the fowlers live here

photo challenge, week one.

2012-02-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

a friend of mine, mrs. jolley (who's blog is, unfortunately, going private - but she has a stunning photography blog), set up a photo challenge for february. so far the best part about it has been that i have been taking more pictures in general. most of my favorites have nothing to do with the challenge, really.

presenting one week from the fowler perspective:

day one: self portrait.

day two: the weather today.

day three: something i ate.

day four: sunlight.

day five: from high.

day six: from low.

day seven: someone you know.

thank you notes.

2012-02-07T11:45:00.002-05:00

thank you, other adults interacting with my daughter,

for teaching her funny phrases that she definitely didn't get from me. for instance: "somebody's hungry" and "oh my goodness! i pooped!" (okay, that last one might have been from me but i'm not sure.)

thank you, magic jack,

for being cheap long distance but an unreliable number for people leaving messages. i just got a two minute long message and the only parts that i could hear were "everything looked fine except..." and "call us back at (crackle crackle) if you have any questions." luckily i figured out it was from the vet.

thank you, disney,

for teaching my daughter all sorts of phrases from the movie tangled. i don't love when she hits me with her frying pan and says "how did you find me? what do you want with my hair? who else knows my location?" i do love when she brushes my hair and sings "flower gleam and glow, let your power shine..."

thank you, pinterest,

for putting all sorts of ideas in my head for things i can't actually do because a) i don't have a proper oven, b) i have no time or place away from little people to do any sort of leisurely crafting and c) i don't have the resources. ugh. but thanks for letting me pretend to have style and let me see some really neat/nerdy stuff.

(p.s. - i know i'm not the only one who sees something and wants to pin it just because it is really yucky or lame looking, but i don't want to seem rude.)

(p.p.s. - i am learning to bake in the countertop oven. i've been successful with cookies and banana bread but no matter how hard you try you just can't fit something like a sheet cake in there.)

thank you, husband,

for teaching my daughter that my name is bradie. it is so weird to hear her call me that. at least it might come in handy if she gets lost?

thank you, npr,

for making me feel like i'm doing something to keep my adult brain from melting. also, you make me feel like i'm more balanced when i listen to you after watching gossip girl.

thank you, God,

for my poppy's adorable, squishable, kissable cheeks. oh man, they are so great.
and for giving me the best/most challenging job ever.
and for believing that i'm up for the challenge.

two months!

2012-02-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

well, more like two and a half but we just had the appointment monday.
the curse of the neglected second child strikes again.

oh, pretty poppy.

i can't believe we've had her for two months.

i can't believe it has only been two months.

the "pre-smile scrunch" face

she's a big girl, in the 95th percentile for weight at 13 lbs 6 oz and in the 75th percentile for height. she has been wearing 3 month size clothes for over a month now. she's already in size 2 diapers.

she sleeps like a dream, most of the day and sometimes all night - and not just newborn "all night," like, eight hour stretches some nights. her cheeks are incredible. i honestly kiss her at least a hundred times a day just to feel those fat cheeks squish. i also kiss her to make her smile, but it isn't hard to make her smile. talk to her, kiss her, change her diaper, poke her nose, just look at her and she gives a big grin. she's so happy and mellow.

she's pretty good at sucking her thumb and i love it. she'll wiggle and make a couple of squeaks and then she finds it and, after a few sloppy noises she's off to dreamland (sometimes she smiles in her sleep, too). when she is awake, she wiggles like crazy. she loves to be standing up and she sits in the bumbo and watches everyone. she gets lonely when it is quiet or she can't see anybody. she even has a hard time sleeping if it is too quiet. she's not too into tummy time, she either falls asleep or screeches at me.

she makes a lot of noise, much more than ellie ever did. she coos and talks to me and has conversations. she almost laughs sometimes when she smiles. she makes little baby pterodactyl or raptor noises. she moans and grunts and makes all sorts of fuss. i especially like when she gets upset and goes "uhhhGEE! GEE!" and the other night she even talked in her sleep. it sounded like words - husband and i both looked at each other because we couldn't believe it was her.

she had terrible baby acne. it's finally almost gone.

she loves:

hugs

kisses

milk

snuggles

her rocker

her thumbs

wearing jammies

her big sister

smiling

burps

toots

watching everyone dance

being part of the action

falling asleep in the middle of the action

anybody and everybody

naps

she dislikes:

wet diapers

stuffy noses

shots

maybe my brown-eyed-girl? and check out the head fuzz. and the cheeeeeeeeeeeks.

i can't wait to see what she does next. she's the dreamiest little baby and i am not ashamed to say that i feel like eating her up all day, every day. i just want to hug her guts out. how could you not?

miss penelope, we love you.

a weekend away.

2012-02-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

and somehow that amounts to two weeks away from blogging. whoops.

are you ready for a ton of pictures?

we spent the weekend before last on an island.
my parents came to visit from utah and we headed to jekyll island for a couple of nights.
i know. it was pretty much that awesome.

it was fun, the weather was beautiful and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing my daughter ask, "we go to the ocean?" and being able to respond "yes!" because it was right across the street. i don't think i got any pictures of her actually smiling at the camera because she was totally entranced with the ocean.

then again, she kept saying "we goin to da parking wot!!" over and over, as if the parking lot was some really exciting destination. i guess anything can be fun when you're almost 2.

we walked around on the island, visited driftwood beach, picked up shells, wrote in the sand, put our feet in the ocean and saw plenty of old people.

i'm not exactly much of a beach person. i mean, i can't really imagine myself living on some tropical beach. this beach, however, i could definitely wake up to this beach every morning.

the beach was made even better by the fact that we were spending time with granma and granpa. aren't they some young looking grandparents? someone thought that ellie was my dad's daughter when husband and i were off on a walk. it's a compliment, i say.

it was even enough fun to make us forget that ellie screamed and refused to sleep the entire first night. ("i dohn wahnnnn to go to sweeeeeeep! no, i dohn wahnnnn to go to sweep anymoh!")

poppy was packed around and basically slept while being hugged the entire time. oh, and in the hotel she slept for more than eight hours straight - all the while ellie was screaming away.

now we're home and when ellie asks if we can go to the ocean, i have to say no.
and that makes me sad.
don't even get me started on what it is like when she asks "where's granma? where's granpa?"

(sorry ladies, he's taken. and you can't have the baby, either.)

hopefully we'll get back there soon.
and they'll get back here soon.

more pictures from granma and granpa's visit soon, including pictures that prove i was actually there because i'm in them... when i get them. we did some more awesome stuff, including a trip to the place where cabbage patch kids are born. seriously!

thank you notes.

