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I am proud to report that my post entitled "A Letter to Society" has been selected by Scary Mommy. It's pretty intense, so get ready.See you over there.

I mentioned in a prior post, that Ari is going to be the ring bearer in Mint and Mike's wedding. I will be in the wedding party as Mint's Maid of Honor.Today my mom, Ari and I went into Manhattan to try on my Maid of Honor dress. It was a bit tricky finding a dress because I am becoming increasingly more pregnant by the minute. But Mint and I managed to find a really pretty option.It's not a maternity dress, per say, but it has a empire waist and can account for an expanding belly. As I was undressing, one of the sales ladies at the dress shop asked me about my tattoo.She said "It's kind of ironic that you have a Hebrew word tattooed on your body. I'm Jewish and you aren't allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetery if you have tattoos."I explained to her that I was Jewish too, and my tattoo has special significance to me. Then we got into a long discussion about religion versus spirituality. After our scintillating conversation came to a close, she offered to take a picture of me in my Maid of Honor dress. Here's how I looked:Alright, I'll [...]

In prior posts, I've talked about how hard it is to make mom friends. Unlike previous days, today was a good day at the playground. Even though it was a million degrees outside, I was happy to get Ari out, and Ari was happy to steal a random vehicle.Maybe I was in a good mood. Perhaps the stars were aligned correctly, but every mom that I met today either had a toddler and was pregnant with another baby or had a toddler and a newborn. And guess what? They were all decent human beings! What do you know?Additionally, I was able to hold enough of a conversation with these ladies in order to get some mom digits. This is unlike my former experiences on the playground where I could barely get a word out before I had to chase Ari up and down the length of the playground asphalt.Today, Ari was just happy to climb the highest possible playground equiptment and hand me his sticky "peanut butter bagel."And I was happy to have made some mom connections.

I've received a lot of wonderful suggestions from readers with regard to co-sleeping with my 2 year old and having a new baby. I've decided to include them here for anyone dealing with a similar situation. Amanda from Stumptowncrunch said " I am ALL for the "family bed." There's a reason women get all emotionally messed up hearing their babies cry, God designed us to. Studies show that crying babies can make a woman lactate, even if it's not her baby crying. I think you should ignore everyone else and do what you want. People act like you're going to have a 12 year old in your bed and that you'll have to go away with Ari to college or else he wont be able to sleep. That won't happen. Enjoy them while they're young, cuddle and snuggle in bed together if that's what works for you. If Tahira liked to cuddle, I would do it, but she hates co-sleeping. Maybe your next baby won't like it and it'll continue to be your and Ari. My cousin slept in her parents bed until she was 6. No damage done. She's not a needy kid in the slightest. In fact, she's [...]

I was on Twitter one day when I noticed a mama blogger named Babe_Chilla (she's super cool and from Canada- of course) posted that she was making Mexican Stuffed Peppers. I was intrigued. So, naturally, I harrassed her insesssantly (Jewish mother that I am ) until she emailed me her recipe. She actually MADE THIS RECIPE UP and I have to say that it is really yummy and vegetarian!I am going to share the recipe with all of you! Ingredients: Rice (I used approximately a cup of brown rice) Can of Diced Tomatoes (She used spicy red pepper ones, I used regular diced tomatoes) 6 peppers (She used 2 of each, orange, yellow and green, I was lazy and used all green bell peppers) Small Zucchini (I had an enormous zucchini, so I used it) Half an Onion Can of green chilli's (I used 3 fresh jalapeno peppers, and diced them up) Can of Black Beans (drained) Small can of Corn (drained) (I used frozen corn) 1. Cook 1 cup of rice (as per package directions) with the can of tomatoes. (She used 1/4 cup less water) let the juices of the tomatoes into the rice and water. 2. Remove [...]

