OH HOW I LOVE MY BOYS...

My last post (the one I wrote - about feeling guilty about working in the ER, not seeing my boys enough - see 2 posts back) was really kind of a sad post. The comments and emails I received were great and I really appreciated all of the encouragement and reassurance that I received from so many of you.

So - I decided to try to lighten things up a bit tonight by sharing some of my fun moments that I have had so far with my boys - some more recent than others.

For those of you who may be new to our blog - let me give you a brief intro to my boys - just to set the scene for you.

Son #1 - Maxwell (AKA Max, Wudgie, Professor Max) ~ My 4 year old (5 in February but really going on 30) - very serious, speaks in full sentences and loves to use huge words like "actually, confession, apparently, futuristic." Bright red hair, pale with some freckles (don't worry - we put him in Tae Kwon Do and we're getting him guitar lessons - hoping he'll be the interesting tall kid- rather than the geeky kid who gets his ass kicked on a weekly basis). Max takes about an hour to get himself ready for preschool - coordinates clothing and puts gel in his hair daily. My guess on his profession: Artist, Scientist, Doctor, Fabulously Gay something or other...

Son #2 - Keirnan (AKA Keir, Keir-Keir, Señor Littles, Beast) ~ My 2 1/2 year old son who is totally a frat boy - complete with sticking his cute little naked butt in the air and farting- belly out and belching - and already has the whole Jeff Spicoli (Fast Times at Ridgemont High for those of you young 'uns) laugh down. Anticipated profession: Plumber, Athlete, Politician (he's a very smooth talker already), Weed Dealer. We'll see.

So - now that you've been introduced I'll share with you a few of my fun stories:

Keir - age 2 - days after his second birthday. Me - "Keirnan, did you fart?" After gigantic, loud baby fart. "No, Mommy - that was fireworks coming out of my butt." OK - not so cool that a 2 year old says butt - but pretty funny and pretty clever. This is about when we started to figure out that Keirnan was definitely not like his brother, Max.

Max - age 2 - changing diaper after day of preschool - Max has baby powder in diaper: Me - "Max, what happened here?" Max - "Ms. Rita put sugar on my junk." Hee, hee... Oh - in case you didn't know - in our home 'Junk' = boy parts - all of them.

Keir - last week - (Target is his favorite place to go - even better than Disneyland for Keir) - As I am tucking him in before leaving to work: "Goodnight, Keirnan. What are you going to dream about tonight? Target?" Keirnan - mischievous little grin on his face, "Target and you, Mommy." He so has the charming thing down already...

Max age 3 - visiting Daddy at work (he's an ER doc also - we took him dinner one night when I was actually not working). "Well, apparently they built me my own ER already." "I think I need to see the CT machine so I'll know how it works." Don't be too impressed here - I am sure he overheard us talking about work - "CT" is probably a very common word thrown around at our house. We try not to - but we do end up talking shop from time to time.

Keir - yesterday - "I like your bumps, Mommy." Then a few seconds later, "I like the big moles on your bumps too." Again, same mischievous grim, head down, eyes peeking up from under long lashes... Oh - in case you are not too quick: 'Bumps' is the term Keirnan has created for my breasts - you can figure the rest out on your own..

So today before I left for work - I had just a little bit of time with my boys. Max was running around in his PJ's - all excited to do Yoga on our Wii Fit. Too cute- I really must post pics of this! Keirnan was playing with his train set - trying to ensure that the train would crash and fall off the tracks. Keirnan hit Max on the head and was sent to time out. Max came over and said, "I am OK, Mommy. It really hurts but I think I should go give Keirnan a hug." Keirnan of course, is sitting in time out mumbling to himself - running commentary - as always, "You do not put Keirnan in time out...I am a good boy."