2012-01-17T10:38:00.002-05:00

have you ever watched jimmy fallon on late night?
(well, i had a crush on him long before that.)

anyway, he does this thing on fridays where he writes "thank you notes" aloud on the show.
i started finding myself thinking in "thank you notes" while going about my business, so i thought i would share some with you.

(but first, here's your cute picture fix from our walk the other day.
so you can stop after that if you want.)

thank you, rachel mcadams,

for making my husband actually ask to watch girly movies with me.
i know i should be jealous, but i'm just... not. you really are adorable.

thank you, peanut butter and jelly,

for providing some sort of dinner for my child after the first one ends up on the floor.
i know i'll never have to hear "i dohn wike it" when you're around.

thank you, that song that goes "where is thumbkin?",

for making it really awkward to sing the "where is tall man?" part with my toddler,
especially at church. also, can you explain to me why she loves that song?

thank you, coke zero,

for making husband and me feel less prissy about drinking a diet drink.

(and along that line,)

thank you, kroger,

for making the cheaper diet soda products that we love. i do enjoy asking my husband if he would like a "cola oh!" or a "diet citrus drop."

thank you, microwave buttered popcorn,

for being so dang good! every single time. but not for making my kitchen smell disgusting.

thank you, every single airplane/train/school bus/police car/etc that goes by,

for making my daughter go nuts with excitement about the noise she heard until i respond with some sort of, "yes, i did hear a _________! i heard it, too!"

thank you, netflix,

for basically forcing me to watch every crappy show that was ever on television just because it is streaming and i already paid for it. you will eventually steal years of my life.

feel free to add your own thank you notes. i may just have more at some point.

oh, and while we're on the subject of random thoughts of mine that you really don't care about, i'm tweeting now. it's mostly because husband is on twitter and was complaining that he didn't have anybody to follow... so there you have it.

click here if you tweet or want to see a tweet or want to follow my tweets or whatever tweety tweetley tweet tweet.

hodgepodge.

2012-01-12T10:35:00.000-05:00

just some random thoughts and photos from the past little while (with the usual sub-par photography).

an idea of the dress code we have around here.

nothing is safe from ellie anymore. she uses that chair to reach the counter and do things like put her dinosaurs in the microwave or sort and count the fruits and vegetables. the other day she brought me a tupperware full of cookies to me that she had found on top of the microwave.

dinosaur stir fry.

poppy last weighed in at 11 lbs 5 oz, putting her in the 95th percentile. that was at her one month appointment. according to our scale at home, she's now well over 12 lbs. she's wearing some 3 month size clothes already. she's a big, happy girl and she's always smiling.

the sweetest little outfit from miss kathleen!

oh, and did i mention that she's a thumbsucker? it's the cutest thing i've ever seen and it sure beats trying to put the pacifier back in her mouth every five minutes.

my girls are pretty much the best thing in the whole world.

it's genetic.

2012-01-09T16:03:00.000-05:00

("where's ellie?" is still a favorite game around here)

ellie has been killing me with her sweet tooth (from me) and her sense of humor (from daddy).

the other day, we went to the grocery store and i asked her what we needed. she said, "um, candy?" and i asked, "what else?" so she added "cookies" to the list.

on daddy's birthday, she saw his cake and said:

"i want a bite! i want a taste! i want that cake!"

she cracked me up while we were singing, too. i had tried to get her to practice the song, but when we sang it went like this (i'll translate the ellie language for you):

me: "happy birthday to you,"

ellie: "it's daddy's birthday!"

me: "happy birthday to you,"

ellie: "it's daddy's birthday!"

me: "happy birthday, dear daddy,"

ellie: "there are candles on the cake!"

me: "happy birthday to you!"

finally, one of her most commonly said phrases:

"i wanna cawcolate."

nature or nuture?

who knows.

four years.

2012-01-05T15:15:00.000-05:00

it's husband's birthday and our anniversary.

thank you sir, for making an honest woman out of me four years ago.

us then:

us now:

who would have guessed?

not me, that's for sure.

pretty sure we have a lot of laughs to come.

i love you.

2011: a summary.

2012-01-04T08:23:00.003-05:00

january:

we headed to the temple,

got snowed in,

played with grammies and grampas.

february:

our baby turned one!

a quick visit to utah to celebrate a wonderful friend...

and unexpected time with family.

march:

i got bangs

and a positive test.

(november seemed so far away!)

april:

we had an easter

and mostly just ate cookies for dinner while i struggled with my stomach.

may:

we saw our boo,

and got boo-boos.

june:

we found out we were having another girl
and had so many pool parties.

july:

ellie started going to nursery
and we played our guts out.

august:

the world lost a beautiful person.
i turned 25, got big and round, and we visited the tallest peak in georgia.

september:

i got bigger
and made too many cookies.

october:

we trick-or-treated

and fell in love with fall all over again.

november:

penelope!

our sweet baby totally outshined thanksgiving

and anything else that happened.

december:

we loved on our girls

and celebrated the season with family and friends.

it seems that 2011, just like the three years before it, was a complete whirlwind.

we've had babies and loss and weddings and cross-country moves and it never seems to get dull for long. when things get boring around here an appliance or vehicle inevitably breaks and we get busy improvising (right now we're using our broken dishwasher as a giant drying rack).

it's not perfect but we definitely love each other and we love our life.

here's to another crazy fun year!

christmas day in pictures.

2011-12-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

the weather outside is frightful!

2011-12-28T08:28:00.000-05:00

well, actually, it has been beautiful.

the day before poppy was born, ellie and i celebrated our last day alone together at the athens zoo and playing in the park. we ate sweet potato fries, checked out some turkeys and did some serious off-roading in the stroller trying to make the baby come out (which obviously didn't work). it was one of my favorite days of all time.

in the month between thanksgiving and christmas there were some rainy days, but for the most part we have had unseasonably warm and wonderful weather. we've been taking advantage of it.

we built a fire pit and made tin foil dinners. we've been going to the park as often as possible.

ellie has finally mastered all the slides, even the big ones. until a couple of weeks ago she would only go up the stairs and look down the slide. she would say "um, i go down the stairs" and come right back down. now she's a pro!

whenever we go anywhere these days, ellie asks if we're stopping at the park to play. she loves to play and i love letting her.

coming soon: christmas pictures.

when we put the house together...

ho ho ho!

2011-12-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

merry christmas.

xoxoxox,

the fowler family

one month!

