we’re a fast-moving, jam-packed people.  no matter how often i remind myself to slow down and stay put, we always seem to be trying to cram more in.  and that means we get to host out of towners and go on adventures and celebrate with the people that we care about and eat good food and host memorable gatherings but it also means that we’re busy and scheduled and rarely spontaneous.

so this weekend, was kind of like our unicorn.

it was for ordered-in sushi, strawberry picking with a group of mamas and kiddos, crocheting and eating donuts, a kiddo and daddy train ride to the big city that included hotdog AND chocolate, a family date night at ketch joannes, ABN’s margaritas, a pre-dinner hike, homemade garlic chicken, sleeping in and naps for everyone, mid-day reading, hot tubbing, toddler singing, workout dvds, extended grocery shopping, sunflower planting, and tea drinking…

because we so often travel for a long weekend, we tend to “miss” the extra day off. it was so special to wake up on monday and to not have to move or do.

a simple weekend for the 3 of us. so very special indeed.

this cold just won’t quit.

every time i think we’ve seen the last of it, EBN blows another chicken out of each and every orifice and i start to cough. my left eye is like a leaking faucet and it’s made me puffy and red.  it’s the kind of sick that doesn’t keep you in bed (well, i would stay in bed if i could but the little one is interested in getting as many surfaces covered in snot as humanly possible) but makes you cranky and tired and motivated to do a whole lotta nothing except drink hot water with lemon and honey (it also has in no way curbed my appetite – why does passover leave me feeling like a constant bottomless pit?).

its left me especially moody which now, at almost 6pm on sunday evening, i realize is sorta my bad.  i’ve been quick to pout, quick to get annoyed and quick to curl up in a ball and complain.

some of it is warranted.  EBN is beyond adorable but even her most treasured traits can become draining when you are around them 24/7 (with snot).  she narrates constantly – which is one of my favorite of her qualities (hey, i always have someone to talk to!) but when your head is pounding it’s…a lot.  and her new thing is to scream “KLEENEX,” the second the smallest drop of snot begins to travel southward (every .25 seconds).  do you remember the scream that brad pitt emitted when he opened the box to find gwyneth’s head?  times that by 7 and it is sorta close to the piercing scream coming from my house at all hours of day and night.

but some of it’s really not.  or at least, as a mom and a wife, i wish it was easier for me to just let things slide.  or to transition into better a situation instead of stick with the pout (i might need to trademark that term).

“mommy, that’s the biggest snail i ever saw!”

finally this afternoon, after a too-short nap from miss EBN on a day when ABN was stuck with a pile of work (and a much needed grocery trip) i decided enough was enough and the two of us took our snotty-selves to search for snails at the windy and rainy beach.  i know, not great for our colds but i think we are both feeling oodles better (at least mentally).  we’ve now taken a mama-baby shower and are in our pjs before the sun sets. i’ve promised her a pedicure before dinner so i best get to that.

but before i go, as EBN was chasing after the seagulls on the beach this conversation occurred:

EBN (running, arms flapping as is her way): “hi goose!, hi goose!”

LBN: “kiddo, that’s a seagull, not a goose.”

EBN: “oh, that’s why the goose didn’t hear us!”

you’d know that there is no place that makes me happier than the beach – hawaii, february 2010 (yes, i’m drinking sparkling cider because for the months leading up to a positive pregnancy test ABN was convinced i shouldn’t have ANY alcohol. or raw fish. that was fun).

in the last few days i’ve come across this post on a couple of my favorite spaces around the blogosphere.  first HERE.  then HERE.  and others as well.  and i figured, i may as well jump on board too.  i find that so often i’m talking about the current, the in the moment, the now, in this space.  but there’s so much history that makes me who i am.  here’s a little bit of a peak inside the inner workings of LBN.

if you really knew me…

you’d know that from kindergarten through at least 6th grade, my dad would take me shopping every year, before the first day of school, for a new outfit.  it would be a head to toe ensemble, with matching socks and hair accessories.  we’d hit up the hottest store of the time – in kindergarten it was ESPRIT (which, i’m shocked to discover, still exists!), by 4th or 5th grade, it was the limited.  once i started middle school and i wore a uniform to school, my dad would still take me shopping if there was a special event – i remember a trip to ANN TAYLOR for my first long, flowy skirt, and a new coat from BLOOMINGDALES for my 18th birthday.

