Good to "see" you, Fabooj! Thanks for the timely diary. -Elisa

x-posted at my blog

Indulge me a bit in posting on "old news", but there's a discusion going on in the blogosphere about the Senator, with the basis in feminism.  On BooMan Tribune, Arthur Gilroy has decided that women, particularly left-leaning, blogging women, hate Clinton because:

They resented her success. They resented the template ITSELF. To some degree, the fact that this woman had become a truly DOMINANT woman...not just independent,. but dominant over the lives of many, many men as well as children and women pressed buttons in both of their heads that had been implanted in their early "I ENJOY being a girl!!!", "Play with those damned dolls or ELSE"  youth.

You have to read the entire post to fully appreciate that women, according to Gilroy, can not make a decision regarding Clinton because we're preconditioned.  

Gushing joy!  Heart palpitations!  Dancing jags!

What can have me so damn excited?  

We bought a house.  

We.
Bought.
A.
House.

Good lord, I never thought I'd say those words.  I had visions of living my life forever in my two-bedroom not-even-550 sf. apartment.  I'd joke that we'd have 4 more kids and they'd take over the bedrooms while we'll be relegated to sleeping on the sofa.

And now...  

I like basketball.  Before I got married to someone apparently allergic to sports, I used to watch it all the time.  I used to want to play on the NBA...I was Skee-lo:

I wish I was little bit taller,
I wish I was a baller

Then the WBNA came along and I while I was impressed by the mad skills of the ladies, the boys were still hotter to watch.  I haven't been to an WBNA game, but I planned on it.  I was looking forward to this season, to take my little girl to see Lisa Leslie in action.  I've seen Leslie run the court like nobody's business.  I once played a pick up game of street ball with her in Venice a few (ha! more like 10) years ago (she went easy on me and let me shoot one whole basket!).  

Alas, our plans are dashed because Leslie will not be starting this year and she just may not be back to play at all.

Hey local MotherTalkers, will you be there?  I'm going to copy most of SallyCat's diary from DailyKos:

SF Kossacks Holiday Party
Date: Saturday December 2
Time: 2pm until whenever
Place: SallyCat's House in San Rafael about 2 miles off Hwy 101 - easy access.

Traffic times approximate (it is the Bay Area after all!)
10 minutes north of the Richmond San Rafael bridge
30 minutes from downtown Oakland
20 minutes from Golden Gate Bridge
About an hour from Santa Rosa or Napa...10 minutes south of Hwy 37!
We are also working out carpooling if needed - just email!

Food:  Well we know how great everyone cooks or knows a great store - so potluck as usual. I'll have a reasonable quantity of softdrinks, tea, coffee, etc. Plus lots of holiday candies and cookies...cause I can't resist!

Yes there will be Pie!

Dress: Casual - of course....(or cardboard is acceptable for any RSVP's that don't show)!

Kidlets: My house is kid friendly - bring them along if you would like!

Holidays celebrated: all the winter holidays we can think of!

I think it would be great if we could create summary sheets of the different holidays and or traditions that we like so that we can share them.  Since this will be at a house...we can email them and I'll print any and all that we might need!

Since I never write a diary. I thought I'd used my one diary to celebrate my little man's birthday:

November 12th was not only my birthday, but Alton's 1st birthday.  We had a Chinese themed party at my friend's house, complete with Chinese food!  I usually don't like party favors, but I did them this time.  We had little gold takeout boxes  that held a red envelope with a Chinese coin in it.  I also special ordered some fortune cookies.  On one side it said, "Happy Birthday Alton 11.12.06" and on the other side were 4 different fortunes, like "A smile from a long-lashed brown eyed boy will make you rich:.  Everyone loved those and I had larger gold takeout boxes so people could stuff those full of fortune cookies.  

