Funny how time flies

Three years ago I woke up at 4:00am wanting to go to the bathroom, I was good and pregnant. I had this feeling that today was the day, and no one could tell me differently. I got in the shower (second one in a 4hr period),and proceeded to call the Dr. to let her know that this was the day and I was coming in. I woke up Mr. F#$K it list (his first day of vacation sleep)and told him he needed to get up because I was ready to go. In the hour it took him to get ready, I put together a super labor playlist, painted a clear coat of polish on my toes, and made sure my hair was perfectly wrapped in my silk scarf. When we arrived at the hospital laughing and cracking jokes, the security guards did not believe I was in labor (especially since I took the stairs to triage)

After 5hrs of waiting and waiting, then two hours of walking my water burst and I was in full blown labor. I remember the entire labor, all four hrs but here are the highlights: I was pissed that the TV was on b.e.t and I was in a lot of pain. My mother had a million jokes, and made a $20bet that the pain would end and the baby would be born and lastly the one thing that got me through it all, Mr. F#$K it list telling me how good I was doing (wait that and Lionel Ritchie singing "Jesus is Love"). At 3:03, and 12 hrs of labor I gave birth to the cutest baby boy, affectionately now known as CJ.

C. J's first pic, 6lbs 10oz 23inches long

Daddy was so proud, he never believed we would have kids. And our first was a son, in his eyes it was all too perfect. He would ignore my wishes and sleep with CJ on his chest EVERY chance he got ( I'd just move CJ when he fell asleep).
Before I knew it, he was one years old. We had just gotten back from Mexico and he was walking and trying to really talk. I was just happy he was still my little baby. He had all his little teeth and he was starting to have a great personality (he gets it from his mama). He was just the best fun and we were as happy as we could be.
Two was a crazy time, with moving and his mood swings. He had totally forgot how to walk he only ran, he really talked A LOT, he didn't want to get his hair combed and was just an all around Cranker! But the worst part of it all was when I dropped him of to the daycare and he just said Bye Mom, and ran off to the hang out with the boys. I cried all the way to the train. He wasn't a baby anymore....

This was also when we discovered Music for Aardvarks and all was well when it played, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.


Now here we are and he's wearing underwear, sleeping in his own bed, quoting Pixar movies (favorite of the day Wall-E), and has seen more than one movie in the theater. He loves to tell us he's not a baby anymore but will lay on his Daddy's chest and go right to sleep just like when he was a few days old. CJ loves to cuddle and is funny, talkative, smart and still the cutest baby boy ever. And Today on his third birthday I am the Luckiest Mom in the world!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CJ!
You're the best thing that ever happen to ME (and Daddy too)!

I sing this to CJ all the time. Can't go wrong with a little Glady Knight and the Pips!

Post Racial America = 1945

Yesterday as I was swaying to the smooth grooves of Maxwell (FREE CONCERTS YES!) I read about an injustice so ridiculous I thought it might be a joke. No its a very real story read below:


Dymire Baylor says he overheard a woman ask, "What are all these black kids doing?" when he and his friends showed up.

More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

Pool Boots Kids Who Might "Change the Complexion"

Kids at Creative Steps Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week at the Valley Swim Club. But after only one trip to the private club, they were...

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.

"I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said.

Campers remain unsure why they're no longer welcome.

"They just kicked us out. And we were about to go. Had our swim things and everything," said camper Simer Burwell.

The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded.

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

While the parents await an apology, the camp is scrambling to find a new place for the kids to beat the summer heat.

Wait so while I was swaying with Maxwell about doing a lil something something I entered some sort of time warp and was sent back to 1945.... This is the most absurdly racist thing I have ever heard. Let's dissect this shall we:

So 60 Black kids go to the pool to swim, and the Caucasian member of the club fear that they might hurt their kids, and change the complexion of the pool. ~ REALLY? This is the best statement they could release? What the F$%k does that even mean?

I'm no swimmer but I do know that my blackness doesn't rub off or run into the water and then attaches itself the the nearest person. This is ABSURD and RACIST to say the least and clearly the Valley Swimclub really could care less how this looks since they allowed that to be released as a statement. Did the kids not pay the $1900 it took to swim there, so was the green of the money they used not as green as the white members? Hey Valley Swimclub why not just hang a huge confederate flag and "Whites Only" sign because at least then prospective camps would know where they stand...

And what then do you tell your children, who at that age know very little about race issues? I know what I would tell CJ, and those of you that know me personally know exactly what I would say to him. My mind does not allow me to pussyfoot around race issues not even with my three year old. RACE is STILL AN ISSUE PEOPLE! And the longer we dance around it the more power we give it. The election of President Obama, the first Black President does not and will not wipe away the four hundred plus years of oppression and racism. And its time WE as a people embrace that and teach our kids about it..because only through their knowledge of their history will they learn how to handle these events.

Yes wipe your babies tears, but then look them in the eyes and explain the real racial dynamics of this country. So that when faced by the KKK whether in sheets or swim trunks they know. I am beside myself about this incident and how it is being handled, if the Valley Swimclub has not fired this moron manager/director than they are waving the flag pretty high and the people of the city of brotherly love need to raise their fist in protest.