An Open Letter To The Mom Who Threw The Baby Wedding At My Public Park

Dear Fancy Mom,

Congratulations on marrying off your one-year-old.  What a spectacular wedding you threw at our public park, complete with tablecloths, floral centerpieces and a team of event planners in matching uniforms.  Wait, that wasn’t a wedding?  It was a child’s birthday party?  

baby wedding

Oh, then girlfriend, we need to talk.  I get that “mom-petition” is fierce in Los Angeles, but I did some math: your massive balloon displays were delivered by that shop in our neighborhood where a single Mylar frog goes for $20 (learned that one the hard way).  You had four pairs of human-sized mushroom clusters.  I’m guessing that set you back about….a year of preschool tuition.

mushrooms

And let’s talk about your theme: Alice in Wonderland’s tea party.  So cute!  For a six-year-old.  I’m sure your little one is a big Lewis Carroll fan and all, but she hasn’t even tried cow’s milk yet, much less tea.  Hey, I won’t begrudge you a cute theme—let’s just be honest about which party guests you’re trying to impress.  (Hint: not the ones wearing diapers.)

toadstools

My real question is, if you had the resources to throw an elaborate, themed party for 75, don’t you have a backyard at your beach house?  Why set up camp in the public park?  More people to admire your vision? Better access for the paparazzi?  Because for those of us doing our usual Saturday morning routine, it was a bit of an inconvenience…

Keep reading, I’ll keep ranting, at Lifetime Moms…

Read More »

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My Daughter’s Superpower

I’ve never spent a night away from my child.  This is not a badge of honor – more like a virginity that I’m desperate to lose but can’t because I’ve got no game.     

Sometime after Viv turned two, I realized I was ready for a little bit of adult time.  I wasn’t trying to cut the cord – just stretch it to a place with a pool where I could read a magazine unmolested.

My first order of business was to arrange a spa overnight with some other mommy friends.  This seemed ideal – with Dave watching Viv, I knew she’d be just fine.  It took weeks of emails to find a Saturday that worked for everyone and finally book the resort.  I circled the date on my calendar and counted down the days.  

Then, one of Dave’s friends announced a last minute wedding set for the exact same Saturday night, a hundred miles away.  Wedding trumps spa, so I backed out of the girls’ weekend. 

Plan B: My mom came to visit for two weeks.  I asked her if she’d be willing to stay with Viv while Dave and I staycationed one night at a nearby hotel.  We’d lay by the pool, get massages, and sleep for 12 hours.  It would be the first time we’d slept in together since 2010.   The day before the trip, I came down with a vicious cold—the kind where it feels like you’re swallowing shards of glass and there’s a small planet sitting on your sinuses.  The kind where even driving 40 minutes to go lay by a pool sounds too hard.   We canceled.

Twice foiled in so short a time – I began to wonder if there wasn’t some sort of conspiracy afoot.

Question: Who stands to gain by keeping mommy home every time she tries to skip town? 

Answer:

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Logical conclusion: my daughter is a wizard, an X-men or maybe a Firestarter.

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Perhaps I’d better put this little fantasy of mine on hold, for the safety of my community.

Honeymoon in Disney? Read More »

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5 Fun Ways To Entertain Your Baby (Without Losing Your Mind)

I was due to write a new post for Circle of Moms, and I still had my brother and sister-in-law, imminent parents to be, on my mind.  So I wrote this.

Of course you want to bond with your new baby and stimulate her rapidly developing brain, but how do you play with someone who can’t talk yet, or even sit up?  Reading stories and singing lullabies are classics for a reason, but after a few months, moms can get a bit bored — I know I did. Even the baby seemed bored.

The solution? I got creative, finding new ways to connect with and amuse my little one that were also fun for me. If you’d seen me in action, you might have thought I was nuts, but trust me, the baby loved every minute!

Keep reading for five fun ways to shake up the routine and keep baby entertained.

Source: Amy Wruble

1. While cooking dinner, imagine that you’re hosting a Food Network show. Channel your inner Giada as you describe and explain each step of the process (“I give my sauce a little stir . . . yum, looks good”). Your baby, who can watch at a safe distance in a bouncy seat, will love all those new words, sounds, and smells. Before you know it, you’ll be baking cookies together.

2. Play your entire music collection in alphabetical order (easy to do on iTunes) and pretend you are DJ-ing one of those “Songs from A to Z” holiday weekend radio shows. Dedicate the songs (“This one goes out to Daddy”), sing along to the music, and add personal stories (“Ooh, it’s Mama’s prom theme”). Not only will you boost your mood, dancing to your favorite jams with baby snuggled in your arms, but you can also help shape your little one’s musical taste — at least until she’s a tween.

Read the rest of the list at Circle of Moms and add your own.  Thanks!

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To My Brother & Sister-In-Law At Their Baby Shower (Practical Advice For New Parents)

The parents-to-be with their practice baby (Viv)

Dear Jordan and Lana,

I wish that Dave and I could be at your baby shower to celebrate, but as you may know, parents of small children rarely go anywhere.  So instead, I’ve jotted down some words of wisdom that I hope you’ll find wise and not too wordy.

People think a baby will make their lives more complicated. Well, I have good news for you. Babies actually make everything much simpler. Here are a bunch of things you won’t even need any more once you have a baby:

An alarm clock

A gym membership

Dinner reservations Read More »

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Sweating With Toddlers + Sara Haley Exercise DVD Giveaway

A funny thing about raising a kid in Los Angeles is that you’re bound to run into some celebrity parents.  Viv is not even 2 ½, but she’s already chatted up Pink and her daughter Willow, been cootchie-cooed by Amber Valletta at Trader Joe’s and met Don Cheadle outside a café–he reminded her to hold Mommy’s hand crossing the street.  Word. 

One celebrity I was really excited to meet was fitness guru Sara Haley, who turned up in our weekly music class with her adorable son Landon. 

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If you don’t know Sara, she has a successful line of workout DVDs, a popular website and a fancy training clientele.  As you can imagine, she stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the toddler moms—obnoxiously fit and trim–and I wondered what her damn secret was. Read More »

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