friday, i'm in love.

she got her thumb!
twice now!
but only for a couple of minutes.

and how could you resist taking a nap with these two?


love, love, love.

the elusive thumb.

more fun with felt.

i got the idea from this store on etsy.
of course, mine aren't eco-friendly or organic or even all that professional-looking.
they're just the whipped-up in a couple of hours sort of thing.



i just wanted to see what i could do. i might try something more extravagant next.
i just might like felt too much.

2 months.

yesterday we had the two-month checkup.
that's right, shots.
she was so brave.

we cuddled and took naps.
she's feeling better but she's still a tad cranky and very sleepy.

here's the good news:

our big girl weighs 11.5 lbs!
she's still in the 50th percentile when it comes to length and head size, but she's up in the 75th percentile for weight. what can i say? she's a good (and greedy) little eater.
(too bad none of the "mommy benefits" of breastfeeding have applied to me so far...)


she's sleeping a little better at night. i can actually get her to fall asleep in her bed and stay there for a few hours. she's also having an easier time getting back to sleep when she wakes up. whenever she wakes up she always has a smile for me. she also smiles when her diapers are really messy or when she spits all over my shirt. she has quite the sense of humor.


she holds her head up all the time and headbutts me when i try to support it too much. she's a wiggle worm! she still hates being on her tummy, though. she is trying desperately to find her thumb. she spends hours each day sucking on her fists, like she's trying to make her thumb come out. if i try to help her and give her the pacifier, she swats it away. she'll get frustrated after a while and take the pacifier, but she's gonna get that thumb any day now. she's independent and stubborn. she knows what she wants and she'll get it.


she still likes to be held or be moving all the time. in fact, i'm holding her right now and typing with one hand.

she also likes:

blankies
getting dressed
being outside
photoshoots
riding in the backpack (frontpack?)
any kind of music
having happy conversations
attention
hugs
her paci
bathtime (finally!)
holding onto mommy's hair
rides in the car
when daddy comes home
anything daddy does
running errands
moving her limbs
dancing
stretching and wiggling
making noise

she dislikes:

holding still too long
when the car ride ends
being put on the floor after she falls asleep
gas

(she's yawning. i promise!)

her eyes look like they are only getting bluer. her hair seems like it is getting lighter, too. who knows? maybe our two brown-eyed, brown-haired selves will have a blue-eyed, yellow-haired baby. either way, we can't wait to see what happens next.

award! happy! finally!

serene (the amazing mother of four) gave me this award right after i had the baby and i'm just now getting to it. yeah, i know.
the rules?
list ten things that make me happy and pass it on to some bloggers that make me happy.

in no particular order, some things that make me smile:

10 - treats. example: when my husband asks if i need anything before he comes home from work and i say "well, i wouldn't be mad if you brought me a candy bar/soda/bag of cookies/pizza/etc."

9 - treasures. "one man's trash," right? basically, i love junk. i'm getting better at not buying junk, though. i'm learning to admire it and leave it be. i love thrift stores, flea markets, craigslist, all of it.

8 - baking. i love making yummy treats. my most recent experiment was not exactly baked, but it was a confection. i made conversation hearts. i didn't have any fruit flavors, so they turned out like buttermints. experiments = fun.

7 - blogs. i love looking at blogs. i should comment more, but sometimes i'm just not at my cleverest. i've gotten husband hooked, i think. he said he wishes everyone had blogs instead of facebook. hmm?

6 - home decor. i love, love, love looking at great homes. i'm no expert in design, i just enjoy. i could spend all day flipping through catalogs and dreaming. one place i frequent: sneak peeks.

5 - making the most of holidays. green clover-shaped pancakes on st. patrick's day, pumpkin-flavored everything during halloween . . . you get it.

4 - walks and drives. i'm always up for a long walk or a leisurely drive, especially if there is no real destination.

3 - extended family. no explanation needed. okay, maybe. some people don't like their extended families and i will never understand that. what would i do without them?

2 - progress. this is sort of a catch-all. as hard as it can be, i really enjoy making myself a better person and trying to make my family and home better as well.

