My husband goes through shoes very quickly. When he’s on the job, he can literally be on his feet for 20 hours a day. Comfort is key. But on show day, he likes to dress up a little bit, so it’s not like he can just wear tennis shoes, which would be the ideal shoe. [...]

Melissa the Mouth. That’s not just a title. It’s my nickname. My father coined it back in the early 70s, when I first started talking. And it stuck. I am a talker. Remember when you were a kid, and the teacher would send home your report card with a comment section? Mine always said two [...]

We never had pets growing up. Well, scratch that. We did have pets. We had a series of three hamsters, dozens of guppies and eventually a cat named Max. Notice what’s missing? A dog. When I was about 6, right before my parents divorce, my parents took my brother [...]

I’m turning 36 on Saturday. I’m not sure how I made it to such a high number. Because it seems like just yesterday, I was sitting in the backseat of my father’s Toyota Cressida, listening to 1010 WINS on the car radio. That continuous loop of stories. The same ones, over and over. And I [...]

I love giving the girls their end-of-the-day baths. I love it even more when my husband is home and I can bathe them together. It’s much easier when, at the conclusion of the bath, there are two sets of hands, one for each girl.
And it goes without saying that we have a [...]

We had one of those days that can only be described as perfect. Early this morning, after a little Easter Egg hunt in our great room, we headed out to the mountain where the local ski resort was hosting an egg hunt. Which was actually more of an egg scramble, as there were [...]

We have a baby moose in the neighborhood. Actually, he (she?) is just up the highway a bit, on the way into the city. But he’s close enough for me to worry about him. A lot. He’s always on the side of the mountain by himself. In the same spot. [...]

In a continuation of Sunday’s weepy post, I am still feeling a little melancholy over my little baby not being my little baby any longer. Technically, she’s not walking, so I can still call her a baby, right? I mean, she’s not officially a toddler until she can, well, toddle, right? Okay, [...]

Coco woke up with a stomach bug today, the same one that her big sister has been suffering with all week. Let’s just say that her big day was peppered with lots of vomit and diarrhea. Not a lot of fun, although I am amazed at how her mellow and sunny disposition rarely [...]

Coco is turning one tomorrow. It’s turning out to be a much different celebration than I had imagined. The guest list includes myself, the birthday girl, her older sister, her father and her grandmother, GiGi. That’s it. Not such a big guest list, but I don’t think small kids need a [...]

Every single day, I build my outfit around a white tee-shirt. It’s been this way for my whole life. I caught this from my mother, who you could always overhear declaring “all you really need is a little white tee-shirt and some great accessories…”
As a stay-at-home mom, I completely agree with this assessment. [...]

I am always in a rush. Always. And impatient like no other. Horrible traits to have. Just plain horrible. It is intense, trying to get out the door with these girls. I get… for lack of a better word… crazed. There is no time for slow-pokes. Nope. [...]

I love creative types. Artists, writers, musicians. People who create beautiful things have a real gift, and a talent that I envy. I’m not terribly creative. I wish that I was, and I hope to change that, but for now, I leave the painting up to my little Pea, the music [...]

We were pretty liberal with Pea and food when she was a baby. You know, not afraid to let her try new (and oftentimes spicy) cuisines. I’ve mentioned before that her first restaurant meal was Indian. She was seven months old and that was it for her. It marked the beginning [...]

We got the call today from the Head of Admissions at Pea’s new school that she got in. And she got the schedule we’d been hoping for. I am so relieved that it’s over, that we’ve found a great little school for her where she’s going to thrive.
But I’ve mentioned before that one [...]