Pie + Cake = Awesome

*Pictures by Maura Roberts Photography and Waring Studios

PYHO: Struggling

I work. I have to work. I know I've talked about it before, but lately...lately it's gotten worse. I leave the house and work, 5 days a week. 5 full work days. Add to that my nearly 2 hour round-trip commute and I'm gone for the majority of Pie's day. If I'm lucky I get home for dinner, a little play and bed. But, god forbid, I have to stop on my way home and do anything crazy like get gas or run into the store, then I get home in time for bed. It sucks. Hard.

As Pie gets older, it is getting even harder. When she was a baby, I missed her and she was mostly a lump-o-baby. Now I miss her, and she misses me back (sometimes). She wants me (sometimes). She knows I'm gone and she's not happy about it. And depending on how unhappy she is about it, she punishes me. She wants to make sure I know she doesn't like it. Believe me baby, I don't like it either.

At this age she is changing so much, learning so much. And I'm missing it. I missing it for a job that I'm not passionate about. But I am missing it to keep a roof over her head. It's a necessary evil, but that doesn't make it hurt less. I don't know how many more days I can cry in the car, the bathroom, my office because my heart breaks every single time I have to leave her.

Phone it in

Still struggling to catch up after the whirlwind of Christmas and Pie's birthday, so I'm going to do this book meme I came across...

“They had a son, John, in the traditional manner, and they thought their family held just about a full hand when they heard about a bright fourteen-year-old girl named Beatrice who had passed through group and foster homes and was currently bedeviling a nice older foster mother in Jackson, Georgia, who didn't quite know what to do with her.”

in Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other (In Praise of Adoption) by Scott Simon


And here are the directions:
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open it to page 56.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
5) Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

A Quick Preview

Pie's birthday party was yesterday and I'm beat! So here's a quick look to hold you over.

Her AMAZING smash cake, as well as the cupcakes and cookies, are from Kuppy Kakes by Kristin. So yummy!! She has a bunch of great pictures of all the tasty treats she made for Pie. Check it out. So great!

And as a bonus, I actually got to meet Kristin!! Her adorable husband joked, "wow you bloggy people really do exist." We do and it was so fun to meet in real life. I just wish we'd had time to hang out a bit.

More on the party later, but it was a blast!

TRDC - Pantry Raid

The Assingment:
What's in your pantry?

No. Really. What's in there?

For this week's prompt, grab something out of your pantry and write a short piece - using all the words in the ingredients. It can be fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose.

No fair choosing a bottle of Aquafina or a potato.

The Result:
Tara was really nervous about her date on Saturday night. She had so much to do to get ready. In the middle of winter she was as pale as it got. She was Casper, snow, enriched bleached flour. Should she get a spray tan? Could she pull it off? Ummm, no. She really should just accept that she would never be tan, naturally or otherwise.

She also needed to get her eyebrows done, get some new lip gloss and figure out what to wear. More importantly, she needed to stop obsessing about who her date was. It was, dare she admit it, a blind date. Beyond that, all that she knew was that he was outdoorsy, over 6 feet tall, employed, never married, no kids and southern. If the rest was true, she could forgive the southern part.

He was late. Strike one. Tara had been sitting at the restaurant for 15 minutes already, nervously devouring bread sticks. She knew it was a bad choice. She could feel them leavening, softening, her ass as she shoved one after another into her mouth. But she couldn't seem to stop. Carbs were her friends in times of need. No matter how good the bread sticks were, this dude had 5 more minutes and then she was gone.

Just as she was gathering her things and giving the bread sticks one last, longing look, he approached. Outdoorsy, check. Over 6 feet, check. So far, this was pretty good. Well, other than the whole almost 20 minutes late part. She would give him the benefit of the doubt and wait for his explanation on that one.

And then he spoke. "Tay-ruh? Is that you?" Startled, Tara reached to shake his hand. "Nuh-uh honey, we say hello with a little sugar." He must have noticed the confusion on her face. "Sugar...glucose...dextrose? Darlin' I mean a kiss." Strike two. Though she didn't pull away, Tara certainly wasn't a willing participant in the "sugar" giving.

He sat down and begin trying some small talk, half of which Tara missed completely because his accent was so thick. And that's when things went south. If you will. He picked up the menu and a metallic glint caught Tara's eye. It was a wedding ring. At least it was a plain, gold band on his left, ring finger.

He noticed Tara looking at it and said, "Oh right, mah wife and me are on a little break. It's cool though. She's cool with me being out." Strike three. Thankfully the waiter chose that moment to appear and ask what they'd like to drink. Tara couldn't get her order out fast enough. "Lots and lots of tequila, and don't forget the limes and salt."

**********

Here's my pantry item...beer bread mix. Yum.

I am beyond honored...

Production, Not Reproduction is an amazing blog. It is so many things, not least of all an unbelievable source of support and information for people involved in open adoption. For all the people involved, first families, adoptive families and the adoptees themselves.

PNR has started a series of open adoption interviews and I happen to be the first one. Crazy, right? So if you have a second go check it out, then stick around and check out the rest of PNR. I promise you won't be sorry!

Pie Turns 1!!!

My Darling Girl,

Today is your first birthday. It's also the anniversary of when Dada and I finally met you. We had seen you from afar before, but had never gotten too close.

Thinking about that day still makes my tummy drop. Your birthmom allowed me to be in the room when you were born. Seeing a baby born is the most amazing experience. Seeing your daughter be born is something without words. I took about a million pictures and then ran down the hall to get Dada.
There was some shuffling around and lots more picture taking and then the three of us were taken to our own room. There was a moment after the nurses had left when it was just you, me and Dada. He and I looked at each other over your sleeping, swaddled body and I had never felt so much love. Love for Dada, love for you, love for the family that had been created.

At that moment I thought it wouldn't be possible for me to love you more. But sweet girl? I do. I love you more than I thought was possible. Every single day you do something to amaze, entertain and enrapture me. You are the greatest thing ever.

On your first birthday, you have 5 teeth and 3 more trying to poke through, around 10 solid words, with a few more thrown in every once in awhile for fun. You run every where you go. You clap, give high fives, give squeezes (hugs) and kisses, make the okay sign, pat the beat of music playing on your legs or tummy, dance to everything, wave bye-bye, fake laugh, cough and sneeze and holy cow do you make your Dada and I laugh.

You are the sweetest, smartest, most beautiful girl inside and out that I have ever had the honor of knowing. I am the luckiest girl in the world that I get to be your mama.I love you sweet Pie. Happy birthday.

xoxoxo,

Mama