Strawberry Fields

The moment I've been waiting for

Forget all the major developmental milestones. There are a few things I've been itching for Maribelle to partake in, well, since the day she was born, and today, we crossed two of them off the list.

Today, a bow actually stayed put in her fine, silky locks for more than two seconds. In fact, the bow stayed perched upon her marvelous melon for probably close to two hours. It neither fell out nor was it ripped out (I kept telling her "It's pretty! It's pretty!" and I think her girl instincts are finally telling her that that's a good thing). This development (and personal milestone set by moi) now means I will be torturing her little noggin with bows, on the daily.

And also? Our little dear has entered the world of sidewalk chalk, and I couldn't be more proud (and excited!). It's the quintessential fair-weather form of entertainment for kids the world 'round (totally made that up), and I've been wanting to buy her a big old bucket now for months. I didn't think she would have much of an interest in it, but when our daycare provider told us that Maribelle took a real liking to some that she had on hand for the kids, I ran right out to buy some. And she's quite the artist!

And just so you don't think all these superficial "milestones" are the only achievements I encourage our little girl to strive for, here's a video of our little smartypants identifying a few of her favorite body parts.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Jeremy definitely has the green thumb around these parts. I love houseplants, love flowers and love the idea of growing vegetables, but the dedication? That, my friends, I do not love. But luckily, Jeremy finds great pleasure in nurturing and caring for his little backyard garden, which he starts from seeds in a corner of our basement that he outfitted with a grow light. He slaves over those little guys for months as they transform from seedling to full-grown hardened plants that are resilient enough for the great outdoors. Admittedly, it drives me a bit nutty at times to have to delicately dodge the traveling seedlings as he rotates them around our house during their various stages of growth. They've not only spent time in our basement, but they've also frequented our family room window sills, been perched atop our entertainment center, spent an extended stay on a table in our master bedroom, and seen the sights of our master bathroom. While Jeremy is able to see them for all the beautiful vegetables they will one day become, all I see are needy, time-consuming little containers of dirt that take up valuable space in my house. But don't get me wrong, I'm all about chowing down on some homegrown kale, tomatoes and zucchini!

Jeremy even lent his gardening know-how to Maribelle's daycare and has been working on a little project with the kids the past few months. A while back, he showed them how to plant green beans and tomato seeds, and last week, we spent the morning in Miss Karen's backyard showing the kids how to transplant the full-grown seedlings into pots.

While it was tough to keep the attention of four toddlers, they had a blast playing in the dirt and watering (i.e. DROWNING) the happy plants. However, Jeremy has a cautionary tale to share: be careful when lifting a large bag of dirt that has been sitting in the rain for three days -- you just might pull something in your lower back and have to take a course of steroids for a week.

Just sayin'.

Best Job Ever

Being a mom is the coolest thing I've done to date. It totally trumps my part-time job as a graphic designer/copy editor and doesn't even come close to jobs I've held in the past -- selling pagers? brewing coffee? covering college sporting events? working the copy desk for a newspaper? Nope. Not even close.

On Mother's Day, I just felt warm and fuzzy all day long. It's such an amazing feeling to be called a "mom," and I'm so proud to be in good company with all the "moms" that have shaped my life. We had a wonderful Mother's Day and celebrated by partaking in brunch at a fancy local restaurant. I was so anxious about how Maribelle would behave at a restaurant that doesn't even have highchairs, but she totally proved me wrong, as always, and was such a well-behaved little girl. She even flirted with the table next to us and scored an 18-month-old boyfriend (but Jeremy informed her that she's grounded). Jeremy gifted me with a stash of fun money to do some much-needed clothes shopping (thank you babe!!!), and Maribelle gave me the gift that keeps on giving, at least for a week or so: a cold.

This was her as we shopped for flowers before brunch -- not a happy camper, and pretty much how I feel right about now:

Mom. 2010

It's hard to look at Maribelle and not notice an extraordinary amount of change.

It's harder to look at Gina and not notice that shes been a mom... for almost 16 months. What?!

And so, here is Gina with tons of Maribelle heads sticking out of her noggin. One for every month up until now.

Awesome.

My ode to my beautiful wife, friend and mom! To many more heads, and mothers days.

You are a great mommy... We love you so much!

Happy Mothers' Day 2010! 

love, Jer