Old Habits Die Hard

Last week, Julie and I met for lunch at GM (Ghetto Mall, AKA Westfield Culver City, FKA Fox Hills Mall). Afterwards, as we were walking through the mall's main atrium, we spotted a strange sight and this conversation ensued...

Julie: What's that?
Lily: What?
J: That. (Points.) It's a stage.
L: I think it's something for that new Simon Cowell show.
J: You should sing!
L: What? NO
J: GET UP THERE
L: Ok, twist my arm. .

So I don't know if that's exactly how the convo went, but it was something close to it. It had been years since I sang to strangers, and much has changed since then. But one thing has remained the same: my inability to say "no" to a mic and an audience.

This was a far cry from the last time I was filmed singing onstage:

Like I said, a lot's changed!

Boo Against the Machine

I don't know if he's channelling Perry Farrell, Glenn Danzig, or Zack de la Rocha in this rap rendition of the ABCs, but Benjamin's got the whole rockstar vibe down with the totally trashed room in the background!

Ella

Meet the beautiful Ella Carmelle Balino, born to proud parents Deb and George on March 16 at 8:00 am on the dot. Weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 5 oz, she has a gorgeous head of thick wavy hair and adorable pouty lips. Both mommy and baby are doing well. Ella, welcome to the world, and Deb and George, welcome to our world! :) We love you all!

She's Having a Baby

My sister Deb is having a baby. Well, Deb's not really my sister. Not in the biological sense, anyway. But Deb is my most treasured friend in this world, and she is the closest thing that I have ever known to a sister, so that's what I call her and that's what she calls me. So yeah, my sister Deb is having a baby, and once that baby comes into this world, I will be the baby's godmother. So it's almost like I'm having the third baby that I've been bugging Vince about. Not that my godbaby will get him off the hook. But I digress. Back to my sister's baby!

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A few weeks ago, Deb's friend Jeni and I threw her a baby shower. Deb's best girlfriends were in attendance to help usher in this new and exciting chapter of her life. In a sweet twist, her baby shower was held in the same place as her bridal shower. In an even sweeter twist, the sex of Deb's baby was to be revealed during the shower. Let me explain... When Deb first found out she was preggers, she decided that she wanted the baby's sex to be a secret to be kept from her until her baby shower, where it would be revealed to her before her closest friends. To achieve this, she had her OB write the gender of the baby on a card, which she then sealed in an envelope and handed to me. I was going to include a pic of that card in this post, but I can't for the life of me find it anywhere. I think I must have somehow subconsciously gotten rid of it because I was so scared I might have thrown it at Deb in a drunken fit of lapsed self-control. Ha!

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I decided that a neat way for the big reveal to go down would be to fill a pinata with candy in a color that would indicate the gender- blue for boy, pink for girl. Unfortunately, the only gender-neutral, baby-themed pinata I could find was this ginormous baby bottle. I had to walk two blocks down Lincoln Boulevard with this thing tucked under one arm and a flailing Calliope tucked under the other. You shoulda seen the looks on the faces of the drivers stuck in traffic!

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As a way to tease out the surprise, Jeni and I decided to use both pink and blue as the theme colors for the shower. For game prizes, we gave away similarly-themed CDs - Pink's Greatest Hits, Joni Mitchell's "Blue," and a CD by the band "Boys Like Girls." The games included one which involved guessing the names of various celebrity babies.
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I just had to include a shot of this person's answer sheet. Buahaha!

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After the games were done, it was time for the big reveal! Words can't adequately describe how it all unfolded, so here's a video taken by Deb's friend Brian:

Yes, it's a GIRL! A sweet, baby girl! A little mini-Deb! Oh, George, you are in trouble! ;)
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As a group gift, we asked Deb's friends and relatives to contribute words of wisdom and pictures of themselves and their families and compiled it all into a hardbound book for her. Since I was the one who did the layout, I got to read what everyone had to say. Deb, you have some wise friends! My favorite quote came from her friend Melanie who had this to say: "Opinions are like assholes - everyone has one! Trust your instincts - Mommy and Daddy really do know best." That's right, Peanut Gallery! I have no need for your unsolicited assholes, because I really DO know best!

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For my own gift for Deb, I sewed a cute little tunic top, lovey blanket, and baby doll using coordinating fabric. To make the doll's face, I tried using printable fabric for the very first time. I have to say I was quite pleased with the results!

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After all the gifts had been opened and the cake eaten, the party drew to a close. The shower guests said goodbye and headed home. Well, all but two of them did:

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This is why we don't invite men to baby showers.

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Well, Deb's due date is tomorrow, and I have a strong hunch that we're gonna get to meet her baby girl very soon. You know why I have that hunch? Because Deb is being induced as I type! And why, do you ask, is she being induced? This is why:

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Deb, I love you, I am so happy for you and George, and I can't wait to meet your baby girl and my goddaughter. Here's wishing you a smooth and easy delivery!

