No NJ?

snow your love

Taken at Lake Montebello

quacky holidays!

Taken at Lake Montebello

blissed. blessed.

veggie rice sandcastle for the kiddo

MOM, no pictures NOW!

try try again

so I started the month of November with the valiant intention of participating in Blogher.com's NaBloPoMo or National Blog Posting Month. it's a challenge to post content to your blog once a day for 30 days.

I really had the most sincere intentions.

then about a week into the challenge the hubby, kiddo and I up and rapidly moved BACK from new jersey to maryland (in case you missed it, we'd just moved to new jersey in july). it was a massive undertaking with just daddyluv and I, and was done hastily since our finances had reached the 'point-of-MUST-return'. so blogging fell by the wayside.

and yes, I could've written about the experience as I was going thru it, the exhaustion, the stress, the cost, yadda yadda yadda. but honestly I just didn't wanna.

it sucked. it depressed me and I cried a lot. I got sick, hell all three of us got sick and we're just feeling fully well again. I relied on daddyluv to keep us financially and, more importantly, emotionally stable because I simply couldn't manage either. I wish I had it in me to have documented the experience but right now just remembering the experience is hard enough, I'm not in the mood to solidify it in writing.

it sucked.

but it's done, that part at least, and now we've been welcomed into the home of family. we're safe, we're comfortable, we're healthy, we're together and we're good. very, very good. so I am in the mood to start again. start the whole 'blog post a day' business again, that is.

so for (at least) the next 30 days I'll share something with all those who care to look. either photos, music, information or inspiration, occasionally I might even write something! :) I'm just gonna share!

and this time if things go all wacky (and that could happen at any moment) I'll share a cat video from YouTube or a photo of babyluv or something. #FakeItTilYouMakeIt

glowing post Badu

period

a few months ago daddyluv and I were discussing the usefulness of teaching kids about dinosaurs. he was thinking that lots of kids go through the whole 'dinosaurs are awesome' phase but only a handful become archeologists or paleontologists. so what's the real benefit?

I told him I see a couple benefits like the reading benefits of getting kids to enjoy learning words like tyrannosaur and pterodactyl or the ability to teach a child that things die but they become part of the earth and are never really gone.

or it's for the pure geeky delight of having my 3 1/2 year old say to me 'mama, you see that green dinosaur? he is from the Jurassic time period. there is also a Cretaceous time period. but mama, what time period do we live in?'

do you have any idea how adorable those words sound in a preschoolers 'scooby doo' accent?! #NerdsUnite

by the way, we live in the Quaternary Period, it began 2.6 million years ago. I looked it up.

my feet make me happy

babyjive

we got to spend a few hours with my dad (known to babyluv as PappaDoc) and his family yesterday which was wonderful! piles of good food, good drinks, good talks and good laughs.

so at the end of the night, after dozens of little talks and hundreds of giant hugs, what kernel of wisdom does my father, the great educator, world traveler, builder of institutions of higher learning pass on to his grandson?

PappaDoc: (to babyluv) hey!! you know why I love you!? cuz you are my--
babyluv: (shouts) MAIN MAN!

both in their best jive speak. thanks dad.

#JiveTurkey #WisdomOfTheAges

puppy pillow

good things are going to happen

birthday dinner throwdown

Taken at One World Cafe

Mosa

Taken at Lake Montebello

lessons

Taken at Lake Montebello

saturday morning

Taken at Lake Montebello

kinda reminds me of a giant bonsai

meet big marty

walking a tightrope

days like today I wonder if I'll ever find a true balance in motherhood, my relationship and work. as I write this I'm thoroughly exhausted, grappling with a migraine, wanting to snuggle up with my man but listening to our son tossing and turning trying to fall asleep and it's 11:30pm. yet I feel like I didn't accomplish 90% of what I needed to do today.

I have no idea how to do this! I have friends with more than one kid and they have careers and run businesses and have beautiful loving relationships and seemingly seamless lives. I know there's no such thing as a seamless life but mine often feels like a patchwork quilt of frustration, exhaustion, foolishness and nonsense. how do successful moms balance all these things!?!

in the midst of it all I can acknowledge the great things in my life. I have a truly awesome kid, a loving fantastic hubby, a marvelous family and family of friends, my health (and a healthy hubby and kid) and we're dead ass broke but at least we're not living in our car or *gulp* with either of our parents.

but in the midst of it all I have a very sensitive son who told me the other day he wanted daddy because I work too much, a hubby who I know I neglect too often, and 'work' that I can barely generate an income from.