present day recreation of the past

you’d know that when we lived in LA we spent one weekend a month at our condo in palm springs.  my brother and i would spend hours as the only kids in the pool with the octogenarians while my dad soaked in the sun and my mom read vanity fair.  we’d ride our bikes along the flat, interconnected cul de sac (is that even a thing?) that outlined the complex and play handball against the garage.  for breakfast we picked fresh grapefruit and for dinner we ordered in TONY ROMAS.  the carpet was dark brown shag, at least an inch and a half tall and the sectional sofa was brown and green and mustard yellow and cream and floral.  i’d pay big money for that sofa today.

this was not college – this was 5 years ago on the family cruise to no-where. by this point, i was drinking much more expensive cocktails

you’d know that i was famous for the drinks i “mixed” in college.  cheap CHEAP vodka and hawaiian punch or cheap CHEAP vodka and kaluha and skim milk from the student store.  i’m telling you – people would come from across campus to taste one of my concoctions – i can’t believe we used to choke that stuff down.  just to be clear – i still LOVE a “skinny” white russian, i just select top shelf vodka

you’d know that when my parents told me – while out to dinner on mother’s day when i was 16 – that we were moving from LA to connecticut, i just about lost my mind.  i was sure in that moment that my life would be ruined forever and that i would never recover.  and while i held on to those feelings much longer than necessary – my life was not ruined.  in fact, everything worked out for the best.

2 things to note – 1. apparently, this is the face i make when i see ira glass live. 2. apparently, this was the quality of phone photos back in 2005. we’ve come a long way

you’d know that ABN and i owe a large part of our relationship to THIS AMERICAN LIFE podcasts.

EBN resting her sweet head

you’d know that i can’t sleep without my silky pillow.  i’ve had a baby-sized satin pillow forever and while, for years i was under the belief that the current pillow was still the original, i later learned that the REAL NANI would replace my gnarly, stained, stuffing falling out, thread-bare pillows with one of the fresh back-ups she always kept on hand.  i will never forget when she once walked into my room and had to cover her mouth, completely horrified to see a mostly brown silky pillow on my bed.  ABN makes fun of me because i like to rub the corner of the pillow under my nose.  it’s a coping mechanism.  my oldest BFF COURTNEY would always steal my silky pillow during our countless sleep-overs, but as a true friend, she’d always return it before it was time for sleep.  as soon as i was sure that EBN would not suffocate, i placed a new silky pillow, with an ever changing assortment of vintage embroidered pillowcases, in her crib and now, she places her head directly on it and tucks her arms underneath it as she drifts off to sleep.

alright, enough about me.  anything i should know about you?

the great escape: the prettiest coffee cozie i ever did see, sandwiches for the road, the left coast, a happy buddah welcomes us home, our view, little house in the redwoods, homemade appetizers and special wine, a hiking we will go, i married an explorer, beauty 1, beauty 2, post hike rewards, beauty 3, honor system, artichokes and pie.

last night, when ABN arrived home from work, he handed me a beach chair, wrapped me in my hoodie, threw me a beer (poured into a travel coffee mug) and sent me to the beach.  he gave me no choice.  he forced me out the of the house.  after another night of baby/mama antics from 1-4:45am, he knew that i needed a break.

i am so very blessed

he needs a break too – it’s been one of those weeks.  TGIF to the extreme.  this weekend is to be full of shabbat dinner eating, wine tasting, sun soaking, hopefully, a bit of mahj-ing and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS watching (we’re starting the final season – i’m already hyperventilating).

xo,

LBN

we’ve returned from our trip to the east coast and man are we glad to be home.   don’t get me wrong, EBN loved seeing her NANI and PAPA (pronounced with a french accent) but the trip took a turn when the little one was hit with her first ear infection.  most of our time was covered in a sea of green snot.  there was only one night during the 8 spent away, in which i wasn’t up from about 1-4:30 – and the morning after the one night of good sleep, my alarm went off at 5:45 so i could drive to boston (to squeeze babies and have lunch and dinner with good friends – totally worth it).  of course EBN chose that morning to sleep until 8:30.  good thing i love her.

1. beach baby

2. loving on STEW LEONARD’S

3 yogurt vs. baby

4. finding love at the WESTPORT LIBRARY

5. NANI and COCO

in other news, she thinks her name is IGGY