It was a good day.  Ilia had been looking forward to Sunday for two weeks.  Right before everyone arrived, I found her just laying on the sofa looking tired.  She said her belly hurt.  She slept for most of the party, only coming down right before we sang 'Happy Birthday'.  Poor thing.  Our friends are so nice; a few of them bought Ilia a gift, so she was really happy and didn't feel left out.  I got her some new shoes (in gold) that she just adores.

Alton was great all day long.  We learned that he now knows how to climb stairs (YIKES!) and he walked around all day long, much to the delight of many people who thought he was still just crawling.  He even broke through a new tooth just for the special day.  I thought the party started at 2, but my invites said 3.  I was hoping to be out of there by 6, but we finished up everything around 8.  Alton was so incrediby tired, by the time we drove 300 feet, he was already snoring.  

Pictures are below:

Due to an underwhelming response to the need of childcare, we will be unable to set up daycare onsite.  This leaves us with a few options. What is available to us in Las Vegas is still pretty impressive.  Here are some links to resources that will help you determine your childcare needs.

Nannies
These agencies offer in-room babysitting.  All nannies have undergone extensive background checks and are license, bonded and CPR certified according to the agencies.  Most of these agengies require a 4 hour minimum with rates varying wildly.  The rates generally do not include food.  The earliest most agencies will make arrangements is when you actually get into your hotel room, with at least a 4 - 6 hour advanced notice.  Some agencies, with your permission, will take the children on field trips and bring age appropriate entertainment.  

Oh yeah...YearlyKos is NOT endorsing these agencies, this is just a list of resources available.

Call to get specifics.

A Affordable Babysitting Agency:  (702) 638-2458
$35/hr for the first 4 hours

Around the Clock Child Care: (702) 365-1040
Sample rate for 2 children - $60/hr for the first 4 hours, $12/hr afterwards.  They have separate rates for families splitting childcare.

Buy-The-Hour Kids Camp: (702) 450-5080
$10 to register
$7.50/hr 2 year olds
$6.50/hr 3+
additional children $5/hr
Children 2 - 12
Thurs. 7:30am - 10pm
Fri. 7:30am - midnight
Sat. 10am - midnight

Dial-A-Granny: (702)  376-5229
2 child $130 first 4 hours $25
1 child $90 first 4 hours $20

Grandma Dotti's Babysitting: (702) 456-1175 ~ Cash only
$40 for first the 4 hours $9/hr after, more than 3 children call for details.

Nannies USA
$35/hr with a 4 hour minimum

Nannies & Grannies: 702-364-4700
$65 for the first 4 hours for up to 2 children
After 4 hours the rate per hour is:
1 child - $12/hr
2 children - $13/hr
For combining families an extra $15 fee

First off, if you're going to YearlyKos, you'll definitely be delighted.  All of us board members who attended had such wonderful meetings and the trip definitely reaffirmed our enthusiam in this daunting project as well as drained our pocketbooks (as volunteers we paid for the whole trip ourselves and I spent a lot more than I had planned).  Meeting face to face allowed us to get more things done than via email or on a conference call too, so that was really nice.

More importantly, this was my first trip away from the family.  Let me tell you, it was very, very nice.  So nice, I'm thinking of doing this at least twice a year.  I talked to them several times a day and even set up my webcam.  

My plane left at 7:00am and SuperShuttle picked me up at 4:45am.  I thought I'd be leaving everyone sleeping.  For one reason or another, the whole family was awake to see me off.  I was kinda of glad I got to see them one last time.  Especially since every time I fly, I'm convinced it's my last day on earth.  I did almost cancel, because Ilia was burning up hot, I was convinced she had a temperature.  I gave her some Motrin and put her back to bed.

Some details below:

This is a big one for me.  I'm going to Vegas on Friday to do some YearlyKos stuff.  The last time I went to Vegas for YK stuff was in Jan. and even though I had planned on going for 2 days by myself, it turned into a 5 day family extravaganza.  Picture me, the spouse and 2 kids in a suite at the MGM.  Me and DH fighting over who gets to use the laptop since his work pays and YK doesn't (it's called volunteering sweetie!).  