I know there is a balance that will allow all the main aspects of my life to stay on an even keel with the occasional tilts to one side or the other but not so much that I plummet. it's there, somewhere, lurking in the darkness and if I'm patient and remember that my relationship is only 4 years old, my son is only 3 years old and stop being so hard on myself things will level out.

but in the meantime i'll keep looking forward, never looking down, and hold tight to that pole that is my strength and sanity and be grateful that if nothing else I'm rarely bored and most folks tend to like the show!

NaBloPoMo - Blogging for Blogging's Sake

right now lots of fantastic things are popping up that are making me refocus my attention on writing and that's a very good thing. i need to reintegrate 'myself' into my life, being a stay-at-home-mom i realize that 'mom' and 'home' tend to be the predominate traits in my life. but writing has always been my release and a part of my life so i welcome the chance to allow it a comeback (now of course the lyrics 'don't call it a comeback, i've been here for years!' are running thru my head).

anyway, one of the things that i'm using to focus myself and keep my fingers and mind flowing is NaBloPoMo!

many of you know of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month which encourages and guides budding novel writers in writing a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. it's a huge endeavor but can be very fun and stimulating. well NaBloPoMo is an initiative of Blogher.com to encourage and guide bloggers in posting a blog everyday for 30 days. a theme is picked and daily writing prompts (monday thru friday, weekends are free writing days) help to keep the ideas and motivation flowing. i just happened to decide to jump in this month when the theme just happens to be 'blogging for blogging's sake'!

this month is perfect for me since while i usually do have underlying intentions for the posts i write, most of the time i'm just writing to get all the voices and ideas out of my head. especially now when 90% of my in-person conversations are with a 3 year old who might be very smart but i don't think he truly appreciates my discussions on current affairs or social networking.

so, although i'm a few days late i'm going with the 'better late than never' policy and jumping in with both feet! feel free to read along or to start your own NaBloPoMo journey or check out the other awesome bloggers churning out posts everyday for NaBloPoMo. happy blogging!!

hair we go!

this photo has me in a bit of a tizzy.

it was shared on a friend's FaceBook page with the caption "Praise the Lord!", indicating she took a liking to it. personally, i have to agree. strongly. i showed the photo to my hubby, since we like to compare notes on what we think is attractive and he thinks the photo is great! however the comments from many of the women is just the opposite. lots of 'eewww!' and 'werewolf!' and equally negative remarks populate my friend's thread and the thread of the person who originally posted the photo.

at first i thought 'to each his or her own' and i still believe that. until people started to take it farther, taking tallies of how many women didn't like him and saying only gay men like the photo. the bandwagoning got a bit annoying for me but it took me a little while to figure out why.

black women are highly defensive of all things that make us black women. we indignantly justify our behavior, our tastes, our style, our bodies as characteristics of strong black women. and black women who consider themselves 'natural' which usually means their hair, are even more so. if someone condescends to speak negatively about a 'natural black woman' trait all of black womanhood stands in loud open defiance.

but these women were cutting this man down, not for his gym made muscles or something that he physically altered, they were cutting him down for the one thing that he left 'natural'; his body hair. i can't even recall ever seeing a male model that wasn't waxed and buffed to a high sheen so that light bounced off his hairless body. this dude is HOT and PROUD to be hairy as all get out. and what do we do, trash him for it. not just say 'he's not my type' and leave it at that, no, we name call and bandwagon and basically do all the petty shit that we hate on others for doing to us.

let this dude post a photo of a beautiful black woman with an afro and have a single comment in his thread saying 'eeewww!' or 'too nappy!' and black women would probably flag his profile and try to have him banned from FaceBook for being a racist. but we can say all sorts of hateful things and try to justify our hate by counting how many other folks are being hateful too, and it's all good.

i can totally see why more gay men like this photo than straight women, because straight women (in this country) aren't even comfortable with our own body hair. we've been trained to trim the hedges and mow the lawns, waxing, shaving and tweezing ourselves into oblivion. that's our own hangup, why make it his. men are comfortable with body hair because men have body hair. simple.

and of course, if he were waxed and shiny the same women who have nothing good to say now would still have nothing good to say because of course a man who spends that much time on personal grooming (and look at this dude, grooming all that would take some time) must be gay! so he's screwed in the small eyes of these women either way. good thing he probably doesn't give a rat's ass, look at him, i'm sure he gets whatever play he wants.

