WOW!

Birminghammommy has been nominated for Birmingham’s Best Local Website!! I am so proud to be a contributing writer for this site and I would love to see it win the title.

PLEASE VOTE HERE!

Today I was reminded of two things:

1. I dislike old movies. I wish I liked them, but I don’t. They bore me to death. 

TO DEATH.

2. I dislike the Hallmark Movie Channel. I want to like it. But I just. Can’t. Do. It. 

 … no thank you.

I figured it was Christmas, I should watch Hallmark movies. Right? Yesterday I tried. I gave it an honest effort. It was some awful movie about a couple trapped in a strange town, in the snow — of course. It was so annoying. 

Today I got 8 minutes into the “Gift of the Magi” before I gave up. And don’t even get me started on “The Santa Suit.”

Have too many episodes of Dexter and True Blood ruined my TV palate? Perhaps.

Conjunctivitis has entered my household.

Don’t come over.

Yesterday, whilst sitting in a meeting I cared nothing about, I was lost in thought and realized … I’ll be 31 years old in just a few days.

12 days.

I don’t know what it is about this year that I have found so liberating, but I am loving being “in my thirties.” I feel like I’ve learned more this year that in any other year of my adult life. I’ve given myself permission to mess up, to make things right, to be myself without apologies and to live with a frankness that I wish I’d discovered a little sooner. 

This year has brought me intense stress, overwhelming sadness, then joy; and finally blessings beyond belief. My husband and I held on to the hope that things would work out when life got difficult — and they did. They always do.

I have started a mental list of things I want to accomplish in my 31st year and I hope that I can achieve at least a few of them. If I don’t, oh well. I’m over putting *unrealistic expectations on myself.  

*Like getting myself back into the jeans I’m wearing in the picture below. That’s not going to happen any time soon. I accept that. Maybe in my 32nd year?

Me and a bowling ball on my 30th birthday.

There are few things in life that I hold true, and one of them is dinnertime. Actually, let’s be real–I love meals. Any meal will do.

I grew up in a happy household and I like to believe part of that had to do with dinnertime. It seems to be one of the keys to family togetherness. There is a part of me that longs to replicate what Italian families do best – meal time. They gather, they banter, they eat amazing food and drink amazing wine. The women hover, whisking away dirty plates and doling out second helpings. The traditionalist in me finds this scenario appealing.

Please note that I am not Italian; I do, however, love me some wine.

In today’s fast-paced world, you have to wonder HOW and IF people manage to pull off family dinnertime anymore. Does traditional “dinnertime” still exist? Does anyone even bother with it?

Well … I bother with it. But it’s not pretty.

Read the rest at birminghammommy.com!

What do you do when your child uses a “bad word,” in context? 

You see, that’s the kicker. It’s one thing for the little parrot to repeat everything he hears, but to use an unsavory word in the correct way means that he understands it’s meaning enough to know when to use it.

And THAT, my friends, is not okay. It’s more not okay than Old Navy’s new shipment of floral prints. My son is two. He just learned how to say “I’m thirsty” and “Daddy’s at work.” He just learned who Santa Claus is.  He can’t even walk down the stairs by himself yet.

He didn’t hear it on TV. We are TV Nazis. He didn’t hear one of us say it. Someone TAUGHT him that word. This seems to be my introduction to the part of motherhood when you realize that the environment that your child is in really does affect them in a deep way. 

I know this is just the beginning. I have many more years of this ahead of me … but the first experience is a shock, like getting ice water dumped on your head. My child is a sponge, and I don’t have as much control as I would like to over what he absorbs in this world.

I haven’t exercised in a month. Until today.

I was thinking … maybe if I post a picture of myself in spandex, it will motivate me to work out more often. As a good friend of mine always says, “the cure for laziness is to stop being lazy.” It’s really irritating, but it’s the truth.

Today I broke the cycle and I exercised. It was quite the spectacle. Also, a toddler was crowding me on the yoga mat.

40 minutes of “Body By Bethenny” later, my arms were so shaky I couldn’t lift a plate. THAT is more motivating to me that seeing my butt in the above photo.

Happy December!

How is it only Wednesday?!

I feel like I got run over.

I have quite the gregarious two-year-old.

On Saturday I took him with me to the mall so I could get some MAJOR shopping done. He was in good spirits. He entertained himself in the following way:

A stranger walks by.