So - as I sit here in the ER missing my boys - I am laughing at these little images that I happily share with you. And don't worry - I have had tons of kids tonight to keep me occupied. None too sick - it is just the time of year for colds and sniffles. Hope you all have a great night and that I don't have to meet any of you, or your little ones in my ER. Oh - and if any of you are wondering where the beautiful black and white pic of Keirnan came from - here you go: Kimberlee West Photography - http://kimberleewestblog.com/. Kimee was our former nanny - now highly sought after photog. She still takes pics of Ooh La La Mama models for us and she's our family photog - when we can get her, that is!

FAB FREEBIES

Last week Ooh La La Mama was featured in the "Daily Dish" at http://www.seekingdesigners.com/ - a fashion and style directory for fresh and fabulous designers!

This week, SeekingDesigners.com and Ooh La La Mama have partnered up to bring you a
FAB FREEBIE!

WIN A $200 OOH LA LA MAMA GIFT CERTIFICATE

There's no catch, just awesome free stuff! All you have to do is

Register HERE to be eligible to win.

Deadline: Register by 11:59pm, Friday January 16th, 2009.

For more Ooh La La Mama products and info visit our store: http://www.oohlalamama.com/

REFLECTIONS OF A WORKING MOM

Yesterday my Max called me Grandma. Max is 4 and he is the oldest of my two little men - Keir is 2. This is not the first time that my sons have called me Grandma. Not sure why - but yesterday this seemed to kind of make me stop and catch my breath. Max stopped himself and laughed and said, "I meant, Mommy - I am just pretending you are Grandma." Not sure which is worse - Max so naturally saying Grandma - when looking for some help, some love, some encouragement or him 'just pretending' that I am Grandma.

Why has this happened? Many of you may think this is proof that I am a bad mother - that I am obviously not available enough to my kids or maybe you may think that they are not my top priority. Don't worry - these are all questions I have had to ask myself.

Here is what I say. I am me. Plain and simply ~ I am a mother, a wife, a physician and owner of two kids clothing lines - which also makes me a partner and a boss. I have thought long and hard about what this all means for me and for my family. I have sacrificed time away from my family so that I can provide them with certain luxuries - a nice home, stability, college savings plans.

I went to school for just about a million years to become an ER doctor. I am proud of my role as a doctor. My patients seem to like me and I feel that I am a caring, compassionate doctor. I only hope that my nights kissing my boys goodnight as I walk out the door will someday be regarded with pride by my boys as well.

I hope that someday they will realise that this has not been easy for me - as I know that this has not been easy for them. I am sorry, Max, for missing your Christmas production 2 years ago. I regret not being there for Keirnan's first step. It is hard every single time I have to kiss you goodnight to go to work. Even if Grandma has trained you to cutely say, "double glove, mom and save lots of lives." Keirnan has learned to say - "How was your work? Are you here now? Did you give lots of shots?" And this is in the morning - as I come home from work and he is just waking up. All at the age of 2 - he is already aware that I am not always home. I am sorry boys for this. I know I am not always the best mom.

I am tremendously, incredibly blessed and lucky that I have a wonderful husband and mother in law to play mom (or I should say 'Grandma' when I am not around to do so). I have justified not being home by saying - at least my kids get this time with their grandma - at least they will have these great special memories of their time with her. This is how I justify my actions, my selfishness with my time - my time to work in the ER and to work on Ooh La La Mama and of course to twitter, to blog and to answer emails.

I feel fortunate that my husband supports me in my various jobs and positions. No - he is not a SAHM - he is my business partner in Ooh La La Mama and also is a full time ER doctor. But, I am sure, he does not worry about his absence from home. He is the man. I love him madly but I know this is still the way of the world. We are fortunate that 'Grandma' (my hubby's mom - who is totally awesome by the way) is young enough and fit enough to juggle to young boys and to be the second mom, or substitute mom maybe? - while I am away at work.

So - not sure where I stand on all this. A bit bummed about being called 'Grandma' but still proud of who I am. Envious of my SAHM friends - who have managed to figure it all out. My hat is off to all of them and all of you who are SAHM and whose children call them "Mom." You guys are my heroines and I am madly jealous of the times you have with your little ones and all of the "firsts" that I am missing.

