Motherhood Uncensored

Remember the time I read my post in front of thousands of people and started bawling? Well, now there's video of it!

It's one of my favorite posts and thus worth the embarrassment of the public ugly cry.

The Littles

This week, my husband took the older two kids on a whirlwind tour of Philly and the Jersey Shore while I stayed put with the littler two.

Since he had the help of his parents and my mom, and well, I had our sitter for a couple of days and um, just two little kids, we've both basically been on vacation.

I have to chuckle that I actually think two kids is a break, but it is. It's really one step below a week at the spa.

With the two of them, there's no fighting whatsoever. There are simultaneous naps where the house is completely quiet for two straight hours.

No cooking. Very little cleaning. And no guilt about a couple of television shows while I get a little work done.

It's magical.

I realize that having all the kids together means they do occupy each other. And in some cases, I do a little less with the older kids are around because I put them to work.

It's the first time in a long time that I actually emptied the dishwasher.

But I don't care how great it is to have all the kids together to keep the others entertained, there is something about the quiet and simplicity of the two that I've appreciated.

It's also amazing how much they miss each other, clamoring to talk to each other (and not me) when they talk on the phone.

"I want to go to the playgwound wif evweyone, Mom" Margot told me. She then listed off all the members of the family, in case I had forgotten. 

It's all she knows.

And as much as I appreciate the bit of respite this week, I feel the same exact way.

Just ask me how I feel tomorrow afternoon when the hurricane arrives.

And I'm not talking about Irene.

Bridget - 10 months-ish

The black leather shorts

It's rare that I need to dress up for anything these days. Save my annual pilgrimage to the BlogHer conference and a work trip here and there, my days and nights are spent in comfortable clothes, sometimes the same ones.

But last week, I had a work event, a party in NYC actually.

I've collected a few go-to pieces in my closet, dresses I know that fit me well, and worn so rarely that they're practically new. And I've certainly got no shortage of shoes, many of which I've only donned once or twice.

A homeschooling mom of four who works from home doesn't generally have much need for five-inch heels.

However, my 20-minute-a-day body project had been going well, I'd lost my last five-ish pounds of baby weight, and well, I felt good. So good, in fact, that I decided to break in my post-theft credit card with a few purchases.

I even called Bank of America beforehand to warn them.

After perusing through more of the same dresses, I decided that maybe I'd wear a pair of shorts, leather shorts to be exact, inspired by new found blog crush Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Let's be honest here. I'm 35. I have 4 kids. The chances of getting to wear leather shorts anywhere are pretty fleeting.

And so I took the plunge.

My legs aren't exactly strangers to being shown off, but that was many years ago, when I was young and daring, and hadn't had the weight of four pregnancies and four slingworn babies on them.

But I wore them nonetheless, with a little extra self-tanner, a fabulous pair of high heels and a slightly red lip, hoping they'd help mask the sudden burning unsuredness of my decision.

And it worked.

So did the wine.

Perhaps you won't be leaving your house in a pair of black leather shorts anytime soon. I'm not sure when I will be either.

But I think every mom needs something, even just one item, that makes them feel just like I did every time she puts it on.

No matter your size, your age, your number of kids, find your black leather shorts. A sexy bra, a new pair of underwear, that pair of heels you keep telling yourself you have no good excuse to purchase.

Then give yourself a reason to wear them. Even if it's just around your house.

Because that feeling.

Well, let me just say, it's damn good.

[Photo by Cecily]

I went to BlogHer and all I got was a stolen wallet

I'd be remiss to let this year's BlogHer experience (which was amazingly fabulously awesome) go by without some sort of acknowledgment, mostly because it's actually the second year I had something stolen.

In 2008, the hotel staff took a couple of items out of ridiculous boxes of swag I had packaged to ship.

And this year, somebody swiped my wallet in the Expo Hall.

When I first discovered that my wallet was missing on Friday afternoon, I thought I had lost it. I searched everywhere, sent out my requests to Twitter, and hoped that it was my extremely fried brain.

I mean, who steals wallets at BlogHer? And from someone who always had her bag on her shoulder or sitting right next to me?

Besides, just last week I tore the house apart looking for a check that had actually not yet arrived. So it wasn't too farfetched for me to think that I had somehow bent over in a such a way that my gigantic wallet would have fallen out and I wouldn't have noticed.

But then on Saturday morning, after going to Twitter yet again, a few people tweeted that their wallets had been stolen and that they had been found in the trash.

And then I found out that a bunch of BlogHer volunteers had their wallets stolen on Thursday night but were also found in the trash by a vigilant housekeeper. 

It wasn't until a few more people had their wallets stolen on Saturday that it seemed like any action was taken. Security seemed confused, like they hadn't heard that about 10 + people had their wallets stolen.

And no one from BlogHer had any idea at all.

On the bright side, it was clear that the thief was only looking for cash (which I had very little of, if any in my wallet) and was tossing the wallets in the trash. And I was at a conference with generous friends and a slew of sponsors who were more than willing to help.

But on the down side, a simple announcement on Friday morning at the opening keynote, along with individual announcements in the sessions might have saved about 15 to 20 people from heartache.

How about an announcement in the Expo Hall itself?

I'm appreciative that in this case it was completely an inconvenience, especially for someone who has an out of state license and needs to go through a rigamarole just to get a new one here in Georgia (or take the written test again, which I really don't want to do).

And aside from the ridiculous questions I was asked by TSA to get on the plane, I'm happy that my entire bag wasn't taken.

But here are the lessons I have learned:

1. Report it right away! I'm guessing that someone would have been able to scour the trash and find it had I just said something to security rather than contact lost and found. 

2. On that note, if you have a wallet stolen, report it - not just to security but to the conference organizers so that they can take appropriate action.

3. Separate your ID/Credit Cards out, leaving some in your hotel safe and then some with you. Fortunately, when I travel, I bring the bare minimum with me, so my wallet only had my ID and a few credit cards that were easy to stop.

4. For all the times to use social media, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN IT. Why weren't people tweeting this out? We're so quick to jump on the backs of brands, hashtag whatever freaking Twitter party, but when a bunch of people at a blogging conference have their wallets stolen, nobody says a word.

5. Don't just assume it's you. I think that this is the most frustrating part of it all - that I spent the better part of Friday thinking that it was dumb old me who had lost my wallet. I do like to see the positive in people, but if it's something like a wallet, I'd say assume the worst and then apologize later.

The best of part of all this is that it happened at BlogHer, so while I had no credit cards and no ID, I could still gorge myself on gigantic unicorn cakes, shake my ass like there's no tomorrow, and spend time with some of my most favorite people ever.