2011-12-22T19:16:00.001-05:00

one month of poppy!

she's such a sweet little girl.

she's getting big and chunky.

i love her snuggly little body.

she makes a lot of squeals and squeaks and likes to have little conversations with me, which is so different from ellie at this age.

she has this funny little sideways crinkly smile which, of course, is beyond adorable.

among the dozens of other little nicknames, i call her "toot sweet" and i'm sure you can probably figure out why (hey, i'm trying not to be too embarrassing as a mother).

she puts up with a lot from her sister, but ellie's only fault is loving her too much. poppy gets more ellie hugs and kisses than we do!

she loves ellie, too. she listens to ellie talk and likes to be able to see her playing.

this past month has been a blur - not because poppy doesn't sleep, though. she does a pretty decent job for someone who is only a few weeks old. adjusting to a newborn in the crazy month between thanksgiving and christmas has been rough. i feel a little like rip van winkle, like i've been asleep but the world kept on going.

one of these days i'll be back in the swing of things.

or at least i'll be pretty good at faking it.

miss penelope, we are so happy to watch you grow and change.

we love you.

it's gonna get terrible up in here.

2011-12-13T13:58:00.000-05:00

we're hitting the terrible twos early, i'm afraid.

this is why i haven't been posting much. i can't get on the computer without (not-so) helpful little fingers trying to type or some sort of trouble happening behind my back.

why do they call them the terrible twos? for the sake of alliteration? because i think a lot of other words might fit instead: wild, cranky, mischievous, hysterical, demanding, whiny, destructive, and restless... to name a few.

or loud. loud would cover most of it.

despite the fact the my daughter has become a wild thing, she is still a smart and sweet little girl (sometimes).

stories:

the other night, she emptied out a basket and pulled it into the front room. she was sitting in it and yelling something that we couldn't understand. "i riding on the arson!" is what it sounded like and she repeated it over and over, because that's what toddlers do: yell until you figure out what in the blankety-blank they are trying to say. finally, she grabbed the sides of the basket and said "whoa! whoa! whoa!" and shook her body and suddenly it clicked.
she was in a boat.
on the ocean.
"yeah! yeah, mommy!"

here's an admission that i am a a horrible human being and mother, she now recognizes both the walmart and the mcdonalds logos. i had some pictures that were printed at walmart and she saw the logo and immediately said "walmart!" and, of course, she spots every mcdonalds that we happen to pass while we are driving. in my defense, she does always want me to read the "abc's" (aka the words) to her whenever she sees writing.

she is always saying funny things. i mean, not just like it's-funny-because-a-little kid-said-it stuff but really funny.
the other day when we were at our appointment weighing poppy (who is now up to 9 lbs 12 oz, that's 6 ounces over the weekend), i said "poppy, are you ready?" which prompted ellie to say "i ready... to go home!"
wah-waaaah.
and when judge ran off in the woods, she stood at the back door yelling, "juuuuuudge! where are youuuuu? come heeeere! we have fooooood! and waaaaaater!"
the way she sounded, i'm not sure if i would come out of the woods either. it sure sounded like a trick to me. (he came back.)

so anyway, when this happened today:

i got upset for a few minutes and thought about giving up on christmas entirely, but instead i whipped out the camera and took pictures of the carnage and then of her in time-out.

and if you're thinking that she took the time to remove all those ornaments from the tree, you're wrong.
she knocked the whole darn thing over.
because she was trying to run from me after i caught her locked in the laundry room, kneading two handfuls of gum.
which she got after hiding in my closet and removing everything from my bag.

this is one reason why we will never have nice things.

and it all happened in a matter of minutes, while i was trying to get the baby ready so we could go to the park.

and what is poppy doing while all of this is going on?
sleeping like a little angel.

i'll just have to hang on for those few moments when the stars align and everyone behaves like angels.

those few, few moments.

new life.

2011-12-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

love this girl:

(she is saying "cheeeeeeeese!")

and this girl:

and we're loving our new life. we're still getting used to it, but we love it all the same.

i can't believe we've had our poppy for two and a half weeks!

i also can't believe it is only two weeks until christmas. so not ready for that.

a little glimpse at our poppy right now:

she has already gained a pound (at least)! we had an appointment thursday and she weighed in at 9 lbs 7 oz - and that's on an empty stomach. still 21 inches. she's a big, healthy girl.

she has the pinkest little cheeks. i want to kiss them all the time.

i think she may have brown eyes like mommy and daddy.

she sleeps so well. i can't really complain about lack of sleep. i think i woke up more often when i was pregnant to use the bathroom. she's wonderful.

she seems to love (or at least tolerate) the chaos all around her.

she makes funny little grumbles and chirps when she doesn't want to be moved and her facial expressions are hilarious.

ellie update coming soon.

for now, just know that there is a lot of this:

and this:

happening at the fowler castle.

(oh yeah, ellie decided that we live in a "castle" and she is "so happy," despite the face she is making in that first picture.)

baby weekend.

2011-11-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

we're slowly making the transition from a family of three to a family of four. it has been a little more difficult than i expected, but we're getting there. i've been really happy to have husband home for a week to help and spend time hugging and relaxing with our kids. we haven't been doing much of anything at all and it is so, so nice.

i mean, sure, there has been plenty of poop and screaming (mostly from ellie) and almost zero sleep, but that's okay. there has also been lots of chocolate and cuddling and cherry coke and i'm happy.

a couple of (phone, sorry) pictures of our lazy life:

a little blur reading by the window.

she and daddy spent some time hunting for rocks in the woods to make a fire ring in the yard. it was probably the highlight of her week.

mama and ellie time - taking pictures of feet...

and dinosaurs...

and ourselves.

and yes, that is chocolate cake on my shirt. we shared a giant slice and watched a dinosaur show while playing with the phone.

little gas smiles all day long.

poppy is so relaxed and sleepy all the time. she's a dream of a baby so far. we have really enjoyed snuggling her, especially since ellie doesn't hold still for anything (she won't even sleep in our bed with us).

we'll be getting back into the swing of things and (gasp!!) starting to get ready for christmas in a few days. it's hard to believe there is another holiday coming up. our baby was our big holiday for this year. christmas is really no big deal to me.

for today, we're going to enjoy having daddy home and we're going to cuddle his brains out.

it's baby boo!

