I wanna have...

The other afternoon, in the car after picking Lauren up from daycare, she started saying what sounded exactly like, "I want s e x, Mommy. I wannna have s e x". I almost passed out, until I realized she was talking about her favorite little fruit snacks - "I want snacks, Mommy. I wanna have snacks!" She's a repeater too (aren't all 2 year olds?), so she kept saying it over and over. Then I found it to be quite funny.



The next morning, when she was asking again, I said, "no, Lauren, no snacks, you're going to have breakfast at school." To which, Hubby said, "It's ok Lauren, Daddy doesn't get snacks either."

Isn't he HILARIOUS. NOT.

new Glasses

new Glasses
Originally uploaded by tostina.

Lauren's new glasses - Disney.

Go Tiger Woods!

Now that Lauren is at that stage where she repeats almost anything, I had some fun today getting her to cheer for Tiger Woods during the Masters golf tournament. She is saying, "go Tiger Woods, go Tiger Woods, get a birdie, get a birdie, get a hole in one!"



I am still working on, "whatchyou talking bout Willis?" and "may the Schwartz be with you".

Well, as I search for a playset for Lauren for the backyard, I'm starting to see what rich people can do with all that money - this castle is $7400!!

Now I don't want to sound like a bitter, self-righteous middle class person, but seriously, if you spend $7400 on a castle for your 3 year old, you should question your morality. OK, so you're not killing anyone or cheating on your wife or anything, but when there is so much famine and struggle in this world, it just doesn't seem right.

Now if you build it yourself, and it costs a couple grand in supplies, that's different. Then it teaches your kids more than just "Mommy & Daddy can buy me whatever I want".

ok, off my soapbox now. will continue to look for a playset that does not cost a few months' salary (or even a week's salary for that matter)

My favorite golfer, Adam Scott, defends his title starting today at the Shell Houston Open. As of this moment, he is in the lead with three birdies through five holes (if you don't know alot about golf, just know this - that's REALLY GOOD!)

He also did this PSA comparing surfing to golf. Adam Scott in a wetsuit is not a bad thing.

On that note, I think there is a missed marketing opportunity within golf right now. There are many rather good looking guys on the Tour and while Natalie Gulbis "gets it" over on the LPGA, I'm still waiting for the "Hot Men of the PGA" calendar to come out.

Orange Monkey Face

As Jenny pointed out on Sunday at Sprague's Maple farm, while we were eating pancakes with fresh maple syrup, fresh maple syrup is more expensive than oil, and we probably ate over $30 worth of the stuff that morning. Yummy delicious amber goodness, but not cost effective as an alternate fuel source.

Also doing my best to raise Lauren as a goofball. I think she has inherited my silly side. Daddy is not very silly, but then again, he did show up at Jenny's halloween party one year wearing spandex leopard print pants and a mask (and some strategically places socks). So he's definitely got a silly side.

Added my twitter stuff over on the right, so maybe my blog won't be so lamely out of date.

Lemme see... quick updates...

GOLF GEEK - becoming a golf geek as I work on the PGA Partnership team... went to Miami for one day of the CA golf tournament last week... sweet ocean breezes...



LITTLE PICKER - when I went to get Little L out of her crib this morning, she had picked the little hemangioma (booty mark) over her eyebrow and there was dark red blood smeared across her entire eyelid and on her hand. It looked like she had started to make herself up as a clown. Mommy almost fainted, she wasn't fazed.

OMG - then, on the way to daycare, as we drove by an accident with a car off the road, she exclaimed, "oh my goodness! oh my goodness!". She is funny.

Photo Shoot

Originally uploaded by tostina.

Took Lauren to Portrait Simple tonight to pose with a bunny. She was actually pretty scared of the bunny, clinging to me like it was an alligator or something. But we did get some seriously adorable pictures. I put them up on my Gallery page too - http://www.kodakgallery.com/tina

NOT me

So even though we have the same name, and she also likes Mika, and she also uses a Mac (I heart Mac), and she loves Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves and I like Robin Hood - Men in Tights, this is NOT me: http://www.tinamclark.com

Delayed no more

Lauren gave us a scare last week with a 103 temperature. Looks like she had the one day flu I had the week before, but she was feeling mostly better by Friday. On Friday, she had her 2 year developmental follow up appt. They track preemies for research purposes. They had her do various tests, like stack blocks, point to a dolly's various parts, find hidden toys, etc.

She was still pretty subdued, so she barely said a word, but she warmed up to the tests.

After the session, the doctor came to tell me that in the 8 years he had been doing these tests, you could count on one hand the number of kids doing as well as Lauren. I about burst in to tears. It's just such a relief to know that given such a rough start that Lauren is doing so wonderful.

We are truly blessed.

Then tonight I come home and she and Daddy both have has pants on her head as hats - her idea. Will her genius be used for good, bad, or ridiculous. You decide.

(oh, and just to be clear, the doctors did not imply that Lauren was a genius, just very caught up developmentally. But hey, that's a parent's job to assume their kid is a genius =)

So the video shows what Lauren did NOT do for the researcher,

My Movie selection ran the full spectrum this weekend. Friday night we FINALLY watched Superbad, which was supergood. Wrong. Hilariously wrong.

Then last night, Shruti took us to see a Bollywood film - Jodhaa Akbar. It was in Hindi with English subtitles and was over 3 hours long, which flew by, because it was fantastic. It had a great story and was visually beautiful... and then there were the stars, Hrishik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, who were both also visually beautiful. I'd have to vote Hrishik as having the 2nd most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen (Hubby has the first).