Max and Keirnan - I love you both insanely and with every single breath I take.

That's it for now. Off to shower and get ready for another crazy night of ER fun. So I am off to start my usual routine: coffee, shower, throw scrubs on and kiss my little munchkin's goodnight while they cuddle up with grandma and to "cozy time" and watch Wow Wow Wubsy and The Goodnight Show. This is the saddest part of my day - but there are really patients that depend on me and who knows - maybe even lives to be saved tonight. But really - I am just hoping for some cute little babies with minor colds. And for all of you moms who take your cute little ones into the ER - just know that when the crazy ER doctor stops and asks your little munchkin for a hug - and you might think that he or she is hugging just a bit too long - or if you think you catch a bit of sadness in their smile - just know - that you are right and that they might just be wishing that this was their little one and please just smile back.

Baby Manicure

I'm going to invent the Baby Nail Salon. Can't you just picture it? A bright nail salon full of hot pink and orange high chairs. The Jimmies playing in the background. Posh babies in every chair holding out their delicate fingers on one hand while holding a teething ring in the other. What's the latest babble? Did you hear Ashlee Simpson named her baby Bronx Mowgli? Can I offer you some fresh organic sweet potato puree? Would you like milk with that? And don't worry, I'm Vietnamese but I don't speak it that well, so it'll be English all the way. No talking about you in front of you. It would be totally fantastic. All the celebrity moms and babies would come to me and then I'd come out with my own line of baby safe chemical free nail polish. Moms would never have to worry about accidentally nipping the skin and hurting baby...no more scratches on the face, no more jagged little nails and hangnails. No more feelings of dread. Aaah, wouldn't it be nice?

Okay, back to reality. I'm on my third pair of nail clippers and still not happy. One had a light to clip at night while she's asleep - I'm too tired when she actually falls asleep and I forget and the clipper is dull and ends up ripping her nails. Then I got the little baby nail scissors. These seem to cut well, but the problem is cutting so they don't actually leave a jagged, even sharper nail. Then I got ones with the magnifying glass. The magnifying glass made me go cross eyed and the first time I used them I thought - these are the best ever. Second time, they wouldn't cut - totally lost their edge. How does that happen!? Ugh. Back to the scissors and tiny emery board. I think that's about as good as it's going to get.

ADDICTED TO TARGET? WE CAN HELP!

So are you a slave to Target? 

Do you have sleepless nights tossing and turning and wishing that Target was open at 2 am so you could just shop? And you have to wake up and touch wood 10 times and turn the lights on and off and on and off over and - oh wait, that's my crazy obsession.

But if you are like us - you may have a dangerous addiction to Target.  Step one is admitting that you have a problem.  We want you to know that you are not alone. There is even a medical diagnosis for this: TARGETOMANIA (trust me, I am a doctor - and no, I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night).  

Actually - Wikipedia does have a medical term:

"Oniomania is a medical term (from Greek onios="for sale," mania=insanity) for the compulsive desire to shop.  

Ooh La La Mama is here for you! In support of all of our new followers who are helping us with our new blog - we are doing another giveaway today at 4pm! All you have to do is follow our blog and be entered to win a $50 gift card to Target.  Additional entries can easily be earned by commenting on our blog, tweeting about our blog on Twitter, Facebook, your blog.  If you blog about us we'll add that as an additional entry.   

So - thank you all and good luck! If you do not win today - please check back.  We'll be giving more stuff away almost weekly! 

Cindy

Fashionista Fantasy

A new post by Jackie - our newest addition to Ooh La La Mama! Say hello everyone!

I've started watching The Hills spin-off show The City with Whitney Port. It's her new begining in New York city as a PR assistant for Diane Von Furstenburg. I'm loving it. It reminds me of Sex in the City and the Devil Wears Prada with drama from the Hills. Ah to be rich, thin, and running around New York city...

I'm in my late twenties and while I've had fun, I never fulfilled my fantasy of being ultra glamorous, hip, and put together while taking on new big adventures. Of course there's still plenty of time to do this, but it's going to be a little while with the new baby. (It's tough wearing 4 inch heels and lugging a baby in a car seat.) 

