oh. hi.

This past month has been so busy. I've hardly had a second to myself much less write a blog post. I was off on business trips to Washington and New York, and between those trips and trying to actually spend time with my family, blogging just hasn't been a priority. I go in waves back and forth on this whole blogging thing. Sometimes I can't get to the computer fast enough to get my thoughts out, and other times I feel this whole self-referential cycle drives me bananas. But yet, here I am. And here are the updates.

1. Dance class. Thank you all so much for your very kind comments on the last post regarding Alice's fear of dance class. It meant a lot to me that the post resonated with many of you. I'm happy to report that we managed to get over that hurdle. We convinced Alice to give the class another try, and the next week we went back. This time, we got there a little earlier than everyone else which meant Alice was able to run around the dance studio by herself for a bit before the other kids showed up. And that time on her own made all the difference. She just needed to pee in her own corner, if you know what I mean. When the class officially started, she joined the circle of little dancers willingly and proudly skipped around the room.



Watching her do this was pure gold, as I'm sure many of you can imagine. It's these little moments I try to hold onto, especially amidst other moments of "nooooooomommmyyyyyyyyIIIIIII'mmmmnotttttttgoingtobedddddddddd"

2. New York with Marla . I was in NYC on business a few weeks ago and Marla joined me for fun and freedom from her family. It was a jam-packed few days, as I was attending a tv conference, and Marla was exploring the city. I could spin long yarns about our time there, and how wonderful it was to see Marla enthralled with the candy store that is NYC. But I will leave the majority of those stories to Marla herself, with the exception of what was probably the most memorable night there. I'm talking about watching a very drunk Marla negotiate her way throught he NYC streets late one night. Watching her yell "I wanna be in tv bistibution" on 44th near 8th, and following her (or rather, chasing her) throughout Times Square as she drunkenly wove in and out of stores, pointing at door guards and saying"do you want me to try and get the guy to blow the whistle on me??" I'll leave it to her writing skills to tell the full stories, but suffice to say I will never look at a Lands End coat the same way. And as usual, I don't have any pictures to record my time in New York, but I know there are some doozies in Marla's collection.

3. Our weekend getaway with Nadine and her family (notice the pattern here? I'm thinking about starting up a whole new blog where all I do is recount adventures with other bloggers). In case I haven't mentioned it before, Nadine's husband and my husband are in love with each other. Seriously, it's the real thing. They call each other almost every day and I've caught them having meaningful conversations over the phone. They were chomping at the bits to have a family weekend getaway together so Nadine and I reluctantly agreed (you mean a whole weekend with junk food AND Nadine? Well twist my arm). We rented this place for weekend - just north of Toronto.



It was bliss - we spent the weekend gabbing and eating and drinking and sleeping and gabbing some more. And watching the kids run circles around us.



Nadine's husband cleared an area on the ice (oh yes, there was a frozen pond of course. Laura Ingalls would be proud), so they could play hockey with the kids while Nadine and I lounged with BUST and JANE magazines and pretended we were going to go outside at some point. Nadine spent a good part of the weekend on this captain's bed that was in the open-concept first-floor, right beside the kitchen. Perfect for a pregnant mama to give her orders to her minions and cuddle with Nate.



That captain's bed got plenty of horizontal time with all of us. Even Matt and the kids got to enjoy some books together.



All in all, a busy month personally and professionally. The weeks pass by so quickly and I feel like Christmas was just yesterday. I have to get back on this blogging horse, I know. Next week. I promise.