The kids are never traveling again

We just got back from a fun but exhausting trip to San Francisco. I worked while poor Brian was on daddy duty for two days during a major rain storm. Fortunately, we stayed in a hotel that had a Kids Suite loaded with toys and all kinds of activities.



Kelsie was introduced to her first karaoke machine. She's terrible at it.



But she apparently is already fluent with a computer. She sat down at the computer in the room (pre-loaded with kids' games -- so great) and immediately started using the mouse to manipulate the game. How's that for a generational gap? We just stared in amazement:



The room also had building blocks, coloring paper, musical instruments, and dress-up clothes. But Kelsie was a little prima donna about getting her photo taken. Here's her first paparazzi shot (and probably her only paparazzi shot, unless she discovers a talent other than singing to make her famous):



And, most importantly, we got to catch up with great friends. We had a babysitter Friday night for my company party. Free flowing margaritas and no kids -- dangerous combination! We were like college kids again, even moving the after-party to the W hotel. Then the next day we went to the East Bay to see friends and their kiddos. Here are Jake and Lexi Reeves ...



And Colden Hooley ...



But as I said in the subject line, the kids are never traveling again, despite the great hotel. Nevermind the toll the time change took on their little bodies and the offensive amounts of crap we had to travel with. The plane ride was pure torture!! Both kids were in good spirits and technically "behaved" but Dylan never stopped moving. By the end of the flight both kids were naked, Cheerios covered the floor in our aisle, crumbs were ground into the seats, my hair was sticking up in every direction (because when Dylan pulled it he'd hold still briefly -- a worthwhile sacrifice), Kelsie was convinced that the flight attendants had oranges that they weren't sharing with her, and Brian and I could barely see straight. We would have taken a picture but that would have required removing one hand from Dylan, which would have given him the opportunity he had been waiting for to jump out to the aisle and crawl into the cockpit, trailing mushed up crackers and screaming along the way.

As we were leaving the plane one kind woman told us our kids were very good during the flight and Brian and I both shot her evil "go to hell" looks and told her she was crazy.

I'm still recovering.

Shortcuts for helping others

I really do want to do good things -- volunteer, donate, etc. But I always seem to find something more pressing to do with my time and money. Separately (you'll see how this thought is related in a sec) I love to find short cuts. I don't like any recipes with more than 5 ingredients -- even better if they come prepared or can just be dumped into a crock pot, most of my "beauty" products do double duty like foundation with spf in it, soap with anti-wrinkle cream, etc.

So, taking those two characteristics I found these super easy ways to do some good without taking much time or any money. Thanks to Critter and Redbook for doing the research for me!

www.freerice.com -- it's a fun vocabulary quiz, for each word you get right it donates rice through the United Nations World Food Program.

www.goodsearch.com -- a search engine that gives one cent to the charity of your choice each time you do a search. It's powered by Yahoo Search, so the results are good. The hard part is picking a charity from the thousands of participants.

www.thebreastcancersite.com -- all you have to do is click a link and sponsors donate money toward free mammograms. It's part of a family of sites that follow the same model to donate money toward world hunger, child healthcare, literacy, animal rescue, etc. So easy.

www.care2.com -- I haven't played with this one yet but figure I'll mention it anyway. You sign online petitions on any number of issues.

Hope y'all will find this info useful, too. Click away. It might make a difference in someone's life.

Thanks!

Our child, the exhibitionist.

There I was, innocently filming Dylan making funny noises and faces (I promise, he was being more interesting before I turned the camera on) and then ...

Click to watch the video.



Wait for it ... 1/19/08

Couple Dating

This video is a hilariously and sadly accurate description of our life:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b776c00c54

Outsmarted by a 3-year old

Here's the conversation Kelsie and I just had:

Kelsie: Mommy, what eats flies?
Me: Frogs.
Kelsie: No. What eats flies?
Me: Frogs.
Kelsie. No! Mommy, tell me what eats flies!
Me: Frogs.
Kelsie: (Big huff and roll of the eyes.) Mommy, please tell me what eats flies??
Me: What do you think eats flies?
Kelsie: Frogs.

Sigh.

She's getting good at outsmarting us, which is slightly embarrassing. Yesterday was one of those days -- cloudy, quiet, Brian and I weren't feeling well (especially Brian), and Kelsie was pushing her limits big time. So, it was finally bedtime and she was doing everything but what we told her to do. Brian finally managed to get her in PJs and teeth brushed and told her to come say good night to me while I was getting Dylan ready for bed. So, she comes into Dylan's room and starts playing with his toys instead of saying good night. Brian got his "I'm a big bad scary daddy" voice ready to snap her into shape when she sensed the end of the rope and came over to Dylan, gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek and said, "I love you so much, Dylan." Of course, Brian and I both melted and she was no longer in trouble.

She's good. And we're suckers.

Oh happy day

Dylan slept till 6:30 this morning!!!!! To non-parents that may sound hideously early or entirely un-impressive. But to a groggy mommy who has been woken up at least once between 1:30am and 5:30am for 9 months straight, it was a glorious way to start my day.

