13

Uh-Oh
Yeah!
Car (cawo)
Ball (Baw)
Row Row (as in Row, row, row your boat)
All Done! (aw dun)
Bye Bye
No
Banana (babana)
Quincy (Kincee)
More
Vroom! (voom voom)
EiEiO! (Eio)

Why oh why?

Why oh why can't Ann Co*lter get the smack down that she so deserves? I mean seriously? Imus got FIRED, and he didn't wish death on a presidential candidate! Can't someone, for the love of all things good in this country, DO something to SHUT HER UP!

On purpose, or a happy accident?

Malka made a pish-pish and poop in her little potty this am!

Not sure if it was because of good timing, or if she finally "gets" what that little white thing is for...

Pride was wonderful, a good time, and I took LOTS of pictures - I wore a BIG pink floppy hat marching down 5th avenue, but at least I'm one of the few who AREN'T sunburnt, so I'm glad about that. I want to publically thank Heather for really putting my sun awareness more in my frontal lobes, instead of something I think about AFTER the fact of a painful sunburn. And yes, I DO get yearly skin checks. Do you? I had some REALLY Bad sun practices in the 80's and so I'm always inspecting each and every mole and freckle and odd spot on my body.

I'll try to post some pics later, but for now - Happy Pride! And a shout out to a fellow bloggy-sister, who was a part our our contingent in the parade!

Why do they...

-Why do toddlers dump an entire cup of water on the floor, and then look baffled when they slip in the puddle made from the spilled H2O?

-Why do buses arrive in groups of 2 or more (aka, "bus bunching") after NO bus for 20 minutes?

-Why does our President purport to "honor the sanctity of life," by vetoing Stem Cell Research on Embryos, but then send young men and women off to die in war?

-Why does Malka want to sit on her new little potty and imitate Eemah ONLY for the fun of washing her hands afterwards?

-Why, if Shabbes is the "day of rest," am I SO exhausted come Saturday evening?

For Thommie...

A sweet, gentle, and experienced soul has gone on...

I knew him from my stage managing days.

I'll miss you.

A little closer to becoming a LEGAL family!

THANK YOU NYS Assembly!

85-61 in a BI-PARTISAN vote voted in FAVOR of Same Sex Marriage!

It has to go to the state senate, but this is one step closer.

Toddler Happiness in 60 seconds or less...

2 Cups low fat yogurt
some frozen organic fruit
blob of honey
hand/stick blender
left over yogurt container

Dump all ingredients into left over yogurt container

Blend

Put in sippy cup

Give to toddler

Watch as toddler finishes in 60 seconds or less, and signs for more, with BIG grin on her face.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Happy 18 months, my love. Bigger, more exciting post coming soon - right now, I'm just enjoying our time together...

More Squee!

I called Birth Mama V on the phone today. You know, her CELL phone. (Insert the sound of my thumping heart right here!) But it was GREAT.

And we're going to see her on Sunday morning, July 1st. It will be our first meeting NOT at the agency - we're just going to meet midtown and, you know, HANG OUT.

We're SO excited and blessed to have this relationship with her. It's SO important to us as a family that Malka not only know of, but actually KNOW her birthmom. And I could tell the excitement in V's voice as well. So it's good all around.

And now... we are in the process of composing a letter to our agency, letting them know that we want to go back "into pool" in March. I hope that the paper trail is shorter this time around, but I fear not - so we want a good head start on everything. Oh, and March has nothing to do with "spacing," as we know it could take a week, or a year, or more, even. But more with the fact that Narda's Bat Mitzvah is February 23rd, and she needs the time between now and then to prepare. And, add in the fact that as a Shul administrator, we are less than 3 months away from the High Holy Days, so my life is about to get very, very busy.

So, um, yeah - I had a fleeting thought about TTC again, but then realized that not only is focusing on me right now (ie: weight loss, Lexapro) much more important, but adopting is really, and truly such a beautiful experience, that we can't wait to do it again.

Some good news to share!

One of Malka's "internet Aunties" (whom she's met in person) is about to give Malka an Internet Cousin! Go give them some smooshy love!