I did have a job that made me feel EXACTLY like the girl in Devil Wears Prada, but without all of the glamour. Although I did meet some cool people and celebrities, it was more a jeans and flip flops culture than a Chanel boots and Prada bag kind of place. 

But like all little girls - I of course love fashion and even dreamed of working in PR when I first started college.  But pregnancy of course has made it tougher to fit into my size 4 skinny jeans that made my butt look totally fantastic.  Aahhh, memories...

But just because I am a mom does not mean that I am giving up! No!  I am a new mom and it's a new year.  I'm gonna be hot! I'm just gonna work on my body and then get myself back into shape!  And, I have promised myself that by the time I am 30 I'm going to be outrageous and buy myself a pair of black peep toe Christian Louboutins with the famous red sole - to go with my new, smokin-hot bod!  Won't my hubby go nuts? (Not for the shoe purchase, silly! He'll go crazy over the new me!)

For now, I will stick to enjoying The City and The Devil Wears Prada (which is currently playing on F/X as I type). What's your fantasy?

Barbie Shanghai

BARBIE SHANGHAI BABY

To add to my Fashionista fantasy, I just had to share this with you...



Barbie Shanghai


Mattel has created the ultimate Barbie experience in China. They've got a Barbie spa and cafe featuring Barbie products so mothers and daughters can have the ultimate girls day out. Girls can design their own Barbie outfits, have a photo shoot with Barbie, and see fashion shows featuring great designers such as Vera Wang!
Check out this design by Vera - just for Barbie!

Imagine - a day of all things Barbie - what more could any little girl want? The flagship store has 6 floors and over 40,000 (yes, forty-thousand!) square feet of shopping and dining space - designed by super awesome Slade Architecture - we like them because they are cute, married and parents to 3 girls - how lucky are they to have mom and dad as architects of the flagship Barbie Shanghai store? Shop, dine, spa - all things Barbie, all things pink and all things totally girl.

I am totally going to have to plan a special trip to Shanghai just to visit (that is uh - between my shifts in the ER and changing dipes and running Ooh La La Mama). Maybe next week... My boys might not be so stoked - oh wait - Max would love it. He's our little red-headed 'metro' 4 year old - artist, poet, mohawk sportin' Tae Kwon Do master (yellow belt last week! Go Max!)

Well - we'll get there someday! And if any of you are lucky enough to visit before our lucky day comes - please send pics and tell us all about it.

Check it out and plead with them to open one here in LA! Maybe we can persuade them by the time my little girl is old enough to play with Barbies. :)

Diets, and fitness, and gurus, oh my!

I get that one of the most common New Year's resolutions is to lose weight. (It happens to be my resolution as well.) But I'm overwhelmed with all the lose weight, change your life, get slim tips that are EVERYWHERE. Couldn't they just spread it out over the year, when I'm losing motivation?



Oprah's got the best life thing and Martha's got the body and soul challenge. Even my beloved food network has been airing their "light" recipes. It's all great, but I've been gaining and losing 20-40 lbs at a time for the past ten years. I think following any type of plan is going to backfire for me. I was all for Oprah's thing until I heard the doctor on TV say, "no sugar." Restricting anything for me is always bad. As soon as I've met my goal, I go right back. Perhaps at least answering some of the questions as to why I'm fat would help. I may go online and take a look at it again. Mostly this year, I'm going to really try to make better food choices, control my portions, and get outside and move!



I signed up for unlimited stroller strides classes and have commited myself to going at least three times a week. My first class was this morning and it was great! Of course I won't be able to walk tomorrow and I've never felt so out of shape in my life, but I know if I keep it up I should start dropping pounds in no time. I also signed up for Bookieboo.com which is a social networking site for moms into fitness. I'm using it as a support system. Check it out and add me as a friend!



What's your fitness plan/fad diet of choice this year?



Jackie

BIG LOVE ~ Can I sign up?

