~~damn you elevator scene!! Bailey rocked it the entire episode. married 10 years and not even getting to finish her lobster. she's my hero.

~~i take issue with the salmon colored scrubs as well!!

~~does anyone else prefer Meredith when she's drunk. i thought she was great last night. "Did I say pick me"?

~~i actually wasn't all that bothered by cellphone lady kicking it. she bugged the hell out of me with her "some redneck tried to outrun the train..."

~~i thought it was funny that the 'newborn' babies were bigger than Isabella.

~~Satan's Whore..i like that! is it bad of me to want Derek to be punished and not end up with either one of them??? i've been rooting for Meredith the whole time, but now i'm kind of thinking that Derek is an ass. a hot ass. but, an ass just the same. he said to Meredith, "she's my wife." but he wasn't exactly thinking that when he was sleeping with Meredith...was he? my heart hurts for Meredith.

the boy got the spotlight for the first time in his life yesterday at his third birthday party. when he turned one, we made him a party, but he didn't exactly know what was going on, so of course, the girl managed to take the spotlight. when he turned 2, we didn't even make him a party, so he didn't get the spotlight then.

but yesterday.....yesterday was all about Joshie. and he soaked it all up.

right before his pajama party began. he chose superman over his batman and spiderman pajamas:




making door hangers for their rooms:


mmmm....spiderman cake....


reaping the rewards of turning 3:

look at what Sharon and I did tonight! we aren't finished yet (i promise to post the finished products) - we still have to do the stitching around all the felt and the blanket stitching around the edges, but we are both pretty damn proud of ourselves.

i don't know if you can tell in the picture, but these are mary jane socks. i'm obsessed with them. my friend sharon told me about them (so she gets the credit!).

before:



after:

yes...that's N, as in Newfoundland. it's awesome. they air Grey's Anatomy at 7 pm, so i don't have to wait until 9 to get my Grey's fix. it's the little things in life that make me happy.

my goodness...this show just keeps getting better and better.

everyone on this show rocks my socks. seriously. Cristina (Naughty Nurse). love her. Burke ("You just flew solo!". love him. George (erection and all..) love him. Meredith ("Pick Me! Love me!". McDreamy (11 years of everything..). Izzy ("Rock On!"). Bailey ("Porn as pain management?"). love them all.

loved the scene with Meredith and her mother.
loved the scene with George and Izzy and Meredith all in bed together. "Shh! Sleep."
loved seeing Bailey in a dress. i want to be her. snarky and smart and caring and taking shit from no one.
love the "OK we're a couple; don't make a big deal out of it".

i love love love it.
have i mentioned that i love this show???

this was an actual conversation.

"Joshua, get your hands out of your pants!"
"Mommy, my penis has a bone!"

oy. no more boys for me please.

i removed the photos. i got this email yesterday:

Re: Britney Spears and Kevin Federline/Unauthorized Photographs
Our File No.: 3265-26
Dear Sir/Madam:
We are litigation counsel to Britney Spears, Kevin Federline and their infant son. We have become aware that certain photos of Ms. Spears, Mr. Federline and their newborn son which were recently taken in a private photo shoot and which were stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained (the “Photos”) have been posted on the following websites, http://celebdish.blogspot.com, http://voxfx.blogspot.com, http://alimartell.blogspot.com, http://salaciousgossip.blogspot.com (the “Websites”) at the URL addresses “http://celebdish.blogspot.com/2005/10/one-smart-baby.html, http://voxfx.blogspot.com/2005/10britney-spears-new-baby-pictures.html, http://alimartell.blogspot.com/2005/10/small-look-at-sean-preston-federline.html, http://salaciousgossip.blogspot.com/2005/10/little-sean-preston-federline.html.”
Be advised that the publication and display of any of the Photos constitutes, among other things, a willful infringement of the copyright in the Photos owned by Ms. Spears’ company, Britney Brands, Inc., a wrongful conversion of the images, a malicious invasion and violation of the right of privacy of Ms. Spears, Mr. Federline and their son, and an unauthorized commercial exploitation of my clients’ respective names and likenesses without consent in violation of their statutory and common law right of publicity. Such infringing conduct exposes you and all those acting in concert with you to liability and substantial compensatory and punitive damages, including but not limited to, the damages suffered by my clients and any profits which you or others derive from the commercial use of the Photos, or, alternatively, statutory “in lieu” damages of up to $150,000 for each copyright infringement.
We demand the immediate removal of the Photos from the Website. Demand is further made as follows:
1. That you immediately cease and desist from any further copying, displaying, distribution, sale, licensing, or other commercial exploitation of any of the Photos.
2. That you immediately inform us as to the identity of the person or persons from whom you obtained the Photos and/or who told you that you could use or exploit the Photos, and the circumstances under which you obtained them.
3. That you provide the name and contact information for each of the persons or entities to whom the Photos have been transmitted, sold or otherwise disseminated.
4. That if you have in your possession, custody or control any of the Photos, and/or the negatives or slides, that you agree to deliver them to us.
5. That you render a full accounting to us of each and every transaction that you and/or any of your agents have entered into concerning the sale or license of any of the Photos or any other related transactions, and an accounting of all monies paid or agreed to be paid to you as a result of each such sale, license or other transaction.
You will be well advised to comply with these demands immediately and to inform us in writing of your agreement to do so.
This letter does not purport to constitute a complete or exhaustive statement of all of my clients’ rights, contentions or legal theories. Nothing contained herein is intended as, nor should it be deemed to constitute, a waiver or relinquishment of any of my clients’ rights or remedies, whether legal or equitable, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.
This is a confidential legal notice and may not be published or disseminated in whole or in part.
Sincerely,
-S-
JOHN H. LAVELY, JR.