Sigh...

And goodnight, August.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/108750.html

Malka meets H and Liza!

Focused...
Originally uploaded by shellipsm

Liza and Mr. H and House of Hydrangeas all met up at Strawberry Fields on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 - the cuteness was overwhelming.

The moms (and dad) were charming, and we all had a wonderfully loverly time!

Don't ya' just hate it...

When you bite the inside of your cheek.

And then CONTINUE to bite that same spot.

I'm just sayin'.

Off to bed now...

Mommy, Malka and I had a lovely morning at Shul, Malka got a special Aliyah, and sadly, as it's the 3rd Yarzheit (anniversary of death) of Narda's mom, Narda got a second aliyah as well.

But Malka certainly had that "puffed out chest / proud peacock" moment today, for sure! It's very cute when she does it, she walks around with her chest LITERALLY extended out a bit, it's her "proud" look - and I hope she ALWAYS hangs onto it.

I had SUCH a "I'm learning to let my baby go" moment after the service... She was ITCHING to get down off of my lap after her bagel and run around with the BIG kids. Malka, she LOVES her some big kids. So I set her down, and she ran after them. And she played in the children's room - and we both kind of leaned back to look at one another at the same time - just to make sure the other was there... and then she kept playing. And I finished my lunch.

Le Sigh. Our little girl is growing up!

Afterwards, a few of us went on over to the playground/waterpark/sandbox area, and Malka displayed her usual fear of sand and all things sand-related, but water? OH THE WATER! HOW she loves the water. So, like the other toddlers there, including her older friend Sachie, Malka was freed from the constraints of clothing and shoes, and let loose to get wet. But she mostly stayed by this one area, dipping her toe in the water. It was perfectly adorable. Around 2pm, Malka refused to acknowledge that she was tired, no-siree-bob! But she did NOT protest to being put in her stroller after her diaper and clothing change. Approximately 10 minutes later, she was OUT.

We proceeded to get stuck on the A train for about 45 minutes, just going a few stops (UGH) to go and meet Liza! And Lizzy! and Henry! Malka and Henry got on famously; Malka shared her bunnies, Henry shared his vanilla cookies. A picture will soon follow, I promise, but I had to share that not ONLY did Malka make steps to overcoming her sand "issues," but grass may have been completely overcome, as well! Yea, Malka!

It was thoroughly wonderful meeting Liza and Lizzy, and am So glad that Lizzy is a NYC gal, so perhaps we can see them again soon. but in the meantime? I'm plum tuckered. I earned 7 activity points walking all over the city today - that's about 22000 steps, or almost 6 miles of walking. So yeah, I'm off to bed. Lilah Tov!

One of the scarriest moments of my life as an Eemah so far...

Was when the Mikveh lady said to "let go" of our beloved Malka Palka Pooka Palka.

She was having a GRAND time before hand, and the new Mikveh on 74th street is BEAUTIFUL! It's like a SPA! Narda and I answered questions, talked about our lives as Jews, and about raising Malka in a Jewish home. Rabbi Shoshana, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen and Cantor David Berger were her Beit Din.

We go in the room to get ready, I get in my suit, Narda makes Malka happy by having her be a naked baby. We go into the Mikveh room, I remove my bathrobe, walk down the stairs into the beautiful (and WARM) Mikveh with Malka, she thinks it's bath time, so she starts splashing and smiling, albeit slightly confused that she's moving her legs and feet a bit. We say the prayer, Narda reads a beautiful prayer given to her from Rabbi Shoshana, and then the Mikveh lady says to "Let go."

I hesitate, for what seems like an hour. And then I do, and FWOOSH, like a cement block, Malka sinks, I reach in and grab her, and everyone says Mazal Tov! And begins singing Siman Tov v' Mazal Tov, and Malka's coughing, and shivering, and clinging to me like there's NO other alternative to her existance. And my heart is racing.

And I'm thinking that we need to get this kid into swimming lessons. Quickly. Because unless it's on purpose, I NEVER want to have that image in my minds eye again.