2011-11-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

introducing penelope elizabeth

november 23, 2011

3:46 pm

8 lbs 6 oz

21 inches

poppy is here!

we're still in a whirlwind, so i have really let the blog go when it comes to the big news. sorry.

but are you ready for a story?
here's all about how our new little life started (caution: the mommy kind of "graphic details" follow).
(also, all times are approximate but as close to the truth as i can figure.)

wednesday, 9:15 am:

at 40 weeks, 4 days, we headed in for our appointment with the doctor. they wanted to check boo on the monitors, so we got hooked up and waited. she's not very active in the morning, but the doctor was more concerned about her lack of reaction to the three lollipops i ate... although i did tell her that three lollipops hardly even shines a candle to my normal sugar intake. but then, when the doctor reached in and tickled her head (yes, yuck!), she still didn't really move much. we peeked at her on the ultrasound, too, but not much was happening. her heartbeat was steady, but it should have been fluctuating more. her little fluid bed was starting to decline as well. it wasn't necessarily dangerous, but we decided it was time to call it quits.

i was dilated to a 5, her head was at +2 and my mucous plug had been gone for several days... but the contraction monitor had showed almost nothing going on in there. to sum it up, my body was ready for labor but it just wasn't coming. i thought they would give us a time and date to show up at the hospital next week. instead, the doctor went to make a phone call, came back and told us to head to the hospital. they would be expecting us. i was nervous, mostly because it seemed that they wanted to get boo out as soon as possible to make sure everything was still okay. i didn't want to expect the worst.

11:30 am:

after running home, grabbing our things, changing one last terribly sore bum and kissing our bean farewell, we signed in at the hospital. we mostly just waited for a while - they got a room ready, put a "just-in-case" i.v. in my arm and we settled in for what we thought was going to be a long, rough night. the plan was to break my water with the hopes that we could avoid the use of pitocin (and the eventual epidural to deal with the hell that is pitocin making contractions happen).

1:45 pm:

the doctor came in to check me and to break my water. i wasn't expecting her to come and break it so quickly, but there she was to work her magic. and the water gushed. wow. gross. i slipped into the mobile monitors so that i could pace around for what i thought would be a slow, uncomfortable afternoon.

2:00 pm:

the contractions started. and hurt. like crazy.

2:30 pm:

i got progressively more and more miserable and decided to try and get in the shower to relax.

2:40 pm:

in extreme pain, i started to hyperventilate and quickly got out of the shower.

2:50 pm:

i started whining like a baby, because the pain wasn't really letting up between contractions. i was not expecting it to go from zero to one hundred in one hour. with ellie, i had over 12 hours of time to get used to the building contractions, but this pain hit me like a bus. the monitor wasn't working, so the nurses couldn't see exactly what was happening. that is when i started telling them i couldn't do it, i didn't want to do it and to help me. help me!

2:55 pm:

they put an oxygen mask on me. i begged for and they refused to give me the i.v. pain medication because they couldn't get a good read on the baby's heartbeat. there wasn't really time for medicine anyway.

3:15 pm:

nononononononononono!

3:25 pm:

i couldn't keep from pushing anymore. they had called the doctor at some point, and she came in and checked me and told me to go ahead and push.

3:35 pm:

they kept telling me i was close, which i thought was just their way of trying to keep me from giving up entirely or passing out. i asked why they couldn't just reach in and get her out for me. the husband had been continually telling me that i was doing a great job (which i knew was a lie), reminding me to breathe and trying to get me to squeeze his hand... but i couldn't feel my hands. they said they could see her head, but i still didn't feel like that meant anything at all.

3:46 pm:

she was out! she didn't make any noise, though, and she looked so purple to me. she also looked exactly like ellie did when she came out. she had pooped on the way out and i think they were worried that she had swallowed something. they hurried to get her under the lights and cleaned up. finally i heard her cry but it was still a minute before i got to cuddle up with her. they said she was just quiet because she was shocked. "it's like she just got off of a rollercoaster and then fell off a cliff," the nurse told me.

i couldn't believe it was only two hours later. i couldn't even believe it was still that same day. i couldn't stop shaking uncontrollably for a good hour afterward. i can still hardly believe it even happened! it was a totally unmedicated birth, even more so than i had expected it to be. she is just perfect and there was no need to worry about her, she is just a sleepy girl and very calm. i'm glad she's here, though, and we're all healthy and happy. the timing couldn't have been better.

so that is that. she came wednesday, we got home thursday and spent friday having a little bit of a make-up thanksgiving with family. it has been pretty quiet but not exactly relaxing - ellie bean makes sure of that. she's a wonderful (but wild!) big sister. daddy is home for a little while and has really stepped up his game. even judge is being mostly well-behaved... but that doesn't mean anybody is getting any sleep around here.

stay tuned to the new adventures of the fowler family.

and there will be better (not-from-the-phone) pictures eventually.

two.

2011-11-15T10:47:00.001-05:00

we're still waiting on boo, although according to the doctor she should have pretty much fallen out of my body by now.

we (well, mostly me) are trying hard not to go absolutely off the deep end while we wait. it is getting hard for me to be pleasant.

we'll let you know when the situation changes. hope that it is soon.

can you believe we're going to have two of these things?!

(p.s. - posting from my phone for the first time. hope it works.)

getting closer.

2011-11-09T08:42:00.000-05:00

if you're looking for an update,
we are somewhere between "keeping busy" and "hanging in there."

it will be 39 weeks on saturday.

luckily we have one little girl right here to distract us from the waiting game.

i could do without her running from diaper changes,
but it's all worth it when she tells me "i love you, mama" when i put her in bed at night.

thanks.

2011-11-04T07:47:00.003-04:00

this week i'm thankful for

ultrasounds
the end of daylight savings (gosh it is dark outside!)
children's books
photographs
the color yellow
pumpkin
ellie songs
hot chocolate
my warm bed
a husband who goes to work before the sun comes up to take care of us
coupons
french fries
friends, here and there and everywhere

along with many other things.

here's something cute for your weekend:

i went to get bean out of bed and she had her pants off and her arm out of her sleeve and she was jumping around like crazy. the first thing she says to me?

"where da arm go?"

i love her face.

2011-11-03T08:58:00.000-04:00

last friday we had a chance to take one more peek at our baby boo through an ultrasound.

i didn't have an ultrasound past 20 weeks with ellie, so it was really strange to have the doctor moving the wand all over my stomach from my ribs to my hips (which is a rather large area these days) and seeing only parts of her at a time. "and wayyyy over here is a foot... and over on this side... a hand... and down here, just above your right thigh, is her face."

i watched her move her little fingers, making a fist and then wiggling each finger separately.

and we got pictures of her face:

i think it is hard to see it if you don't know what you are looking for, so here's a little map:

i know, it pretty much just looks like some kind of white noise, but that's a baby in there!

i think her nose looks like ellie's nose.

i can't wait to see what she looks like up close, not on the radar screen.

happy hallooooweeeeeeennnn.

