“Say it with me, Avelyn, yo-gurt.”
“No-gurt.”
“No not no-gurt, yoooo-gurt.”
“YO!!  NOGURT!!”

“I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, Baby.  I love you more than anyone else in the whole world.”
“No, I love youuuuu!”
“Well I love you more.”
“No, I love YOU.”
“No, I love youuuu.”
“Stop it Mom, I love YOU.”

“Avelyn you have to eat the cupcake too.”
“No, I just lick it… Mmm, yummy.”

“Imma go zoo. Imma go zoo an’ buy chickens.”
“You are?  What are you going to do with your chickens?”
“Imma eat ‘em.”

“Mommy I hitting you.  You cry.  You cry now Mommy!” followed a few seconds later by,
“Don’t cry Mommy, or worry.  You’ll feel better after I give you a bottle.”

“Move people!  Get out my way!  I need go to Chik way!” (Chik-Fil-A)

“Mom!  Wanna watch Peter Panna?!”
“You’re too young to call me Mom and, yes.”

I used to take all kinds of crappy photos self portraits of Avelyn and I when she was a baby.  These days the fight usually isn’t worth the battle.  However, wouldn’t a whole album of pictures like these just be wonderful to show my grandkids one day?  No matter, she is still my absolute favorite person of ALL. TIME.

God I love that child.

A few things I’m thinking about right now:

Annalee’s recipe for chicken skewers is to die for.  I’ve been making it something ridiculous like once a week.  It’s super easy and quick and utterly delicious.  It makes me happy.  MAKE IT.

Also making me happy is this last minute-made from leftover stuff in the fridge-sandwich.  It was really good, but don’t just take my opinion.  The fact that I got my child, a picky two year old food connoisseur to devour it should tell you that it was pretty good.

1. Heat some olive oil in a skillet.
2. Throw some diced chicken breast/tenders, chopped bell pepper and chopped onion in there, sprinkle with seasoning (I used Zatarain’s creole season) and cook through. Remove from heat and throw in some chunks of Monterrey Jack cheese until it’s all melted.
3. Throw delicious looking mixture on some kind of fresh roll from the grocer (I loathe regular sandwich bread) and enjoy.  MAKE IT.

We went to New Orleans in the middle of June  and claimed it as a vacation but really it was used as a launch pad for Kevin to abandon us again to work in Chicago all summer… not that I’m a little bitter that he’s there and I’m stuck in Texas or anything.

NO was hot, the food was (mostly) delicious, the zoo was fun and the French Quarter is pretty cool to walk around.  We never rode the trolley, and I left Bourbon Street after dark to Kevin and the rest of the gang but we had a fantastic time.  If you ever visit and need some food recommendations, I highly suggest the following, in no particular order. Muriel’s Jackson Square, Gumbo Shop, Mr. B’s Bistro.  Also, in a pinch, the Audobon Zoo had really impressive red beans and rice and crawfish étouffée.  Best zoo food I’ve ever had.

See the whole trip here.

I didn’t anticipate the bulk of this post being about food but I guess I’ve got food on the brain.  You see… 

It’s still super-duper early, I just found out a few days ago, and I know I really shouldn’t be telling anybody yet but I just could not wait.  It was finally something to write about and I know you guys will send out lots of good thoughts for me (pretty please).  I have no real reason to be but I am feeling very anxious this time around.  Maybe now that we *sort of* planned on this pregnancy I recognize how precious this opportunity is.

Plus now I can start telling you all the uber adorable things Avelyn has been saying like, “I can’t see the baby. It’s in your belly!” and “Come out Baby! Wake up!” and “I wuv you, Baby. Shh, Mommy, Baby is sleeeeeping.”  She (and I) have known for a total of 4 days now and it seems she grasps the broad concept quite nicely.  Me thinks she has the making for an awesome big sister.

So now that the news is out there, can you please keep this info between me and your little blog reading self?  We may or may not know a lot of the same people and I’m not really planning to make an announcement to the real world for several weeks.  See how special being a blogger can be sometimes?

Do you know why I don’t have time?  Because my full time 7-day a week day job involves a TWO YEAR OLD.  And my full time 36-hours a week job exhausts what little energy I have left to give.

Do you know what having a two year old does to your time?  SUCKS IT CLEAN AWAY.

Do you know what else a two year old does?  Blows you away with her awesomeness while simultaneously DRIVING. YOU. UP. THE. FRICKIN. WALL.

As of this minute she is crawling out of her room for the third time in the last hour refusing to nap.  Clearly this nap time/me time is not in the cards.  Also I just noticed she does not have a diaper on and although she doesn’t have one, she keeps repeating “stinky butt, stinky butt, stinky butt”.  Maybe she tooted?

Speaking of not having diapers on, I would LOVE to not have diapers on that tush because she had learned to use the potty but that has still not happened.  Probably mostly my fault, because I am usually too exhausted during the day to attempt the rigid, every 30 minutes schedule of sitting on the toilet or whatever you’re supposed to do to train them.  Also I don’t think she wants to.  Every time I take the diaper off for 5 minutes she pees on the floor.  Usually IMMEDIATELY after we’ve sat on the toilet for 10 minutes with no success. Either way, I haven’t seriously looked into the matter, but it’s infuriating none the less.