It wasn't his first time to sleep through the night, though. The little SOB (and yes, I realize that by calling him that I'm actually insulting myself, but I'm too tired to think of a better insult -- turns out 1 full night of sleep doesn't make up for months of interrupted slumber) slept all the way through the night 3 nights in a row in August ... while we were house-hunting in NY and he was staying with Brian's parents. But the night we returned, he went back to his sleepless ways. I still haven't forgiven him for that. I try to tell myself it's a compliment -- he just wants to be with me so badly that he screams till I come hug him. But it's not really appeasing me. Even when Brian goes in to get him back to sleep in the middle of the night, I'm still awake until everyone is snoring away again.

The good news is that if I ever become a POW and my captors try sleep deprivation as a form of torture, I'm good. They got nuthin on me.

All that night waking got him so tired he crashed while playing on the floor the other day. They're so cute when they're sleeping. (Notice gravity's effect on his cheeks when his facial muscles are fully relaxed.)

Brian got a job!!!!

It's a dream job for him -- he's getting paid to watch TV. Seriously. He just accepted a position with Viacom's legal department to review TV for copyright infringement. (Viacom is the parent company of Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, etc.)

It's a temporary position, though. Full time for 6-8 weeks, with a possibility that the project might get extended. But maybe that's a blessing -- it will be an interesting experiment to see what that much TV will actually do to a person. Wish me luck.

And that brings me to the selfish aspect of all this ... I've been very lucky that since we became parents he has always had a schedule that allowed him to help with the kids at pick-up time, dinner, bath, etc. And since my job often keeps me working past 6, that's been a lifesaver. But with this new position, he will probably not get home before 7pm. That's doable -- he'll still be here in time for baths and bedtime. But it will definitely be an adjustment for me. At least if I plop the kids in front of a cartoon I can justify it by saying that they're connecting with daddy's professional life.

My workout plan: have a baby boy

The good news about having an active boy is that I can skip all that nonsense about new years resolutions to exercise more. Dylan is an exercise plan that I can't cheat on or forget about by Jan. 31. He's not quite crawling, but man, he can get around. Even his teachers have commented on how fast he can scoot around on that big belly of his. When you hold him, he expects you to be walking, bouncing, dancing, or throwing him. He's also standing well as long as he holds on to something for balance. But I think the only reason he stands as long as he does is because he doesn't know how to get down. Unless he falls.

Going...


Going ....

Gone.

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!

National Champions again!!! First team to win 2 BCS national championships! Brian and I had such a great night. Betsy (his sister, who lives in Manhattan) babysat so we could actually go somewhere without worrying about bedtimes and feedings and hauling kids, strollers, diapers, bottles, snacks, toys, books, etc. We went to a bar in NYC where the local LSU alumni association hangs out. Honestly, I don't think we could have had more fun if we had gone to the actual game. The place was PACKED with LSU fans. The DJ played the LSU band songs after every down, so it felt like we were there, and fun music during every commercial break. Such a great sense of camaraderie - high fives with total strangers, dancing and singing/yelling at the top of our lungs, staying out too late (did I mention we didn't have the kids with us?!?!?!!), drinking a little too much (and we had a babysitter?!?!?!?). So, now we have to find a babysitter every Saturday next football season so we can do that again.

I know there's controversy about the BCS and whether we deserved to be there and all that crap. But we played by the rules, got to the national championship game, and dominated against the #1 team that supposedly had the #1 defense (yeah, right). Les Miles said it best - we went to the Sugar Bowl last year and didn't make a single complaint about whether we should have been playing for the national title. Unlike some whiners this year (ahem, Mark Richt). I have tons of respect for Georgia -- I'd love to have a playoff against them! Maybe one day there will be a playoff system. And while we're at it, let's add a BCS rule that OSU is never allowed in the national championship game again. Until then, shut up and let us bask in the glow of being national champions again!!!!!! Geaux Tigers!!!!

(by the way, I stole that pic from deadspin -- full disclosure to keep those copyright police at bay since SO many people are going to be viewing this)

In da club

The Pierces are clubbin'! We went to Baby Boogie the other day -- it's a dance party for kids in an actual dance club, but during the day. Kelsie spent most of the time staring in awe, while I tried to convince her to dance with me to Push It (is that wrong?) and other great 80s and 90s music. She did get her groove on eventually. Dylan tried his hardest to dance, but mostly just waved his arms in the air (like he just don't care). They do this once a month in Hoboken and we'll definitely be going back. So fun!

Welcome to Pierce Post!

What a difference a year makes. This time last year we were happily living in Shreveport, Louisiana with one kid (and one on the way). I worked remotely from home, Brian was a social worker with Volunteers of America, family lived nearby. We had - and still have - great friends that we got together with at least once a week. Life was good -- perhaps a little slow at times, but good.

Fast forward to January 2008. Here we are in Jersey City, NJ, just outside of Manhattan, with two kids. We moved in October 2007 with my company during a harrowing couple of months. We spent the last part of 2007 getting settled in a new city, new condo, new neighborhood, new school for Kelsie, 2 new daycares for Dylan, trying to make new friends, Brian finding a new job, adjusting to the shocking cost of living here, etc. We're still getting there, but we're starting to feel a sense of community. Life is still good, just dramatically different.

So, I made a New Years resolution to start a blog. Partly to help stay in touch and share photos, thoughts, and reports with friends and family as we find our way. Also to indulge my writing hobby (at least I think it's a hobby - I enjoy writing but have never really taken much time to explore it).

I hope you'll check in every once in a while and leave some comments, and I hope I keep up my end of the deal and update this thing frequently. 2008 ... here we go!