2011-11-01T14:24:00.002-04:00

("mama, i runnin'!")

husband and i decided that this was probably our best halloween ever,

including the halloweens when we were kids.

we did the trunk-or-treat on wednesday night and it only took bean one or two cars to get the hang of it. she loved the idea and soon had a bucket full of candy. it was pretty late when we started, though - about an hour past her bedtime - and she made her rounds with her paci in her mouth. when we got home, she took all of her candy out and looked at it, piece by piece, and then put it back in the bucket again. she cried when it couldn't come to bed with her.

(the face in the second picture totally explains how much she loved this holiday.)

we had another chance to go for real trick-or-treating with some friends in a wonderful neighborhood. we had dinner and the kids ran wild in their costumes and everyone had a great time.

(this is the only picture i got of her holding still and looking at the camera at the same time.)

(she tried to invite herself inside every house we visited.)

ellie was a little slower than the big kids and a little faster than the little kids while making her way through the neighborhood. she even fell down a couple of times (the pumpkin bucket broke her fall), but she was determined to walk the whole way. when she realized we were at one of the last houses, she started to get sad. daddy carried her during a section of the street where there weren't any houses, but she refused to relinquish the bucket. that thing was heavy, too!

(the whole trick-or-treat gang.)

it was just so much fun to see our sweet little ladybug run from house to house trick-or-treating. we never could get her to say "trick-or-treat," though. instead, she told everyone "i gettin' tandy!"

(hey, she's honest.)

(baby and daddy halloween mug shot, brought to you by my phone.)

after we got home she was exhausted, but she still wanted to hang on to that bucket and take it in her bed. she even woke up at 4 in the morning and asked for her "pumpkin bucket." she cried herself to sleep when i wouldn't let her go crazy with candy in the wee hours of the morning.

...and i almost forgot a picture of my "costume" (really, it's just a glorified t-shirt, but still) (also, i may be in love with freezer paper stenciling). bun in the oven. get it?

being a mom is the best. being my girl's mom is even better.
we seriously had the time of our lives.
it just makes me all the more excited for the holiday season with ellie bean...
and little boo, too.

(special thanks to all my friends who took most of these pictures.)

full term and some counting.

2011-10-28T08:20:00.004-04:00

(on my way to the 37 week appointment)

saturday i will be officially "full term," which is a horrible thing created to tease a pregnant woman. it really gets all hopes up because it means that your baby could be born any minute and everything would be fine, but, at the same time, you could still have another month and a half of waiting. ugh.

everything is great. boo is constantly poking her bony little feet into my organs. i'm feeling exhausted and gigantic, which is to be expected. i hear "full term" and i want to give up on everything but relaxing and waiting for labor, same as last time. i don't want to spend another month half-heartedly doing menial tasks and hoping she doesn't decide pop up on the one day that my bathroom is more than disgusting.

on the other hand, next week is my last week of babysitting until next year (crazy, right?! 2012? next year?) and i wouldn't mind having some time to hang out with my little ellie bean, just the two of us. it won't be the two of us anymore and that is exciting and strange. i can't even comprehend it.

point is, miss boo will show up when she's good and ready...

and hopefully before thanksgiving (because mommy can't take much longer than that).

(get ready for a halloween post, because ellie went trunk-or-treating and loved it.)

in the meantime, i have a few little movies.

ellie has been a counting machine.* for some reason, though, she skips straight to five and goes all the way to thirteen. don't ask me why.

she was a little distracted with her animals, so i didn't get a very good run of all the numbers. i guess you get to see a little bit of her playing and that's always cute. she thinks her zebras and giraffes are one big family and they are always kissing each other. she also thinks that the tiger and the hippo are best friends... again, don't ask me why.

*by the way, we're not really concerned, but daddy has started calling ellie our little ocd baby. she counts all the time and every thing, she is always lining all of her toys up and she gets a little upset if things aren't a certain way - for example, she has to (or she will freak out) buckle her booster seat immediately after she gets out of it and before she goes to play. just a weird phase?

it's gettin' crafty in here.

2011-10-24T14:58:00.000-04:00

i haven't been doing much lately. just growing a baby.

you may or may not have seen this before:

via google images

but! i have actually been for real crafty, too.

i have been going through boxes of magic erasers while scrubbing the walls, but in the meantime i have also been doing a little bit of sewing.

first, i got my felt on and made a little halloween costume for ellie, although i am seriously doubting that she will wear it.

(oh well, maybe next year i will have a ladybug and a bumblebee?)

and then i got a little candy corn crazy...

also, i got some really lovely fabric and made some pillows for my bed

(and had a spray paint party on some hobby lobby letters, too).

and, with the leftover fabric, i finally made one of those little grocery bag holders that i've been meaning to make forever. husband has (in)appropriately dubbed it "the bag anus," which immediately makes it so much less cool (thanks a lot).

hey, at least the bags aren't under the sink anymore, right?

next on the list is the quilt for baby. that should keep me busy for the next three-to-five weeks... right?

speaking of which, this is what i looked like on friday:

i feel like i have a pinhead in this picture.

and a giant shoulder.

and giant hands.

and don't get me started on the belly!

hair - the continuing saga.

2011-10-17T11:34:00.000-04:00

so i have posted my hair growth at this time of year for a couple of years now and i just had to give another update - complete with a really crappy sepia photobooth picture. i know you're excited.

in the second picture and the last picture i am pregnant and you can definitely see the puff in my face. and you can see some real nice acne in the first one. embarrassing!

me, 2008, right after i had it cut:

me, 2009:

me, 2010:

and this year's look, 2011:

that's what two pregnancies and almost three years of prenatal vitamins can do to a girl. i am planning on getting my hair trimmed very, very soon, though. it starts to split like crazy at the end of the pregnancy (and goes completely wild!) and i want to fix it before little boo comes.

p.s. - the haircut anniversary also coincides with the moving anniversary. we've officially been in georgia for three years. how about that?

happy.

2011-10-13T15:39:00.002-04:00

i haven't really had much to blog about this past week.

just the same old giant belly, the same old cooking and cleaning, the same old playing and laughing.

the tree in the front yard changed colors almost overnight, so i get to look out every day and see the most dazzling tree in the whole neighborhood (no exaggeration). it's wonderful.

today, during lunch, ellie told me that she is happy.

she also told me that mama and dada are happy and baby sister is happy, too.

tears! gosh, i am so pregnant.

(i think i have been on the verge of sobbing all day.

fair warning: if you see me out and about, my emotions are out of control.)

(and my brain is not exactly functioning properly.)

but she's right. we're all happy and healthy and that's all that really matters.

things to love on a thursday.

