{ tara frey }:: typing out loud

Independence Day

Our day started out with the soft sweet sounds from this beautiful little one...

  

Christian loved being a nudie patootie on this warm 4th of July.  I must say, this boy loves the camera too and I don't think he'll recognize his Aunt T without the big black thing around my neck.  This was an impromptu little mini shoot at G's house.  Their 1800's Victorian is the perfect backdrop for just about anything, with all it's charm and little garden houses

I actually contemplated putting him inside that flower box above, but instead snapped the photo below

 

My husband came with me to visit. God, he loves babies.  Loves. Loves. Loves.  Never afraid to hold them and asks all kinds of questions and wants to know ALL the gory details on the birth (did I ever mention I had to ask him to move his head while I was pushing Natalie out? umm..yeah, just a little too close for comfort, ya know?)  Anyway, he teared up when G told him that her mom pulled Christian out and up onto her belly.  Something I am sure he would have loved to have done with our babies. He's so into the miracle of it all. 

But my darn sensitive baby lovin hubby kept getting in the way of the shots (Christian's daddy is on the left, who is happy to admit that he was perfectly content being at his wife's head during the birth)  Anyway, while I was taking photos of Christian, my McDreamy would get in almost every frame and touch him, adjust a blanket, cross little legs, or position an ivy leaf carefully over private jeweled areas. I kept clicking away, until I finally screamed "Babe, he's going to get sunburned and be a little fried chicken! Quit touching him and move him out of the sun!"  Poor guy.  He was just trying to get his baby fix on.

So we came home to our own little chickens, who we realize aren't so little anymore and very independent creatures. So sad when that happens?  And also, the noise and general loudness of it all.  Appropriate night for fireworks and celebrating independence with special meaning this year to our little family.  Although we started the day off so quietly, we definitely went out with a bang.

and only what I can think looks like a tribute to the king of pop, Mr. Michael Jackson..just envision "Billie Jean" blaring in the background

Dancing our independent booties off

Eating smores by the firepit

Making a wish with this last firework launch and watching our hopes and dreams light up the night sky

We'll wait to see if they come true...

 

life size and in lights...

omg.  Here is my book all lit up and giant like, at Sterling's booth at the New York City Book Expo: 

The only words that come to mind are::  "Holy crap!" 

I know.  It's such a profound statement, so poetic and author{ish}.  

What an honor to have my book chosen by Sterling for showcase during the expo.  They have a gazillion other books to chose from, I know this. 

It feels real tingly and knee buckling, let me tell ya. 

ps:  don't you just dig that book cover next to mine?  I want those SOX!

Welcome Christian Paul

 

Christian Paul made his entrance June 25th, my friend Gina's actual due date.  Leave it to G to give birth on her actual due date.  Who does that unless it's some kind of planned scheduled thing?  And this was not.  I woke up this morning with a text from her hottie hubby saying "it's a boy!".  Time stamp, late last night.  She went into labor quickly, pushed and within 40 minutes, Christian was here.  The same day celebs Farrah and the King of Pop left us, Christian came into the world fast and furious. 

And our best friend became a mommy.  There are 2 rituals the 4 of us have when a baby is born to our group.  We all come together to the hospital to see the baby.  And the other ritual? Crying uncontrollably upon first seeing each other.  That first moment when we walk into the room.  There's just something about seeing your best friend laying in the bed holding a baby.  The same best friend you would lie awake at night with dreaming about Scott Baio, reading Tiger Beat Magazine, crank calling boys from your class and eating raw cookie batter.  Now, that same friend is a mommy.  It's a goosebump moment, and we all cry like newborns. 

Except our newest newborn, baby boy Christian, doesn't cry.  He's a laid back dude, that's for sure.  And the most perfect beautiful baby with a head that smells like an angel.  I'm in love.

Christan was born June 25th, weighing 7lbs even.  Congrats to his grandmother Sue from Florida who guessed the closest in the "G is having a B" game, she is double winner for sure! Click here for a link to his stats.

my Public Service Announcement

 

Since summer is here, I feel the need to do my own PSA.  Yes.  I was a TANorexic.  The sun was my drug of choice in my teens, 20's, and entering 30's.  I found myself trying to get the beast anyway I could.  Baby oil on blacktop, tin foil on a lawn chair, tanning beds, sticking my head out the sunroof.  SPF?  What was that?

