Melissa, this is a great post. Really. I don't really know what else to say, other than I'm very much in agreement and truly relate.

This is inspiring. What an amazing giveaway.

Wow. I hadn't thought of it before, but of course the separation for the sciences versus the arts must start that young. I'm so glad that at least your girls will benefit from this experience and that she doesn't care a wink if she's the only girl. As you said - She's here to do Science!

I've been thinking a lot about this sort of thing as we just celebrate Robby's 2nd birthday. Both we and the grandparents gave Sam gifts in addition to Robby's, so that Sam would have something to open, and I wonder about that choice, whether it was the right thing to do. I'm not so sure now. It just sort of happened, but I think next year we will talk more about what we are doing on each child's birthday and why.

I was going to recommend the nitrate free ones too - my boys love their dogs:)

Here I sit in my living room! That's ok though. I guess I'm number...6!

Oh my! This is terrible. I don't know what I would have done, and I can see why you felt the need to stay quiet both because of what you might have said and because it was an in-law.

Oh goodness, I know. We've officially made Saturday mornings "Mommy grocery shopping" time. It's a total break. And, like you said, I actually come home with everything we needed. It's amazing how much we can accomplish when there's no one screaming at us:)

This is so, so hard. We're not there yet, at least not that I know of, but I always wonder what I really want to teach my children about how to deal with conflict like this. I've seen children push Sam at playgrounds before and I've seen him just sort of take it, and I can tell you I did NOT like that. It made me rethink what I will tell him in the future about standing up for himself, etc. And that might be different than what I'd envisioned. Great post, and congrats you uber-syndicated mama!

This is so incredibly sweet. And I'm so glad you have the photo to remember it always. I'm sure she'll treasure it.

Wow you gals - I'm starting to wonder if I need to reconsider my stance on sandboxes in general:)

I had assumed that cursing was not to be part of the writing I did on this site - it never occurred to me that that would be ok since it is a group blog. I don't know exactly why I made that assumption, but I was surprised to see the response when someone asked about it on the message board. Again, I assumed the answer would be "save it for your own blog." I guess I was wrong... I don't curse much on my own blog either. I think I can remember one post where I really did, and I even said at that moment it was the first time I'd done so - I was specifically drawing on the fact that it was abnormal for me. My choice there is mainly because I know I have many readers who would not really appreciate it, and as a general rule I don't like to make my friends uncomfortable. And as you said, I think I'd rather come up with a more clever way to say what I want to say. As an aspiring writer, that's good practice:)

I've been trying to focus a lot more on playtime around here too. The blog has suffered, as has the commenting, but I think my family and I are happier. Great post.

Well said.

Oh Sweetie. I'm so sorry.

I've been working very hard on a getting a work space for myself as well. My "desk" is a table in the living room covered in everyone else's stuff. I think if I'm going to run the fam successfully I at least need a decent workspace from which to manage it.

We try to split our weekend - Saturday is "accomplish day" where we deal with grocery shopping, errands, chores, etc. We try to get done what we can with the divide and conquer, so that on Sunday we can be together and attempt to relax. We never get everything done on Saturday, but I think that's just because there ALWAYS more that can be done, so we try and just let it go.

It's brilliance. Sheer brilliance. It's EXACTLY what I want, even down to the one month anticipation! As soon as I'm done nursing, I'm there, wherever this hotel is.

"What are you not writing about." I love that. Sign of true friendship, I think.

Well, you know I hear and understand this to the infinite degree.

Yes, it would get very boring. I have definitely had those moments shopping though ( I think I got away one afternoon before Christmas) where I realized just HOW MUCH I could do without kids in tow. It's pretty amazing. Somehow my kids always feel so much better when we hug after I've come home from an afternoon on my own:)

Thanks, Beth. I'll try and bear this in mind when he's flailing around on the floor:)

I remember Speed! (The game, not the drug:) Beth

It IS DATING! Have made that analogy so many times! And I have to give some credit to Hubby here, because I often fall into the too-tired to initiate anything type of mode. It's never because I don't want to hang out with a specific person (well ...sometimes that's the case:) but instead it's just being too tired to motivate. And with you he knew I wanted to hang out with you, and then when he met you briefly he just confirmed that I should totally initiate that. So I did:) And I'm glad. And now I'll go respond to your playdate invite:)

I got the boys all suited up for some snow play the other day too. By the time I had them in their snow pants, hats, mittens, etc, I was sweating and panting. It was ridiculous. I told myself that when they are older it will be more fun and less work. We'll see. Your post doesn't leave me hopeful:) I do hate that it's always cold here with little snow though...