i don't know if it's true or not....but i don't care enough to get sued over it.

"Men are like snowstorms. You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get, or how long it will last."

i'm wearing jeans and they fit
and i'm wearing a belt

i've said goodbye to the nursing bras

yeah...i'm hot again. bwah!

but, y'all, it just doesn't get much cuter than this!!

today i felt like i was trapped in a really bad excedrin commercial.

when i drove the girls (Emily and Adina) to ballet, they were so loud. they weren't fighting or anything. just really loud and screechy, like most girls are. And with the headache i had, every time they opened their mouths, i thought the car ride would NEVER end.

i kept trying to tell them to keep their voices down, and that they were sitting right next to each other and didn't need to scream, and that Isabella was sleeping in the car and i didn't want them to wake her. but, naturally, they were still loud. i think they were just giddy to see each other.

but i was more giddy to leave them at ballet and have a peaceful, quiet drive home :)

amazing race bunch of crap:

the mooning MAY have been funny, had their dad not been in the car. ew.

Lake Ponchartrain is one of the 5 Great Lakes??? Sheesh, the Weavers are DUM.

what's wrong with this show?? well, for starters the tasks were beyond stupid – the office chair, the party bike, the pulse pounding excitement of the trailer park task, the BP gas station, the mystery of the Pelican state, the sawing, the gambling. Really I need a sedative from the excitement, I haven't seen anything this exciting since they got gas at a rest stop in New Jersey.

and Phil needs to burn those white pants. now.

because they are so damn funny

i spoke too soon.

i ran to take a shower when the husband walked in this afternoon. i hadn't taken into account that baby bella was getting 2 shots today and that all three kids were home, the combination of which made it almost impossible for me or for my nanny to get anything done.

so, i forgot to tell someone to take the challahs out. and they burned.

cripes.

i don't have a stomach as flat as Miss Britney's (and btw i'm totally going with the tummy tuck theory...) but....the pants i am wearing right now are a size 2. oh yes, they are. woohoo! i have exactly 8 pounds to go, folks. 8 pounds.

and she's only 2 months old.

i'll give you a hint....he made the "truffle shuffle" famous :)

where credit is due.

Britney Spears, one month post-partum, looks AMAZING.







damn her!

so, for yet another holiday i'm having yet another shitload of company.
don't get me wrong. this is how i wanted it.
but this time i didn't start preparing in advance, so i'm swamped with cooking.
last night i made 7.5 pounds of meatballs. it took over an hour just to roll the darn things. crazy. and i made really awesome chicken.

today i was making potato leek soup. only problem was that once it was completely done...cooked, pureed, etc. i went to pour in the pepper and the top came off and about a cup of pepper went into the soup. i quickly tried to save it by skimming the pepper off the top as quickly as possible, but it all sank into the soup. my soup is a goner. crap.

now i must decide whether to make another soup, or let it go, and manage without soup at my meal. sensible Ali would chose the latter, but jewish mother Ali would make another soup. maybe i'll wait until tomorrow and see how much time i have. crap. crap. crap. crap. crap. i'm so annoyed.

well, i'm off to start the squash. wish me luck.

one song i like....

first i heard it in A Cinderella Story. no, scratch that...i hear it daily in A Cinderella Story. and then i heard it in The Butterfly Effect. so, i checked out both their soundtracks and found the song.

Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World.

so, i've begun listening to more of their music. and i love them. and they have a blog. so, now, naturally, i love them even more.

oh my goodness.
tonight, my almost three year old son, who thinks he's Batman (except for the times when he thinks he's Spiderman or Superman), peed on my 4 1/2 year old daughter.

yes, you read that right.
peed on her.
pulled his pants down and just peed, right on her shirt.

i didn't even know how to respond. my first instinct was to laugh, but, of course, no good mother laughs at something like this. so, i put him on the steps and i took away one of his precious blankets. i didn't know what else to do. i tried asking him why he did it, but he was just smiling at himself....he was obviously proud and didn't feel one ounce of remorse.

it was really the first time i was at a complete loss and had to wait until the husband showed up to take control. he didn't really know what to do either. it's not like there's a book that tells you what to do when your son pees on your daughter...

~~not the pretty!!! come on, people, he might like to talk about himself...a lot...but he's sooo gosh darn pretty to look at. much prettier than Brian, who is currently looking like a white man's Will Smith (i can't take credit for that...that was the husband's contribution)

~~Stephenie needs to shut the fuck up. now. she's way overrated this season.

~~Lydia and her spastic pancake dance. made me pee my pants.

~~I love Amy. and i adore her accent. "bawby jawn" - kills me! i hope she doesn't die next week. and i can't wait to see the showdown between Jamie and Bobby J. should be a good one!

~~"Do y'all wanna finish?" oh Jamie. oh poor, poor Jamie. Beaten by a farmer. and beaten badly.

for Mommy-kind.

Leap #1 - for the past two nights Isabella has slept in her own crib. woohoo! i never thought i'd see the day. my mom called to tell me how she read this whole article about how bad it is to have your baby sleeping with you. so, of course, since i will never let my mother give me parenting advice, i'd prove her wrong by having Isabella sleep in her crib. and she did. like a champ.

Leap #2 - Isabella took a bottle. on the first try! woohoo, once again! i was so nervous because too many of my friends had trouble giving their babies a bottle. so, i figured on a day that i'm fasting, when my milk is probably not at its best, i'd try. and she took it. like a champ.

yay!

i'm sorry, but there was nothing amazing about last night's amazing race. it was a cheap, cheap elimination. because it was first come, first serve, whoever was last had zero chance to catching up. Boo! i liked the aiellos.

free gas for life? greatest pit stop prize ever!

"A hangar is an airplane.""No, a hangar is what an airplane IS IN!""Are you sure?"

most bizarre Phil moment ever: "If you haven't noticed, gravity is currently pushing on me."

"She's a bitch" - Bwaahh!

Weavers are crazy. "We're being held prisoner on this bus!" What??? A little overdramatic, isn't she?

"Don't hug him, he's full of shrimp." Mama Paolo makes me laugh.

i think i've figured it out with my nanny.

she's a good nanny. she LOVES my kids. and she's good to them.
she's just not really all that sensible.

she throws things out that she shouldn't (like receipts etc.). she has a serious laundry problem (in that she doesn't treat stains and it takes her about 100 years to do 2 loads of laundry). and she cleans things that dont' need cleaning (such as joshie's sock drawers) and doesn't clean things that obviously need cleaning (such as my kitchen floors).

today she threw out emily's school picture order form. now, i know in the big picture of things, if i don't have a jk picture from her public afternoon school, it's not the biggest deal. but the girl will be upset. she'll be unhappy that the other kids all have order forms and she doesn't. and it's really the principle of the matter. why did she throw it out in the first place?

she felt very bad, though. so, i guess that's half the battle.

to catch Grey's Anatomy.

awesome episode. I think the ectopic pregnancy is an easy way out of Cristina having to deal with being pregnant...but that look on Burke's face when he saw it up on the board. it broke my heart.

and Bailey is rapidly becoming my favorite character on this show. she. is. awesome.

"Slutty Mistress" and "Pregnant Whore"..my goodness i LOVE this show!