The photo below was taken a few years ago at our vacation house at the beach.  At this point, I was so strung out on the sun...

  

I would usually get a very dark tan (for being *ahem* a natural blonde...you have seen this photo of me when I was 3 to prove my *natural* blondlieness?).  Anyway, I'm Italian and Irish.  Are these two blood lines even suppose to mix?  The Italian side of me gets dark.   However the Irish in me comes out in FRECKLES.  Lots of them.  And then my hair turns a bright white in the summer.  It's an odd combination.  Like a George Hamilton albino?  I've had many terrible sunburns.  Once so badly on a trip home from Disney that I needed airport security and a tram car, with lights and sirens, my feet had swollen up with sun blisters, I couldn't get off the plane. SO embarrassing.

So what snapped me out of it?  Of course it wasn't the threat of skin cancer.  No.  It wasn't the sirens and mini ambulance and humiliation at the airport.  Nope.  It was much deeper than that. 

I woke up one morning and looked into the mirror.  Closely.  It hit me.  Oh my god, I'm a walking, talking raisin face. An irish potato neck.  A sicilian pepper steak.  The wrinkles and sun spots that have wreaked havoc on my skin for years...magically all appeared at once, it seemed.  That was it for me.  I was scared straight.  By my own face.

Today, it's all lotions and potions to try and reverse and stop. (and we all know that's like stopping a speeding train)  I'm happy to say that I've been out of the sun for 2 years now, clean and sober.  My kids tan easily because of their daddy's olive skin.  But I won't let them make the same mistakes I did with the beastly sun.  They are lathered up with sunblock like buttered turkeys before they can leave the house, whether the sun is out or not, doesn't matter.  They whine at me now, but will thank me later.

So my new drug of choice?

Spray tanning myself to death.  I swear by this stuff ladies.  It smells good (most self tanners smell bad) and it gives a nice natural looking tan, not orange.  Best of all, it doesn't cause wrinkles!  Find it here at Sephora.  Happy Summer and don't forget your sunblock! xo ~ T

he became a father

on January 15th 1997.  He wanted a boy so badly but never said it out loud. 

   

You see, if he didn't have a boy, the "Frey" name and legacy would die with him.  He was King Henry VIII, everything depended on this birth. And I was Anne Boleyn.  I might have been beheaded had it not been a boy. Bucks County needed a Frey prince.  I had nightmares about the scaffold and lived in fear for my life for 9 months. 

Ok, so that's not really true.  But the last name thingie is true.  There is no male in the Frey family to carry the name into the next generation.  His younger brother had a girl and is done procreating, there are no male cousins, uncles, etc..  (ps:  see here how we pronounce the name)

And it was a boy, born in the early morning hours, 5 days earlier than expected.  McDreamy cried...and cried, (and cried some more).

But the good news to the kingdom wasn't over yet...

We won the lottery that day (like literally..with a winning ticket)  the same day the boy, Prince Nicholas Michael Frey, was born.  And not just random numbers.  Chosen numbers.  The new prince's weight came out on the 7:00pm daily lottery drawing, that same day he was born.  We all watched in my hospital room in disbelief.  The new daddy screamed and ran up and down the hallway of our hospital floor, scaring the bejesus out of new mommies trying to get their newborns to latch on and breastfeed . 

The nurses thought we won the jackpot and quickly entered our room, and with the way everyone was acting, so did I.  (I was still delirious from the epidural.) In the haze, I thought I saw people jumping up and down and pulling their hair out.  I dreamed of a new car, mansion and maids.  A castle for the prince.  I quickly learned that we weren't retiring with our winnings, it was just the daily number for god sakes.  But we were set with diapers and wipes for at least a year or two.

It was all incredible... that cold day in January when he became a daddy for the first time.  He got a boy, the new prince Frey of Bucks County, I wasn't beheaded, and he won the lottery.  A pretty good day indeed.

Below is the reaction of the Prince when he was told recently that the burden now lies on his shoulders..that he must produce a male heir to carry on the Frey name to reign in his kingdom.  All I can think of is his poor wife and her nightmares of the scaffold.

Happy Fathers Day to my McDreamy Laptop Killer.  I love you.

G is going to have a B !

 

One of my best friends, Gina, (we call her "G")  is due with her FIRST baby SOON!  Oh god we are so excited. yes, G is having a B !  It's been a while since we've had a baby in our little foursome of the Sex and The City{ish} best friends that I have (and Gina is our Charlotte).  Our group consists of Kristi, Rachel, Gina and me.  We've all been BF's since we were in grade school.  Crazy cool. 

