Faces of Finn

Green bean walrus


Typical "Watch me make a face" kid face


The Pop Star


The Pensive Rocker


Bonus: Video of us trying to get Lucy to dance on film, which Finn takes as an opportunity to have some kind of dance seizure.

Had I Known How Long It Takes To Upload Video, I Would Have Just Written A Real Post Instead

I have all kinds of fodder for new blog posts (a trouble-making Finn, a speeding ticket, yet ANOTHER stomach bug for Lucy, our very first ER visit with one of the kids, various other heart-attack inducing injuries - all of which occurred in just this past week), but no time to write them. Work is quite soundly kicking my ass right now, and I don't foresee a break from it any time soon. So instead, I shall just post some pictures in yet another cop-out post.

Lucy during a nebulizer treatment, with which we are thankfully done.

Lucy concentrating on her favorite activity - grabbing at the cat

Balloon-head Finn

What a smile!

Modeling new swim clothes, ready for summer (aren't we all?)

Finn in his pirate shirt

Perhaps you can make out one of the above-referenced injuries in this photo - Lucy took a header down the only two hardwood steps we have in the house. Perhaps you can also see that gate that was put up to prevent it from happening again... Geez, you'd think this was our first time doing this parenting thing.

Another view of the head injury, and a picture of the new crawling skills

In the last day or so, Lucy has developed a new "thing" that was funny/cute at first, but is quickly becoming annoying. I like to call it the "laugh-cry." She seems to do it whenever she's tired or frustrated or happy or hungry (so, always). Enjoy the new soundtrack to our lives:


Another quick video for you with a few seconds of Lucy crawling and rolling around:

Skintastic

I had to run out today to CVS to pick up a couple of things, and as I strolled the aisles and browsed to out-of-date music (Whitney Houston - sigh, what a waste of a voice...), I was brought back to memories of high school and college vacations. Given a lack of things to do other than congregate in someone's basement and watch movies (because God forbid we drive 20 whole miles to Boston to find something ACTUALLY INTERESTING to do), we often found ourselves roaming the fluorescently-lit shelves, helping each other pick out hair dye or nail polish, buying the latest People magazine, picking out the perfect "I'm bored" snack. Hm, can you tell that I didn't do a whole lot of dating in high school? Anyway, for some reason, CVS was our go-to place to find entertainment when we were bored. And on this beautiful Friday, with no real ambition to hurry back to my office, I lingered a bit longer than I had to. Because really, how long could it take to find the diaper rash cream section and grab the Triple paste (hint, it's near the diapers)?

To stretch out my errand a bit longer, I perused the skincare aisle. More for window shopping purposes than with the actual intention of buying anything. I've been thinking about switching up my skincare regimen for some time now. I've been using Proactive for about 2 years or so, but I'm not crazy about receiving a shipment of products every 3 months in the mail - I usually don't end up using it all. Probably because I never use the astringent, and I'm not very good about using the other two products regularly. Plus, my skin is still on the oily side and definitely not flawless in the acne department (see above re: failure to keep up the routine). Anywho, the whole system is based on using products with benzoyl peroxide, and it has occurred to me that I could skip the $45 cost of the Proactive kit, and find some similar, cheaper products at the drug store.

In addition, my vanity is rearing has been rearing its ugly head. Contrary to my intentions, the whole "fitness and dieting" plan is not going well. Mostly because I have not been doing it. Oops. So I've been feeling a bit slumpy/saggy lately. Leading to more intense "Do I look old? Ugly?" pondering sessions in front of the mirror (hey, I'm not proud of this, I acknowledge it's ridiculous). And while I may have a less-than traditional nose, a slightly (M., don't you dare suggest it's anything more than slightly) double chin, and less than perfect skin, I have always been able to rely on my eyes and my smile, two things I could count on to come through for me in the looks department. But alas, they are, in a combined effort, betraying me now. For what may have started out as an ever-so-slight, adorable little crease by my eyes when I smile, has become a full-fledged set of crows eyes. FULL-FLEDGED, people. Ants could build nests in the crevasses, burros could take groups of fanny-packing families on tours into the gorges of my eye skin.

I'm only 32, people, I've got many decades yet to see just how deep these suckers can grow. OR, I can try to stem the rising tides, so to speak. Which may involve never smiling again - which, curses! It's my go-to expression whenever I don't know what to say. Or, I could use some eye cream. Yes, much better solution.

So, there I was, perusing the skincare aisle at CVS. Little did I know that you now need a Ph.D. in Chemistry to shop there. Apparently one in Biology is not good enough. I can handle the collagen, the basic vitamins, soy, retinol, heck, I've even heard of Hyaluronic Acid (by the way, I love that Wikipedia refers to it as a "goo" molecule - makes me think of those sitcom-style heavy green masks). But what the hell is celluzyme? And I KNOW what an oligopeptide is, but I don't know what the hell you've put in your scrub when you tell me it's an ingredient. I mean, if you restrict yourself to the standared 22 amino acids, there's probably only eleventy-billion possible oligopeptides out there, so I guess I'm the idiot, right? What kind of marketing technique is this, anyway? Who decided that listing a bunch of science-y sounding words on lotion bottles was the way to go? I can just imagine the product development and marketing meetings: Ooh, we've got them this time, a 12-syllable word AND it ends in -inositol. Score!

Clearly, I have no idea what I am doing anymore when it comes to skincare. So I put it out to you, my dear readers. What do you use that you like? Looking for tips on cleanser, acne control, every-day lotion, eye-wrinkle-prevention cream, whatever you've got. The less they break the bank, the better. Help this poor, aging hag before she actually looks like one!

An Ode to Goggles

He wears them in the tub, shower and pool;
He won't take them off for dinner, he's stubborn as a mule;
I do believe if I let him, he'd wear them every day to school.