovered it. The five virtues of being a parent.

Patience. So that when your child says "mommy" forty times in a row, you answer "yes, baby" in your sweetest voice each time. And so that you don't lose your cool when you explain for the umpteenth time that the cup should be placed nicely on the table when he's done drinking and not thrown on the floor so that the leftover milk spills all over the place.

Flexibility. Because sometimes when you make plans, your kid has made other ones. And sometimes, a clean house is just not that important.

Forethought. Because you never know if (or when) your child is going to get hungry/thirsty/bored, and so you must always have snack/water/games.

A backbone. Because "no" needs to mean "no," even if it causes a tantrum. And bedtime is bedtime. And you have to sit in a car seat when in a car. And there is only one dinner and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it, but you're not getting another dinner (or dessert).

Sense of Humor. Because sometimes you will get pooped on (both literally and figuratively). And you just need to have a laugh...

The Second...finally

So much for blogging, huh? It's been, what, nearly 4 months since my last (and first) blog. Well, now here's the second. I spent this past weekend with my sisters in San Francisco - girls weekend with no husband and baby. I left for 48 hours, and when my son woke up this morning, I swear he was different. Just a tad more of a "little boy." His 2nd birthday is rapidly approaching (5 days), and he is getting a wee-bit more demanding. His obsession with puzzles is making this mama proud (I have a future engineer on my hands, and we all know that "engineer" is the new "doctor")! When he first started doing puzzles, I would exclaim "Oh my goodness" as he would put the last piece together. This morning, he was doing a puzzle as I was making him breakfast, and as he put the last piece in, he says "Mommy, oh my didness" in his best sing-song voice. Love.

So I'm still trying to figure out this work/life balance thing. I think the consensus is that it's always a work in progress to figure out that balance but, man, is it hard. Especially these days. It is so hard for me to leave home in the morning...I feel like I'm missing out on my baby's day and all the fun, cute things he says and does. I think about how I'm missing out on playing with play doh and getting messy with paint and building a train set and knocking down blocks and reading "The Little Engine That Could" eight times in one hour. Woe is me. I am trying to look at the bright side of it all. The fact that I give him over to someone else for 8 hours of the day means that I am fresh and full of energy when I am with him and so Mommy is always fun and always has lots of patience. That's good, right?

Enough for now. Hopefully more to come soon. For now, I will end with my cuteness on his second Halloween:

The First

I've blogged before. I started a blog when I first found out I was pregnant with my son as a way to show my sisters (who live in exotic far-off places) my ever-expanding belly and pics from my ultrasounds (if you're interested: thekushes.blogspot.com). But the blog ceased when I gave birth and now I just send web albums filled with way too many pictures of the most adorable, cool and fun little boy. I never thought I would be a mommy blogger, but I subscribe to so many mommy blogs and enjoy reading and relating to other people's experiences that I guess I got blog-envy and here I am. I suppose I'll treat this as an on-line diary. There are days where my heart skips a beat as I'm watching my son play and I just want to take a snapshot of my pride and emotions. I'm going to try to capture them here so that I don't forget them. I've always been bad at keeping a diary (thanks to my mom who read my diary when I was thirteen...traumatized!). I just hope I keep this one up.

So who am I: I am 33 (holy cow!), a lawyer, an LA native, a wife and a mommy to an incredible 20 month old. I love to read, knit, travel, debate politics (although I am told I get too heated in such debates), take walks, ride my bike, listen to good music, and eat good food. Most of all, I love love love being a mom. I love going to the park, watching my son run and marvel at just about anything and everything, teaching him words, putting puzzles together, knocking down blocks, having tickle-fests, wrestling, and on and on. I feel like I'm reliving my childhood through him, and it is simply amazing (for lack of better words). My next sentence is such a cliche, but here goes: Having a baby changed my life in ways I couldn't ever imagine. Yes, there is the obvious lack of sleep, the weekend nights that I am more than happy to spend at home doing nothing, the lack of sleep, and - oh, yeah - the lack of sleep (I'm really tired today). But, in addition to all that, I have become a pesticide-phobe, a plastic/bpa/phthalate/pvc-phobe, a toys-made-in-china-phobe, a paraben/sulfate/1,4 dioxane/oxybenzone-phobe, a processed-food-phobe, and a toxic-cleaner-phobe. In other words, I try as hard as I possibly can to lead a natural and organic life (good thing my husband is on board because I often annoy myself with this new take on life). As a result, it now takes me hours to shop for food, cleansers, soaps, and facial products because if there are ingredients on the label, I read them. I thoroughly research everything I buy. And all that takes a long, long time.

So that's me in a nutshell, and below is a picture of my sweet little man.