Sometimes you just HAVE to be a toilet

In our family, our kids are rarely called by their names. Ella's first nicknames were Butter, Butterino, Puppadino, One Sock Sally... These days Ella goes by Mrs. Melindez. To understand these names, you need to know my husband. Even when you know my husband you probably still won't understand. I should know I'm trying to figure it out everyday.

On a road trip Ella decided she didn't want to be called Mrs. Melindez anymore. So Don asked her, what she wanted her nickname to be. She looked in the rearview mirror at him looking at her and said with all seriousness, "Fire".

She then named Lily "Farm Animal" and Daddy became "Choo Choo Train". She seemed satisfied with all of these names and settled back into her car seat and looked out the window.

Don yelled into the back, "but what about Mommy?"

Ella perked up and said loudly, "Mommy is Toilet".

Don immediately turned purple. He was laughing so hard but no sound was coming out. He just looked at me. I was speechless. I asked her to repeat it just incase she actually said what I thought she said.

"Mommy you are Toilet."


She was all matter of fact, like this is a perfectly fine nickname for the mother who gave birth to all 9.5 pounds of her. Nice, real nice Ella.

So, Fire, Farm Animal, Choo Choo Train and Toilet continued on our car ride. Eventually I got a new nickname, but I have a feeling Toilet will stick around for a few years, especially if my hubby has anything to do with it.

Mommy Mantra- Make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life.

Tonight the kids ate without Don and I. We both had late lunches so I cooked just for the girls. My girls LOVE salmon, so I bought these salmon patties from Whole Foods, they heat up really nice and it’s an easy go to meal for me. Salmon patties, cannelloni beans and peas; I know, it sounds terrible. To my defense, Lily ate her whole plate and then some. Ella ate all her salmon and peas and promised me she would eat the beans for lunch tomorrow. SO cute.