So - I am super excited about the season premiere of my new favorite show: BIG LOVE!

That's right - the bitchin' Golden Globe and Emmy nominated HBO show about polygamist Bill Henrickson and his three wives, Barbara, Nicolette and Margene.

So - first I have to let you know that I am not a Mormon. I do have tons of friends who are LDS. Got my first kiss on the cheek - shout out to Mike S. - one of my first neighborhood friends - 4th grade, Mormon boy who lived on my block.

Also - yes, mom - believe it! - my very first "real boyfriend" in high school was a good Mormon boy - went to church daily - every morning and well, we ran away to Mexico together. Never thought I'd be putting this in my blog - but here you go. Missed two weeks of my junior year of high school, sick as hell in Mexico. I was an honors student, good girl but totally went nuts over this boy. Yeah - pretty sad. My poor parents. I was such a bitch! They still randomly pull out the letter - it gets found at random times every few years - like when they move or organize things. "Dear Mom, I am sorry that I am leaving... I love Jeff... one day I'll return... you cannot possibly understand how deep our love is...." Always gets lots of giggles... 

Oh - and then I must also mention how many of my Mormon friends and their families supported us when my dad was hit by a drunk driver and was in a coma for 6 weeks (don't worry though - he did fine and he's still yelling at the dog and back to his usual self). This was when I was 13.  I will never, ever forget how wonderfully supportive my Mormon friends were. Not sure any of them will ever see this - but a huge Thank You is still owed to the Wright family and the Sego family.  So - I have never been Mormon but I have loved many.

But - I digress, let me get you back on board with the Henricksons:

For those of you who might be judgemental - let me just explain. First of all, wife number one - Barbara married Bill with no plans to be part of a polygamist family. Bill was raised on "the compound" at Juniper Creek - where everyone lives "The Principle" - that is the polygamist lifestyle that is no longer accepted practice in the mainstream Mormon religion of today.

But, back to my point - Barb married Bill with no intention of becoming a polygamist. Barb got sick - and Bill brought Nicki in to help care of sick Barb (who had already had three children with Bill but due to her cancer could no longer have children).

Barb agreed to let Nicki become Bill's second wife and then - BOOM - enters cute, young, flirty babysitter - Margene. The rest is history - enter wife number three.

Polygamy is still illegal in the US - and the Henrickson family live in plain, old suburbia - in Sandy, Utah - smack dab in the middle of Mormon Town USA. So the story is filled with all kinds of craziness in this regard - how do you have three wives and all of these kids (who go to public school) and not announce that you are a polygamist? How do you share your husband with two other women?

But - before you judge - you should just watch the show. Can you not imagine living next door to your best friends? The three of them live in separate homes - all connected by one open back yard - but looks like individual houses on the street. Also - they are not best friends but I would try to get my best friends as my sister - wives. Sounds kind of like fun. Meet outside, drinks by the pool (oh wait, can't drink if you are Mormon) share watching the kids, making meals, doing laundry. Doesn't sound so bad to me.

Tune in to HBO on Jan 18th for the season premiere of Big Love. Oh - and if you hear that they are looking for wife number four - please let me know.

PLANS AND RESOLUTIONS FOR 2009

The time has come, yes, once again to make that list.  You - know the dreaded list of resolutions and plans for the year to come.   Gotta right 'em down though.

I'll keep it short because it is late and I have some BIG LOVE to go watch.  But, in short - here are the few things I would like to accomplish next year:

1) Be a better friend-mother-wife-daughter.  Not that I totally suck at these things but there is always room for improvement.  I would like to spend more time with those I love.  And really, more importantly, I would like to be able to relax and really enjoy those moments that I am lucky enough to have with my kids, my hubby, my parents, my sis and my friends.  For those of you who have followed my blog - you know I said goodbye to a close friend just over a month ago.  Saying goodbye was tough but it has really made me look at things a little (no - a lot) more carefully.  I will slow down and cherish all that I've got.  Thank you Paula for teaching me this.  You were a much better friend than I ever could have been.  I miss you.