2011-10-06T14:36:00.000-04:00

things i love today:

crisp apples.

toasted pumpkin seeds.

cool, dry air.

crunching around in the leaves.

baby tummies.

clean walls and windows.

juicy pears.

a couple of real contractions (eek!).

piles of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

jacket weather, even if it is just for a few hours in the morning.

candy corns.

magic erasers.

finding old pictures from high school.

project runway.

storytime.

roasted acorn squash.

that thing where leaves just fall gently in the breeze and twirl around... you know?

playing at the park.

white chicken chili with avocado.

new mustard-colored corduroy shoes.

daydreaming.

spray paint.

martinelli's sparkling cider.

and my gorgeous girl, even though she woke up sick in the middle of the night and would not stop talking and go back to sleep until i finally let her watch some tv.

there sure are a lot of things to love about life right now.

looking forward (and last year vs. this year)

2011-10-03T10:49:00.001-04:00

fall is here! at last! i'm pretty sure about it!

a few clues:

my alarm went off and i was confused as to why it was so dark.
ellie asked where the sun was when we went outside yesterday morning. it hadn't peeked over the trees yet.
i woke up ready for a hot shower.
i'm wearing a sweater. i'm not sweating.
i wore socks all day yesterday.
i constantly have the urge to bake, probably because the oven is so warm. and the food smells so good.
there are new shows on tv every week.
ellie quickly learned the word "pumpkin" because she sees them everywhere.
there are little spots of yellow on the tree out front.
our driveway crunches when we're getting in the car.
9:00 pm and i was ready for bed, because it felt so late and dark.

(although, i will note that our air conditioning went out last week and we had to have it fixed. luckily it was a quick and inexpensive thing, but you would think that we could have just let it go by the end of september, right? nope.)

(last year vs. this year)

i was looking through some pictures from this time last year and i couldn't believe how bald our little baby was.
i can't believe she's been walking for almost a year.
and i am so excited that she is old enough to really have fun these holidays.
first, she is going to get to dress up and people will give her candy. it will blow her little mind.
then she is going to (maybe) get a huge, delicious dinner (depending on little boo's arrival date).
and then she is going to wake up one morning and all sorts of presents will have magically appeared during the night.

oh, and above all she is going to get a sister.
pretty eventful and exciting life for a girl who is not quite two.

(last year vs. this year)

the great goat mystery.

2011-09-28T11:15:00.000-04:00

you may remember back in january, during the days of the snowpocalypse, that my parents came to visit.

while they were here, they gave ellie a little farm. the set of animals included a horse, a cow, a pig, a sheep, and a goat.

after we opened it up, set up the toys and started playing, we realized that someone was missing.

where was the goat?

i remembered seeing it, because at first i thought it was the funniest looking horse i had ever seen. then i realized it was a goat.

so the goat had made it inside the house.

after looking and looking, i finally decided that the goat had either been accidentally thrown out with the box or he had fallen down the heater vent with the broken cover.

we weren't ever going to see that goat again.

nine months later (really!), it is five in the morning and i'm getting ready to drive husband to work.

i decide to put on my $2-clearance-fake-uggs since it is finally sixty-ish degrees outside.

as i put my right foot in the boot, i feel something hard.

guess who i found peeking back at me?

the missing goat!

even better for my story, ellie had left her entire herd of farm friends together in her room before bed the night before.

when i woke her up to get ready to get in the car, she groggily scooped them all into her arms and began to stumble around with them.

"ellie," i said, "come see what i found!"

she brought all the friends into my room and saw the goat sitting on the bed.

she was puzzled for a minute, then smiled, laughed and started lining them all up.

she spent the rest of the morning lining them up in different places around the house and counting them.

she even said "goat!" when i told her what it was.

like it was never missing at all.

so ends the goat mystery of 2011.

i'll never quite know how it got in the boot.

although ellie is notorious for stuffing toys in boots, a tiny part of me thinks that maybe grampa brad thought it might be a funny little surprise (he just didn't know how long it would take for us to find it!).

who knows? but we're happy to have him back.

i like it!

2011-09-27T13:24:00.000-04:00

the other song!

the other day she was in the car singing
"a-die-dit, a-yite-it, a-die-dit, a-yite-dit."

i couldn't figure it out for the life of me.
luckily, daddy was in the car and was able to translate:

"i tried it, i like it!"

i couldn't find the original song, but it is from yo gabba gabba (of course).
there is a new food to try and they sing:
"try it, you'll like it!" and when brobee tries it he says "i tried it, and now i like it!"

and this is her singing it
(and some distracted talk about who is a princess - including the little girl we babysit, sloan):

she is really getting to a point where she is communicating more than babbling. she asked for yogurt for breakfast and when i gave it to her she said "where's the spoon?"

hang on a second!

going a little bit crazy.

2011-09-26T09:50:00.001-04:00

ellie is getting her eye teeth right now. her canines. her sharp, pointy mouth things.
from what i understand, these are usually the worst teeth to cut.

from personal experience, it sure makes for one cranky baby.
her brand of cranky is mostly crazy. she gets sudden urges to do all sorts of dangerous and naughty things and then gets hurt and cries and does it all over again (or we stop her from doing whatever dangerous, naughty thing and she cries and screams and then does it all over again - you pick).

she has become even more hilarious than normal, though. i made a couple of videos last night of the ellie experience. you'll have to forgive the shaky camera, because she was putting her feet on my arms while i was trying to film it. she also puts her fingers up to the lens a lot. oh well, it just makes the experience that much truer. you don't get to hold still around ellie.

also, we are really loud! turn down your volume, maybe?

video one:

ellie started singing two songs spontaneously yesterday. by spontaneously i mean: i have sung them to her before and she never joined in with me, then suddenly yesterday she started singing them out of nowhere.

i have yet to get the second song on video, so i'm going to wait to tell what it is because it is just toooooo cute. here she is singing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." she had been singing it all afternoon and through her bathtime.

(notice at the beginning she wants "gabba," because she thinks my phone only exists so we can watch yo gabba gabba clips on it.)

(she also says "good job!" at the end.)

video two:

ellie has been getting into the princess thing. she was walking around all day saying "i'm a princess!" but it sounds like she is saying "i'm a person!" she also loves yo gabba gabba so much that she says "my name is ellie! i like to dance!"

for those of you who haven't seen the show:

that is what they do on the show. there are about four kids per episode that do a special dance. (i had no idea how many crazy videos they make of these kids on youtube...)

it took me a minute to figure out she had switched gears.

both of these were recorded at bedtime, when she is hitting her wild little peak. it's fun but really exhausting. when she finally hits the sack i think everyone is paralyzed for about twenty minutes.

and this is why i am always tired and sore. she's a workout. and i love her.

fall? possibly?