1 - my little family. i'd rather cuddle up with my sweet husband, my beautiful girl and my cute doggie than do . . . pretty much anything else. i love them the very, very most.



now for some bloggers.
i'm going to tag a few, but if you feel like listing ten things that make you happy and passing it on, you should! i would love to read what makes anybody happy.

brynner - get your jolley's on
mrs. sunny brynn has a wonderful sense of style and an even more wonderful sense of humor! she also has one of the cutest two-year-olds on the planet.

rachael - talk2thetrees
rachael is honest, unique and so creative. i wish i could do what she does with her etsy store.

sarah - scaliwag
my not-so-scary sister has a coming-of-age sort of blog - life after high school, school, her adorable bunny, the likes. she's so herself. also, a really cool artist!

erynn - the mcclures
my other sister and her husband love the outdoors, big engines and their hounds. she can always make me laugh, but anyone else might not get the joke.

juli - tom and juli picklesimer
i don't know how juli does it! she has two kids under two, a husband finishing up grad school and she's all-around good at everything.


here's a rare moment. a baby napping - and nobody is holding her. see how her clothes are starting to get too small? crazy!


now i have to kick the dog out of the house for waking up the baby. grr.

sixth ever!

rachael @ talktothetrees tagged me.
(she happens to be the little sister of one of my dearest friends and a very, very creative and talented girl - check out her etsy store.)

the tag is to post the sixth picture ever posted on this blog.
i'm kinda bummed, because it was before i got my camera.
it's technically this:

it's a piece of ikea furniture that i loved at the time and still do love. it's so bright and happy. someday i'll be able to start collecting furniture that i truly love ... but not today.

this is the fifth:



our backyard, taken by camera phone. the camera phone that i washed in the washing machine. my first cell phone ever. it makes the backyard look kind of eerie, don't you think?


and, just for good measure, here's the last picture on my camera right now:


one size doesn't exactly fit all.



for this one, i want to tag:

my aunt shanna @ just so
my cousin madalyn @ the nuccitelli family
my friend kristi @ the nelson family
and my friend heather lea @ we three zweigs


so go back and find the sixth picture you ever put on your blog and reminisce.

honestly.

i can't get enough of her funny faces. she goes through a hundred expressions each minute.

anyway, that's the cute part of today.

my friend juli suggested that i do this list of ten honest things that you may/may not/may not want to know about me.
and husband was already complaining about me being "too weird" on the internet.
we'll see how this goes.


10. i have never liked to drink milk. in fact, i think i've only had one glass of milk in my life. when i was five or so, my dad thought i was being finicky and made me sit at the table until i finished my milk. i remember staring into the glass and crying. i think i gulped half of it down while holding my nose. ugghhhh.

9. along that same line, i don't know how to eat oranges. i can't swallow the stringy part. it makes me gag every time. i was 20 before i tried to eat a whole orange.

(wow, this makes me sound so picky! i'm not, i swear. i was the kid who liked mushrooms and sprouts. my aunt would say, "see, bradie knows what's good!" and my cousins would glare at me.)

8. i got my first cell phone about 2 1/2 years ago. yeah, i was 21 when i got it. i didn't know how to text or anything. i'm pretty backward for my age.

7. i listen to a lot of talk radio lately. more specifically, dr. laura. i "take on the day" and "go do the right thing."

6. when i was 11, i thought i was dying and wrote a will. i wish i still had it somewhere. i divvied out everything i owned and left strict instructions about what i wanted to be wearing in my casket.

5. i spent all my elementary school years wanting to be an archaeologist when i grew up. that, or famous.

4. i don't get bugged easily, but i can't stand when people say they're a "long-time-listener, first-time-caller" on any radio show. who cares? (did i mention that i've been listening to talk radio more than ever?)

3. i seriously love sweets. yesterday i burned my lips licking a spoon covered in hot melted chocolate. i couldn't wait.

2. my broken bones: upper jawbone, age 17, surgically, to fix my weird teeth. pinky finger, age 5, on the sandbox in our backyard.

1. i've been working on getting back into the habit of brushing my teeth before bed. i know, gross, but toothpaste gave me bad, bad heartburn when i was pregnant. seriously, like battery acid in my throat. when it comes to sleep vs. clean teeth, i pick sleep. i did (and do) brush my teeth before going out in public, though.



and there you have it.

