Little Monsters

Last night the family headed out to Disneyland for the Little Monsters event that Cast Activities puts on every year. I must say, it's quite different from back when I worked at Disneyland - but then again, Disney has expanded it's empire in Southern California, so as all other things change, so must this. I will say that Disney treats its Cast Member families well. This is an event put on by Cast Activities and the kids absolutely LOVE it. Basically, they get to walk around Disneyland park and trick-or-treat. Kids love it. Parents are exhausted. Life is good.

Some pics:

Taken by the Photo Pass people who obviously have no formal training in photography save for "push this button" when the kids smile.  At the very least, they could have gotten the kids in focus, right?

Time to start blogging again...

It's been a while. But I found a great product that turns your blogs into books - PERFECT! I welcome the ability to do so - to capture these thoughts so that my boys can read them at a later date. When I am too old and too crazy to impart on them the wisdom I have gained through the years. You can stop rolling your eyes at me.

It's been two years since I last blogged. Life has been hectic, but fun. Lots of changes, all for the good. But I pledge to start again if only so that I have a record of the madness. Let the fun continue. Rock and Roll.

And the madness begins.

M and I were talking last week. The Friday after Thanksgiving marks our crazy season. We love the Holidays, but BOY are they WORK! It's a non-stop whirlwind the entire month of December. Our calendar is booked solid with some sort of activity or get-together EVERY weekend - and even weeknights are filling up. I should stop complaining, though, because despite the craziness, I do love the Holidays. I love catching up with friends - I love the merriment - I love the happy glint in the kids' eyes every time he sees the Christmas tree.

Of course, as you all know, Santa pictures kick off the Holiday season for us. I like to get them done the week of Thanksgiving, as there are no crowds and the kid is in a much better mood when he hasn't had to wait in line for a half hour. Here are this year's "official" pictures (the ones I bought from the Santa photo people). And yes, it's my mommy obligation to match their clothes. ESPECIALLY for Holidays:

The kid and the babe together:


Just the babe (since this is his first Christmas and all):


And some outtakes taken with our own camera:

Love this one because the kid is telling Santa what he wants for Christmas. Notice the babe's expression is one of complete indifference.


And this just captures the kid's age. If you have a three-year-old, you know what I'm talking about. You ask them to smile and you get all teeth. He looks like he's constipated.



For a retrospective of past Santa pictures, click here.

Here, though, is where early Santa pictures backfired for me. The next morning after visiting Santa, the Kid woke up and RAN into my bedroom. With a hopeful look, he sweetly asked me, "Mommy, is it Christmas morning?!?!" Makes logical sense - he did, after all, see Santa the night before. And I've been reading him "The Night Before Christmas" every year. This is what happens when you pair a dumbass Mommy with a too-smart kid.

Giving thanks...

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A time to be thankful. So please indulge me in the obvious. A post of things that deserve my thanks.

I don't mean to sound smug or condescending, but really, it's not my style to only give thanks once a year. I think it's important, and I vow to teach my kids the importance, of being thankful every moment of every day - and voiceing that thanks at least once a day. Our blessings are bountiful, and while we may not have the latest and greatest toys or the biggest and best house or the designer-of-the-moment stuff, we are rich in so many means. I have a wonderful, happy, healthy family. I, myself, am truly happy. My boys are incredible lights of joy in my life - and my husband is my love, my support, and my strength. The three of them - my heart, my soul, my love are the greatest blessings I could ever receive. I thank God for them every day of my life.

I'm also thankful for my career - for my husband's career. I thank God for the means to support and provide for our family. While we still may struggle to pay for the mounting bills that come with adding to the family, in economic times such as these we are lucky to be able to put food on the table. Did you know that 1 in 8 Americans go hungry? That is STAGGERING. Especially in a country of plenty.

You know what else I'm thankful for? My crazy extended family. My loco friends. My co-workers, my clients. Because they support me, they make me laugh, they make me cry. They make me, ME. I am the sum of my experiences and interactions...and enriched by all those I encounter. So to all of you, thanks.

I hope that this Thanksgiving season finds you and yours well - and well blessed. In the spirit of giving and giving thanks, I'll link you to my post from last year - all the organizations are still there and still struggling to meet demand, even moreso now.

I was duped...