Trying to squeeze in some fun in a hotel that's not kid friendly was also a chore.  I remember taking Ilia down to the lion "habitat" at 3am just so she could sleep.  The lion habitat is like a mile away from the bank of elevators to the hotel rooms, so it wasn't even fun. Explaining to a 2 year old that she has to stay between the lines on the carpet, and no, mommy isn't going to let her play a game was a daily experience.  

When the opportunity to meet the YK board members and get some final walkthroughs done arose, I was a little wary of toting the family along.  Then I thought, "Why do they have to come with me?"  It was liberating.  Just having that idea.  I haven't gone on a trip without my husband since I went to Kansas City 2 days after I met him.  Sure, I drove to Vegas a couple of months after we bought the MINI Cooper, but he met me in Vegas that night.  I haven't left the kids for more than a few hours ever.  This was going to be new.

more down below

And it's only the first day.  After 7 months of searching for a local preschool that has space, is affordable and offers the academics and fun we'd like, we finally chose one for Miss Ilia.  Tuesday I went in to make my deposit and this morning I deposited my first born.  

Ilia's been home with us from the beginning.  We've left her with babysitters 4 times in the last 34 months.  She has always attended parties with us and when we go out to a club or bar, one of usually stays home.  So this break was probably a bigger deal to us than it was to her.  After all, the main reason we never leave her with anyone is that my husband is suspicious or doubtful of anyone else's skills.  It doesn't help that most of our friends have proven themselves flakes in 20 minutes of "watching" her.  

I don't know if I'm the only one with an infant here, but since Erika was talking about having another, I thought I'd put this out there.  

With my first born, I got an hand-me down Infantino 6 in 1 baby carrier that just blew.  It was torture putting out chunky baby in there and she quickly outgrew the weight limit by 5.5 months.  Not wanting to relive that, my husband and I threw ourselves into researching slings.  Not by actually trying them one, that would seem too much like right, but buy asking people what they thought of their slings and carriers.  

There are some women around who wear the Maya Wrap, but it's a little too granola and not enough hip for the overly accessorized mama on the go of my neighborhood.  So when I go out in my Maya Wrap, I get a lot of weird looks.  I've had moms come up to me to ask if it's safe, while I'm looking at 400 cords sprouting from their chests, practically strangling baby Jackson.  Dads don't even want to think about wearing the Maya.  My husband, who was pissed at its $50 price tag, grumbled over the fact that it "was just a bunch of fabric with metal cirles".  "Look honey, there's a pocket!", I cried.  It didn't impress him, but doesn't stop him from putting his wallet, phone and keys in it either.  

More baby sling goodness below...

The saying is Necessity if the mother of Invention, but I've noticed a trend where mother's are the inventors.  In recent women's magazines I'm randomly receiving in my mailbox (postal mess here in Los Angeles, I'm getting magazines from all over LA County), increasingly there are articles on moms who have come up with a handy item that other moms must need.  From shopping cart covers to crustless sandwich cutters, you are sure to find something that makes you think, "I could have come up with that."

But sometimes, it's more than mere necessity that drives these women to create something new for the marketplace.

Follow my incoherent late night ramblings on the flip.

I was introducted to this site via a link Markos posted at dKos.  I got an account, but this is the first time I've had a chance to post (neglecting work and all).  

I'm a WAHM to 2 kids (ages 2 and 3 mos.) and live in Los Angeles.  I post to some birth club boards, but it's getting incresingly difficult to speak with women who have no idea of a larger world.  Who think that everyone thinks as they do and if they don't, then that they should.

I like the idea of a community of mothers who can speak intelligently on articles they've read and apply analytical skills beyond, "WTF??!?!?"  So far, I like what I read and will be sending this link to other like-minded moms from my birth club boards who have outgrown them.