2011-09-23T14:11:00.001-04:00

{insert awesome fall picture here}
(sigh. i'll get one eventually. maybe later this afternoon?)

i'm having a hard time admitting that it is actually fall. yes, the leaves are finally starting to change a little and it has finally been raining a little more... but it is still in the 80s all the time and it just doesn't feel like fall without boots and a light jacket. or lots of pumpkin food. or soup and bread for dinner a few times a week.

i did roast an acorn squash last night and it was delicious. however, the hot chocolate i had the other morning was a bit much. i don't think i cooled off all day.

i keep thinking about last fall, when i had a little wobbler instead of a little toddler. it seems like it has been years since then!

ellie bean says at least one new word every day, usually more. she's just so smart (too smart?). last night she asked for applesauce for dinner, though we hadn't eaten or talked about applesauce in days. when i opened the fridge, she started telling me what foods she saw and finally decided that she would rather have a "yodurt" instead (it was the first time she had ever said that word and she wasn't repeating me).

she jumps on her bed and says "montee! montee! jump jump jump!" (monkeys jumping on the bed).

she learned the word "money" from daddy and now tries to steal all of his coins - and our debit cards.

she finally (finally!!) talks about me. i went out on an errand the other night and when i walked in the door i heard her say "it's da mama!" before coming out of her room to hug me.

she found daddy's portable radio and brought it to me, asking for "mutesick" (music). we turned it on and she carried it around the house, dancing to everything from bryan adams to the allman brothers. she asked for music again this morning when we got in the car. when the commercials or the news come on, she'll whine and cry until we get some good tunes, then she quiets down and bops her head to the beat.

oh, and best of all, last week she went on a daddy lunch date. she spent so long getting ready with me. we did her little curls with hairspray(!) and she pretended to put on makeup. i let her rub some fancy lotion on her hands and arms, too. she was so excited. i had a doctor's appointment, so i dropped her off at work with daddy during his lunch break and they set off on their own adventure. i never want to forget her face when i left her there with him. she grabbed his hand and turned back to look at me and she was a tiny bit uncertain. then she took a breath, smiled, squared up her shoulders and walked away with him for their date. when did she get to be so big?

every time this girl hits a new stage, i keep thinking "and i thought she was fun before!"

the other thing about last fall: i couldn't stop thinking about brand new babies. whenever i saw the colors and felt the breeze i would think, "wouldn't a tiny baby just make this perfect?"

and she will.

baby boo, we love you (even though you are the second child and all of this pregnancy stuff is old news). we can't wait to see how different you are.

(32 weeks tomorrow - two months!)

p.s. - ellie says:

mn 06666666666 , kmn
p hgv2 h+
/=* 4-1021*

the doldrums.

2011-09-20T08:43:00.001-04:00

i think the first time i ever heard anything about the doldrums, it was when i read the phantom tollbooth as a kid. i remember the grey, sleepy feeling i got while reading it.

for me, the doldrums represent being both bored and anxious at the same time, as if there is something i have to do but i don't know what exactly that thing is or how to i am supposed to do it.

boy, am i ever in the doldrums in this pregnancy.

i think it could be mislabeled as nesting, because i have reorganized the hall closet and entertainment center and now i am going through ellie's clothes and the baby clothes and cleaning out their closet, too. every time i enter a room, my brain hones in on what needs a good scrub. yesterday i cleaned the laundry room and the day before that i washed some of the walls in the kitchen.

it sounds like nesting, yes. i'm preparing the house for a baby, right? no. i'm nervously doing tasks to keep myself busy while i wait for the real task: having a baby. i am not satisfied with any of the things i accomplish because i know that it wasn't "the" thing that needs to be accomplished. (well, then again, it might also be that everything that is clean today will be destroyed tomorrow... but that's another story.)

i'm getting to that point of no comfort. sitting is uncomfortable, but so is standing. trying to sleep? forget it. i'm not comfortable in any position. i am either squirming with a full bladder and running to the bathroom every five minutes or i'm dehydrated and a little dizzy, there is no middle ground. the other day i went to the bathroom, washed my hands, brushed my hair for a minute and almost forgot why i had originally come into the bathroom - and felt like i had to go again before i left.

so that's one reason i haven't been blogging much. i feel like i'm constantly tapping my fingers and waiting for the next big thing, but nothing is as big as the thing that is coming.

also, this has been going on:

ellie has been climbing on the chairs. constantly.

if i sit down at the computer and she's around she tries to climb on me and take over. she wants to sit at the computer or at the kitchen table just because she can. i have to put the chair by the computer away so she doesn't go nuts on my desk. she is also figuring out that she can push chairs up to the counter in the kitchen and get things down. luckily the rest of the house has carpet, so she can't move the chairs as easily - yet.

i'm glad i have her around to keep me entertained and stressed and constantly busy. she doesn't let me take a break. when i try to stretch out on the couch, she's there to sit on my ribcage or push my feet off onto the floor. "ta'mon, mama! wes go!" ("come on, mama! let's go!" - if you don't speak ellie.) she is being pretty helpful in her own way, though. she was so excited to go through the clothes for "da beebee" and she sleeps for at least 10 hours most nights, bless her heart.

maybe if i document some of the "not so big" things (like, anything that doesn't involve pushing a baby out), i'll keep myself going.

maybe you'll see some more posts out of me yet.

magic in my middle.

2011-09-13T10:54:00.000-04:00

if you want to skip my pregnant ramblings about cookies and get straight to the cute video, scroll down.

i made these wonderful magic in the middle cookies yesterday.

that's what happens when i am temporarily stuck at the house during the day. we're still down one vehicle, so during the work day i have no way to go out and buy whatever bag of halloween candy my heart (i mean, the baby's heart) desires... so i bake.

i'm telling myself that it is helping to teach my daughter manners, because the only time i can get her to consistently say "thank you" is when i am handing her a cookie.

anyway, you have to try these cookies sometime. the ingredients are things that most people usually just have on hand, too. that's what i love.

the recipe i found via the girl who ate everything, but it was a guest post from gonna want seconds.

when i made them, i found that i didn't exactly end up with 30 one inch balls - more like 18. when i tried to cram the balls i made inside the dough, i ended up with six huge cookies (not that there is anything wrong with huge cookies!). i ended up cutting each little ball in half and wrapping it in the cookie.

also, i was craving a salty sweet treat, so i mixed some coarse sea salt with sugar and sprinkled it on top of each cookie, then pressed it with a glass. i highly recommend it, if you like the salty side of sweet.

speaking of vehicles, this commercial made me laugh so hard yesterday.

i can hardly complain, though, because in our car we only have about 10% tantrums and 90% this:

9/11.

