Re-entry into blogging.

I started blogging because I needed a creative outlet during my maternity hiatus from the working world. I stayed with it - through dry spells and periods of artistic gushes - because I loved the idea of documenting my growing family for posterity.

And I am glad I did.  Because they grow up way too fast.  When I started blogging, my second ( Monkey Boy) was still in my belly.  By my last post, my third (La Principessa) was barely a year old.  Today, I have the six and a half year old Numero Uno, a four and a half year old and an almost two year old. Wow.

So I've decided not to wait until I have something profound to say, because let's face it, that moment hardly ever comes around.  And I'll just celebrate my family, my life and those little moments that are uniquely mine - that I would not trade for anything. Like this, right here. Curl power. Girl power. Pout power. Loves her.

Still got 'it", pp :)

Frugal Foodie

I used to be that girl. You know, the one that ate out every other night. Just because, hey, why not? '1789' for anniversaries, 'The Charleston' for lobster bisque (yummers), 'Cafe de Paris' for crepes and duck, 'Bob Evans' for banana bread etc etc etc. And some days, I'm not even gonna lie - I wanna be that girl again.

But, I don't know if you've heard of this little here thing called, ahem, the recession? Well, yeah. These days, the whole eating out thing? Well, not so much. I mean for special occasions, yes. And some occasions, we have to defer to life and 'da billz', yo.

So, this is where we get creative. It's all about using the formal dining room, whipping out the 'good china', splitting a bottle of great tasting muscato, and splurging on a good cut of meat. Cooked at home. By a man I love. Whom, I might add, just happens to love me.

I'd rather be this girl, methinks.

And so, I daresay, would she. (principessa with daddy on his birthday @ Chez Prada)

Can I say that the wine was $9, the beef wellington prepared by my hunnybunny was priceless, and the occasion was - you guessed it - 'just because'. Mmm hmm, we're living it up, peeps. :)

Egusi, garri and bud lite with lime. Don't sleep on it, people.

Bon Apetit,pp

And just because...

...She's so sweet! I offer you my gratuitous post of the month. I know, she's adorable.


Introducing 'La Principessa'. She rocks our world and she doesn't even know it. Perfection, I tell ya. Yum. We're SO glad that you're ours!
Sugar n Spice et al, PP

Frenemies, friendships (or lack of therein)...

I like to be positive. I am a pretty sunny person, overall- just my nature, came by it honestly from my dear Daddy :)). So this will be the last of these kinda posts. But sometimes 'needs must go there'. So here we go.


Frenemies. Sigh. A house came between me and mine. My house. It was like an obsession with her - as long as we lived in this house, she could not, nay would not, visit- we could not be friends.

She resorted to snide comments and subtle (later not so subtle) comparisons and 'oneupmanship(s)'. Like ridiculously expensive private school tuition. We could have our house, but could we afford 20k a year tuition for our kids? If we really cared about our kids, we would sacrifice 'the house' and move back into our two bedroom townhome and make do. After all, that was what she was doing? Never mind that she had a (cramped) closet full of Chanel bags and what not.

My issue was not so much the unsolicited 'advice' on how to apportion my finances, nor the insinuation that she was somehow a better parent, not even my mild irritation with the age-old private vs public debate (my take, private, duh), but that she thought so little of our 'friendship' to let a little envy get in the way.

I mean, we all feel pangs of it - "Aw man, I wish I could...drive that... vacation there...afford that...". But how many of us actually launch a whole campaign around it(lol)? Abandon a friend/friendship, drop off the face of the earth? That's a frenemy right there.




Walk a mile in my shoes, don't beat me over the head with 'em. Dag. I mean, geez...(disclaimer: not my house, lol - MARC train yucky floor!!!)


Well, I mourned the loss of the friendship for all of a minute. that was all it was worth to me. The 'house' thing was her issue, her area of insecurity and once I realised that she was trying to make a pricey kindergarten education mine, we were done. What, so we can't be friends if I don't fit into the little box you created for me in your little mind? Awww, so solly. Must go now. Boo, hiss.

