I was playing the role of a tablescape designer for my brother-in-law’s birthday celebration. A few people asked about the flowers that I used to create the casual, effortless spring country arrangements. I am no Martha Stewart, but I think they turned out okay.
They were Ranunculus (see below)
and Lilacs. The ranunculus are best when arranged free-form and the lilacs just add an immense aroma. Actually, I forgot all about lilacs and when I smelled them at the store, I remembered where I smelled them last — my Baba’s house. I am now on the hunt for a lilac bush to plant in my garden.
This post is dedicated to my sister who is also my other mother and the mother of my amazing nephew.
Never have I known such patient love. My sister deserves her own post because she is not just my sister, but was as I said, my other mother. Since we’re 10 years apart, she has had a significant (lucky for me) role in my upbringing. I don’t know quite how to describe my sister as a mother — just an incredible person. I know this because I have seen how she loves me, and how she loves her own child.
What I have found to be extraordinary is that I see how she loves my child … as if she were hers. She dotes on my little girl and Sophia loves her back. She “talks” about her all the time. Not a day goes by that Sophia doesn’t ask about her and it isn’t surprising. We see my sister’s hand everywhere in Sophia’s room; from the quilt she sewed for her baby naming to the rad raincoat she bought her.
One of the saddest days of my life was when my sister went away to college. I was sad for a long time. She was far away and it would be months before she would come home to visit. I remember wondering what she would be like when she came home for winter break. … and then, she came home and brought me lots and lots of board games. We played each and every one of them for as long as I wanted. From then on, for the next few years, my sister brought new board games for me every time she visited. I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait until my sister would be back from school for yet another break moments after she left. It was great and very little has changed since then; I still look forward to every one of her visits just as much. We don’t play many boardgames now, but we play with our children, we talk, and we laugh. We are at the same point in our lives — we are mom’s. In our minds, though, we are two little girls playing board games.
Mother’s day is this Sunday! Hardly enough time (just 24 hrs) to devote to celebrating the endless, tireless duties of a mother. This is why, I am going to devote a few posts to the topic of “Mothering”.
This post is about the little person who gifted me the honor of being celebrated on Mother’s Day. I am not in love with Sophia. If I were IN love with her, then I could be OUT of love with her and that’s not possible. As a side note, I believe that you can only be in love with men and accessories.
As for Sophia, I simply love her [unconditionally]. My feelings are full of juxtaposition — She is my most significant accomplishment and my biggest fear. She is a project that I cannot afford to fail; I have made too many sacrifices and there is no going back. The road she and I are embarked on is nothing short of magical. Our pitstops are her accomplishments and those are the little things that make the biggest difference. First smile, first belly laugh, first time she rolled over, first word, first “Mama”, first step… the list goes on.
Sophia has her own personality and I can see now that she was born with it. She is cautious and careful — an observer in new situations. She quickly turns into a fun-loving, laughing, vivacious and happy-go-lucky little girl as soon as she figures the situation out. … likes toast, kiwi, avocado, blueberries and pasta. … likes to sing, tickle and be ticked, too. She is compassionate. She is loving and she is loved.
Last and most important … I love those eyes. They are perhaps her most expressive way to let her feelings be known. Whether filled with tears or lit up with mischief, they say everything about her.
Spring is officially here and it doesn’t look scared enough to run back and hide behind winter. Whew! We traveled to see family again this weekend. I promise, we will stay put for a while now. Sophia, as we found out, gets motion sick and travel is really unbearable with her. She vomits after 10 minutes in the car. 🙁
Anyway… Back to the rest of the post; my brother-in-law turned the BIG 4-0; I gave him plenty of grief about it — had to or else he’d think I was going soft in my old age. My sister threw him an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G party yesterday. 40 guests and the whole thing was homemade! Wild! Anyway, I helped yesterday morning — it was the least I could do. Here are my contributions:
I also cut what seemed like an impossibly huge amount of Russian potato salad. My brother-in-law is the only man I’ve ever made the salad for and that is how it will stay — sorry, hubby, dearest! I hate that salad with a vengeance–overdosed on it as a teenager.
After the candles were blown, the cake cut, and the plates cleared — hubby, Sophia and I headed home (aka the All Inclusive).
This week’s sharing is again food-based; I love to be inspired to be healthy and eating fresh, seasonal, and balanced is key. I have cooked a few of the recipe’s from Anne’s Fannetastic blog and have always been pleased with how they turned out.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
It was inevitable, I suppose that little Sophia pick up some unwelcome guests somewhere and from someone during our weekend excursion. I am not overreacting when I say that a sick child is pretty terrible and impacts all aspects of your life from extra clean-up due to vomit to staying up all night long because your child can’t sleep well or at all. I mean, really, who can sleep with a high 102 fever?
I never used to understand why parents fretted so much when their kids got sick … and I suspect most other people who don’t have children do not either. Your otherwise hectic life is immediately put on hold as is your sleep, showering, and eating. It is hard to leave a sick child at home and for the first time in a while, I envy stay-at-home moms. There is nothing harder than walking out the door at oh-dark-ugly hour seeing your child reaching their little arms for you screaming “Mama no go”…
Friends and family mean a lot to us. It wasn’t surprising then that we schlepped 160 miles to attend a FIRST birthday party for one of Sophia’s little friends and what great fun we had. We caught up with friends whom we haven’t seen for a while and had a chance to observe Sophia interact with other children. She was a little reseved –> she’s a selective friendster.
We lodged at my in-laws who went out of their way to make us comfortable. I felt like we were at a B&B getaway where besides cooking the meals, the hosts entertain your child and make great conversation, too. A trip to the Elmwood Park Zoo completed the activity-packed weekend.
This zoo is another first for Sophia and she loved looking at all the animals.
The bottom line of all this togetherness is that there is no greater feeling than to seeing your child loved. Period.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
I would hardly call the suburbs of D.C. a farming sort of a place. However, since we’re really city people, anything outside the busy hustle and bustle of the city may as well be a farm. We embraced creating a vegetable garden last year but it wasn’t the grandest of successes. That’s said, you can’t succeed if you don’t try again and again, and … well, again.
Besides, gardening is quite the family tradition in our families and traditions are best passed down.
We’ve decided to give gardening another try and have expanded the space [hopefully] letting our veggies get more sunshine this time around. We also built it out with 2 x 4s and painted them so as to not have the garden stick out like a sore thumb in our front yard.
The weather hasn’t been consistent enough to plant the likes of tomatoes, so we’re focusing on herbs for now.
We also had a welcome surprise while tilling the garden: our carrots from last year which we planted far too close actually survived the winter and here’s the loot we were treated to:
… after I harvested the carrots and planted the herbs and while hubby continued to paint the garden fence poles, I watched little Sophia who had ideas of her own.