200!!

in honor of my 200th(!!) post, i finally put a blog list on my page.
if anyone would like me to remove a blog (for privacy or what have you), email me.
if you think i should add a blog, let me know what i should be reading.
(if you want to make a blog just so i can read it, feel free!)


whoda thought i could actually stick with this for 200 posts? it probably helps that this is the easiest form of mass communication for me. i can easily show and tell my family things without having to worry about playing phone tag or forgetting to hit send. it makes me feel much more connected with the world.

thanks again, to all of those who are a part of our lives - in one way or another.
you might never know how you've influenced us or made us a better family.
thanks, also, to everyone who let us participate in your life, too.

you know, i made a pretty big announcement just after my 100th post last year.
i really doubt i can top that. stay tuned anyway.

exhausting of her strength.

(the babe has exhausted her strength, too)

at book club the other night, we were talking about being overcome with emotion. one of the girls mentioned a scripture from the book of mormon, where ammon and alma are reunited and ammon passes out because he's just so full of joy.


"now the joy of ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth."

alma 27:17


we talked about this situation and whether it actually happens. well, saturday i got my answer. it happens. it wasn't because of joy, though. in fact, i'm not quite sure what emotion mine was, but i literally fell over. here is the account:


fowler
chapter 25

1 and there was in the home, a baby; yea, even the newest of children was this babe, and she was very adorable and possessed a great many charms.
2 and it came to pass that, on this saturday afternoon, this beautiful babe did awake from a nap in an unusual mood; she scowled and fretted; yea, she did even make sounds like unto a growl.
3 and it came to pass that, from the babe, there came a great cry; yea, even unto a howling and wailing like was not known to man before that day.
4 now the din lasted hours, causing a great consternation upon all the household and the although the babe was exceedingly hungry, she refused the meal on account of her awful sadness.
5 and the father did bounce the babe, and the mother did rock the babe, but none could console her.
6 then behold, the father did take the babe out into the wilderness and the sun and the breeze did soothe the child, and she did finally allow herself to be comforted, and she did eat.
7 and it came to pass that, during the time of the wailing and howling, she did dirty three diapers; yea, even dirtying them beyond compare, and thus was the cause of her howling.
8 and it came to pass that the mother and father did lay the babe to nap, that the woman should return to her duties.
9 and behold, the mother did find her filthy mongrel of a dog sleeping atop her clean load of laundry, and though the laundry's whiteness had exceeded the sun, it had become dull.
10 now the mother was full of despair, even unto the buckling of her knees and the spinning of her head; yea, even unto the exhausting of her strength, and she fell again to the carpet, a dirty diaper in each hand.


has it ever happened to anybody else?

glam.

so there's this blog carnival. it's all about glamour shots.
i saw it first on my aunt shanna's blog. her picture is so great.
as i recall, at that time, my aunts were competing for perm of the decade.



now, i don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but i'm none too old. it was my five year reunion this past summer. my pictures aren't exactly the most retro. my glammest pics are from senior year.

here i am, defying gravity with my hair:


here i am at the prom, trying not to show the braces from my mouth surgery:


i especially like the weird hodgepodge of plants behind me.


and here's my first ever glamour shot, when i was four months old:


do you think ellie looks like me?
maybe in this picture, she does, but there is definitely a lot of fowler in there:


i tried to glam it up with the misty edges and lots of highlights, but i think i failed. i'll try and figure out how to do my own "glam shots by deb" sort of thing at home. don't you worry.

boring.

it has been a little hectic.

first, judge seemed to take his blog post a little too seriously. he decided he needed more attention than that. his electric fence stopped working and he decided to explore. first he ran around the block with me on his heels, trying to catch him with a handful of treats. i ended up carrying him half a mile home, which is no easy feat. he's one fat dog. also, he was trying to run while i was holding him.
after the first escape, we fixed the fence but forgot to put his electric collar back on. he ended up deep in the woods before we knew it. that's when i realized that we hadn't updated the phone number on his tag or the information regarding his microchip. i found out that the microchip company has possibly the best customer service in the world. 24petwatch, you saved my life. well, you helped me keep calm. luckily, we got him back just fine, but now i know that his information is correct and i will be helped promptly if he ever really does go missing.

