It's Not About Me: Santa & Dr. Kaplan

My freshman year college roommate has been recently married to a wonderful man that has been in her life for years now. I think I can speak for all of the college gals that we adore this guy. He is a great dad to her beautiful daughter (who my boy has a major running older-girl crush on) and I have to say he makes a pretty good lasagna, too.

It was a lovely surprise this morning to open the paper and see him smiling back at me.


Turns out the good doctor performed some life-saving surgery on Santa this year, and the big man came back in person to thank him and visit the kids at his hospital. You can read the whole lovely story in the NY Post.

Our friend doesn't seem like the type that would like a whole bunch of news about himself, but it was the sweetest article, and I just needed to share.

If that's not good inspiration for holiday spirit, I don't know what is.

It's Not About Me: Nature

Well, Mother Nature counts as a special person, doesn't she? And we all know her.


This morning we were all finishing up a yummy breakfast of eggs, eggnog donuts and mango while a lovely buck wandered into our yard all by his lonesome. Can you see his antlers?

The snow is just gorgeous in our neck of the woods, even if it does make the roads a bit treacherous here and there. There's no better reason to light a fire and snuggle up together. Or, have a little bit of wine and cheese with the kids. (Yes, yes, the wine is just for me and C...have a little faith, people.)


Stay warm, everyone, and enjoy the snowy ramp-up to Christmas. We are.

It's Not About Me: H1202

You know, I'm a lucky gal. I have some amazing friends (so you've noticed, if you've been reading). There's always a good story or two floating around this house about folks we know.

I've decided for the rest of the month, I'm going to make all my posts about some of my amazing friends or people I know. I'm too busy trying to make this consultant thing work to be of much interest myself, anyhow. (Okay, and maybe the kids here and there; it's the holidays and it would be hard to leave them out.)

Let me introduce you to H1202 (the nickname is...well, don't worry about it). H came into my life as a co-worker and significant other to one of my good friends. H is now considered a full-on close friend, someone I would consider one of my "girls". They live close to us and have two adorable little boys and we get to eat and hang at each others' places every now and again, which is always a good time, and never often enough.

She is smart, sassy (in a grown-up, take-no-prisoners way, not a Bratz doll way) and knows more about more stuff than I think could ever possibly fit in my head.

H went through breast cancer 10 years ago and kicked its ass. She is an exemplary model of what you can do when you put your mind to it.

In honor of this anniversary, she applied for, and got accepted to, run the Boston Marathon for the Dana Farber team. If you know anything about the Boston Marathon or breast cancer, this is a VERY BIG DEAL. H has never run a marathon before.

Check out her new blog, 10 Years Cancer Free and Running the Boston Marathon!, which will exist for the duration of training through the marathon only. Like I said, she's a smart gal and she writes a hell of a lot better than I would about what she went through and why she's doing the marathon.

Keep up with her progress...root her on with us. Check in for inspiration. Make a donation if you're so inclined. And learn something...she is full of info about what is going on around the topic of cancer today. She's also got a facebook group on her effort if you'd like to check that out.

10 years cancer-free and 100 more for you, I hope, H. Best wishes! We are so proud.

G .... That is Beautiful

Some of you may stumble on my blog via pve design. If you do, you know how talented and charming she is. You may now add that you are completely jealous of me because:

(a) I get to actually be in-person friends with this lovely woman, and...
(b) I have a beautiful piece of her work in my home.

I had asked P (it's de rigueur here on LoveMomWorkLife to go by first initial only) if she could do something special for my daughter's room. G is nine months old, and I've made a genuine effort not to decorate it like a baby's room; pastels have never been my thing. This is G's blanket. (To give credit where it's due, it was a custom order from Maddie Boo via TraLaLa in Irvington. And yes, those are FLOR toy poodle tiles on G's floor.)


I want the room to grow with her; when she saw my frame, she said good-humoredly that it was kind of "baby goth". (Nailed it.)

So I asked if she could do a "G" for me. And I left it up to her. She asked for G's bedding and came and saw her room. Let me show you what she's brought for us.


Isn't it gorgeous! We are too lucky, and little miss G will have the most decadent piece of work to keep in her room, hopefully for a long time.

Well, if you don't know PVE (you poor, poor thing) you must check her out. She does custom work and I have never heard of anyone being anything but unbelievably delighted.

Last look...all together:

You're Going to See This Differently When You're Older

I had a really hard time titling this one.

There's really no way to fully appreciate the insanity that presents itself in everyday interactions with one's children, particularly something that illustrates the amazing change that happens in one's perceptions as they move from childhood to adulthood.

C and I have a running joke that G, our 9-month-old daughter, has a bigger rear end than our 4-year-old son, O. It should be noted O is a little smaller than "average" for his age and requires pants with an adjustable waist, and G is a bit on the heftier side of "average".

Last night, we actually sat them next to each other on the couch, and were like, yup, G's tush is bigger. (She is going to kill me when she is older for this.) She's a baby! She has baby fat. It's the cutest thing, really.

Then it happened. O had a meltdown.

"NOOOOOooooooooo! My tush is bigger than HERS!!! She does not! Nooooooo...!!!!" (crying ensues). Oh God, what did we do.

G, meanwhile, looks at him, and us, in complete bewilderment.

"No, buddy, no, no...it's not a bad thing...why are you getting upset? Don't get upset...she's just a baby, and babies are chubby...."

"NOOOOOOO!!! I don't want her to have a bigger tush than me! (Crying, sobbing, insanity) Nooo!!!" We hug him. Tell him it's ok. Try to explain, and he is not having it.

So, here is my son, yelling at me that he wants a bigger rear. Seriously.

To finally get through to him, C and I point out what is pretty evident to anyone else. My rear is bigger than my husband's. It's a "girl thing", that we're shaped differently, we say. (I know...it doesn't really apply to a 9-month old, but work with us.)

You can't get tickets to anything better.

We Go Out Sometimes

Well, that sounds kind of lame. Okay...we don't get out quite as much with two kids. But we still know how, dammit. But on Saturday night we had a great time at our friend's surprise birthday in Manhattan.


Happy Birthday R! You are a classy chick, a wonderful neighbor, and a great friend.

We hit the roof bar afterwards for a quiet moment of our own, too. Yay.