Do you remember Kindergarten? I do. Do you remember playing with these:They're called "Geometric Pattern Blocks." I was reminded of them when I began subbing for the NYC Dept. of Education and spent a lot of time in Kindergarten classrooms.Maybe if you saw them individually, it would jog your memory even more:Please pardon my dirty floor. Anyhow, I grew re-enamored with them as I spent more and more time with five-year-olds.After being re-introduced to these blocks in school, my friend Cordy and I were talking about how cool they were, and I actually ended up buying them here.You can make really cool designs with them. Like:Ari enjoyed playing with these blocks, even though he is a bit young for them. The recommended age is three years old. He's not even 2 1/2.He just had to be supervised with them.He was really into stacking them.I foresee that these blocks will be a great tool for teaching Ari shapes. He already knows "circle" "square" and "triangle," but now we can move on to more obscure ones like "diamond" and "hexagon." Yeah, like I use the word "hexagon" on a daily basis.Anyway, if you wanna buy these, I got them at Discount School [...]

Long before I had children, I had cats. Now I have a child, am pregnant with another child and I still have cats. One of these fine felines has been misbehaving lately in the form of relieving himself in my bathtub. This displeases me.I'm not sure which one of them is doing it. I have my suspicions, but nothing is confirmed.Maybe you can help me figure out who it is.Here they are:Name: SimonFormer Alias: Mr. MaggotAge:10Profile: He has no tail. He will eat anything you put in front of him. Anything. Oatmeal, chicken, Diet Coke etc. He once got locked in my brother's room and pooped all over his bed. He was found in a junkyard with half of his tail missing, the other half was eaten off by maggots, hence the former alias. He can vomit on a dime.Name: EgreckAge:6 (Although Ari insists that Egreck is "2 years old" no matter what I tell him)Former Alias: BuddyProfile: Egreck is from the mean streets of Brooklyn. Not much is known about his former life. He was adopted from Petco at Union Square where Kitty Kind (a rescue organization) was holding feline adoptions. He once fell off the top of my [...]

Currently, Ari and I sleep in the same bed at night and for naps. It sort of evolved into this ever since he was sucessfully able to crawl out of the crib at 20 months.With the new baby on the way, many people have told me that I need to "remedy" or change this situation. According to many, I need to focus on the baby and get Ari into his own bed.I'm nervous about doing it. I have reservations. I mean, part of the issue is that Wil works at night (the graveyard shift as it were) and it's comforting to go to sleep with Ari next to me. I like the co-sleeping...to an extent. But then again my belly is expanding by the second, and I fear that soon there won't be room for the "three" of us in "my bed."I did sleep training with Ari when he was four months old and so I have "let him cry" before. I'm just not sure that I'm willing to go through that again. It was really hard emotionally on me.So, folks, what should I do? Has anyone been in a similar situation? Should I continue to co-sleep or move him [...]

Last night, My friend Christine text me that she was planning to go to Pier 6 today with her two year old daughter. Because I virtually live under a rock where the only things that exist are Blue's Clues and Matchbox cars, I had no idea what "Pier 6" was. I assumed it had something to do with South Street Seaport. But then I googled it and found that I was entirely wrong.Apparently, while I've been in pregnant hibernation, a new park opened up in Brooklyn at the end of Atlantic Avenue. It's called The Brooklyn Bridge Park and it consists of several piers, one of which is Pier 6.Once I realized where she was going, I immediately accepted her invitation.Ari and I drove to the park, which I realized was a ridiculous idea once we got there. I could have easily walked from my house.When we arrived, Ari was skeptical as usual.Even though the view from the pier was gorgeous.We found the entrance to Pier 6 and went on in, since it's entirely free!Then we found the water park. It's a water playground for kids and the adults attached to them. You didn't think I was going to pass [...]

You thought I was getting married, didn't you? Fooled you! It's not me who is tying the knot, but rather my best friend of 17 years, Mint.Isn't her sample wedding make-up lovely?Mint and Mike are getting married in mid-October and I will be her maid of honor.But even more exciting is that Ari is going to be the ring bearer! We sat down with him to talk about the wedding.So far his thoughts about the wedding are as follows: He believed that the wedding was "at grandpa's house."We corrected him and told him that it would be at a library. He asked "With Nelson?" Nelson is his best friend who he goes to the library with sometimes.We explained to him it was like a big party he said "OH! Cake!"We told him who would be at the party and he asked if Simon and Egreck (his cats) and Lucky (my brother's dog) would be there. We replied "No animals will be allowed at the wedding." He said "OH! Boys and cake!" His word for "people" is "boys." Mint even brought him some books about his responsibilities.Mint added some crucial details to one of the books.I tried to get him interested [...]