The Fashionista

Hi everyone!

Here's a cute pic from the weekend.

Glam girl

Even though my daughter is only a little over a year old, she's already wearing toddler-size clothes (that shirt is 5T and the pants are 4T). In alot of ways, I'm not surprised by this. My husband and I are both large people, and as children we were both wearing clothes fit for larger individuals. Naturally, she too follows suit. I don't mind her clothes being a little loose on her. When it's hot out, you don't want any material sticking to your body.

Besides, jeans are good in any weather.

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Picture of the Day

Greetings, dear readers!

My daughter has learned a new skill: climbing! It began with her climbing up onto a small stool that my husband keeps near his desk in his work area which functions like a small table and holds random stuff like extra wires and gadgets. First, she would knock the stuff off the stool, then climb up onto the surface and proceed to either try and get at the stuff on my husband's desk or just chill on her new perch. Needless to say, baby-proofing my husband's work area became priority number one for an afternoon.

Well, just after she learned to climb the stool, the baby then proceeded to climb on top of one of the side tables here in the bedroom! The baby had cleverly figured out how to use the lower table as a stair to get to the higher table. So in celebration of my little mountaineer, here she is at the summit for today's picture of the day.

I'm coming for you, Mt. Everest...

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Palm Sunday

Happy Palm Sunday, dear readers!

Today marks the start of Holy Week, a week of intense prayer, fasting and abstinence as a means of preparation for Easter. On this day, we commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem where He was greeting with palms and shouts of joy. His fellow Jews thought He was going to liberate them from the Romans and upon realizing that was not what Jesus was about, they had Him executed a few later on Good Friday. It's quite bipolar when you think about it, how quickly He went from being celebrated to crucified. It really gives an insight into the mindset of humanity post-Original Sin, as Canon Bill phrased it during his sermon today.

Daddy and the baby, looking cute for church

As is customary, we got palm leaves and went on a procession around the church. It was nice to be able to witness our faith being displayed for all to see.

Follow the priest and altarboys!

Canon Bill (in red) and the altar boys leading the procession

The choir

Kids with palms

Home stretch towards the front

Follow the leader

This part is where the priest and the choir recreate a dialog between the Roman guards and Joseph of Aramathea to seal the tomb where Jesus is laid

Back inside. Notice how the statues are shrouded. This is done during Holy Week as for devotions and the statues are then unveiled during the Easter Vigil Mass.

Canon Bill reads the Gospel.

This was also the first day we got to drive our cholomobile to our Latin Mass church and show it off to our friends and fans there. There was another debut too-we finally upgraded the baby's car seat from the baby carrier to a proper forward-facing car seat. We knew the time had come when the baby's feet started hanging over the edge of the carrier and it was getting harder to buckle her in. Since the carrier has been retired, she now gets to ride sitting up and facing forward in the stroller like a big girl.

In Arizona, primo parking is wherever there is shade. Our cholomobile is in primo parking under the palo verde tree

Cruising in style like a big kid

Unfortunately, the baby became very fussy during Mass so we had to go up to the kiddie ghetto. It was just as well that we did, because my husband spotted an ex-associate of his tailing along at the end of the procession and going up into the kiddie ghetto was the most convenient way to get away from her. This is not the first time this woman, or another crazy person from my husband's past showed up at our Latin Mass church, likely to spy on him. The University draws alot of people like them to the area, but I also think of the Parable of the Two Churches. Where God is present, the devils swarm like flies because He is there.

After Mass, we joined our longtime family friend at a nearby Waffle House for brunch. This may be the last brunch we all have together because a serious issue that had previously been quietly simmering in the background with our relationship is beginning to become more and more prominent. My husband is doing a novena to the Holy Spirit to discern how to proceed with this matter, but it will have to be confronted soon. For now, however, we wait and pray.

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Picture of the Day

Hi everyone!

Here is a cuteness picture I caught yesterday at the fish fry!