2) Get my butt into the gym 3 times a week (or at least run on treadmill at home or around block or something to get my heart rate up for at least 30 minutes).  Yes - I know - we've all got this one written down.  Nothing new here - move along...

3)  Publish SOMETHING.  Any book, poeme (OK, not that - totally suck at writing poetry), even a boring medical article - anything...  Always dreamt of writing a book - who of us bloggers has not? I would like to say that I accomplished this by the end of 2009.  OK - maybe not PUBLISH something but how 'bout just write something worthy and try to get it published? 

4)  Do something HUGE for someone else.  Felt pretty great to help out the families we adopted for Christmas.  But - we really should be doing more.  I will get to work on this sooner and maybe with the help of all of our OLLM friends we can get some huge event going and really make a difference.

5)  Last, but not least - I am going to make a promise to myself to abstain from Starbucks and Fast Food for all of 2009.  Sorry - Starbucks, I really, really love you.  I know you'll miss me and I am absolutely sure that one of your stores will have to close without my daily business.  But, I really feel that my daily addiction is affecting my wallet and my ass in the most negative ways (my butt gets bigger but my wallet gets smaller - not so good...)  

I was going to abstain from wine and beer and champagne but really - why set completely ridiculous goals that I just know I cannot keep? Hubby bought us tix to Mardi Gras as my Christmas gift - without the kids! Can you believe it? Really - no possible way that I could go to New Orleans and not drink bellinis (peach, champagne blended drink for all of you who haven't had the pleasure) - waaay to yummy!

So -  looking back on 2008 I must say it has been a great year.  Except for saying goodbye to Paula and for our never-ending battle with our home builder (lawsuit continues into 2009) it has been a fantastic year.  We had a few personal victories - I got a new job at a brand new hospital - very coveted job so I am feeling pretty proud about this still and hubby had some great accomplishments of his own and I am head over heels in love with him still (we're on year 7) so I am super lucky! 

Yuma lost 100 lbs (GO YUMA!) - one of Scott's best friends and Felicia had a beautiful baby boy - Baby Draven (yes, very cool name but we just know he'll be goth - gotta buy him a trenchcoat and eyeliner now!).  What else? Dear sis Wendy is pregnant and Chris (partner in crime at Ooh La La Mama) is FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY engaged! Yippeee!  

So - for all of you out there who think they've got a plan for 2009 - please share your best ideas with us.  Email or comment below.  Ya never know what we'll be giving out for 2009! Good luck to all.  

Wishing all of you a wonderful, happy, healthy and successful 2009.  Hoping all of our wildest dreams come true!

Yours truly,

Cindy Parker

Ooh La La Mama

WANNA WIN FREE $$$?

Congrats to our winners!

Both of these lucky ladies win $100 gift cards to go shopping at Target!

Congrats to Winner #1: Twitter name that you might all know her by: @BarelyDomestic - Visit her awesome & amazing blog - she does cool giveaways and stuff too: http://barelydomesticmama.blogspot.com/

Check out our awesome Winner #2 - @YoungMommy twitter name - check out her most impressive blog also! Totally ROCKS! http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/

Still waiting on update to publish name of our 3rd and luckiest winner - we'll just call her NATASHA (Ok, that's her real name - just holding back on last name and website until we know she's cool). Natasha wins our random drawing for $500 VISA CASH CARD. How stoked will she be when she reads her emails tomorrow?

For those of you who did not win ~ Please do not worry or give up or fire me as your friend or as your doctor. I picked up A TON of new gift cards, yes - to Target, to Nordies, for iTunes and more! So stay tuned for more fun contests to come. Happy 2009 and stay safe tonight!

Best Wishes,
Cindy

P.S. You totally know 2009 is totally going to KICK ASS! Ok - sorry if you are offended but I gave away a ton of money tonight so I get to say whatever I want right now ;)


NEW CONTEST! Who doesn't LOVE Target?

