Why Moms Wear High Waisted Jeans

Dear Trader Joe's,
   I love you for many reasons. I love that your prices on milk and eggs are lower than any other store around. I love that I can get out with three bags of groceries for under $80 most weeks. Your whole wheat pastas taste amazing, and your selection of organic produce astounds me. Also this: I. LOVE. CHEESE. You do too. I can tell because of there are, like, 10 different kinds of sharp white cheddar alone. But lately I have been increasingly frustrated by our relationship. This is because all the stuff I want is on the bottom shelf.

   You see, I just had my second child and I am currently somewhere in between maternity jeans and regular jeans. I have settled on a pair of "natural waist" long and leans from the Gap, but they don't fit as well as I would like. Also, I am carrying this new baby in a sling, so I cannot bend over. Instead, in order to reach the cinnamon apple sauce, I must squat and flash the whole store my white, white rear. Same with the organic juice boxes, the red wine I like, and the organic tomato basil pasta sauce. By the time I get to the check-out lane everyone in the store knows me better than they ought to.
 
  The way I see it, I have two choices. I can either *gulp* buy a pair of high waisted, "mom jeans," or I can shop at a different store. You see, at other stores there is more selection, so I have my pick of items on the middle or upper shelves. I don't want to do it...but shopping somewhere else is more likely to win out. Unless of course you want to put all the stuff I want on higher shelves...

               Cheers,
                   Jen

A Pink Birthday

Miss C turned 3 at the end of May. Looking back, this past year has been HARD. The. Entire. Year. Almost every day has been about being consistent with discipline and not giving in to tantrums. Being pregnant for 9 months of it, and taking care of a newborn for the other 3 months didn't help. Poor Miss C. An entire year with an exhausted, crazy hormonal, growing larger-by-the-day mama must have been really hard. She wanted a pink birthday, so I was determined to give her just that and really make the day about her.

I don't do birthday parties every year. We did a big party for her first birthday, Which was great, but not every year. I will do birthday parties in the future. Maybe for the other big milestone birthdays. Anyway, in liu of a party we always do dinner with the family: Grandmas and Grandpas and Uncle Erik. Anyone else out there not do birthday parties every year? Any good ideas for how often to have one and how many kids to invite, etc?

I found as much pink as I possibly could. Pink plates and napkins, a pink tablecloth, pink flowers, a pink balloon, Rose Wine (for the adults) and of course, a pink cake!

I thought that red and pink would look neat-o together, so I made a red velvet cake with pink fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting. This is my go-to frosting. It is easy to make, yummy, and easy to decorate with. I modify the recipe a bit and only put in 4 cups of confectioner's sugar. It is way too sweet with all 6 cups. It was so yummy! Miss C ate all of her piece very carefully as if she didn't want to waste a single crumb. So sweet!
 
Despite this year being so hard, I am always thankful for my talkative, silly, busy, sweet Miss C! Happy third birthday, Miss C! Thanks for making me a mama!