She ate a lemon, in addition to some of my enchiladas.

Yes, she ate a lemon and didn't freak out over it. I didn't expect she would because I drank alot of lemon-flavored drinks while I was pregnant with her.

My child is not like other children. She eats the same things we big people eat with with minimal modifications. Cabbage and taters, tomatoes, turnip and mustard greens, chili, beans n rice, jambalaya, etc. she eats it all! In fact, the only time she didn't like something we fed her was some commercially produced baby food that was supposed to be garden vegetables but looked like a radioactive green mush that tasted as terrible as it looked. It helps having a toothless old man for a husband who knows how to cook good food to expand her palette, but render the food in an edible format.

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Picture of the Day

Happy Monday everyone!

Here is your daily dose of cuteness.

A fruit filled chompy toy

We bought some bananas recently. Neither my husband nor I care much for bananas, but they're an ideal baby food. Needless to say, the baby was a little monkey and enjoyed her banana piece very much.

As an added bonus, I FINALLY got around to doing some henna! I'd been meaning to do some for my birthday, but never got around to it. With my wedding anniversary just past, now seemed like a good time to do it.

FINALLY catching up on some long overdue henna. Hand pattern based on a design by @ezrielamenkel #henna #tattoo #Indian #bodyart #practicemakesperfect #morocco

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Nov 22, 2015 at 10:15pm PST

For my anniversary, I did something a little special:

I tried to do an old-school IBM computer

I am such a nerd. Well, that happens when you marry someone who works with computers!

Happy Halloween!

Today is Halloween, the day we are all allowed to dress up in costumes, party, and gorge on candy.

Like the vast majority of my neighbors, I did not go trick or treating. The baby is still too little to appreciate trick or treating, but my neighborhood is largely Mexican and with trick or treating being a largely American custom, it's just not a common practice down there (Mexicans, however, have something better-sugar skulls, sweet bread, and altars set up in memory of deceased family members!). It also doesn't help that just about every lot in the park has a fence of some sort up and some kind of dog(s) behind them. A barking, snarling dog or two makes it kinda hard to go up to someone's door and say trick or treat.

But, we did celebrate in our own little way! Some months back, my husband's cousin sent us a care package from her home in southern Louisiana. In addition to some classic Cajun/NOLA goodies, she sent a pumpkin outfit! We broke out the pumpkin outfit for this afternoon's outing to church.

Growing out of the blankets on the bed was...a pumpkin baby!

While some claim that supernatural activity (especially the evil kind) reaches its apex on Halloween, we had a rather fortuitous encounter with one of our Carmelite padres when we went to the other church for Confession. We were getting ready to leave and go home when we saw him crossing the parking lot on his way back from the bakery across the street with a few boxes of doughnuts. He was not wearing his habit, so I didn't recognize him at first, but his distinctive hair and eyeglasses gave him away. He offered us some of the doughnuts and while I admittedly don't care much for doughnuts, I was not about to turn down free food. My husband took it as a sign of approval from God for time spent in good penance and not causing mischief while going door-to-door for candy.

And that was how I spent my Saturday. Hope you had a safe and happy Halloween, and I can't wait to score some half-off Halloween candy tomorrow. 

Picture of the Day

Cuteness attack!

That Princess Leia-style blanket on the baby's head was actually inspired by a Hong Kong based beauty vlogger who made a similar headwrap for her son and herself using a towel. That headwrap is known as a Sheep Head wrap from Korea, and it is used in the sauna or bath. It was too cute not to try, even though it ended up looking more like the headdress of a member of the Sisters of Charity.

Have a good week!

Picture of the Day

A most vigorous chomp!

About a week ago, my mom sent a care package which included that chompy toy for the baby. It's become her favorite chompy. The company that made it was Nuby, and I must say, I'm quite pleased with the quality of their products. My daughter's disgraced godfather bought her a teething toy by the same company a while back, and she likes playing with it when we're out. They're both easy to grasp and effective at soothing sore teething gums.