Also crazy cool? Kristi, Rachel and I each have been blessed with 2 kids each and all have a boy and a girl.  Our Gina beans (forgot to mention beans is another nickname) it seems Beans waited (and waited), to start her family... she likes to torture people.

She told us the news in a crowded restaurant.  And, in true Sex and The City fashion, I became Charlotte for a second and jumped from the table and screamed at the top of my lungs, everyone staring, I shouted "She's pregnant, oh my God she's having a baby!!!!" We cried, we laughed, we wondered if it was a boy or a girl and all the other emotions and questions that go along with it.

  

Soon, Gina will get her membership card as she enters into the secret club of mind numbing labor pains and contractions as a human being exits her body. (Sorry G, if you are reading this, but we reviewed all the fun parts before.  That bump in your belly has a person in it and, well, it has to come out soon. And you are being a brat anyway by not telling us any of the names you have picked out.) Come on people, isn't she a tease for not telling us ANY names? Again, it's part of her torture factor.  But I'm so happy that she and her hubby haven't found out the gender of the baby.  I LOVE surprises like that.

 

So, I wanted to have some fun and play one of those "guess the date, baby gender and weight office pools" and since this is sort of my office, why don't we all play? (excluding me, of course!)

Please give your guess in the comments here on this post, and include:

a) Birth date  b) Gender   c) Weight 

The person that comes the closest will win the prizes below.  Some clues to help:  Her due date is June 25th...now, personally I was 5 days early with Nick and 6 days late with Natalie, so one never knows...and she looks beautiful as you can see, she is one of those skinny pregnant women we all secretly hate.  

So here is what the lucky winner will receive:

A copy of the new book by the talented Amy Hanna, "Rejuvenated Jewels New Designs from Vintage Treasures"  Oh my, it's beautiful! And I'm so proud to be in her company with the same production team.

 

Also the winner will receive this gorgeous handmade "Dream" clipboard.  To keep all your dreams in one beautiful place.

 

And finally, this lovely "Miracles Happen" handpainted wooden sign.  Because miracles really do happen, don't they G?

Remember to guess Date, Gender, Weight in the comments section. If you have any questions, just ask in comments and I'll answer right away.  Oh, this will be so exciting, thanks for playing!

(ps:  to the peanut in the belly:: Aunt T can't wait to meet you and post your photo here soon, and I guess you should get used to my camera in your little sweet face, oh, and also me sniffing your head non-stop)

Analyze This

 

ok, so I don't really ever look at my blog stat counter and all that techie stuff, I don't even remember my log in id.  But I had a sweet student from Ireland email me recently that she found my blog accidentally when she was researching a project and typed in  something like "6th Century Irish Kings"  So that was kind of cool?  I really can't explain why I came up in google search in Ireland for that.  But it got me thinking, what other words or phrases might land people here by accident?  So,  I finally retrieved my log in (after dozens of red error flags, love them) and I clicked on "Keyword Analysis" on my stat chart and came across some doozies.

Ready?  Let's go have some fun...

here's a list of some things people recently typed into google and accidentally landed here on my blog::

• "How to dress for dinner when I hate my legs" (wear pants)
• "Something that will read what I type out loud to me online" (I can't even being to translate this) 
• "American Girl matted hair" (so we're not the only family who doesn't take care of our doll hair!)
• "Dorothy Hamill" (yes, her hairstyle was loved by many.  I looked just like her SEE?)
• "Tv show maids"     (omg..do I look like Alice from The Brady Bunch?)
• "Bangs and Sunglasses" (yep, what this blog is all about)
• "What about Mary- Magda lady" (Yeah, she's awesome!)
• "Blackberry phobia"  (I've been cured of this raging disease)
• "Tara the american girl"  (yes I am American)
• "Kelly Ripa's big hair prom photo"  (I bet my hair was bigger)
• "Tara laughs loud"  (yes, actually I do, I'm a loud person)
• "Hammertime"   (ok, his new reality show looks hilarious, but what does it have to do with me?!)
• "Typing pumpkin"  (who would want a pumpkin that types?)
• "What to say to my daughter in law"   (say I love you and be good to my son)
• "Summer cottage"  (would be nice, but I don't have one)
• "How to get smell out of seashells" (uck..don't remind me of THIS)  
• "Crack for super cool random number generator"   (Alert the feds!..someone is trying to crack top secret info and breaching national security...this came from country of Bahrain, where the heck is that?)

