Exactly

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
- Dawna Markova

My Little Petri Dish

Well, maybe I can hold onto my M-O-T-Y award for another day (although I know that there will be something else tomorrow...). Turns out she doesn't have a sunburn, just a weird rather benign fever-induced rash. These little people are fascinating ongoing science experiments! She is finally sleeping and I am going to try to do the same. (I think the moty awards are overrated anyway)

Mother Of The Year

Taeya has finally succumbed to her first real cold - temp 102, snotty nose, nasty cough - the whole deal. I'm not sure who's more shocked, her or us. She is also cutting one tooth with two more on the way. And, even though I slathered on spf 50 today when we went in the pool (before I knew she was sick), she got her first sunburn so there goes my mother-of-the-year award. She is such a trooper - cries out in pain but then will let me settle her down and comfort her. Basically, she's ok as long as we're touching. It doesn't have to be much...she settled for holding my hand while she watched the Wiggles (I was frantically stuffing my face with my other hand because I hadn't had any time to eat!)

She is now all doped up and sleeping. She wakes herself coughing every hour or so and then I nurse her right back to sleep. I am so glad I'm still nursing - she gets comfort, sleep aid and hydrated all at the same time (like a gatorade-ambien cocktail...hmmm, sounds good!)

Wannabe Hippie

Living in Encinitas, especially since having Taeya, I'm beginning to realize that I am in fact an organic-living wannabe hippie vegetarian who secretly wishes that she drove a hybrid, wore patchouli and could take one step backwards from that ribeye. The reality is that I could feed a family of 10 with the gas I'm using for our SUV and if I don't eat red meat several times a week, I'm practically violent (never mind that patchouli has always reminded me of b.o.). Clearly, fantasy and reality are never going to meet. I'll have to settle for attachment parenting and spending too much money on produce at the local organic grocery store. And I'll think about trading in a pair of my blahniks for berkenstocks...well, flip flops.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABELLA CHRISTINE ASPINWALL :-)

A Little Incentive...

Taeya is a competitive girl! Today, our friends came over with their son Tanner who is 4 months older than Taeya and walking. As soon as she saw him, she immediately tried to stand up on her own and spent a very frustrated 10 minutes crawling right up to him and trying to stand up right in his face. He, being a compassionate toddler, decided to start crawling instead and after that they became fast friends and headed straight for the pool!

Ducks And Things

We had an amazing day at the Wild Animal Park yesterday. Taeya was in love with all things bird...so we complied (much to my chagrin - there is nothing more terrifying than a bird - didn't anyone else see that movie?!?).



















She also discovered the joy of gloming onto daddy's head and holding on for dear life. She screamed with laughter as we tried to pry her claws off his face. So, of course, we repeated this ad nauseum for the next half hour - anything to entertain her :-)






























Other things of note recently....we asked Uncle Parker to be Taeya's godfather and he happily agreed as they are madly in love with one another. So now hopefully she'll go to him for advice on sex, drugs and how much she hates her parents instead of relying on the oh so sound advice of her peers (that's our naive dream anyway; we file it under Things For Taeya When She Hates Us)



















Taeya also just got her red walking radio flyer wagon (I'm not sure why I'm supporting this wanting-to-walk habit of hers but whatever). Mostly, she loves to get in and be pulled around the house by mom, dad, or especially, Sam. Maybe we'll sign them both up for dog sledding!