and i will say that maybe my personal preference is a bit biased since my hubby is a proud, hairy man and i love his hair! LOVE IT! i love laying my head on his furry chest and running my fingers thru that thick mass of hair when we're talking. and my man is also ultra hot, yes he is! (that's him, splishing and splashing in all his hairy glory!)

personal preference is human nature, we can't choose what we are or are not attracted to. but name calling and bandwagoning for any reason speaks less to personal preference and more to personal faults. 'that's not for me.' means the same thing as 'eeewww!', one is just decidedly more mature, dontcha think?

tricks and treats!

this past monday was halloween, my favorite holiday and thus, a household favorite! it was actually babyluv's first real door-to-door trick or treating so it was super cute! last year we dressed him up in his monkey suit (compliments of his awesome aunties zozo and laurie) and we took him to fell's point in baltimore where the store and restaurant owners are always eager to dress up and let the kids trick or treat. he loved it but was more fascinated by the other costumes to grasp the trick or treating concept.

this year we dressed him up in the same monkey costume because first of all, he asked for it so why not let him, it is supposed to be his fun day after all and secondly, it was a little big on him last year and just a touch small this year so WHY NOT! it was still positively precious and he was the only monkey in a sea cartoon characters, mostly superheroes and various princesses. and this year he mostly GOT IT, the whole trick or treat thing, especially since we taught him the steps (our boy LOVES knowing the steps to a process so he can do a checklist #superkidnerdsunite). daddy taught him:

step 1. ring the doorbell.
step 2. take a step back (increases politeness, reduces 'smack in the head with door' injuries).
step 3. when the door opens shout 'trick or treat!' use your OUTSIDE VOICE!! (give a kid permission to scream, tell him it's even part of the process, the fun factor doubles immediately.)
step 4. hold your bag open or reach in the bowl for treats.
step 5. in your OUTSIDE VOICE say 'THANK YOU!'

once he got tired he added his own step 6. hand the treat bag to mama and have daddy pick him up and carry him.

we almost felt bad about the fact that we had zero intention of letting him eat a single thing in the bag, except for the natural fruit snacks he got from the good folks at Trader Joe's on Millburn until we realized that he couldn't care less about that stuff LOL! for him it was all about the experience; seeing the other kids in costume, learning how to trick or treat, walking the neighborhood with daddy and mama at night and looking at all the decorations. he hasn't thought about the candy since the last house. he doesn't even know what most of it is since he has no frame of reference, he just thinks it was the thing put in the bag as a reward for properly completing the trick or treat process LOL!

the most hilarious part of babyluv's 1st real trick or treat for me was that he kept trying to invite himself into folk's houses!! at every house he was like 'i wanna go in! can we stay for awhile!' see, that's just like our kid to be all 'knock knock, trick or treat, what's for dinner!?'

trick or treating is hard work for a little monkey

lazy saturday

well, lousy and rundown as I felt today (mostly just stress) I baked some triple fudge brownies and my first quiche and they're both pretty darn good!



the quiche is four cheeses, onions, spinach, mushrooms, spinach and turkey bacon. firm and yummy (I have a big problem with wet or squishy eggs).

today's Proud Mama Moments: 1. babyluv now insists on captions or subtitles when he watches his videos and he totally reads along!! and 2. for a solid week he's gone to sleep BY HIMSELF!! naptime and bedtime!! we do the routines, especially the stories, then I kiss him and tell him I'll check on him in a few minutes (this helps him, knowing I will come back) then I slip out. I check back 15 mins. later and he's sleep!! my sweet, big boy!!

so all-in-all, not a bad lazy saturday!

the view from above

Taken at Marshall Elementary School

beat of a different drummer

Taken at Marshall Elementary School

sunshiny day

Taken at Marshall Elementary School

Rest Peacefully, Steve Jobs, one of The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs

Support the One Dollar College Foundation

Help the One Dollar College Foundation send gifted, but financially challenged High School students to college for FREE! Click below for more information and watch the video to find out how you can show your support for this amazing cause!

serious headgear

because sometimes he's a monkey

breakfast salad

Bi the Way: I am Bisexuality at it's Finest!

this is a post from my new, R-rated, NSFW, cover the kid's eyes blog Other Side of Mama. on Other Side of Mama i take great and grand liberties in letting my freak flag fly and kicking the censors to the curb. on Other Side of Mama i pay homage to the foul-mouthed floozy within! and as such, my first official post there is being highlighted on BlogHer.com in the Life section (HAPPY DANCE!!)! I'm very proud of this and i wanted to share my news all over the place so if the kids are in bed and you're not feeling too sensitive, hop on over and give it a read, tell me what you think! :D

s

mama i'm cooooooold!!! -- AGAIN!!

mama i'm cooooooold!!!