When the Babe was born, I could hardly believe how much he slept. VAST difference from the Kid, who woke every 20 minutes. Holy sleep deprivation, Batman! But with the Babe, I had to wake him for feedings, which was SO new to us. I hovered over his bassinet for fear he wasn't breathing - he slept that long and heavily. He would regularly sleep for 3-4 hours at a time. And was sleeping "through the night" (actually sleeping 6+ hours at night) by 6 weeks old. I *almost* felt guilty about it.

But now, at 4 months old, the Babe (and me, obviously) is waking every two hours. HE'S KILLING ME! It's 6:00am and I'm writing this post. Now, being awake at 6:00am is not too bad. But it is when you were up at 2:00am. And 4:00am. And 5:00am. SOMEONE STOP THE MADNESS.

Some photo sharing

It's been a while since I've used my blog to brag about my kids...but seriously, they are cute. Here are photos from the past few months - as I realized I never posted any of my maternity period, the birth of the babe, or the kidlets together. So without further ado...

Maternity photos - these were taken by a good friend of ours who happens to be a great photographer. Taken in May, 2008:




Love this photo...but it looks like the Kid is kicking the Babe...



Ahh...much better. Brotherly love starts early.



And then there were four...





My boys. My lazy, lazy, boys. My entire world on one queen-sized bed.



Some pictures taken by our photographer friend (same one that took the maternity photos above). The Kid is about 41 months (3 years, 5 months old) and the Babe is about 3 months old:

Keith takes the words right out of my mouth...

Although I could not ever imagine being as eloquent.

A disclaimer here - I realize that some of you reading this blog may not agree with me. That's ok. Feel free to flame away. I would never take away YOUR right to do so.

A bit of background here. Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court, in an impeccably written decision, acknowledged the rights of same-sex couples to marry. They acknowledged it as a CIVIL RIGHT. One that would declare any law suppressing such right unconstitutional. I read a lot of legal decisions in my line of work, and I have to tell you, they were prudent yet clear in their logic. They eschewed reference to morality and religion, as well they should. The decision focused on a singular idea - the recognition that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation. Chief Justice Ronald George stated in his majority opinion, "An individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."

The words from Chief Justice George is what is at the heart of the issue for me. Yes, I have close family members who are gay. I have good friends that are gay. But regardless of that, laws outlawing ANY INDIVIDUAL'S right to marry are discriminatory. It is as simple as that. What's the difference between disallowing same-sex marriage and bi-racial marriage? Not that long ago, I would not have been able to marry my caucasian husband. I look at my BEAUTIFUL children and they would not be here if laws like these were NOT declared discriminatory. It's not about religion, morality and the like. It's about LOVE.

So last week, while I was elated with the result of the Presidential Election, I was angered and enraged that the voters of the state of California overturned this decision and rallied to steal BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS from same-sex couples. The campaign run in support of Propostion 8 (the proposition that overturned the Supreme Court decision) was shameful. Some crap about schools teaching kids that men could marry men and what not. Bullshit. You're going to try and get to my vote by scaring me about my KIDS?! And what they might (even though they WOULDN'T) be taught in school? Look, parenting is tough. I get that. But you know what's EASY? Teaching kids YOUR family values and YOUR family beliefs. You don't have to believe that homosexuality is morally "right". You don't have to instill values in your children about homosexuality. What you teach in your home is your business. I'm not going to encroach upon that. So why block another person's pursuit of happiness? Why insist that someone that they cannot have what you have?

It sincerely disheartens me. The whole situation. Because as a parent, when I look at these laws, these decisions, these referendums, propositions, etc., my first and foremost thoughts are of my children. One of my sons may be gay. Both of my sons may be gay. How could I look at them and tell them, "well, you can be grow to be happy...but only to an extent."? We need to fight for the rights of ALL, because you never know if the "someone" they are taking rights from is you...or the one that you love.

But Keith Olberman says it all in this video clip. Love him or hate him, he took the words right out of my mouth. Can I get a what, what?



Editing - you know, this is such an important issue to me that I'm going to post the text of my man Keith's commentary. Just because when my kids read this years from now, video may be dead. LOL. Skip over this if you've already watched the video...

Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.

Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.

And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Only now you are saying to them—no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights—even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?

I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967.

The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.

You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are gay.

And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.

How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?

What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.

It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.

And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?

With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.

You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.

This is the second time in ten days I find myself concluding by turning to, of all things, the closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial.

But what he said, fits what is really at the heart of this:

"I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love."