Don't get me wrong - a little friendly competition is great. Not being able to happy for your 'friend'? Not so hot. So adios 'amiga'! Don't let my huge, fancy oak door hit you in the tuckus! :)


Femme du maison :), pp

Hello Blog, it's me, Prada :)

Monday was a blur. I can barely remember what shoes I wore or what I ate - and for those of you that know me, that is tres big deal. As in my days are pretty much filed away under those two things - I have the summer of the 'over priced (READ:buyers remorse) Tory Burch color-blocked wedges (cough, cough - this summer). The week we had that uh-mazing Pho - yup, that would be this week. And so on and so forth. But Monday was infinitely forgettable, I must say.

My amnesia was probably fueled by a seven day work week and the bone crushing fatigue that comes with the Worker-Mommy-Wife thingy (or WMW as just made up by moi - and yes, i'll be here all week, folks:)). But check this out - I do remember how for 45 minutes or so I whooped it up and pranced around like I hadn't a care in the world with a very special little girl. We did the baby equivalent of swinging from chandeliers, al beit in an extremely bright, primary colored 'crayola-suessish' padded kiddie club enviroment. (Shout out to all the 'My little gyms' out there!)

I drank in her cheeks and sweet smell and bit back my smiles at her ungraceful tumbles, manic crawling spurts and fascination with the mirror. (Already? Oy.)

Like I said, Monday was a bust. Except for this part.

Hug your 'little' today, pp

p.s - I know, I know - proper introduction will be done later. this was just one of those days when my creative smeagol was gonna eat his way out of me if I didn't find on outlet. Hence my first post in like forever.

Giver of Good Gifts

I love to give nice gifts. The occasion is irrelevant - birthdays, kids birthdays, housewarming, 'just because' gifts. I just get immense pleasure from seeing the recipients face when I have given a thoughtful, 'think-out- of- the- box' gift which the person ultimately I hope, finds useful. Things that you wouldn't think of, know where to look for or realise that you totally couldn't do without. Until, of course I give it to you. Maybe even one of those things you'd like but never thought to buy for yourself. I love to give these Carolee sentiment bangles to Mom and baby daughter, I 'puffy heart' these adorable chunky little books from babystyle and I give them as gifts to almost every one year old and/toddler I know. And this 'Best Grandma' quilt for Grandma, complete with all her grand kids names? Priceless AND on sale at Lillian Vernon (how precious is that?) - and then I discovered 'Uncommon Goods.' Dude. Can you say "Prada Principal in wonderland?". It is now my one stop shop for everything and everyone, even my extremely 'hard -to- buy -for' hubby. If going green looks this fab, why ever not? Made from 100% recycled cotton, it is a 100% ME. I did however also cop a 'look for less' version at Target for 99 cents. No kidding. It's sassy red and zips into a small pencil case like thingy. Uberchic and ubercheap, which always works, right?

Anywho, I really envy good friends of mine with ANY (and I do mean any) occasion coming up. Y'all just made out like bandits.
The ever so generous PP

PS. Oh and OMG Puella now has dresses at anthropologie. I first heard of them through awesome Melissa, whom I adore and hope to morph into some day. Go to her blog NOW (she was my inspiration to use this blog as my creative outlet during my maternity leave and now it looks like I'm here to stay!) and I promise you'll be hooked. Never actually worn Puella Girl stuff, but I surfed their site and Melissa's word for it and preordered their grab bag sight unseen. It is due this June and I for one cannot wait. Will dish all about it when it comes. I promise.

Chasing Fireflies

If I were a rich girl, nananananananana*...I would shop EXCLUSIVELY at chasing fireflies. Or maybe I'd shop there regardless if I had a little girl. I mean, I have two adorable boys and I shop there - not exclusively, but more than I should. You see, while I love my Old Navy/Gap staples (any mom with a kid in preschool knows how well they hold up to the 'play doh' and paint) I cannot resist a saucy T-shirt, or this pair of 'dragon appliqued' pants. Let's face it, this is the only time when he'll be able to wear those and get away with it, so I'm going for it. Yes, the prices are a bit steep (sometimes even when they're on sale) but they hold up SO well, are totally adorable and unique and I promise you, you'll never see any other kid in them.
That's why if I was a rich girl (nananananananana), I would live in this saucy, lime green, glorious tutu. And sleep in this disgustingly fabulous bed. Yes, I totally would.

