Montecito Mama

One of the pediatric dentists here in town is offering gold coins to children in exchange for each pound of their Halloween candy. The thought of this has been haunting Grayson. Children being forced to part with their precious trick-or-treat booty? Irrational! We are now 20-days post-Halloween and still talking about it. Out of the blue, he asked me in the car yesterday, "Mom, what do you think that dentist is going to do with all of the candy?" "I think I heard that he is sending it to the troops in Iraq," I replied. "Oooooh!" he said, like the light bulb had finally switched on. "So the chocolate can make the soldiers all wild?" "Maybe," I laughed. "And the candy will make their teeth all rotten and when they see a bad guy all they'll have to do is smile at him with their rotten teeth and he'll faint!"

The arrival of Violet Louise on November 5th completed our family! The name Violet was on our short list of naming possibilities, but rose to the top after Grayson's class recommended it blindly. Louise is the pet name my Grandpa Wright gave to me, and it makes me smile to hear people call my little daughter by the same. More favorite memories: The epidural paperwork asking if there was a chance I may be pregnant, and then offering to kiss the anesthesiologist when it finally kicked in. Rushing to pause the raunchy parts of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Weeds" every time a doctor or nurse came into the labor room. Telling the nurse I was afraid the epidural was wearing off. She took a quick peek and said, "Oops, nope that's the babies head." And then literally laughing the baby out to the Beatles song "Yesterday." Julie rushing into the room just 5 seconds too late. Calling Grayson's classroom to announce the birth. When he hea...

Happy Birthday, Robbie! And many more!!! Happy Birthday, Robbie!