Oh yeah, added all his other movies to my Netflix Queue! Hrishik Roshan film festival, coming soon!

Fire Insurance for Ladybugs

Since she was little, I've sung the first verse of the "Ladybug Picnic" song to Lauren - not remembering all the words from my early days planted in front of the tv watching Sesame Street...

But then I realized, HELLO, this is 2008, EVERYTHING is on YouTube, EVERYTHING!! Sure enough, I found it.

Well, Lauren is obsessed. Every night, grabs my hand and pulls me to the computer, "adybug icnic Mommy, adybug icnic".



I also know ALL the words only TOO well now and can rattle off the entire song when needed.

Oh, and you can just imaging how excited she gets when we actually find a LIVE ladybug in our house (because, apparently, they are making babies in my walls or something... something I choose not to think too hard about and am only thankful to GOD that it is ladybugs and not bees... for if it were bees, I'd be moving out... "Honey, I'll be at the Hyatt, let me know when our bed is set up at whatever new house you buy in the next 3 days.")

American Idol

Well, hubby and I have a new tradition. At the start of each season of American Idol, we each pick twelve people. At the end, whoever has the winner on their list wins a week of fancy, home made dinners. (Yes, this gives away the fact that we are not good about making dinner).

Hubby won last year - BARELY. Jordin was the last person standing on his list for many weeks. So even though he won, I correctly assessed the most talented top 6 or so.

This year he is as SMUG as ever. First pick for him - David Archuleta. He also has Sayesha.

I am pinning alot of my hopes on Michael Johns and Ramiele Malubay.

Can't remember who else has who, but I do know that 3 of the 4 voted off in the first week were mine. It's ok. Ramiele will save me.

Birthday Video

Jenny created this video montage from Lauren's birthday.

Lauren officially LOVES cake and LOVES birthdays! Between the pink piano from Jenny & Aaron (HOW FREAKIN CUTE IS THAT?!!) and the music class at Hochstein she starts next week (Music for Tiny Tots), by this time next year she will be my Mini-Mozart.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Dear Lauren,
You turn two today. It is hard to believe that two years ago you were struggling for life (and Mommy too) and today you are full of life - intelligent, beautiful, funny, creative, and entertaining. It is amazing how you've grown, and how long it has taken for your hair to grow ;-)

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, sometimes it is overwhelming how much, I just want to hug you and never let you go.

This year has been so fun, watching you learn so many new things and start to be able to communicate. I know this next year will be amazing too, but I don't want it to go too fast my little peanut butter cup. I treasure every moment with you while you are too little to talk back and to ask for money and the car keys.

My only sadness is that your Grandma, my Mommy, is not here to share all this (though I am sure she is watching) - you are very much like her, very thoughtful and very silly. She would eat you up like a piece of pie!

So Happy Birthday my little babe, and as my Mommy said to me and you may say to your little girl someday,

Momma loves you! xoxo




More pix at my Gallery

My favorite pro golfer, Adam Scott (ok, yes, he's my favorite because he's cute) won the Qatar Masters yesterday by shooting a 61! But I am most amused by the GIANT trophy that is about as big as he is - a giant clamshell where the golf ball is the pearl. Clever.

Vegas, baby!! 19!!

So this year has started off as a whirlwind of travel, first to Vegas for CES, then to Orlando for a PGA Golf show... and great stories from each trip. Here's the first one:

On the way to Vegas, the security guy at the airport told my coworker, "Vegas? 19, trust me!"... so even though I figured the guy said that to everyone, my Vegas Superstition kicked in and I urged Terry to get to the roulette table (not that he needed urging, he had every intention of playing 19!).

So it was our last night, a bunch of us are at Caesar's... he puts $10 on 19 and $10 on red. As Jenny, Brie and I stood and watched, "tink, tink, tink", the ball landed in 19. We were in shock, he hit on the first bet!! He won a good chunk of change (the straight up bet payed 35 to 1) and then let us gamble some too. Jenny stood in her "lucky spot" at the other end of the table willing the ball to go to the right number - and it worked! I won on at least six spins in a row... won straight up three times, and then won a few combination bets (I was spreading my bets around more though, so I didn't win as much).

The only joy better than gambling with someone else's money is winning with someone else's money!

Let me tell you, I've only been lucky at gambling one other time in my life (and mind you, I am in Vegas 1-2 times a year as I have family there), so I was in SHOCK. And Jenny was the voice of reason, she'd mouth, "CASH OUT! CASH OUT!"... so before our luck could turn, we cashed out up quite a bit. It was exhilarating.

I don't think I'm due for another winning streak like that for another 20 years!!

TEE NA!!

Somewhere along the way, Lauren picked up on the fact that my name is "Tina" and decided to address me this way. I always reply with the correction, "Mommy", so she knows it doesn't thrill me... so now she does it to get my goat...

and I finally captured it on video... Jenny says it looks like "Lauren TV"...

In the video she even gives a very stern look - one I must give her when she calls me "Tina"... the things kids pick up is scary!

Now I don't really know my ABCs

All that crap about blogging more and making lists and I've still been horrible about both. Today I am actually in Orlando for the PGA golf show for work. Met Omarosa and she is so nice. Can't say I'm shocked because I know that they edit the crap out of TV.

Lauren turns two in a couple weeks, the girl is cracks me up. I finally captured video of her singing her ABC's (somewhat) but gets stuck in a loop at the end - qrstuvwy tuv wx tuv wx tuv (and so on)... This particular time, I thought she was going to go on forever, but then she noticed the camera and asked, "I see Lauren Clark?" which she says when she wants to see pics of herself.