Just follow our little blog and be entered to win $100 Target gift card! Drawing will take place tomorrow at 9 pm so you've got lots of time. Extra entries for adding your picture, retweets (DM me when you do) or for any cool mentions on facebook, my space, twitter, our blog ~ you pick! Just DM me or email me extra mentions so that we get 'em all counted.

Thanks and good luck!

Cindy@oohlalamama.com

UPDATE! We are NOW giving away TWO giftcards to Target! Thanks to all of you and the overwhelming response and participation from all of you - we added a second card! So thank you all and we'll update with contest winner's tonight at 9 pm - California time. Good luck and happy day to you all!

CHRISTMAS GIVING

So - here we are on December 29th, 2008. Christmas is finally behind us.

It was really a great Christmas though. I am feeling very fortunate and blessed for all that we have. My family is solid - everyone is healthy and happy. Sure - my house is falling apart and our entire slab is leaking and we are going to enter into our 3rd year of our pending lawsuit with our builder and sure business could have gone better. But, really - these are all small things. My kids, my hubby and our parents are all healthy. My best friend (my sis) is 24 weeks pregnant and is happy and healthy. I am feeling very blessed.

Would like to take this time to thank our friends and family members who were so generous and giving this season. We got a ton of help and ended up adopting 6 families who needed our help. This was truly the best part of this holiday for our family. My hubby and I spent days shopping for these needy families. In total we provided gifts for 4 single moms, a married couple and a total of 24 kids! Each family had 4 kids! Crazy...

Here are a few pics of the madness that ensued at our house in the week prior to Christmas:

We would like to thank Lisa Johnston - our artist - who donated her time - an entire day to help sort and wrap presents. Please visit her at http://www.lisaharpjohnston.com/ to see more of her awesome art! We would also like to thank Ruth - owner of our local Contours Express in Corona as well as the Montessori School that our sons Max and Keirnan attend. Lots of parents donated gifts and we could not have done this without the assistance of our friends. So a big THANK YOU to all of you who helped! Thank you also to all of our individual friends and family members who donated.

Many people are asking us if we got the opportunity to meet the families. We opted not to. We felt that the families might be more comfortable just picking up the gifts (we did this through our local community center - through the city - if any of you would like more details just email me). But we were told that the families were thrilled with everything. Here are the pics from the community center:

So - Happy Holidays to all of you and thank you all again for your help! Feels really good helping other people and we will be planning a much bigger event next year since this was so much fun!

Oh - quick update about who we are: We manufacture baby onezies (gotta be careful now that Gerber contacted us), dresses, rompers and super cute bloomer sets with all over prints that are super soft and yummy. Please visit our main site: http://www.oohlalamama.com/ for fun, funky, sweet and sassy apparel for your little one. Also - our products are kind of on the higher end - shop now for 75% off - makes a fantastic baby shower gift, birthday gift for that special rockstar prince or princess in your life. Our clothing is sized 0-3m up to size 6 and all pieces wash and wear really well.

Support us and help us continue with supporting those in need! As business continues to grow we'll be doing more and more of this fun charity stuff so you can feel good about your purchase!

Thank you again for all of your help!

Cindy Parker

Owner

Ooh La La Mama, LLC

75% OFF OOH LA LA MAMA!

It's our After Christmas Sale!

Get up to 75% off selected items at Ooh La La Mama, starting December 26th until the end of the year.

Shop at http://www.oohlalamama.com and feel free to leave us a comment and let us know what your favorites are!

Cheers and Happy Shopping,

The Ooh La La Mama Team

Track Santa and his Reindeer

Santa and his reindeer are airborne! Track him on http://www.cnn.com/ live!!! Hope you all have a happy holiday and a magical Christmas morning.

-Warmest wishes from the Ooh La La Mama Team

Baby's First Christmas Onesie!

Here it is people...Ooh La La Mama's "Baby's First Xmas" Onesie on my baby girl! Of course the first thing my hubby said when I brought it home was "Ooooh it's so soft." followed by, "This is cool. I like it." (That's amazing! Usually when I bring home things he says, "Oh Mommy went shopping again, how much did she save me today?" and "Huh.")