After a few minutes with the towel, she was back to her bubbly self, and even sat down on a chair in the "hair dryer room," all full chested and proud, she KNEW that this special, beautiful day was about her. And it WAS beautiful, even if VERY scary for her Eemahot, for those 2.3 seconds...

A week of Smachot!

So, um, I can't believe I forgot to tell all of y'alls!

First, Narda and I had a WONDERFUL night out, A DATE. As in - JUST US. It was SO lovely. We really need to go out and do stuff like that more often. Even though we talked about Malka much of the time, that was fine. We had a yummy dinner, some lovely wine, we went to one of the fun bars we went to about oh, 7 years ago when we first started dating, and then we walked around the West Village for a while, just holding hands.

Because you can do that downtown in NYC. Hold hands. It was SO nice. And the weather was perfect, so it was a lovely night out.

Secondly, um, TOMORROW?

Miss Malka Palka Pooka Palka goes to the Mikveh. At 9am. I'm going in with her. But I get to wear a swim suit. MP3? She gets the ULTIMATE dream come true - LOTS of water, and her nakey tush-tush! What's really great about it? The Rabbi from the Shul where I work, AND the Rabbis from the Shul where we Daven will ALL be together, as part of her Beit Din. So this will truly be a joyous occasion.

SIO

Don't let Malka's naps linger past 3pm, or you are SCREWED.

It's 7:12pm, and she's not even "CIO," it's more like: "SIO," Scream it out.

Ugh.

It's kind of funny, though, because the kid is TIRED; so she fades out, kind of falls asleep, and then pipes in with: "OH! AND ANOTHER THING! LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE TIME I WAS PISSED OFF BECAUSE MY SIPPY CUP FELL OFF THE TRAY!" And then she calms down, and pipes up, etc.

And then she just SCREAMS - but it's more because she can, and has recently learned that lovely behaviour. She KNOWS that I'm the "sucker Eemah," more so than Narda, so she's testing me - Narda won't take that, so she calms down faster for her. Malka knows I'll go get her, so I'm sitting by my resolve.

Sigh.

In the end, it's all kind of funny, but in the moment? it SUCKS! She's totally sleep trained, and even went down for her nap VERY well today, but then she napped 3 HOURS, and woke up at 4pm, so I should have known to get her up earlier, but um, I "rested my eyes" for a bit, and we BOTH woke up at 4pm.

Ahhhhh, her highness is asleep. 25 minutes, not bad.

If you* over-brine your chicken breasts...

Rinse it, broil it, turn it into chicken salad.

*Not, um, that I, er, would PERSONALLY know about that or anything, but I'm just suggesting here, for, um, those, that, er, MIGHT either use too much salt in their brine, or leave it in too long.

I'm just saying...

Blogging for LGBT Families Day.

So today is the day that we "Blog for LGBT Families."

We are SO blessed to live in NYC. I cannot even begin to tell you about the "durm und strang" that so many families like ours have to go through, just to be able to take their OWN CHILD to daycare, or the hospital, or to be taken seriously.

Thursday, May 17th, Malka Palka Pooka Palka was officially, and LEGALLY adopted by her two Eemahot. She was ALWAYS in our hearts, but now she is on record, too. BOTH Narda's and MY name will be on her birth certificate.

We are SO blessed.

Our judge said that she wished that we could just get married, and that once it's legal, to keep her in mind, "I do weddings, too!" she said.

I still want to get married to Narda. You know, in that whole legal way and all, even if we are married in our hearts. Our Rabbi will marry us, but we kind of want to wait for it to be "kosher" all around, you know? And besides, Malka will make such a CUTE Flower girl!

Tomorrow, Narda and I celebrate 7 years together. We count our first kiss as our anniversary. LOTS of things have changed since then. We were YOUNG, we were idealistic, we weighed less. But we didn't have the lovely fur balls, our home together, or Malka. We've both learned and grown so much in the past seven years, and I look forward to the next 70+ together. Even though we annoy each other sometimes, and I drive her batty sometimes, (and um, vice versa, my love), I wouldn't wish for anyone else to spend my life with.