Diaper Covers

The diaper cover is an item of clothing I never imagined I could be so smitten by. I can honestly say, I have never spent a minute of my time thinking anything like, "hmm...I could really use an adorable, ruffly garment to cover the poop-sponge I wrap around my baby's hiney!" Oh, what I was missing!

There is an undeniable cuteness to a baby's bottom. To cover that bottom with ruffles, hearts, leopard print or screen-printed bombs has got to be the final frontier in cute. I double dog dare you to find its rival. It's a godsend for southern summers. Not to mention, it's a pretty budget-friendly fashion statement.  

favorites:

Sarah Louise Ruffle Panties

The drawls that started it all for me. With more ruffles than an Elizabethan court on pay day!

Wild Things of Noosa Aussie Bloomer and Hat

If you want your ruffles a little less precious, a little more pop. I think the hat makes this a beachy combo.

Vintage Lucy's Zebra Baby Bloomers

Yowza, Bombshell babe!

Pinkdixie Sassy Pants

Modern charm

low beam studios Wool Soaker

Funky and functional. Using repurposed sweaters, the wool is "naturally antimicrobial" and water resistant.  Especially good choice for those using cloth diapers. 

bean child bomb dropped diaper cover

For the rockabilly kitten with a sense of humor about what's inside the diaper. They come with cherries, too.

Honorable Mention:

Cutifruity Frilly Pants

These blur the line between diaper cover and mini-skirt. I almost didn't post them because I am hoping to buy them first!

What I'm Using

Philosophy Microdelivery Peel

It's a two part exfoliating system. Not as complicated as it sound. Just gently rub the vitamin-C peptide crystals onto your skin and then put the lactic/ salicylic acid "activator" on top. Leave it on for a few minutes to really let those vitamins sink in and allow the acids to do their thang. 

 

What you are getting is a double exfoliation: 

manual: from the crystals

and

chemical: from the lactic/ salicylic combo

The vitamin-C will brighten your skin like nothing else. It's a wonderful antioxidant for fighting age and environmental attack. I have sensitive skin and this product has never left me scratched-up. As a matter of fact, I always end up with a bright, even complexion that people really notice. But, respect the warning to "...not scrub, only massage". A time or two I thought...'but, I haven't exfoliated in a while and my skin is pretty dull and they must not be talking to ME...'and, yes, I looked like the victim of a sandpaper assault. It isn't necessary [or advisable]. This product is expensive for a reason. Just relax and let it do the work for you. 

This stuff is chock full of power ingredients in big doses. It is worth the investment. I bought mine in August and I still have lots left. 

For those who don't have the dough, you could still get some benefits from a home scrub.  From your kitchen, I suggest some brown sugar and sea salt in a base of olive oil and a touch of honey for a manual scrub. Pulverize some strawberries to deliver your alpha-hydroxy acid. Mix in a little yogurt if you want to make it gentler. Don't forget to apply your sunscreen, beautiful!

The Center of Attention

Said by the small elderly woman in front of S & S Cafeteria yesterday, "She's fiesty, isn't she." It wasn't a question.

Dogbone Art

Laura hand screen-prints on plushies, shopping bags and shirts of all sizes.  I am desperately fond of her pirate cupcake. 

The budget will have to accommodate at least one tee for the babe.

This onesie has her name on it. Actually, it has a cupcake on it...just like the babe, a fierce but adorable cupcake.

Super prices for handmade, mobile art! Her goodies are here.

Wednesday Waxing

My first Brazilian bikini wax was excruciating. Much more painful for me than the client. It showed up on my schedule even though I'm barely trained to do one. While I have been in the general area, I have never waxed a vagina in my life. 

I was stunned to see the appointment. A 5:15p.m. root canal would have been just as shocking. Why was I scheduled for this? I wasn't ready. I decided that a professional would take the appointment and do her best. Besides, my store manager was very aware of the situation and offered no other option. Is it more professional to respect your client's time or your client's body? If the appointment had gone well, despite my odds, I would have thought the former. 

In my pub days, time meant everything. If I was in the weeds, someone got her drinks a little late and my tips would suffer. Well, here, I won't be spilling pale ale. I'll be spilling hot wax. On your genitals.

I was lucky to have an exceptionally patient client. My luck ended there. A 15 minute service stretched into something like 40 minutes. The wax dried either too slow or too fast. Half of the time, the hair didn't even come up. I felt like time had stopped. The rest of the world was frozen in the middle of their conversations. Drops of rain were suspended in the sky. I was spinning like a firecracker in the middle of this silent world, holding a popsicle stick as if it were a magic wand...my only weapon against the dreadful standstill. 

We were closed when I finished.  They actually had to unlock the front door to let my client out. Another esthetician asked me if the client knew she was my first Brazilian and I thought...

She does now. 

Esthynerd

I knew I liked esthetics. I realized how much today when I heard myself interrupting my own conversation to ask-"Ooh, is that a book on rosacea?"

After resisting the temptation of the beer/wine aisle and avoiding the imported cheeses entirely, I was undone.  

Incidentally, once my resolve weakened, I re-visited the beer... 