I love being a mom. There is something fulfilling about watching my child grow from a tiny helpless infant into a boisterous child who is curious about the world and everything in it. I only hope that I don't become a helicopter parent and render her completely unequipped to deal with the world at large when it comes time for her to leave me and make her own way in life. I also hope that I can accept her for who she is and not someone she should be, a very painful lesson still resonating with me today.

Picture of the Day

Peekaboo!

My daughter loves playing with the newspapers. This sort of play gives her some exercise and distraction for a bit. My mother-in-law says that my husband loved newspapers as an infant. He was especially fond of chewing on them. I am certainly glad that lead-based inks were phased out long ago and grocery fliers/newspapers now are printed with more environmentally friendly inks instead.

And in a related note, perhaps because of her resemblance to her father, random strangers will frequently mistake my daughter for a boy! This happens even when she is wearing girl clothes, anytime we're out in public! My husband theorizes that in addition to her resemblance to him, our daughter is a large and active child for her age. While she is big for being a 4 month old, her mistaken gender is an interesting (albeit annoying!) observation. What does this say about us as a society where a clearly female child is initially judged as male? Has it become more socially acceptable for males to be dressed in typically feminine colors (pink, purple, etc)? Or has our society become so rigidly sexist that even baby girls (or baby boys, for that matter) who don't fit EXACTLY into the rigidly-defined "norm" become a nuclear-level mindfuck to anyone who encounters them?

This is a strange time we live in, ladies and gentlemen. It's gonna get stranger yet.

Picture of the Day

Say cheese!

Bonus!

What better way to spend a rainy day (thanks, last minute monsoon!) than by playing and taking selfies with your baby?

My Cat, Pest

Tonight while eating dinner, I caught my cat, Pest, doing this:

"Eater of Grass"

Actually, he was licking the salad dressing off of the lettuce.

While he forgets he's a cat about 90% of the time and is frequently annoying as all hell (hence his name, Pest), he'll still be my baby forever. Hubby and I raised him and his siblings by hand after their mommy died, and Pest is one of the few in that unfortunate litter that made it to adulthood. He's my survivor, and the one I practiced my mommy skills on in preparation for parenthood.

I love you, Pest. Even if you are a K-A-T-T, not a C-A-T.

A Day at the Museum

Today was a big day for the baby. We took her to the Children's Museum of Tucson. I'd originally planned to go this past Thursday since we'd be in the area anyway, but while looking online for admission prices, I saw they offered reduced admission on the second Saturday of the month to coincide with the monthly Second Saturday street fair in downtown Tucson. Always the frugal family, we set Saturday to be the day.

The front of the building. Picture found here

Memorial out in front of the fence. Caption says "To the memories of the citizens of the State of Arizona who gave their lives so that we might live in peace and unafraid in this stark borderland"

Built in 1901 with a grant from the esteemed Andrew Carnegie foundation, the Children's Museum was originally the Tucson Public Library. It served as the main library for the city until 1989, when the current Tucson Public Library (now called Joel D. Valdez Library) moved to its current location on Stone and Pennington. The Children's Museum was established shortly thereafter.

A brief history of the building that houses the Children's Museum

It was very loud and chaotic upon entering the building, as to be expected when there are tons of kids around. But for $2 admission (regular price $8), it couldn't be bad.

I admit, I'm somewhat spoiled. Growing up in the Chicago area, there were a number of high quality museums to go to with plenty of exhibits to delight the senses. My impressions of the exhibits were disappointing compared to what I'd experienced growing up. But, I'm not in Chicago anymore. Besides, as a parent, I have to swallow my pride. I would have never otherwise set foot in this building if I didn't have a child.

The first exhibit we visited was one that was electricity based. In addition to the classic plasma ball, there was a crank generator, a Tesla coil, an interactive circuit, and a few other electricity-related items. Of all the exhibits we saw, this was my favorite one. My husband particularly liked this exhibit, since he'd been associated with various forms of electricity from childhood on up and even worked as an electrician for a time.