Burke's "pimped out" remark to the Chief? had me rolling on the floor.

i'm back from my hiatus.
i hesitate to call it a vacation since Webster defines "vacation" as a period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation. and visiting my mother involves none of these three things.

i should have known early on that it was going to be a disaster, when, only an hour into our little excursion, i was so agitated that i was ready to turn around and go home. We spent an hour at ticketing because somehow Midwest screwed up and didn't charge us for the tickets. so, basically, the kids were fed up, i was fed up, and Isabella was hungry and we hadn't even made it through customs, security, gone on the little bus to take us to another terminal, or gotten on the plane yet.

we made it to milwaukee in one piece. and i survived the dreaded "whip the boob out in a public place and breastfeed" little adventure. the trick was to wear my jacket while i fed her so people walking by didn't even know i had a baby on my lap. i was still mighty uncomfortable.

my mother is menopausal, so her house is kept at a balmy, oh, i'd say negative temperature. we all froze. she kept trying to convince us that the heat was on, and went on at 65, but there was NO way any heat was on it that house.

on saturday night Emily came down with the fever. the 103.5 fever. and she had been complaining that her stomach hurt. we, the obvious medical experts that we are, diagnosed her with a UTI. we managed to get her through the night, and then on sunday morning, while the husband was golfing all day until 2:15, i took emily and isabella to the walk-in. she didn't want to pee into the "hat" as they called it, so we were there for 3 hours. and, drumroll please, she has a UTI. and she doesn't take medicine....so, i've been covered in vomit twice now. yay.

I didn't reallly buy much for myself. my mother and i did manage to make it to DSW for about 20 minutes and i managed to buy myself 3 pairs of shoes. the lack of time, and the fact that the husband made me feel super guilty about spending money, meant i came home with those three pairs of shoes and nothing else. oh, and 4 bottles of shower gel from bath and body works.

the kids did well, though. my mom had bought them TONS of new clothing. probably to make up for the fact that we came in for a few days and she worked both on friday and on monday...

~~Nicolas Cage is mentally unstable. naming his kid Kal-el?? poor, poor kid.

~~Lindsay Lohan gets into yet another accicent - her second in 6 months. what is wrong with these celebrities?? hmm...must have something to do with all the drugs and alcohol....

~~Jessica and Nick spilt. oh, wait, no they don't. no, no, i'm wrong. they do. make up your minds already.

~~Paris Hilton joins a long line of celebs who pee their pants...

~~The Shining is no longer a scary movie. this is hysterical!!

but there's a little TomKitty on the way.

i hate to be glib, but she better hope there's no post-partum depression in her future. :)
and i thought she was saving herself for marriage??!! guess Tom has no problem with liars.

last night, after 3 food-filled days of cooking and entertaining, i collapsed on the couch at about 9:30 (after i did pilates, mind you. go me. i was feeling skinny, but then after having a meal with Meira and Tova, who both had babies the same week as I, and are both completely back to their prepregnancy sizes, i began feeling fat again...).

anyway, i woke up to find that the husband had put a blanket on me.
it was just a small gesture.
but it made my day.

it was bound to happen. i should have known.
i gave the husband little to no sympathy when he was sick.
so, now that i'm sick,
he's not going to give me any!!!

it's typical me that before something big, i stress like a madwoman and then my body gives in and i get sick. so, i picked up this nasty untreatable (thanks to the nursing) cold combined with some nasty stomach thing.

skippy.

i'm so thankful that i started my cooking like, oh, 3 weeks ago. otherwise, i'd be much more stressed than i already am.
i guess i do it to myself. i tend to go overboard when i'm having company. but, the truth is, i have a nanny at home and i'm not working. this is the one time i have no excuses and should go all out.

i made homemade challah. overboard? not really. it's something a lot of people do.
but, i made it into napkin rings. overboard? probably.

i made chicken. overboard? hardly.
but, i made it in a pasty with mashed potatoes and pastrami inside. and i made over 30 of them. overboard? definitely. but, in my defense, they are AMAZING.

i made cabbage rolls. overboard? nope.
but, i made chicken, and chicken soup, and brisket, and about 50 salads and side dishes, and 7 (yes, 7 - chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, chocolate chip squares, brownies, peanut butter/choc. swirl brownies, white chocolate chip cookies, lemon squares, pecan pie bars!!) different desserts, and cabbage rolls. overboard? most certainly.

so, you can feel bad for me that i can't eat anything and that i can't swallow or go for 30 seconds without coughing my brains out. but, you don't have to feel THAT bad for me. after all, my husband doesn't :)