Saturday, November 22, 2008

Getting Jiggy With It



For now, I'm still cool enough to dance with for Isaiah. Not so much for Noah. Isaiah has always been a dancer. As soon as he was able to stand up he started bopping to the music. Noah, on the other hand has never been into dancing. Ballet, yes - but ask her to dance she gives you her signature "I'm not doing it just cause you asked look." Whereas Isaiah asks for the "mus-aca," That's music in Spanish and dances. Today he pulled me up because we wanted me to dance with him standing, he didn't like me dancing on my knees. He also, at 18 months, demanded he have music to lay down with.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

3 Generations



This is Isaiah with my mom and Big Nana as Noah came to call her. Isaiah loved seeing everyone. He met everyone a year ago when he was just a few months old. But that was back when he was crusty and reacting to everything. This trip he sat on laps and ate lots of crackers. He loved Poppy (Unce Georgie's dog) and the new tiger that Kirsten gave him.

Beautiful boy sleepy glow



Have I mentioned how beautiful I think this itty is? He had just woken up from a late nap at Kayla and Louie's wedding. He sept through al the noise. He slept in his stroller behind uncle Georgie while we (all of us) chased Noah all over the reception.

Forever 21 at three


A few weeks ago, before we went to Rhode Island. I made a trip to the mall with both kids - I rarely, if ever, do this on my own. Fanahi was with me and she had her valet pass so The Grove with two little ones seemed almost do-able. I needed to get a couple of tops and while we were in Forever 21 with the kids between the two of us, Noah tried on everything within reach. We thought it was the funniest thing and she was actually pretty well behaved and had a great time. Noah was adorable in all her "outfits."

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Butterfly Face

Sleep Sleep



This was taken a while ago. Maybe even before Isaiah turned one, but I think it's so funny and cute. Both our kids look like Broderick when they sleep.

The Princess and Iron Man

Noah and her blueberry toes

Real Love




Isaiah is the kissiest face that ever lived. He is always down for a good smooch.

Underwood Farms


After all the fun


Thursday, November 6, 2008

Mr. President, we turned Nevada blue


And we did it by a landslide. I hope it's the beginning of Nevada's accent to open mindedness. After Barack won I truly cared about Nevada. We worked so hard there and calling them that I needed NV to go blue and it did!!

This picture was taken at the rally in Henderson. I could've given Obama's speech for him - I know all his jokes, jabs and facts. But I enjoyed being with my bestest friend in the whole world and my husband and all the like minded people. Something that struck me about the crowd was that these people who had gotten up early and battled the crowds to see Obama where of all shades, shapes and lifestyles. I loved seeing the big burly union guys, and the little old ladies, the veterans, the young people, the babies, the Mormans. This campaign is making us believe again. We're being the change we want to see....

I'l be so proud to share my part of this moment in time with our children. Guess what, my kids can REALLY be anything they want and work for... Imagine.

Hope Won


I've been thinking about sitting down and attempting to capture what has been in my heart through out this election. It’s momentous. It’s changed our world forever. I don’t think I am talented enough, maybe no one is, to truly articulate what happened in all of our hearts at 8pm Pacific Standard time when the polls closed and they called it for Barack Obama. There are tears in my eyes as I sit here and reflect on what just happened, it’s like the planet just shifted into gear and we are headed to a brighter future fueled by hope and love. I love this president, I love his family. I pray for their safety and that he is guided through this journey by the God who lives in all of us.