So, if you are bored late at night, have some fun and play a little "Analyze This" (oh no, people looking for Robert DeNiro might land here now)

flying the coop

Last bird post.  Promise.  It was all such an exciting experience, I can't let go. But I have to.

Mama Bird had her feathers in a ruffle when I dared to photograph her children.  She flew at me.. then into a tree by the front porch.  Chirping in some code to the babies...something that maybe translated to "children! don't be afraid of the landlord, your father is getting the rent check together, I'm going to swoop in and peck her to death if she gets any closer with that giant black flashing thing around her neck, no worries children!"

Seriously.  I thought she was going to poke my eyeballs out.  Obviously she would never agree to a photography release, so a lawsuit might be around the corner.  I'll take my chances.  These babies were hopping out of the cramped nest and teetering around the sill.  Someone was going to jump.

We call this one Travis  (from the movie Taxi Driver) "Are you looking at me?"

What a way to welcome guests to your front door.  They are obviously not potty trained. 

I don't know why, but I think of them all as boys. And the "boys" started jumping.

This one looks so sad.  Maybe because he's standing in his siblings poop? We just call him "Drama". He'll make a great movie actor.  Oscar winner someday.

Below was our first jumper. This one we call  "Colonel Nathan Jessup".  Just fearless.  Ready to rumble.  Jumped down from the nest first and waddled his way out of the mess and right off the porch, off he went.  He's definitely going to be a marine and platoon leader.  I swore I heard him chirp "you can't handle the truth!" as he left.  Hopefully he''ll be an officer and a gentleman.

This one we call Mr. Rockefeller, JD for short, because he looks like he seemed to be waiting for his butler to clean this mess up. His demeanor tells us that he is off to be an oil tycoon. 

Now they are gone and it's bittersweet.  They all fly away someday, right?  

And to ease my empty nest syndrome, I received a beautiful gift on a not so great, (make that terrible, stinkin rotten) kind of a day (did I mention it was a bad day?)  So I opened this beautifully wrapped box.  It was from Julie, a blog reader.  A tiny bird nest necklace. A forever reminder of mama and the babies.  They may have flown the coop, but I can touch this necklace and think of them always. Thank you for your kindness Julie.  It's lovely.

 

 

If you would like one too, find it at My Everyday Sparkles

my mcdreamy

 

I love this man.

I want to have 16 kids with him and 85 grand-babies.  I want to grow old and gray together and laugh at our wrinkles and tired bones and sit on a rocking chair and say "remember when..."

My kids are the luckiest little chickens on the planet to have him for a daddy.  The most patient, the most kind man I know.  A man who I caught teary eyed in the kitchen looking at an advanced copy of the book when he read the acknowledgments and what I wrote to him and the kids.  Strong and sensitive.  Rugged and sweet.  These guys are hard to come by.  I know this.  And I'm forever grateful that the stars and planets aligned that day we met.

For me, it's the little things that make me swoon.  Like when our daughter curls up on the couch with him and I see him playing with her hair and she tickles his arm.  A natural ritual that I don't even think they realize they are doing. 

He would travel to hell and back for me (with no shoes on).  He's my airbag in a car crash. My life raft on a sinking ship. My sunshine when it's raining.  Home is where ever he is... and I tell ya, I'd follow this man anywhere.  Even to an igloo in Alaska.

My own McDreamy.  He's been told about 1,000 times he looks like Patrick Dempsey.  He doesn't see it.  I, personally, think he's more dreamier than that.

But I love this man.  I know there's already a bullet list, but I just had to get it out again and I thank you for sitting through this manifesto/declaration.

Giveaways and Random Number Generators

I love giveaways, don't you?  A while back while working on the  book,  I had an idea to have a graphic button for bloggers to unite in their love for blogging.  Sort of a 'badge of blissfulness'.  Another idea had to do with giveaways and creating a place where bloggers could come and pick that lucky winning lottery number on all these fabulous giveaways throughout blogdem with a random number generator.  So thanks to Catherine for the coding and Bari J for the adorable button, we have a spot right over HERE .  Feel free to grab the button and link it to RNG (random number generator) page to share with others.

One stop giveaway random number madness!