my thoughts exactly

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” Sophia Loren

thanks for lunch, dad

my dad came and took me to lunch today. lucky me! it seems that no matter my age i'm still in awe of my parents. don't get me wrong - i'm well aware of who they are - yet it's my knowledge of who my dad is and our years together that makes me so proud to be with him. everyone knows dave has a charismatic smile. everyone knows he has a dapper wardrobe. everyone knows he says the right things (most the time :). but here's what everyone might not know about dave meshulam. he has a huge heart. he is thoughtful. he is a fantastic dad and grandpa. he is wordly. smart. kind. i feel proud to know him and i feel proud that he's my dad. i also see so much of myself in him. physically we look alike. we have the same smile. hands. curls (or atleast we did). but i also notice that the way we take in information and interact with those around us is very similar. here's what i hope. i hope that ethan will accept us for who we are and love us despite our faults. most of all i hope that at 35 he will have an opportunity to have lunch with us and realize that our years together have made for a strong, impactful and fulfilling relationship...not just as child and parent but as friends, too. i love you dad.

bring your baby to work day

today was "bring your kid to work day" or in my case "bring your baby to work day". it was fun. ethan came in, explored my office, ate breakfast, went downstairs to meet the other kids, came upstairs, went into his stroller and cried himself to sleep. he then slept while i worked for about an hour and a half. it was perfect. working with ethan within my line of vision. it's my dream. today it came true.

monkey was by far the youngest kid at edelman today. there are a lot of edel-kids around his age but ethan was the only one that made it to this special day. why? because of one person...my mom. she came to get him around 11:30 so that i could concentrate and finish up my work day. without her i couldn't make these type of events happen. not when i live 45 minutes from the office.

truly, my mom is amazing. when i need her, she's there. she is my rock, my cheerleader and my guide for what a good mom looks like. she helps with ethan so much and is always willing to provide support to us when we need it. she's just as giving to others, too. i truly believe everyone deserves a lee ann in their life.

our life works because of our village. i'm so happy we have so much support...but today i'm grateful for my mom. thank you mom for helping us make our life work so well. forever. tonopah.

norma desmond

barry and i went to a screening of sunset boulevard tonight for a friend's birthday. such fun. norma desmond is a classic character. so dramatic and over the top. there truly is a little (or a lot) of norma desmond in all of us. this weekend was a bit more norma desmond than others...dramatic, that is. barry and i had the pleasure of spending time with all the westlake guys (and pete and peach) on friday night. impromptu dinner parties are good for the soul. saturday after having a lazy day we headed to mom and marty's to take care of the new puppy (ashton kucher). he is a love. he was so low maintenance but the 24 hours we spent with him was not. our sweet delish little monkey puked, pooped and peed on us several times. it was dramatic, stinky and just all around nasty. however i wouldn't change the drama that comes along with parenthood (or marriage) for anything in the world. i'll cherish the norma desmond moments because that's what makes life worth living (and blogging).

on another note, happy 1.1 years today to ethan lawrence. mommy loves you.

don't tell me nothing

i have nothing interesting to say today. i don't really understand blog etiquette - do i have to write something every few days for it to be considered a real blog? i'll just say this - the sun is shining, my baby is napping, my barry is resting on the couch. more when i have something real to say.

trusting my gut

so last night after ethan gagged up turkey meatball all over me and cried hysterically when i made him shower with me, i noticed that the rash on his belly had spread. barry never thinks we should worry about anything. me on the other hand...i take ethan to open office hours whenever something is wrong. i'm no doctor and would rather be safe than sorry. someone once said that our co-pays are for peace of mind. i agree. so, this morning i got ready, woke ethan (why does he always chose to sleep in on the days when we can't), gave him a bottle (yes, he's still on a bottle) and took him in. i love boulevard pediatrics and enjoyed the visit with dr. jj. turns out ethan just has a heat rash. no biggie. we also found out that the porker weighs 21.9 lbs. amazing how far he has come from 4.11 at birth. dr. jj did call in a prescription for me so i ran to ralph's pharmacy, picked up his some groceries, ran home, dropped off the baby with silvia, conducted two conference calls from the car and got in to work for an all day meeting...all by 10am. on my way to work i was struck with news that a friend is battling something significant. i was talking to our mutual friends about it this morning and the conversation turned to the BRCA1 gene and what we would do if we found out we (g-d forbid) had it. would we chose a masectomy. truthfully, i have no idea what i'd do. it got me thinking about the decisions we as moms have to make to protect ourselves and our family. little things like whether or not to ignore a simple rash, whether to listen to a doctor when they say that at 33 weeks pregnant it's just a cyst or whether to make a personal body altering decision that could save your life. all i know is that being a mom is full of decisions - sometimes i make the right one and sometimes i don't...but i will NEVER ignore my gut.

i'm blogging.

well. i'm doing it. i'm blogging. i have so much to say and figure that my friends, family and co-workers would prefer that i blog rather than talk incessantly throughout the day. so, a bit about me and this blog. i'm a mom. i'm a wife. i'm a daughter. i'm a sister. i'm an aunt, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend. i'm also a VP at the best PR firm. i prefer to use all lowercase in my writing and i sometimes attempt at using big words when i shouldn't. i'm madly in love with my son and my husband. i'm a working mom 99% of the time unless something big happens with ethan and then i'm just a mom. i truly love life. i post all my pictures to smugmug and use facebook a lot. i don't expect that people will care but i wanted a place to share my opinions, thoughts and feelings about the world around me.