I can dream, can't I?

Ok - I'm really having a Holden Caulfield moment (and, no, I don't want to be the one who catches the children as they play in the rye - I'm just going to voice an odd daydream that I have - I have a tendency to dwell on unusual ideas - outcast revelations that, given enough credence, could become reality)... I have this odd "dream" in which I have this group of friends and acquaintances - my cousins - new people now and then (always good to include others and expand your own horizons :-) - and we hang together all the time - various settings. After a long day with kids and the daily grind, they come over late evening - all of us with our respective families safe and asleep or upstairs quietly watching TV or doing homework - and we watch "chick movies" or talk over red wine and coffee. No one cares that my kids' artwork hangs in the dining room or that a toy pink kitchen sits in the front hall or even that the table linens my mother gave me have been sitting, folded and neat, but in the exact same spot for weeks now, waiting to be put away. We could light candles, have a fire, sit on cozy pillows - they would feel comfortable raiding my pantry or fridge for toffutti ice cream sandwiches or peanut butter-filled pretzels. Maybe we even have a daytime hang-out - kid-friendly - lots of coffee - healthy lunch options - music we like - occasional trunk shows for mom and kid-friendly clothes and accessories - fun stuff on the walls (or maybe we contribute the "art" on the walls - drawings - our own musings and poetry). Hmmmm.... maybe I should open such a place. I think it was the initial inspiration behind my "trendy mom cafe" here - and the restless descriptor I give my blog. Again... food for thought....

Photos: Just some funny stuff (need to laugh after yesterday :-) - Milo being Milo (and, by the way, the weird ball photo was taken because Milo went shopping with me alone and picked out bouncy balls for everyone in the family to play with - everyone got their own color - just sweet and funny) - Enzo looking sweet - athlete Olivia and her lacrosse goggle marks - funny baby Lil (and I think there's even an image of my late Jetta :-( in the background in one of them)....

Lastly - important recall information on some Infantino baby slings. Please give the link a look. Honestly, over 90 percent of the mothers I see using infant slings are using them the wrong way - have baby totally covered - have them deep in the sling - the baby is too curled up - the baby is waaay under 4 months old - or the baby is trying to nurse while mommy takes a walk or goes about her business WITH the infant's face firmly planted in her flesh - not good. Beware of emulating some these women, appropriately dressed in organic cottons with "namaste" or "mama for Obama" emblazoned across their chests (and I am a fan of both, btw - may have had one or both emblazoned across my own chest at one time, so... like I always say... grain of salt with me....) who think that just spouting breastfeeding, organic baby food and cloth diaper info. like they are experts makes them the perfect "earth mother" with knowledge on "how to" do it all right flowing from them like environmentally sound purified water.... they ... um ....may not have it right (again - apologies for the snarkiness, but... I was reprimanded by one of my "friends" for commenting that her baby was smashed up and facing in (thought I was helping - making her aware of a potentially dangerous situation) to which she responded that "they liked it like this" - "best to be that close to the mother - covered like in the womb" blah blah blah. I was pregnant at the time and dealing with a kid's b-day party, so ... let it go - wrote my appalled reaction off to hormones or whatever - but now... years later, feel that maybe I should have corrected her in front of some of these women - some who are now new mothers and... who knows... may have listened to all that - and mimicked a dangerous scenario).