I feel so grateful for all the amazing, poignant words in response to my last post about Kristin K. and her family. I added a couple addendums and photos to the post.

As you can imagine, humor is not radiating through me these days. My heart feels broken for Kristin and her daughter, Julia. And I’m completely positive that my sadness has lead me to be a bit short tempered with my children and my husband. This, of course, is true irony because this is the moment I’m appreciating them the most.

Despite my crankiness, Dyan has been undeterred in her unintentional efforts to make me smile.

Like at 6:30 this morning when Dylan thrust these is my face….

While I slept, she apparently had done some digging in my drawers and found condoms.

Dylan: Mommy, open these! Open these! I want to open these.

Me: What? Dylan, it’s 6:30 am. It’s not wake-up time.

Dylan: Mommy, pleasssssssssssse. I want to open these.

Me (still delirious): Honey, we’ll open them later (Why would I possible say that? Oh my, I am so very very tired.). It’s not candy or a toy. They’re nothing. Please put them back in the drawer.

Dylan: What are they?

Me: Huh? (Are you not completely impressed by my sophisticated delay tactics?)

Dylan: What are they, mommy?

Me: A grown-up thing. For mommies and daddies. That’s all. Please get back in bed. We’ll open them later (Why do I keep saying that?!).

I stuffed the condoms back in the drawer and hope like hell that she sort of just forgets about it.

Kind of like the roller blades. Let me backtrack.

Whatever big sister Dylan can do, Summer can do too (or at least that’s Summer’s theory anyway).

If Dylan wears a winter hat on a 60 degree day, then Summer does too.

If Dylan “reads” the paper, Summer does too.

If Dylan climbs on a step stool to wash her hands, Summers barrels up there too.

So what were we thinking when we ordered one pair of barbie roller blades (courtesy of Nanny)?

Dylan thought the skates were pretty awesome and cool. Summer, naturally, thought they would be pretty awesome and cool… ON HER FEET.

No problem. We’re creative, savvy parents. We’ll figure this out.

How about we take turns? CRYING.

How about we pull out my roller blades? SCREAMING AND SOBBING.

Nothing worked. More tears. We gave up. We shoved the roller blades in a closet until we can come up with a Plan B. You street-smart parents with multiple kids… what exactly is… uh… plan b? Buy another pair of these discount skates for a 17 month-old? Seems sort of ridiculous.

While you’re mulling that over, let me tell you one other thing. If you ever have a babysitter for a few hours and need a new bathing suit, just don’t go looking, ok? Because let me tell you what they sell in these department stores….

Bikinis. Bikinis. Bikinis.

How about some cute, trendy one pieces? I mean, cut a 30-something mama an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikini break.

I finally found a few dinky racks of one pieces and next to me is this woman who looks about 104, combing through the very same suits. The very same suits. Ugh. Well, I had to kind of giggle about that. A little.

mama bird noes

Contributing mama Erin K. Butler is back with a beautiful piece about the moment your baby turns into a little girl or boy. Click here to read more.

Here are a couple recent pieces I wrote for New York City Moms Blog on marriage sex vs. television sex and a post office meltdown.

Know anybody having a girl? This week is your chance to win a fabulous girlie baby bundle including…

the must-have book for any new mom, “Mama Knows Breast,” a beginners guide to breastfeeding by Andi Silverman, an adorable Marie Chantal onesie from Posh Squeaks, too sweet, polka dot pediped shoes and teething bling from Smart Mom.

To enter, just leave a comment on the mama bird diaries this week and send a post to friend. We’ll have a baby boy giveaway next week!

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