Nap Blog

I should be vacuuming the dog hair off the rug.  The babe is in constant motion and is no longer contained within simple boundaries. She is fast, too.  Last night, I laid her at the foot of the bed. I blinked. She was suddenly and soundlessly at the head of the bed. She is trying to shimmy under the sofa when we aren't looking which means I finally have to battle the dust bunnies. 

A. has defended our borders well but now it is time to attack.

Spring

Babe,

I have been reflecting back to October and to how difficult all of this was in the beginning. We brought you home from the hospital on a cold, rainy night that epitomized our first weeks. The sky was always dark.  There were storms.  It was windy and cold.  We were all prisoners in this tiny house.  I lost a lot of blood during your birth and was still very weak.  My world shrunk into restless midnights in our dark bedroom.  Then, it shrunk further, into the stormy microclimate between you, your father, and me.  I retreated still, until I was living with only you inside the dark circle of my arms where I studied the furrows of your little countenance like a scientist. Sometimes I felt like those autumn clouds were hiding in my eyebrows.  I felt those cold showers in my brain. It was like the weather sympathized with us. 

 

Your heartbeat was always reaching out to me. I saw its power in the eyes of your midwives.  I heard the surprise of its strength in their laughter.  You have always been strong.  Those stethoscopes were foghorns predicting safety after the storm.   It was a beacon.  If I were wiser I could have rested in its promise.

 

I can talk about those cloudy days now because it is Spring.  I feel the importance of those learning times like the cycle of the seasons.  You are blossoming like the pretty pink bushes outside. Your father and I are blossoming, too.  We are being fed with the sunshine you beam into our lives.  Your innate fortitude is leading the way and your unconditional love is filling our hearts with warmth. We are becoming better people because of you.  Your growth is mirroring the Earth’s celestial path around its own sun and our world revolves around you.  

Las Vegas, It's a wild ride

A. returned from his Vegas conference bearing gifts.  A rad postcard for my collection and...

The world's best souvenir mug!

"I thought you would like it," he said. "It's the gayest one they had."

Wednesday Waxing

The only part they got right was the wooden spoon.

NKOTB reunion

For the first time in months, I favored the Today show over Noggin where it was announced this morning that New Kids on the Block are reuniting.  They all still look cute.  I don't know if my mom-vision has prejudiced my eyes.  I recently realized that my leading-man crushes have crept up the time line.  I find George Clooney wicked sexy where I was once like '...skip the old guy and show me Matt Damon!'  I never noticed how dreamy a well-worked tuxedo could be.

I hate reunion shows.   The main deterrent isn't the hell I would get from my friends or the fact that I would probably have to go alone. I don't want to look around me and see myself in the wistful, reminiscing eyes of the other women my age nor do I want to see the people who might show up seeking some irony or kitsch in something I used to love. I once worked with a girl who was 7 or 8 years younger than me.  She would wear an old New Kids t-shirt that she probably found at a thrift store.  It was the same shirt I used to have in high school.  Suffice to say, I didn't find it clever.   

[Side Note: When exactly did the t-shirt trend switch from ironic wit to elitist disdain? I remember when people would only wear band t-shirts to support a group they liked.] 

Perhaps, my memories are too dear to challenge with a revival.  

My very first concert was the New Kids (No More Games). The fever hit me late. When Hangin' Tough dropped, I was a huge metalhead. My sister and I would make fun of the girls who liked New Kids.  But then, I don't know what happened...it was my sophomore year at a new school...my best friend was dying her hair magenta and trying to turn me on to The Cure...and I was taping NKOTB on Oprah.  My friends thought I had microwaved my brain.  

I have enduring love for the unabashed predictability and the cotton candy harmonies of the boy band. The incomparable Jackson 5 was a boy band.  New Edition was a boy band.  The Maurice Starr oeuvre of new editions and kids was followed by the managerial touch of the even sleazier Lou Pearlman.  Funnier even than this quote,  "I got involved with Chippendales before Backstreet and it's Chippendales and New Kids on the Block that gave me the idea to pursue Backstreet.", is the fact that he created a band and then created their own competition! (Backstreet Boy and then N'Sync).  God, there is a lifetime of scandal, innuendo and synchronized dance moves in the boy band niche!   It's yummier than a waxed pec! 

Blockheads may be the new Fanilows... ( http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/04/03/dear-new-kids-on-the-block-fans-aka-blockheads/ ) ...we shall see if Vegas has a permanent stage for them to hurl their panties.  Until then, and unless Tiffany is opening for them again, my memories of the New Kids are good enough for me.  Probably.

Time to shine

I start taking appointments for facials and limited waxing on Monday.  I'm excited that I'll be liberated from my home for two working days. I am also glad to finally be using all this knowledge and skill to make people smooth. I am still really nervous.  No one expects me to be perfect right out of the starting gate.  Most of the pressure is coming from myself.  I just want to do a good job and I'm really not ready to be thrust back into a service industry.  In any service industry, every mistake you make is a reason to call a manager.  And in this occupation, every single hair remaining on a waxed leg is a big mistake.  One single hair could damage my reputation.  Think about that.

Last night, the babe slept in her crib from 9something to 5:30 this morning.  I couldn't sleep at all.  I checked her breathing every couple hours.  I really missed her.  I'm glad she is ready for this important step.  I'll try to match my newborn's courage and leap into the unknown with grace.