Category Archives: Milestones

The Last Summer on Earth with Barenaked Ladies

last-summer-on-earth-banner

Music takes me places. And I have a history of taking myself to the places where Barenaked Ladies are performing.

I’ve seen them eight times. But I am not a groupie. “Groupies sleep with rockstars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music.” (Just call me Penny Lane.) Continue reading

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Putting up with Pullups

Huggies

Destroy marched proudly into his classroom with a new pack of pull-ups for summer session at school. Search followed clutching the brown paper bag with breakfast – bananas and yogurt.

His teacher laughed at me when I arrived later for pickup. Search wants nothing to do with this potty training gig. Continue reading

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3 Innings In

Umpirates

The sun is out in full force. It’s 80 degrees outside; the backyard is blizarding with wisteria petals. The neighborhood is perfumed by the scent of gardenias. Baseball is on TV. A rousing amalgamation of t-ball/basketball/soccer/curling is underway just outside the patio doors.

It’s April. And as spring represents the season of rebirth, the memories fit. Continue reading

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Counting Down the Moments to 39 Weeks

healthybabies

I thought getting pregnant was going to be the hard part.

Turns out that bright idea merely prompted the universe to remind me that children are life’s way of reminding us that we have no control. Bitch.

What were supposed to be the blissfully ignorant glowing months before motherhood were instead counted down by my own milestone markings. Continue reading

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We’re Going to the Zoo

This is the song that has been stuck in my head since I played the role of Gymbo the Clown in the local mall Gymboree at age 16. (I got the part because I fit in the costume. And none of the adult employees wanted anything to do with it.)

So when the boys announced they needed to go to the zoo, Jon piped right up, “We’re going to the zoo today!” Continue reading

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GrammaJ’s Diamond Day

They say age ain’t nothing but a number. But let’s face it – 60’s a pretty big number.

But I can’t imagine a world without my mom in it. Welcome to middle age mom. Here’s to another 60 years of people wanting to be you. And 60 reasons why. Continue reading

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In Which I Marry the Hot Dog Boy

The one constant, through all the years, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.
– Terrance Mann in “Field of Dreams” Continue reading

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Schools Out…FOREVER

School’s out forever
School’s out for summer
School’s out with fever
School’s out completely

Most kids look forward to summer vacation with gleeful abandon. The shuck off the shackles of structured classrooms to run wild and dirty under the sun. Graduation marks the conclusion of one chapter as people transition to adulthood.

To face the Real World.

GrammaJ graduated today. Finally. After 35 years. Continue reading

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Fortress of Solitude

Good news! The GREEN sippy cup has been found, since blue was apparently unacceptable.

I had a conversation with a friend the other day:

I gotta tell you, I’m super impressed with how calm you parent now…there are a lot of parents who would still be overly cautious about their preemies and you let them be kids who fall on their noggins and only panic when necessary. I mean when Destroy tanked you didn’t miss a beat. You just picked him and then set him on his way. Parents who didn’t have preemies aren’t usually that mellow. Continue reading

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Career Goals

Happy Bloggiversary to me! Stream of the Conscious turns 2 today.

Feb. 2, 2010, I announced to a readership of, well, me, that I was pregnant. This was going to be just one of the many “look at how cute my kid is” blogs with cheesy photos of a round me holding a onesie by my side at a baby shower. How droll.

Yeah. I didn’t see those plot twists coming either. Continue reading

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