second, we still haven't been sleeping very well. i'm ready to shoot someone. actually, i'm ready to shoot a bird. with a bb gun. which we actually have.
when i get up with a squirmy, growly ellie i hear this bird chirping. the first thing i think is "wow, did she sleep through the night?!" then i check the clock. it's 3:30. this bird is really cruel. i'm the type of person that likes to make sure bugs get back outside (i only squish if they try to crawl on me) but this bird is about to get it. i can't take one more night with this tease.



more than once, i've had people tell me "bradie, the weirdest things happen to you."
i can say this much:
good or bad, it sure isn't boring.

where is judge?

you might be wondering if judge has fallen off the face of the earth.
well, no, but he might feel that way. poor boy.


he's actually right here, helping me blog!

we still love our little doggie. however, we have been battling fleas this season and that means he gets a lot of tough love, yucky treatments and banishment from cuddling on the baby blankies. it's very sad, mostly because i can't explain to him why he can't hop up on the bed when he's buggy. he doesn't understand why he suddenly is in trouble for doing what he always does.


the good news: he has started to realize that ellie is her own little person and not just a part of us. he curls up by her feet and he has even tried to lick her toes.


he has had to grow up a little bit and become a real dog. he spends a lot more time on his own, outside in the nice weather. most of the time, though, he joins us for naps and follows on our heels as we do chores. he's a great buddy and we can't wait until he and ellie start making trouble together.

mogwai//gremlin

how to care for your mogwai:

1. keep them away from water.

2. they hate bright light.

3. the most important rule. no matter how much they cry, no matter how much they beg, never, never feed them after midnight.

is my daughter becoming a gremlin?

well, actually, she has started liking bathtime. she doesn't scream the entire time she's naked, but she does poop in the tub.

she loves bright light, actually. i mean, not the evening sun glaring in her eyes, but when the morning light comes through the blinds it makes her smile.

she does cry and beg - a lot. but of course i feed her after midnight.

i tried to take pictures of her screaming at the top of her lungs (i know, very sweet of me). every time i put the camera in her face, she'd stare at it and stop crying. what a ham! she also has a habit of being a perfect angel in public and a little demon as soon as we get home. are you sure that my baby wasn't supposed to go to some celebrity family? this little girl is definitely a drama queen.

she's cuter than the celebrity babies, though, and i'm sure glad she's mine.

(do you see the milky spit on her chin? am i a good mom or what?)

morning girl.

my baby is a night owl. she wakes up every two or three hours in the night. sometimes i have to hold her pacifier in her mouth for forty-five minutes until she falls asleep. sometimes i can't get her back to sleep until half-an-hour before she'll wake up again, hungry. sometimes she just moans and grunts in her sleep so loudly that i can't sleep. finally, sometime around seven a.m., she falls into a deep sleep. she'll wake up for breakfast and then take a long morning nap in her swing. by that time, i have so many things to do that i can't really take a nap anymore.

i've been called a night owl, but i think i'm also a morning person. i mean, i worked a job that started at 6:30 in the morning for three years, right? i didn't go to work groggy, either. when i'm up, i'm at'em ... that is, if there is a reason i should be awake. if i have to wake up early for no reason (e.g. when my husband is bored and wants me to entertain him at seven a.m. on a saturday), i'm a grouch.

this morning i gave up on trying to sleep with her through that sunrise time. i got up when the husband left for work at 5:30 and i've been housekeeping while she sleeps. i opened all the curtains to let the sun come in.

this is what some of we miss out on when we're sleeping in:




you know how, in civil war movies, there is always a mist over the battlefield while they sort through the bodies the next morning? that's what happens here. one day, when the sun is rising (or setting) i'll make it out to the big field behind the house and get some pictures.

also, there is wisteria in bloom all over the place.

i wish i could take photographs by blinking a certain way to capture what i see.
sometimes the moment is just gone too fast.

six weeks old.

here's a little movie to get you through the mid-week blues.
don't mind my silly voices.

baby belly.

looks like she wants her old spot back.

jelly bean, ellie bean.

ellie belly, milky, peanut, squirmy, softie, miss ellie, monster, growly ...
for the girl with a million nicknames, so far i like ellie bean best.

we spent yesterday chowing on candy and ham and listening to some prophets. i was a little sad that ellie and i didn't have a reason to get dressed up fancy for easter, but i guess it isn't about that anyway.

here's the outfit she wore for the photo shoot only:






it's okay. it's still a little big.
next year i'm going all out, though.