Once again our beautiful boy was selected to be in Parents.com Weekly Winners photo competition!! We were OVERWHELMED by your voting response last week which placed him at #31 out of more than 4,100 photos in the competion! This week we were even more astounded to see your votes bump him from #1396 to #96 OVERNIGHT!!! WHEW!

Today he's at #59 with four days left to vote, so please take a second (it only takes a second) to click on the photo and give him a vote (or four!) everyday and in every way. Vote from you laptop, your desktop, your phone and do it all over again from a friend's devices LOL!! Let's see if we can get our boy to NUMBER ONE and in the running for the $25,000 grand prize.

Thanks you profoundly for all your loving support, and babyluv thanks you too! :D

ORNG Ink presents Inkalicious

being new to the Orange NJ area we haven't had a chance to check out the local arts & festival scene, but today babyluv and I had the chance to swing pass ORNG Ink, a studio for emerging young artists presenting Inkalicious in the IronWorks in the Orange Valley Arts District.

they're having a small but pretty awesome festival with graphic artists, skateboard competitions, free tshirt silk screening workshops, musical performances and more! it's geared towards teens but there were folks of all ages enjoying good music, good art, good (free) food and a very good time!





there's art and clothes for sale too at great prices. for our first arts festival outing in Orange we picked a fabulous one!

excerpt from local rap artist Dizz's performance!

check out the rad things ORNG Ink is doing!!

mama i'm cooooooold!!!

our sweet boy's awesomely adorable photo has been chosen from hundreds to be in Parents.com Weekly Winners photo competition!! PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO VOTE FOR BABYLUV!! he'll thank you with more awesomely adorable photos :D

MANY MANY THANKS!!

mama i'm cooooooold!!!

Bag Ladies

we had to spend the past two days trying to resolve a single issue with the Department of Social Services. we have to go to two more offices tomorrow. it's not my favorite government agency to deal with.

but spending time in congregations of people, mostly women and children, who all need help, real help of some sort makes me that much more blissful about my life and the love i have for it and it makes me wanna hug all those people.

all of these people are there to say to some person who's right behind a desk but emotionally miles away (often for their own emotional protection) 'please help me.' they have to take a number, sit on hard plastic chairs, anxious and hungry (no eating or drinking in many government offices) for hours and hours just for the chance to ask some equally cranky person for help. there is no happiness in this place, just guarded moments of laughter, often at the expense of someone else in the vicinity.

there is no happiness in this place.

the flower child in me actually thought 'i wonder; if everyone in here got one good long and loving hug every day, would this office still feel like misery is the ticket for admittance?'

it's a hard place to be physically and emotionally. for everyone in there i'd imagine.

as he sees himself

babyluv has taken a liking to cameras! not just having his photo taken (a lot) but he loves taking pictures! he has as awesome v-tech camera and a camera on his hand-me-down iPhone, plus guarded access to our iPhones and nicer cameras. initially he just liked to see the flash but now he's begun pointing at specific objects or people and taking real photos!

most fun, to me at least, is his growing collection of self portraits. he especially loves taking his own photos on my iPhone 4 using any of the photo apps. his favorites are IncrediBooth which has 4 different lens effects and takes a strip of photos like in a photobooth, and Instagram which let's you take photos and easily apply effects like aging or black & white.

so I'm encouraging his newfound hobby and putting together
a collection that he can admire. since the only thing he likes more than taking photos of himself is looking at photos of himself!

'as he sees himself' photoset

contradictions

a random thought just occurred to me about one of the most basic contradictions we teach our kids everyday.

we always tell them to ask questions, be curious, investigate and explore. but then as soon as they start asking the questions we feel uncomfortable asking we tell them 'curiosity killed the cat'.

i hate that phrase. it's more morbid and creepy than the whole 'rock-a-bye baby' business. i hate it more because most don't use the longer phrase (since it would contradict their desire to shut the questions up) that 'curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.'

but i really hate it because it goes against everything that you say when attempting to raise a child that wants to learn. it's basically a fancier way of saying 'sit down and shut up' or more pointedly 'mind your business.'

i know there are going to be uncomfortable questions for me in the years to come and i'm really hoping i'll maintain the patience to not fall back on the cliche of offing inquisitive felines.

a message to the men

i just wanted to take a moment to honor the fact that i'm very proud of all the men in my life! i honestly am! i just took stock of all the men that are actually in my life; the men that are not just related, but family, not just associations, but friends. and if i call you either, i consider you a good man.

thank you!

please believe that you're all raising my son with his father and i and if he learns from you what true meaning of manhood is, i know that he'll be a good man.

again, and sincerely, i thank you.

iPotty

potty training in the new age, babyluv takes a load off while watching elmo's potty time video on his iPhone.