We woke up on Tuesday morning at around 5:30 – the ground was wet from a light rain and our power was out and we walked out of our house with the kids bundled up in their stroller with bananas and corn cakes to meet our neighbors also walking to the polls. We passed another polling station on our walk to First Presbyterian and I had to take pictures of the line. It was like the images we saw of South Africa when people were given the opportunity to vote for Mandela. We got there a little after they opened and we saw faces we recognized and some new faces but the line stretched around the church. We were all charged and couldn't wait to get home and see the lines across the rest of the country on TV. After about an hour and a half a women we know helped us to the front of the line because Isaiah was sick and snotty and loosing his mind. I held Noah up and put her hand over mine as I pushed the dobber down on the number 8 bubble for Barack Obama. I also let her vote against an amendment to eliminate gay marriage. She kept asking, loudly, “Where is Barack Obama?” When I told her he was in Chicago with his family she wanted to know why he wasn’t here if we were voting for him. It took hours before our power went back on. And at around 12:30 the TV switched on and the first story I saw was a African-American family of three generations standing in line to vote some place in the south. The grandmother was old and needed assistance standing. She said through tears that she had been wondering why God had kept her here through all of her physical pain and now she knew it was for this moment. The grandson who was voting for the first time said that Obama inspires him to be a better man – and I thought isn’t this what the white people who can’t vote for a black man want – don’t they want black people to want to do better? Broderick and I stood in our living room and cried the first tears of the day. There would be many more and they’ve been coming on and off for the last few days. It’s a magic day in America.

We did a phone bank from the house and had friends come in and out. Cathy and Vanessa got here around lunch time and helped us make some calls too. We called the eat coast until their polls closed and then the Obama website directed us to middle America and finally to New Mexico and everyone I called (mostly white) were happy to hear from me and said with a resounding enthusiasm, “OBAMA!” Around 6pm the house was so full that people were standing in the entry way to see the TV. People were singing and dancing and hopeful even when the southern states were colored in red. When Ohio came in and MSNBC checked the box by the photo of Obama, we cheered – I cried then too because it was the moment when I truly believed that we had it, but we waited – we watched the rest of country color in with red and blues and some still to early to call in yellow or gray. Some of our friends did shots with each blue state – I danced and drank wine and ate cupcakes and laughed and talked shit and felt such joy building inside of me. About a minute before 8pm our time MSNBC put a little clock in the right corned of the screen counting down the polls closing on the west coast and that’s when we knew they were going to call it. About 60 people pushed themselves into our living room, about half the faces I didn’t know (some heard the noise and wandered in from the houses down the street.) We all counted down from 30 seconds, and when the clock hit double zero Barack Obama’s face came up and that yellow check mark was next to PRESIDENT. My house exploded. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down like children. We ALL cried and hugged and kept screaming and kissing again, it was the BEST moment of my life. We then danced and waited for the concession speech from McCain and Pain and they looked so sad and tearful and I thought – Goodbye to negative campaigning, goodbye to these fringe republicans and their racist, homophobic beliefs, goodbye to old leadership and hello change, hello hope. We did it. I called my mom and couldn't hear her mostly from the screaming and too because neither one of us could talk through our tears. Then the house got quiet and Obama walked out to a quarter of a million Americans in Chicago cool and so damn presidential and we all burst out into tears again – we watched, through sniffles and hand holding as he thanked us and inspired us to come together and get to work, and how he loves his wife and how although he may not have earned everyone’s vote he will be their president too... And then Joe Biden walked out and we jumped up again – and then, another moment which is ingrained in my mind forever... When Michele and Malia and Sasha came out holding hands and waving and I felt the kind of love my mom and Nana talk about for JFK and his family. They were radiant and it’s that moment replayed that still causes me to tear up two days later. It doesn’t get any better. And so I drank too much champagne and talked a little too loud and woke up sick the next day – but the air is energized – it felt like Christmas – except better because we get four years of this feeling. If I could relive one moment in my life it would be when the MSNBC’s screen hit double zero and they called it – those emotions are what I can’t explain. The world seems happy and hopeful and I still can’t believe that McCain got as many votes as he did but we did it anyway. Yes we did. And now I wait to see what our president asks of us next – I’m ready. I’ve been listening to John Legend’s If You’re Out There over and over. If I get time, I’m going to make my Obama CD with this song, the Yes We Can Song and U2’s Beautiful Day as well as American Prayer. I can’t wait for the inauguration!