When I picked Lily up at school today, I noticed a large red mark on her face. After questioning the teachers, they told me that her partner in badness, #1 (not his real name), had thrown a rake on the playground because he was mad. Lily happened to be between him, the rake, and the sandbox - and her cheek took the brunt of the rake’s force. Here’s a picture of Lily vs. The Rake.

It doesn’t look like much here but it’s pretty ugly up close and in person. I think perhaps Lily has learned a lesson about temper tantrums - she’s never been on the receiving end of whatever is being thrown at the time. She isn’t too happy about the rake. And believe me, if you ask Lily what happened, she’ll tell you. I asked her when I sat down with her at school, “Lily, what happened to your face?” She told me, very matter-of-factly, “#1 threw a rake at my head.” That isn’t exactly what the situation was, but close enough - in her world, #1 threw a rake, and it hit her in the head. She’s a nut, that one. I think she will survive and heal nicely. Right now she’s recovering by watching “Finding Nemo” for the 100 billionth time.

Lily now refers to herself as the polka-dot piranha. This is from watching “Finding Nemo” for numerous days in a row. Last night as we were engaging in our usual pre-bedtime wrestling routine, she told me that the polka dots on her jammies looked like the piranhas in the movie. She then started yelling, “I’m the pokey-dot piranha!” She thankfully hasn’t figured out that piranhas bite - otherwise she would have been showing her teeth and growling at all of us.

Now that Arden is bigger, she gets in the fray. When Lily removed a toy from her hand, she stretched herself to her full length (kneeling) and let out an ear-piercing screech, the likes of which you have never heard. She sounded like some prehistoric bird. Her veins bulged and she made her hands into fists. It’s obvious now when you do something to her she doesn’t like. Even Lily stopped what she was doing to look at her. I think she was a little afraid. When Arden starts walking, Lily is going to have a whole new outlook on life . . . she’s not going to take Lily’s crap anymore.

I spent last night organizing pictures because the more organized my pictures are, the faster I can scrapbook. I like doing it - makes me feel like I still have some semblance of creativity left in me. I’m so far behind that I’ll probably never catch up (kind of like never having a christening party of Arden - sorry, baby). Jennifer told me she was going to invite my parents to Sophia’s baptism. I started giggling - I can just hear it now: “Oh, Cristina - how nice that ONE of your friends actually GOES to church - and a CATHOLIC church!” Tracy and I are convinced we are going to burst into flames at the doorway. I do feel bad not so much about the whole christening thing (because truth be told, we did it mostly for Mike’s parents), but because one day Arden’s going to figure it out and want to know why we had one extra party for Lily that we didn’t for her. I’ve already started coming up with excuses. I suppose it’s never too late . . .

Steve turned 54 (gasp!) on Friday so we went out last night for a belated dinner. The girls behaved and Steve gave his ribs a 7 out of 10. Mom made a red velvet cake which was delicious - Lily was shoveling it in like there was no tomorrow. I think the color of it was only half of why she liked it. She already requested it for her next birthday.

Arden’s new game is running her cart through Mike’s legs as if he were a bridge . . . she goes as fast as she can. So far she hasn’t knocked Mike down or herself out, so it’s all good . . .

I’ll post some pictures this week of Arden at Steve’s birthday dinner. In one picture, she has eaten her way through barbecue, ribs, chicken, macaroni and cheese, partial corn muffin bites, and is in the process of eating ice cream (did I mention Katie got the waitstaff to come out and sing one of those dumb, loud songs to Steve? AWESOME!). She’s in a total food coma. My little compulsive overeater . . . how cute!

By the way, I got a note back from my Uncle (I can’t remember if it was Sal or Richard) chiding me for only taking one picture of my brother, and the rest of the girls & Katie. Okay. Let’s get real here. Who really wants to see anyone over the age of 18? We all look the same as we did before. I can’t win. If I don’t take pictures of the kids, I get a load of crap. If I do, I’m told that no adults are ever in the pictures. People: I am an amateur, and just barely functioning in the digital camera world. So give me a break and take what you get. As they say at preschool, “You get what you get - and don’t throw a fit”.

Yesterday Jennifer and I went to visit a favorite client in DC. It was a good day, very productive. We went up with Helen, our pregnant PR friend who works for a firm there but lives in Richmond. She doesn’t have to go in to the firm more than a couple of times per week, but man, that commute, and the length of the day, about kills me every time. She does it regularly. Pregnant. She is my new hero.

I will write in my professional blog about what makes a good client - in essence, a “favorite”. It’s more than just paying their bills (but that sure is nice). When we meet with our core clients (the “good” ones), I remember why I love my job and why I do what I do. I am pretty sure Jennifer feels the same. It was nice to have a day this month where I remembered why I fell in love with my choice of careers, why I’ve suffered along with the company’s start up mode, and why the thought of working _for_ a company instead of _with_ makes me nauseous.

Loving my job doesn’t make it any less sucky to miss an entire day of my children’s lives (they were asleep when I left and in bed when I got home), but it makes the sacrifice a little easier to swallow. I still don’t envy Helen and I’m glad we’re down to one Northern Virginia client for that reason. However, when I’m gone, I try to enjoy my surroundings (not hard in DC - it really makes me feel like I live in redneckville USA) and keep my eyes wide open. Helen missed the exit for 495 because we were all gabbing but I was so glad she did - we ended up cutting through the heart of DC, past all the monuments and the new war memorial. I think people who live in DC get immune to how cool the city is. It’s just a weird feeling to be blocks away from where laws are being passed and history is being made and recorded. I’ll have to get off my butt and take the kids up there when they are a little older and more independent (and out of diapers I might add).

Lily: “Daddy, Arden has on yellow socks.”
Daddy: “Yes, she does.”
Lily: “They match her outfit, daddy!”
Daddy: “Yes, they do.”
Lily: “Daddy, Arden looks like a big piece of cheese!”