Dancin'- Dancin'- DANCIN'! He's a dancin' machiiiine!

While waiting for his Daddy to try on clothes at a Kansas City Lucky Jeans store a few days ago, Benjamin decided to take advantage of the three-way mirror and practice his dance moves.



I don't know about you, but my favorite parts were the semi-voguing body slams up against the mirror. WORK IT, BOO!!

More coming up soon on our Kansas City trip!

C and B are 1 and 3!

In case you didn't know, both Benjamin and his sister were born on the same day. On February 23 three years ago, Benjamin was born. On February 23 of last year, Calliope was born. This February 23 no babies were born to us (as Vince breathes a sigh of relief), but we still had a lot of celebrating to do because it would be the first of many joint birthdays. I started off the big day by dressing the kids in cute new clothes. Benjamin got a Superman T-shirt (complete with a cape that he hated and detached) and Calliope got a tutu (that was so big it looked like it belonged under Scarlett O'Hara's skirt). I really wanted to capture a pic of my two angels posing happily in their cute outfits, but that didn't happen. Here are some of my failed attempts:

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No, Benjamin is not trying to strangle his sister in the picture at the top right. He's trying to gently move her by dragging her away by her neck. Ok, maybe he is trying to strangle her, but I try not to sweat the sibling stuff - especially when baby sister Calliope is a mere six pounds lighter than big brother Benjamin.
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That afternoon, their beloved Hao Po was scheduled to fly in from China. She arrived just in time to attend Benjamin's hip hop class. Usually, I just drop the Boo off and return 45 minutes later to pick him up, but every so often, the teachers allows parents to stay and watch what the kids have learned. This happened to be one of those days, and we were all quite impressed by Benjamin's hip hop moves:


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If you wanna see more of these slick moves, Benjamin's class will be performing in a dance recital at the Playa Vista Spring Fling at the end of March. Stay tuned for details! But for now, back to the birthday madness...

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I'm pretty crafty (and I mean "crafty" in the Martha Stewart sense, not "crafty" in the way the Beastie Boys mean it), and I wanted to do something creative for the birthday party favors, so this year, I decided to make crayon rolls. You know what crayon rolls are, right? Those little fabric sleeves that have a pocket for each individual crayon? Ok, maybe only those of us in Mommy La-La-Land know what crayon rolls are. Anyhoo, I couldn't be happy just making regular crayon rolls, so I decided to create original labels bearing the party motto of "C and B are 1 and 3" (as in "Calliope and Benjamin are turning 1 and 3 years old"). The label-creating was quite a process in and of itself that involved designing a logo, printing it on specially treated printable fabric, cutting the fabric, treating it with fray check, and doing a whole lot of other crap to it. I'll admit it wound up being a bigger pain in the ass than I'd anticipated, but the resulting labels were pretty nifty!
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Once the labels were done, all I had to do was sew up a bunch of crayon rolls using a pattern I purchased from Etsy, design and print matching coloring books, and...
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VOILA! Rock 'n' roll themed party favors! Overkill for a toddler birthday party? Perhaps. But hey, I thrive in the minutiae of motherhood. Besides, I have to put my fancy art degree to use somehow.
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The day of Benjamin and Calliope's big bash wound up being a jam-packed, crazy busy one. That morning, we attended the party of Benjamin's oldest friend Presley. We first met Pres and her mom Brooke at the Pump Station when the kids were mere weeks old. I was there to discuss the booby issues I was having with Benjamin. Brooke was there to discuss her own Presley booby issues. It was love at first boob - I mean, sight- and we've been friends ever since. We had a great time celebrating Presley's third at an indoor playground in Manhattan Beach. In all honesty, I figured that Brooke, Presley, and dad Ben would be totally wiped out and didn't expect them to show up at our party that afternoon, but they did! Here they are looking completely overjoyed to be at their second crazy toddler birthday party in one day:
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For the sake of our friendship, I am taking the initiative to tell you that Brooke is pregnant and not bloated here. If I don't mention that fact, I'm sure she'll kill me.

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Brooke and Ben may have been exhausted, but Pres sure wasn't! In fact, I think she damn near gave her poor preggo mom a heart attack with her antics in this picture. Just look at the expression on Brooke's face!

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All the other little kiddos had a great time, too. We choose to have C and B's party at the local Gymboree, where star Gymboree peeps Rachel and Noel orchestrated the festivities.

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The kids had a blast playing games, dancing, singing, and chasing bubbles.

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Calliope was a bit too young to be able to participate in the games, so she kept herself busy posing, crawling around, and generally just doing her best to look adorable in that giant tutu.

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It certainly seemed to catch James' eye!

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After everyone worked up an appetite playing, it was time for cake! For the second birthday in a row, I had Playa Vista baker Liz Lam whip up another one of her awesome cupcake cakes.
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I'd say they were a sweet ending to a very sweet party!
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Happy Birthday to my two beautiful babies. I can't believe you're growing up so fast.