Oh great, I just snapped at her because I’m trying to finish this stupid post – the real reason why I don’t blog anymore. What kind of a mother spends time on the computer instead of with her kid?  I don’t want to be that mom.

I can’t tell you how many half written drafts I have waiting in my box, that will never be posted because now they’re really old, because I haven’t had 30 minutes to myself in at least a year.  Which isn’t a terrible thing because I’m happy with my life but holy crap… THAT’S why I just don’t blog anymore.

In case you were wondering it’s me, not you.

It got me to thinking, how could something so significant, according to the letters anyway, be so insignificant now?  As I read the words I had written I had a sense that maybe I had never written them to begin with, that maybe an entirely different person penned those letters.

I was hit with the realization that that is in fact the case.  Sort of.  I’m not that person anymore.  The thought that I was ever that girl astounds me.

That girl wrote silly letters to herself/God/her dead father in a way that is unbelievably embarrassing to read now, but must have felt so poignant in the making.  Aside from the fact that her handwriting is marginally familiar, the stories she wrote are completely foreign.

Yes, I do very vaguely remember a time when I felt like I might DIE after I broke up with my first real boyfriend.  I can recall distant memories of a girl who survived on not much more than bagels and Mountain Dew for an entire year and still thought she was fat.  And sometimes I think about the fun I might have had if I’d just gone out with my friend when he asked me because oh em gee ladies, it would have been a hot summer.  But oh the difference it would have made today.  (And I’m really happy with today.)

Of all the forgotten things I found in that box I was most surprised at what I felt as I looked through them.  Mixed in with the letters of heartbreak and teenage love triangles are badges and awards, school programs, drivers licenses and the like.  It’s a little shoebox, and it’s filled with mementos I thought were important enough at the time to save.  Thank God that awkward teenage girl thought enough of those items to keep them.  She must have known that someday I would need to remember where I was, so I could appreciate where I am.

I’ve begun to catch myself reminiscing more and more about the past.  Maybe it has to do with the UN-day-to-day things I see at my job that become day-to-day the more I see them.  Maybe it has to do with Avelyn growing up right before my eyes or maybe it has something to do with (GAH!) the ever looming 3-0 coming up next year, I’m not sure.  Either way I think I might start writing more about my past.  It’s cathartic and yet oh so self mutilating to do so but the more I think about it, I’ve got a story to tell, even if it’s for no one but me.

I mean, didn’t I just become her mother yesterday?  Because I’m pretty sure my baby is, well… missing.

I swear I just blinked my eyes for a split second and when they opened again this girl was standing before me.

An absolutely beautiful, wild haired, funny child who looked a lot like my baby, but oh so different.

This girl talks a lot.  And laughs at jokes.  And makes jokes of her own.  My baby didn’t use to do that.

If you see my baby will you please tell her I didn’t realize I should have made an appointment to say goodbye?  And while you’re at it, go ahead and tell this new girl hello, because I am absolutely sure I will keep her around as long as I can.  And I swear I will try really hard not to blink for the next few years.

Happy Mother’s Day to us all.

The gist of Birthday Week went like this: I turned 29 last week.  Hobo turned 2 and we had a party three days after that.  Kevin turned 33 three days after that.  The end.

Since I know you really only care about the birthday with the party, here are a few teasers of our fantastically-bad ass-awesome Owl Party as well as a link to click over and view all the photos on my Flickr.  There are only 47 photos, as opposed to last years party of nearly 100.  And it’s totally worth the click over, in my humble opinion, so do it and then come back and tell me if you think she had a good time.  Because bottom line, that’s the only reason I do most everything I do; to give her the best life and the best time I can.

I cannot believe this child is TWO.
I cannot believe this child is MINE.
I cannot believe how LUCKY I am to have her in my life.

Avelyn, you are amazing.

Pop on over here to view the whole set.  Again, it’s not nearly as many as you would think, since I was too busy hosting the party to take pictures myself.

Welcome to Operation: Avelyn Turns Two in Three Days! central. Sorry (again) for being MIA (again) but I’ve been knee deep S.T.R.E.S.S.I.N.G.O.U.T.

The to-do list is so much longer than the done list that it’s not even funny and as usual my grand ideas have led to more planning and more to-do lists than actual accomplishments. Also as usual, if I am able to pull it all together I just know it will be fabulous. And for my little lady I would put forth nothing less.

For as much stress as this planning process can bring forth, I am having so much fun dreaming it all up.  I wish you could see her face when we talk about her party.  Her chosen theme (of the bunch I offered to her) is “Owl” and we talk thoughout the day of the impending “Ow pah-tee!  Ow pah-tee!”

“Yes, Avelyn”, I say, “We are having an owl party in – days.  Are you so excited?”

“Uh huh!” she nods enthusiastically, and my heart melts into a puddle which makes it all worth it.

Here’s to hoping I can pull it together the way I envision it.
Here’s to hoping I don’t lose my mind in the process.
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t rain (literally) on our parade.
Here’s to knowing if it all falls apart that we will have a fantabulous time with our friends and our TWO YEAR OLD anyway.

Oh yeah, I am 29 today!