*Sung by Gwen Stephanie, Butchered By Prada Principal

So Darn Beautiful...

No, not me, silly. Him. He's here, and he's gorgeous, and little, and all curled up, the little monkey-boy. He so looks like my Father whom I lost last year that sometimes I laugh and cry at the same time, looking at him. "Prof, E biala?" (literal translation: "Prof, have you come?") - most people, including us , in casual conversation called my Father "Prof".

So my darling son came at 1.20 am on the twentieth of january, 2008. Yes, this one is quite the showoff, isn't he? I had no contractions and no sign that he was coming, aside from the fact that my due date had passed and my induction had been cancelled for no apparent reason. But my number two son had his own plans. Long story short, hubby and I were debating over whether my water had broken or if it was just a faucet leak - i know, too weird- and so we decided to let the doctor answer that one. My water hadn't broken, but I was 4 cm dilated, contracting but not feeling anything, which is pretty awesome. Until they broke my water and I was speechless with pain. Couple hours later and after only thirty minutes of pushing, monkey-boy was here! Almost too easy in retrospect. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, for monkey-boy is truly that to me/us.

It's my second day home with baby and I have a couple of interesting observations.

Milk truly IS the new Prada. My milk, that is. This child craves it. I mean like every second. To make matters worse, I have sprouted some hard, ginormous melon thingies on my chest. Arghhh! Anguish. This could actually be worse than labor.

Little man - my number one son - is a brat. How come I never noticed this before? He told me to "be quiet!" today and stared at me defiantly, glowering from his 'timeout' corner. He coughs all over baby, when he has been explicitly told not to. And he does it deliberately. But he is so cute though. And we all know that this covers a multitude of sins.

I haven't lost 40 pounds yet. I haven't lost 20 pounds yet. Okay, I haven't even lost 10 pounds yet. A measly 8 pounds when I weighed this morning. Am I being unrealistic? I vaguely remember dropping 20 pounds almost immediately the first time, and at two weeks postpartum, being 3 or 5 pounds away from my goal weight. Hmmm. Not happening this time around, I'll tell you that. But the good part about this is that I feel and look better than I did the last time. I uploaded a picture of me, 8 hours after having my baby. I look phenomenal, if I do say so myself :)

ttyl, PP

Countdown to D-day

So everyone who knows me knows that I really wanted a baby girl this time. I have made no secret about this and I even went as far as purchasing cute little onesies (in pink of course) to let my hubby know that we were 'preggers' again. I mean, I was convinced I was having a girl - how could I not be? I love my son, but I am such a girly girl, it's ridiculous! She would wear pink and lavender constantly and I'd have her scheduled for her first mani-pedi by age two. We would bake heart shaped cookies with pink sprinkles for Daddy on valentines day, we'd go shopping for little tutus and all those ridiculously impractical things that they sell for silly moms like me to buy, because, you know we are really buying them not for our precious daughters, but for our inner little girlie girl. Plus when you wore three sets of hand-me-downs, you can be excused, right?

I thought I'd show you guys some more of the really cool designs we have at 'bellies'. Right now I have just the 'preggers in the city' in short sleeve black and 'epidurals anonymous' in short and long sleeve white available, but as demand picks up - I need at least 10 orders per design, I'll roll out more, promise.**Never mind. Blogger doesn't let me upload pdfs. Sooo ridiculous, I know - but I'll figure another way out soon.**

So, how does one go from this (5/6 weeks pregnant) to that (39 weeks 6 days, yikes) ? (I'm still working on those picture links, y'all - but I think you'll know which pictures go with what comment.) I am just pathetically FAT and I can't even blame it on the baby. I am eating EVERYTHING in sight? Little man's leftovers, 2 breakfasts (one at 2 am when I can't sleep, the other when I'm up for the day), it's truly a sight to see. So I guess I answered my own question, huh? Y'all need to pray for me!

P.S It's snowing - truly beautiful (when you are viewing it warm and snug, from your bathroom window:-))

smooches.

PP