crossrhodes

One of my friends asked my brother to take portraits of her daughter after she saw my brother’s photos on Facebook.  Since he was coming down to set up shop in my house, I asked our mutual friend to bring her daughter, too.  My brother took longer than expected to setup his background and lighting and the babies were getting antsy.  We thought the photo shoot was a bust but he caught a few great shots anyway.  (If you’re on my Facebook list, you must have seen them by now.)

Anyway, these are Layla’s “BFF”s =)  They were all born within weeks of each other, same month, same year.  At least 2 of them, if not all 3, were born in the same hospital.

I’m really glad I found moms my age with first borns of the same age, too.  That was not the case with James.  I was still in high school when James came into the world thousands of miles away on the other side.  Some of his friends’ parents were old enough to be my parents or at least a decade older than I.  We hardly had anything in common.  With Layla’s friends, their moms and I speak the same language… in Elmo’s voice =)

We were supposed to meet Don for dinner last night, but his evening got hectic and my cell phone suddenly crashed.  (I don’t know how people managed before the advent of wireless, but I was just not comfortable leaving home with the baby without a phone.)  Don is sort of away on a business trip.  He and his team are burning the midnight oil on a new government proposal.  Instead of commuting 3 hours a day round trip, coming home at midnight and leaving at the break of dawn everyday for the next 2 weeks, he towed the camper to a park near the office.  He’s not actually “camping” (or so he says *grin*); just using the bed and shower inside.  There’s no point of packing up Layla and I to join him since he’s in the office until the wee hours of the night anyway.  So, baby and mommy are flying solo for a while.

I’ve realized that I can totally do the single mom gig… if I did not have to work! LOL!  Of course, if I was a single mom, I wouldn’t be able to stay home with Layla.  So, even though we’re not spending more time with daddy than we’d like, I suppose it’s better for him to have more work than he can handle than to have no work at all.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to take out the trash and recycling which are usually Don’s chores.  But the recycling can had crickets and other unknown jumping critters all around and inside it.  Needless to say, the recycling can never made it to the curb.  I ran back inside the house as fast as I could! Sorry, honey, it just wasn’t meant to be… the bugs and me! =)

{To my youngest fan who frequents my blog as a “favorite” on his Nintendo DSi: Hi, Ethan!}

After my cousin’s baby shower, I took a quick drive around my hometown.  It was quite disorienting and it’s only been 10 years since I left.  Even the corner of my street changed so much that I missed the turn.  There is now a traffic light and a large, modern middle school across the street where there used to be woods.  Behind the school is a luxury home development.  When I drove by our old house, the residents and kids were playing in the front yard.  I wanted to stop and ask if I could take a picture of Layla at the front door of the house where I used to live.  I wonder how I would react if someone did that to me.

A late night followed while we waited for my brother to come home from his mission trip to the Philippines.  Layla was such a trooper!  At 11:00, she was still running around and playing with her cousins.  My 8 y/o nephew was surfing crossrhodes.com on the tiny screen on his Nintendo DSi.  He was so proud to show me bookmarked in his favorites =)  Auntie is sooo flattered!

Anyway, we got home past midnight and crashed!  Full day of family and mixed feelings of my hometown.

I hate going away and coming back to a messy house, but there never seems to be enough time to tidy up on your way out.  The night I returned home from camping, I cleaned the bedroom and changed the linens before crashing in bed.  Today, I spent the majority of the day cleaning downstairs.  Layla cooperated and napped twice, allowing me to tackle the upstairs bathroom and squeeze in a shower at the same time.

In the evening, Lolo and Lola (my parents) came over to visit with Layla.  We had fried tilapia, fried chicken livers, and collard greens for dinner from my favorite fish monger.  I’d say that was a sweet (rather, salty) ending to a productive day.  As an added bonus, Layla fell asleep before 10pm!  Hooray!  I have time to read in bed!

According to my photo archive, I have been regularly making cards for my family since 2004.  I can’t believe it’s been 5 years (plus 5 more kids added to the family) and I haven’t run out of ideas yet (crossing my fingers!).

I do hope I NEVER EVER have to make this many condolence/sympathy cards for my family… EVER!!!  I cranked out about 4 dozen cards in approximately 3 days for Gilda’s Club of Westchester.  *whew* And a couple of Stampin’ Up ladies helped me fulfill the commitment by donating 2 bags of handmade cards.  They even wrapped it so nicely.  Thank you, Donna and Tracy W!

I was running way, way, waaay behind!  We were in South Carolina for James’ graduation, then Layla’s birthday came right before Mother’s Day, etc, etc.  I didn’t have time to make Mother’s Day cards for the entire family nor handmade cards for Father’s Day.  I had to get on these cards before we leave for vacation this week.

Anyway, there you have it!  Click on the image to view the rest of the album.