Fabulous! Gwendolyn Carrie is a shoe maker out of London. This particular shoe is dyed fish-skin leather, wood, and seashells. The shape of the heel is so wonderful and feminine. The higher heeled shoes are always a chore to walk in, but oh my goodness are they worth it.

Of course this shoe is a bit out of my price range at the moment, but one can dream.

My Belly Button Rocks!

Ok. Daycare has been a traumatic experience for not only Xander, but for me as well. He seemed to be adjusting slowly but surely. His crying was limited to a few minutes after my departure. Still, I was reassured that my mothering skills were grand because no one else measured up in his eyes.
Well, today was a completely different experience. After mentioning Wee Wisdom (my attempt to gear him up for his day)he wouldn't eat his breakfast, fought with me getting him dressed and stood at the door crying. At first I assumed he was looking for Daddy,but then I realized he wanted to go bye-bye..... Hmm....Curious...... So we left as quickly as possible.Upon arriving at WeeWisdom his coat and shoes didn't come off fast enough and he found Miss Mychele and completely forgot about me.Didn't even look back to wave bye.
So, now I don't feel like the worst mom in the world for leaving a crying Xander at the dreaded WeeWisdom.I feel like the worst mom in the world because that Wee Wisdom place is testing my motherhood!
Despite my newfound selfish insecurities, let us not forget Xander's accomplishments;
1. He has become a beautiful social butterfly (i know this is a girly analogy, but he happens to like butterflies, so..)
2. His independance is growing strong.
3. He is the most fablous little boy ever to be in exsistence.


Besides, he still fights with his daddy over who gets to have their finger in my belly button. So there Wee Wisdom.

Peanut Butter Toast, Peanut Butter Side Down.

Finally!! Xander is exhibiting behavior that suggests he just might be my child. Check it out for yourselves:
Xander's debut video, Peanut Butter Toast, Peanut Butter Side Down.

A Typical Conversation Between Tony and I.

"Did you know that chimpanzees eat other, smaller monkeys?"

After a slight pause Tony lifts his head from the autotrader magazine and replies,

"What!?..Do they cook them first?"

Karma is not Luck.

While I can appreciate a certain amount of artistic license when it comes to creating new meanings for words and ideas, using the term karma to indicate bad/good luck irritates me. Unless you believe in re-incarnation, please refrain from using the word karma to refer to your luck.
Karma comes from the Upanishadic teaching of Samsara, reincarnation based on acts and deeds (karma). While it does apply to the acts and deeds of this life it relates to your past and future lives.

Thanks for trying.

"I am so glad that Eve ate the apple, because trying to walk around with no clothes on in this weather would not be fun."-Mom

Fun Times!

Xander took a trip to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum with his friend Chloe. They both had a fabulous time playing at the water table,with the giant blocks, and at the playhouse. Xander especially enjoyed the lego table, and the books about trucks. Chloe wiggled her cute little self into the infant section, and played nicely with baby Max.
After the excursion Xander and Chloe came back to Xander's house. Here they had a wonderful meal of hotdogs and french fries. Chloe ate all the strawberries, which is good because Xander doesn't care for strawberries. Then the two gorged on fruit snacks, watched Sponge Bob Square Pants, had successfull ka-ka's and an all-around fun time!

Stress is when you wake up screaming and then you realize you haven't fallen a sleep yet.

One step forward, two steps back.

Xander is sick,again. A nasty cold this time. We had to take him to the ER at four in the morning on saturday. The nurses and doctors keep telling me this is normal for a child who has just started daycare. yay. Hopefully by the time he goes into kindergarten his immune system will be so advanced he'll never get sick! It' sjust frustrating to get him well when he just gets sick the next week.
On a funnier note, my hair is gone. I went to get a trim the other day and had some stranger that can barely speak english to the job. Consequently, my locks that I have been growing out for over a year are pretty much non exsistent. I would have a picture of the hack job, but my batteries were dead and I went to have the haircut fixed before they finished charging. My regular hairdresser just shook her head in disbelief when she saw my hair. It was as bad as the "mushroom" head incident of 7th grade, or the time an ex-boyfriends mom cut my bangs to short, on purpose.
Oh well, it will grow back eventually.

I watched the Discovery channel today. One of those shows with different clips of animals doing amazing things.I'm a sucker for animals doing amazing things....of course I also think it's amazing when my dog turns her back away from me to poop. So I might not be the best judge. Anyhow, they showed a clip of a baby impala getting grabbed by a crocodile. The croc went through the normal process of slinging the impala around a bit and then attempted to drag it under the water to finish the job. Now would you believe that a hippopatamus that was near by scared the crocodile enough that it let the impala go. And then! the hippo picked up the baby and pulled it ashore and even tried to revive it?!
It died anyway, and the crocodile came back and ate it.
But that is not the point.
There is no point really, unless someone would like to get into a discussion on the narcissism of mankind. Until I get an invitation let's just leave it at this:
I love hippopotami.

Everyone will be excited to hear that Xander finally seems to be settling into daycare. He is learning new and useful social mannerisms. For instance; kicking and screaming, licking t.v screens, hoarding toys, and my personal favorite, wiping his snotty nose on my shoulder. Still, I am relieved that he has finally warmed up to the idea of social interaction without Mommy.
The picture of Sampson that I decided to post has no relevancy to anything that I'm discussing, I just liked it.
After intense studying and then resigning myself to the fact that I failed, I got an A. I'm not ashamed to say that I was so shocked I cried.(neolithic asian art is fun. who would've guessed?!) I'm looking forward to moving on to the Zhou,Qin,Han..etc..when there is actual written history and not just lots of theories.

WHY I DON'T LIKE THE NEWS.

I just love to see people taking themselves way to seriously. I really never get enough of it. (In case you can't sense the sarcasm, trust me it's there.) The news about the Lebanese in Beirut lighting the Danish embassy on fire and assaulting police etc..., because of caricatures making fun of Mohammed that were published. Not in Lebanon. Not by Muslims.
Wow. I wish I could burn down a building and physically assault someone everytime I was offended.
Of course the reason that the caricatures were made in the first place was even more assinine. The editor decided to publish the caricatures first in the Danish newspaper because he felt that they had been to self-censoring about such topics. Bravo....lets test out or new found political IN-correctness by making fun of the ever so timid and never picked on MUSLIM COMMUNITY.
This is why I don't like the news. I have to force myself to watch the news or read the paper, or online. It usually makes me ashamed to be a human being. Why do people do Stupid things, and why the hell do we pay attention!!???

This week has been....interesting. It has been filled with good experiences for me, that have been overshadowed by the death of J.D and Rachel's Grandfather. I think the best thing to post right now is my sympathy and love for my sibling's.
Although there is nothing that I can do, maybe I can say this: I have to believe that you can not lose someone that has made a mark on your heart (excuse the sentimentality, but it is this untangible force that connects us all when everything else fails).Call it emotional scarring, call it whatever you want. Maybe the one you lost is not tangible anymore, but the lessons, love and memories are always there.