Notice cool details on the sleeves

It says "PEACE" on the shoulders. :)

The colors are soft and cool - something different than your usual red

"LOVE" wrapping around the side...

The back side - a sparkly Christmas tree


How cute will this be on Christmas morning? Get your Christmas onesie today! Click HERE. Save 20% when you enter in the code "Jackie20." Happy Holidays!!!

Contest Winner

Congratulations to Andreah who shared with us the

best "caught in the act" story!

Andreah writes:
My kids walked in on us once and we told them that Daddy was giving Mommy a back rub. My oldest (he's 6) didn't believe us at all. He asked, "Why was Daddy's peepee in your butt?" It wasn't exactly in my butt if you know what I mean. I about died!!!


As the winner of our contest, Andreah got to choose not one, but TWO Ooh La La Mama peices! She decided on our Polkadotted Paisley Dress and Transcendic Butterfly Dress. Click on the pictures to get yours today!








Also, check out Andreah's site http://www.mylifesahoot.blogspot.com/ where she's hosting a $50 Ooh La La Mama Gift Certificate giveaway! Tomorrow, Saturday Dec. 20th is the last day to enter, so hurry and check it out! Thanks to everyone who participated. Come back often for more contests and fun!

MY LITTLE MAX

We really thought, for the first 3 years of Max's life, that he would be gay. Scotty and I would look at eachother and say, "Hmmm, well... maybe it's just his creative side? Maybe he'll be an artist?" You see, Max is left handed and very, very creative. He definitely has the artistic thing down. But, there were also little things - like running directly to the sparkly Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) shoes and saying, "Oh, Mommy, look at these shoes! They are fantastic!" And - this was at age 2! But Scotty and I are both patient and we said, let's wait and see. But, we have saved some really great photos that we assumed we'd use either as evidence or as blackmail in the future.

Max will be 5 in February. He has matured a ton and is growing into quite the gentleman. He's starting to pay attention to differences between girls and boys. He is starting to prefer Star Wars over Cinderella - a big change for all of us here at chez nous.

Last week Max announced that he had to take a rose to school for Zoe. He said that it was their "secret anniversary" and that he could not give me any more information - "that's why it is our SECRET anniversary, Mom. I cannot tell you!" So - off we went with a wilting rose wrapped in tin foil. Zoe was not there yet - so unfortunately I missed this precious moment.

Yesterday Max announced that he had to buy a Christmas present for Zoe. So - off we went to Target and we bought a little gift for Zoe - just a little stationary princess set - the kind the old Max would have insisted that we buy for him.

It's such a small thing but I watched Max wrap this little gift - so carefully - with tongue hanging out the corner of his mouth, eyebrows all scrunched together, so patiently... I helped him with the ribbon but he wrote out the entire card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ZOE

MAX LOVES ZOE

Max took this gift to school today. And today, Zoe was there. I did not even know who Zoe was until today. How is this possible? Max is in the pre-K class and Zoe, the older woman, is of course in kindergarten. But - Max walked into her classroom and there was Zoe - sitting at a table with 5 other girls. Zoe has her back to Max. She hears some commotion and turns slowly, long brown hair in slow motion flinging over her left shoulder as she looks towards Max. As soon as she sees him - her face totally lights up! My heart is a flutter - this is crazy! She jumps up and runs to him - looking happy and excited. He gives her the present and what does Max do? He turns and starts doing this really lame, bouncy walk away from her saying, "OK, bye!"

I have to stop him there - and I say, "Max, let her open the present, she might want to thank you." It was the sweetest little moment and totally made my day. She hugged him and thanked him and Max went back to join his classroom.

So - do I still think he is maybe going to grow up gay? No - not at all. But - I will say this - should he decide to be gay, or run for office, or should he choose to have a different view from me regarding religion or life in general? I will still love him and support him and he will always, always be my little Max.

I love him so.