The Warrior Mom ---Straight Talk from the Heart.: List #5: How My Smartphone Preserves My Marriage, ...

excellent article that makes me feel much better about my growing dependency on my smartphone and it's handy ways of streamlining my life......when i remember to use it. smh.
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The Warrior Mom ---Straight Talk from the Heart.: List #5: How My Smartphone Preserves My Marriage, ...: "The List-Making Central Series I use my phone for everything but talking. In fact, most of the time, the ringer is silenced and even if i..."

the adventures of stripy horse

reading 'the adventures of stripy horse' by Jim Helmore and Karen Wall.

Jill Scott Spends a Fabuous Hour with Mo'Nique

jill scott always brings me joy to the tippy top of my soul!! i would love to just give her a splendid hug one day and tell her THANK YOU for being 'the magnificent'!

jill visited 'the Mo'Nique Show' and for the full hour they had a wonderful time and BET gets major credit for posting the whole episode!! sit back, get ready for lovely words and sound and enjoy!

Kohls.com: *HOT* Deal on KitchenAid 4.5 qt Mixer as low as $100!! | Thrifty and Thriving

The *HOT* KitchenAid deal is back at Kohls.com. Combine the sale price, with coupon codes, rebate, cash back from Ebates, + earn Kohl’s cash and you have yourself an amazing deal. These price scenarios are good through 4/17/11.

Click here to find out more:
Kohls.com: *HOT* Deal on KitchenAid 4.5 qt Mixer as low as $100!! | Thrifty and Thriving

story of the world

i take no credit for this totally awesome GIF, but enjoy!

(see original image HERE! )

I'll Keep Holding On

In an effort to heal my fractured spirit I sat in silence today. I entered the silence hoping if not for an answer then at least for some comfort. After a while I realized this song was playing in my head. I'm accepting it as an answer and a source of comfort. For today, my mantra is "I'll keep holding on. I'll keep holding on."

today's tiny soapbox

law of attraction + mercury in retrograde = way too many people attracting way too much negativity in the name of the cosmos. the 'retrograde' typically has little to no effect on my day-to-day life, i never even give it a second thought, until people start inundating me with it with every problem. very often they point out problems that i wouldn't even notice as a way of saying 'see, look what else went wrong because of the retrograde!' then i start it too, noticing and picking at every little problem which makes the real problems seem that much worse. then that negativity attracts more negativity and chaos.

ok, so mercury is in retrograde. fantastic. happens a lot and no amount of moaning, groaning or griping will make it not happen, go away or change that it's gonna happen again in a few months. so does that mean that we all live our lives as usual until we hear 'retrograde' then we sit around and pick apart our lives, stop making decisions, and live in fear of the next disaster. i can't do it. thoughts become things and i don't need those particular thoughts or things.

i appreciate the good intention of 'it's not your fault, it's the retrograde' and i know that many people do feel that way. but i'd rather be inundated with 'embrace joy & abundance' and 'remember your attitude of gratitude' and attract that.

have a beautiful sunday, lovelies.

*humbly steps down from my soapbox*

detangling tips & techniques for natural hair (by Oyinhandmade)

detangling tips & techniques for natural hair (by Oyinhandmade)

__________

i've gotten a lot of hair questions recently, in person and via the interwebs. i've never tried to say i'm a real hair care expert but i think it's a testimony to the health of my hair and my son's hair that people ask me for hair advice. it's flattering and i'm touched and i want to give good advice.

so i'm gonna let the experts help me in advising you! the question i get asked the most is how do i detangle my hair and my son's hair. this video shows exactly what i do for both of us, using the fantastic Oyin Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner! the only change is for my son i can usually put the conditioner in his hair right before bath time and just let it sit while he plays with submarine and rubber duckie.

i hope this helps!

Crane USA Humidifier Review and Giveaway on The Bragging Mommy

Crane USA Humidifier Review and Giveaway on The Bragging Mommy

Here we have a chances to win a fantastic and awesomely cute Crane humidifier for you or your little one. Check out all the humidifiers available at Crane at www.crane-usa.com!

