I say on this one Puppy 1, Baby 0 !!

Too cute, but that baby will get even some day!

I am the newest stalker over at pinterest.com.  I love that dang site, particularly the humor pages.  The funniest one of the day said, “Raising children is like being pecked to death by a chicken.”  Yes.

However real life is not perfectly folded clothes, adorable cupcakes that look like high heels, and perfectly coiffed hair.  Jill Smokler over at Scary Mommy shows some real life v. pinterest photos that you can’t miss!  For example,

Pinterest Playroom

Real Life Playroom

Haha! THANK YOU, Jill, for reassuring all of us!

I got to hold a three-month old baby girl today – she was so tiny it seemed more like she was a month old.  She smiled at me and at another colleague.  Her eyes look just like her Momma’s eyes.  It was wonderful.

Then I saw a whimsical piece of writing on Beauty and Dreams titled, “Little Girl, Fluffy Hair.”  It’s beautiful, it’s sad, it’s heart breaking.

I know it’s wrong. Maybe she’s ill. Maybe somewhere in her icy, little heart she loves her. I should have compassion, reserve judgement..

But I wanted to climb in her lap

and slap that

screeching

mouth

shut.

Little girl, fluffy hair

Round cheeks and

tummy

and sad brown eyes…

If I had all the right words, I would write

a poem for you, a real one.

Photo by Adaggio Art.

As a seasoned real estate agent, I mentored several new agents when they first started out.  I loved being able to extend a helping hand as people figured it out and got their feet wet.  I also served as a mentor to at least three dozen girls as a Girl Scout leader.  Mentoring can be extremely fulfilling, frustrating, joyful, and worrisome.

But when you mentor, it’s not just for you.  It’s for a child who needs encouragement. For a teenager who needs an extra lift every now and then.  For someone like Angie got,

Megan was not exactly what I expected.

I expected to walk in and see a teenager flip me off. 

When I picked her up, she immediately divulged how excited she was, how she’d been thinking of it all day.  She was beaming.

I expected a teenager who spoke in code, grunts and only on the subject of hairspray.

We went to a coffee shop and she talked so fast my ears bled.  At one point, she interrupted herself to tell me how nervous she was.  Then she laid out all her “issues” for me like an open book.

Such a sweet story, this one. Consider becoming a mentor.

When we lost our cat Pootster a couple of years ago when she began having massive convulsions.  My own kids were – at least – teenagers, so while they were sad they understood that she was no longer in pain.  However with younger children, saying goodbye to a pet is a lot harder.  My friend Les just had to go through this with his daughters,

Felix was from a litter of kittens found at the Knoxville zoo. He was diagnosed with diabetes around five years ago. Since then we’ve been checking his blood glucose and giving him insulin and he outlived all predictions. We buried him in a wooded section of the yard and marked his grave with a stone. The girls took it pretty hard, so we had a little ceremony and everyone said something nice about Felix.

I think the best advice is to tell children that of course it hurts to say goodbye.  Then having a memorial and burying the pet can also help a child transition with this type of loss.

We’re sorry, though, for Felix.

Let’s go visit Twitter and see what’s funny about kids today!

blondemomblog:  My 9-year-old daughter’s pet rubber duck is getting married to a troll doll on the playground tomorrow.

mike mckenzy: Leave it to Jackson to sneak bites out of a tomato and put the half eaten fruit away in the fridge.

lanzajr26: That loud pounding noise coming from upstairs? Oh no big deal, just my daughter loading 200lbs of towels in the washer again.

cheese burgerrr: talking in the portable fan…just to make a robot voice

southerngrl27: That awkward moment ur heavyset friend says I’m hungry enough to eat a rhino and ur 3 yo points at her belly and says you did.

TJ Blickity: My nephew says “Eww” What? “My Butt just made a different stinky sound” what r u doin in there “Nothin havin a cnversation w/ my butt”

Eddie and Aaron: Eddie, 4 – “when I grow up I going to fly a fighter jet and shoot alien planes!” Who let him watch Independence Day?

Yes, bodily functions are funny. And what kids say can be embarrassing.  And who wouldn’t want to fly a fighter jet and shoot aliens?

When I see a woman breastfeeding her infant in a store, it does not occur me to be bothered by it.  In fact, I barely pay attention as it is a very natural part of being human.  Unfortunately with the onset of more formula babies and the fact that our country is very puritanical, we don’t actually see it a lot.  As a result, people tend to get bent out of shape when they do see mothers breastfeeding in public places.

However, it’s good to remind people that it is a normal, healthy part of raising a child.  This is why I was happy to see the “Nurse-In” at Target stores throughout the country following a situation before Christmas where one Mom was asked to cover up.  According to ABC News,

Last month at a Webster, Texas Target store, Hickman began nursing her fussy, hungry infant son in the store’s women’s clothing section. Hickman, 35, said that eight Target employees eventually surrounded her and two asked her to move to a fitting room to finish nursing. The other employees, she said, rolled their eyes at her and gave her dirty looks.

Hickman said she tried explaining that Texas law allowed her to breastfeed in public, but the employees wouldn’t listen.

She was surrounded by eight employees? I’d think that spectacle would cause a far greater scene than a single breastfeeding mother. Kudos to the Moms that participated at the end of December!

The extent of my good deeds at Christmas are donating toys to programs that brings gifts to needy children, donating food for the hungry, baking cookies for my colleagues, and being generous to the bell ringers raising money for the Salvation Army.  I sure wish I had the resources to do what “Ben’s wife” did,

Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. On the way out, she handed out $50 bills and paid for two carts of toys for a woman in line at the cash register.

“She was doing it in the memory of her husband who had just died, and she said she wasn’t going to be able to spend it and wanted to make people happy with it,” Deppe said. The woman did not identify herself and only asked people to “remember Ben,” an apparent reference to her husband.

Practice random acts of kindness – as you’re able – this season. There is always something you can do to help, even if it’s just saying a kind word.

I absolutely adore Christmas.  I love the tree, the presents, baking, my family, my friends, worshiping, the carols, the eggnog… everything about the holiday.  What bothers me about the joyful month of December, however, is the war against the holidays.  Where people maintain there is a war against Christmas, I say “Nay!”

When a person – via spoken word, email, card, text, or facebook message – wishes me a happy holiday or sends me seasons greetings, I am not offended.  It makes me happy that someone took the time to wish me joy during the season!

Jen of The Path Less Taken beautifully describes what I’ve been thinking during the last several years,

The only one who can take my Christ out of my Christmas is me.

Let me say that again, rephrased:

The only one who can take your Christ out of your Christmas is you.

How do you take Christ out of Christmas?  You take Christ out of Christmas every time you:

Don’t take the high road.

Are less than loving, and patient, and kind.

Gossip, complain about, and judge others.

Are slow to listen and quick to anger.

So to everyone reading, I wish you a Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!  Seasons Greetings! Happy Hanukkah! Feliz Navidad! Or whatever holiday you celebrate!

One of my former girl scout’s is in labor.  She went to the hospital yesterday at 12:30 p.m.  It is now 8:30 p.m. the next day.  The sweetie has been in labor now for 32 hours.

I hate this waiting!