Daddy the mad electrical genius

Mommy's turn to be a mad scientist

The generator

Standing proudly at the device named for one of my fellow countrymen, Nikola Tesla

Next up was a small section dedicated to Public Safety. In there was a shell of an old Tucson Fire Dept. truck and a non-working Tucson Police Department motorcycle. I was pleased to see that TPD uses Kawasaki for their bikes. I have a high opinion of Japanese motorcycles.

From there, we made our way to the gravity exhibit. The best part of this exhibit was building a tube path and dropping a ping pong ball down it. The most annoying part of this exhibit, however, was a wheel loaded with jangly things that you cranked to see centripetal force in action. It sounded like broken glass, and the baby wasn't too fond of that.

Watch the marble...

The next room was a combination art studio and a play area for kids under 4. Since there was plenty of wifi available in the building, my husband left me in here for a bit to go to the lobby and check his emails. Since Darija is only a few days short of three months, there really wasn't much she could DO. But, I decided to make a little paper project for Daddy, with her "supervising". I held up the different items and explained what they were. She loved the seahorse stencil I'd drawn. While there was plenty of paper, markers, and crayons out and about, I had a heluva time hunting down glue. I eventually found a staff member to replenish the glue container, but that delayed me more than I'd liked. By this time, Darija was hungry and began to fuss. When my husband returned and saw our little project, he was pleased to see it. I had him watch the stroller while I retreated to a quiet corner of the play area and nursed her for a bit. Amazingly enough, nobody bothered me, though one cute toddler walked over and handed me a toy. Guess she thought I needed something to play with.

Now fed, we proceeded to the next room. This room was a combination of things like permutations for cracking a safe, blowers with levitating balls, a prism, soundwaves, and a tubing setup that blew soft pompom-like balls all over the place. My favorite part of this exhibit was the prism, where I had to slide a diffuser and lenses to separate the red, green, and blue colors. It took a bit of trying, but I did it. Darija, on the other hand, was fascinated by the sound waves. She stared intently at the bitty plastic balls as they vibrated according to frequency and volume.

Prism (L), roller coaster (R), and Carl Sagan

After a short potty break, we visited trains. They had a model train with a camera mounted on it buzzing around the top of the room that I thought was cute. It certainly looked like a typical train that buzzes through on its way east from San Diego.

Choo-choo!

Steam locomotives poster

Little pulley cart

Modern diesel and electric locomotives

Last, but not least, was the biology exhibit. The best part of this exhibit (aside from the giant representations of body parts on the wall) was the pets room. There were posters showing the different breeds of cats, as well as the skeletal makeup of a cat. Since we have cats of our own, it's important that our children be familiar with their biological makeup. The main room in the exhibit was a mock grocery store, filled with fake foods for "purchase".

Daddy's Eye of Sauron

The mouth going "BLEHH!"

Finally, we ended our day in the tech room. This exhibit featured plenty of touchscreens to play on and explore. There was also a large cabinet filled with Mickey Mouse items (toys, books, figurines, etc) that didn't really seem to fit there. But, it was interesting to see how Mickey evolved through the decades.

By this point, we were both pretty tired from walking around, and the baby fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. Since the sky was getting dark and looking like it was gonna rain, we headed home to eat and rest.

She fell asleep like this just as I'd put her in the stroller and was about to buckle her in to leave

Thus ended our day at the museum. We'll definitely be coming back here as Darija gets older, and our family expands. It's well-worth the $2 admission.

Picture of the Day

Snoozing with Daddy #baby #girl #babiesofinstagram #daddysgirl #love #naptime #blackandwhite

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Aug 4, 2015 at 11:57a

 My daughter and my husband enjoying a snooze together

Enjoy your time with loved ones. They're too precious to miss.

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