Humidifiers are a great way to naturally aid sinus, cold and flu symptoms and these humidifiers are so adorable you can add them to any room decor.

Head on over to The Bragging Mommy for more details. Good luck!

Win a Scholastic Storybook Treasures Duke Ellington DVD

HEROES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY COME TO LIFE IN A NEW SCHOLASTIC STORYBOOK TREASURES™ DVD



FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY from Six String Theories for the music loving family!

Celebrate African American history with the DUKE ELLINGTON…AND MORE STORIES TO CELEBRATE GREAT FIGURES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY DVD – a historic and musical collection of four unforgettable stories lovingly adapted for the small screen from best-selling picture books. The DVD features captivating narration by Forest Whitaker, Phylicia Rashad, Samuel L. Jackson and Billy Dee Williams. Stories featured include:

--"Duke Ellington" (based on the story by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Bran Pinkney, narrated by Forest Whitaker). A most fitting tribute to a great man who proudly celebrated the history of African-Americans, from slavery to civil rights struggles.

--"Ellington Was Not a Street" (based on the story by Ntozake Shange, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, narrated by Phylicia Rashad). A poetic tribute about growing up amidst many of the great figures in African American History.

--"Ella Fitzgerald": The Tale of Vocal Virtuosa (based on the story Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, narrated by Billy Dee Williams). The dramatic story of how Ella got her sound, on the way to a most remarkable and inspiring career.

--"John Henry" (based on the story by Julius Lester, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson). Based on the famous African-American folk ballad, this story tells of the legendary contest between a spirited man with a hammer and a steam drill.

Visit Six String Theories for full contest details. Good luck!

Timothy Bloom - 'Til The End Of Time ft. V. Bozeman

this is beautiful in every possible way a music video and piece of art can be beautiful.

there is some artistic nudity so it's NSFW, but i'm completely in love with this video.

Hard-Working Mom... or Hardly Working? | BlogHer

i just read an article on BlogHer that i wanted to share; Hard-Working Mom... or Hardly Working?

this is a very sweet article that i completely relate to. i'm a stay/work at home mom and i constantly feel that i'm not doing enough. i imagine that my fiance, friends, blog readers.....everyone who knows me, thinks i'm living some sorta easy life of lounging and playing and it makes me feel highly inadequate.

but then i look at my awesome big boy and i know that i'll gladly take the financial and social loss to watch him grow everyday and never miss a single 'first' experience. i see how happy he is and i know i'm doing the right thing for us.

are you a stay/work at home mom or a mom that works out of the house? what's your experience? do you have any regrets?

Hard-Working Mom... or Hardly Working? | BlogHer

Dr. Charles W. Simmons is creating Black History today

Dr. Charles W. Simmons is President and founder of Sojourner-Douglass College, the only private, predominantly African American, degree granting college in the State of Maryland with six Maryland campuses and one in Nassau, Bahamas. Dr. Simmons is Black History in the making and he happens to be my dad.

Majora Carter: 3 stories of local eco-entrepreneurship

Majora Carter: 3 stories of local eco-entrepreneurship

The future of green is local -- and entrepreneurial. At TEDxMidwest, Majora Carter brings us the stories of three people who are saving their own communities while saving the planet. Call it "hometown security."

making me feel better

babyluv's had a little cough for a few days and because of the weather (the ice more than the snow, we live in a very hilly area and icy patches SUCK) we've been couped up in here together for days. so last night an itchy cough made itself known in my throat and this morning I woke up with no voice. eh, no problem, I can manage a cough and I can even manage the kid since he has a rapidly growing ASL (American Sign Language) vocabulary.

I told babyluv that my throat hurt and I couldn't talk so I was going to use a lot of signs today and we went over a handful of basics. he did great and seemed perfectly content but in my guilt ridden head I could hear his deep, little voice 'geez mama, I already don't feel good and now you spring a sign language pop quiz on me!! can I get a break!?!'

don't look at me like that, I know he's only 2 but he says a lot with his eyes. really!! and he's almost 3. oh whaddyouknow! *rolling my eyes and pouting*

well, just now he came over to me, handed me a fistful of the remains of his mostly devoured jelly sandwich, smiled up at me with his proud, jelly-smeared face and said 'here, that'll make you feel better!' then immediately erupted in body shaking coughs.

have I mentioned today how much I love this kid?