Living in Munchkinland

Davis has been having nightmares. Sometimes as often as 4 or 5 times a week and sometimes less. Last night he had three. The house will be sleeping peacefully and then all of a sudden, screams. He yells for Mommy. So I leap up and run into him, freezing in my wispy nightgown and bare feet. "Shhhh, it's okay. Mommy's here." "Hold me! Where's the bad friend?" At this point, I don't know whether to tell him that the bad friend is gone or that I will go find him. So I go back to the reassuring. "Shhh, Mommy's here." "Where's Daddy?" "He's in his big boy bed. Mommy and Daddy will be right here in their big boy bed." "Nooooooooooo. I want you here in my big boy bed. I need you. Hold me." And so I do. And I whisper sweet nothings in his ear. And then I try to sneak out. To more crying. "Nooooooooooo. Hold me. I need you. Tell me a story. Get me a tissue." And so I do. Until he f...

This is a delicious recipe. I make it all the time. It’s in my South Beach cookbook and I also have a different version saved in my files from Cooking Light. Sometimes I add chicken, sometimes I don’t. If I do, I either grill a chicken breast and chop it, or else I just use a rotisserie chicken. Try it out. Let me know what you think of it. I’m making it this week too. Yum. Quick Vegetarian (or not) Chili with Avocado Salsa Avocado Salsa 1 medium California avocado, peeled, pitted and finely chopped 1/3 cup chopped seeded tomato 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion (skip this if you don’t like raw onion) 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro Juice of 1 large lime ¼ teaspoon ground cumin ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper Vegetarian Chili 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup chopped red bell pepper 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon dried oregano 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles 1 (15-o...

We went to Bedford this year for Turkey Day. It's in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and is the home of Michael's aunt and uncle and their family. We were joined by many of Michael's mother's family and had a lovely day. The house was warm and full of laughter and family. It was cold outside though! It snowed! The snow did not stick at all, but came down pretty thickly at one point. The little homewood suites was nice, but the kids had a hard time sleeping. Sam found it necessary to wake at 4:45AM both mornings. The next day we drove over to Ft. Worth for the Parade of Lights , and checked into the Marriott Blackstone. Martha and Clark came along and got a room next door. We got a great suite with a HUGE balcony on the 14th Floor. We bundled the children into every layer we had and put them in the stroller. We strolled through Sundance Square and visited the museum and enjoyed the sights. We had a beer in a pub and then joined the festivities in the square. They ...

Today my baby is one. This year has flown by. My little tiny baby has grown into a little boy with a sweet, spunky personality and a quick smile. I thought I'd write a little update about him at this point in his life as a way to remember. Please indulge me and I hope you enjoy. Sam's words so far are: mama dada dadih (davis) bye bye A Ball (always the A first, I don't know why) all done uh oh ah do ih (I do it) Ahhhheeeiii (more) He wakes at 6AM. Naps at 8:30 for an hour and a half. Naps again around 1 for an hour and goes to bed at about 6:30PM. He sleeps through the night. He still sleeps with a paci and his lovie. We've weaned as of today. (Sniff) He worships and adores Davis and follows him around and takes his abuse all day long. Sam isn't walking yet, but stands independently and has taken a few tentative steps. I think he's smart not to walk yet since everytime he stands up, Davis runs by and pushes him back down. He's the fastest crawler...

Shivering on the couch. Body aching. Fever heading up. Kids crawling all over me. This is my third sickness in a month. Send some feeling better vibes my way please. P.S. Did I mention I'm weaning? Add hormonally challenged to the list above. Love, Amber

We went to New Orleans on vacation this week. We had a pretty good time. We are lucky, because my parents have a two bedroom condo on St. Charles Avenue that they generously allowed us to share with them on this vacation. The condo is beautiful and the location is perfect. The kids were thrilled to spend a week with their grandparents. Daddy and Mommy took a backseat in their affections, but that was just fine. Travel is definitely harder with two kids, but still worth it. While in the thick of it, it sometimes seems stressful, but in retrospect, like all of life, the hard things fade into the background and the happy memories stay strong. We did a lot of really fun things. I jotted down our itinerary as we went and it went something like this: Day 1: Arrive, go to grocery store, go for a walk, see trolley car on tracks, cheer, get interviewed on the news , play charades and drink wine. Day 2: Eat breakfast at Bluebird, go to Zoo, eat lunch in French Quarter, go on carriage rid...

Michael's family is wonderful in many ways. One is that they come together at least every two years for a reunion. And get this- NOBODY misses. I mean it. Everyone shows if at all possible. This family also stays in touch at least weekly through a yahoo group. It is amazing. The reunion has a few non-negotiable events, but is always hosted by different family members in different locales. This year the reunion was at Camp Cho-Yeh in Livingston. The drive was REALLY long, especially with the kids, but they did pretty well. Davis had a wonderful time playing "find the tractor" since we passed one about every half-second. This reunion was really nice, since the camp was lovely and the rooms were so close to the dining hall and meeting room, that a baby monitor would work. That meant we had the freedom to roam about while the kids were napping. We also got to leave the kids with the grandparents for a couple of hours while we did some really fun team building games...

We had a nice Halloween. Michael and Marchelle both rushed from work to make it to our house in time for costumes and partying. They both arrived at about the same time. We all threw on our costumes. Davis was Thomas the Train and I was a train conductor. Sam was a pirate and Michael was Captain Feathersword from the Wiggles. Marchelle was the devil. Then we rushed out the door and ran three houses down the street to our friend Becky's house. She was having a little Halloween pizza party in her front lawn. All the neighborhood came and it was so much fun! The kids ran around and Davis sat down to the serious business of eating pizza. I think he ate three slices! After the pizza was demolished we lined the kids up on the rock wall and took their picture. Michael got to participate since he had on a costume. And then we went trick or treating. Davis had never been trick or treating before, but we had practiced earlier that afternoon at our own front door. He was so cute...