2011-09-12T08:46:00.000-04:00

yesterday i was thinking about that day and this present day and all of the things that have happened in that time.

i can't imagine what it must have been like to have been there and to have lost someone; what it must be like to have lost someone in the conflicts that have followed that terrible day.

jose narosky said that "in war, there are no unwounded soldiers." i think that can be true for entire nations, as well. everyone in this country and even worldwide has been changed in some way by the events of september 11, 2001.

i've always believed in america. i can't say that i know what things we need to change or how to change them (if i did, i would run for president). i do think that, collectively, we all need to be better people and make better choices. we need to take care of ourselves and our families, friends and neighbors. we need to be as united as we proclaim ourselves to be.

"america will never be destroyed from the outside. if we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." abraham lincoln

God bless the USA.

miss bedhead's latest accomplishments.

2011-09-09T13:46:00.002-04:00

want to hear some funny little things ellie has been doing lately?
i thought so.

when asked a question, she has started wrinkling up her eyebrows and saying "ummmmmmmm?" like she's thinking hard about her answer.

she has really started to figure out how to use her words. yesterday i told her to go get daddy for dinner, so she ran into his office. he said, "hi ellie, what do you need?" she said, "ummmmmmmm..." then looked at him, said "let's go!"and waited for him to follow her to the kitchen.

she loves having conversations with us. i ask her about her dreams every morning. "did you dream about pumpkin pie? did you dream about horses?" sometimes she will laugh and say "noooope," but other times she will hear me mention something and she'll go on and on about it. unfortunately i can't understand much. last night, before bed, she sat on daddy's lap and answered his questions. my favorite question: "do you like mommy?" her response was a vigorous nod of her head, because her mouth was full (awww).

she's making a lot of small sentences. instead of pointing at things and saying their names, she'll say "it's a box" or "it's dada." she likes to tell stories, and like i mentioned, we can't really understand most of them. she's getting there, though. she played on the swings with daddy the other day at the park and afterward she came to me and pointed to the swing and said "dada, sit. weeeee!"

she also says "oooh!" a lot and "oh! wow!"
along with "uh-oh," she has started saying "whoops!"

and i didn't realize how often i say "alright" because she says it a lot, too.
"ellie, want to get dressed?" "um, awight."

she has started to pay a lot more attention to what we're watching. she has liked watching kid shows on tv for while now. she loves nature shows. for some reason it doesn't bother her to watch lions and cheetahs hunt, but i guess she has a thing for baby seals. she saw a polar bear attack one and she yelled "no! no! no! bear! bear!" maybe gazelles just aren't as cute as seals? she also got really wrapped up in toy story 3 today. when the monkey started to attack she said "no! no! no!" and i had to convince her it would be fine.

she loves to make her toys kiss. farmer kisses cow, horses kiss horses - and mommy and daddy have to kiss the toys, too. she smiles so big when she sees mommy and daddy hug each other and kiss (and she absolutely loves getting a sandwich hug from mommy and daddy and being attacked with kisses). what a girl. she's in love with love already.

one last little thing: she's a girl after my own heart. i made cookies the other day and she was being extra polite, saying "please" and "thank you" every time she got a bite. when i was taking the cookies off the racks and putting them away, she started screaming and crying in terror. she didn't want those "tuutties" going anywhere.

our little girl is growing up so fast. i keep wanting to call her a baby but she just isn't really a baby at all. it's sad and exciting and fun.

all i can say is that we love her.

over the weekend...

2011-09-07T07:53:00.002-04:00

we didn't do much over labor day weekend.

husband said at one point: "do people have barbeques or something?"
i replied: "i think so. sometimes they go camping, too. or on a trip."

i think this is only our second labor day weekend without having to work at least one of the three days and we're still not really sure how holidays work. we do know how to relax, though.

ellie and i looked at some adorable puppies with the only aunt in georgia (and we saw bunnies, hamsters and kittens, too). we ate frozen yogurt and pizza. we drank way too many diet root beers. we played with family and friends.

a few little things i want to remember:

- finding magnetic letters and princess stickers hidden in ellie's boots.

- watching ellie fight sleep while listening to her daddy tell the most outrageous versions of fairy tales i have ever heard. (i'm not kidding. at one point, goldilocks was making an alliance with the great eagle of the forest and there was something about the three little pigs going off to college to learn about architecture.)

- the entire family (including dog) cuddling on the bed and watching daddy's show (top shot) and then mommy's show (project runway) on the tiny laptop.

and the past few days it has finally been raining, really raining. dark and all day raining. it is even a little bit (gasp!) chilly.

i couldn't be happier. we're getting closer to autumn every minute.

and i stink at taking pictures, so here's a video that's a few days older. i'm sure it isn't too different from what happened over the weekend, though.

it's sideways. sorry.

she's counting her food, which lately she does instead of eating it. she's also wearing the shirt she picked from old navy clearance. good find at 97 cents, right?

thanks on a thursday.

2011-09-01T18:54:00.002-04:00

today i have an ever-lengthening list of things that are driving me crazy; things that are making me feel not very thankful at all. here's all i will say: i am getting really tired of broken stuff. oh, and i'm out of my caffeinated diet beverages and i won't be getting more anytime soon. enough said.

so to take my mind off of that, i'll make a list of things that i am thankful for (and it's thursday and bloggers talk about being thankful on thursdays, right?).

i'm thankful that "elbow" (elmo) and "gabgab" (yo gabba gabba) are on netflix. i'm especially thankful that they put up nineteen new yo gabba gabba episodes this week and i'm not stuck watching the same 10 over and over anymore.

i'm thankful for great air conditioning. i don't know what i would do without it.

i'm thankful that pinterest can help me feel creative and organized and pretty and stylish and talented by living vicariously through others.

i'm thankful that my glucose test came back with good results. i was really afraid that i was going to have to give up sugar for three months and then, of course, take to my bed with grief.

i'm thankful that ellie's iron test was good, too. i've been trying really hard to get that girl to eat some good foods with not much success (read: at least three different kinds of food are thrown on the floor each day). luckily, she will let me mix baby cereal into her "apbahdah" (applesauce). i could give her nothing else all day and she would be happy.

on that note, i'm also thankful that ellie can eat with a spoon and fork pretty well. i don't think either of us would survive if she couldn't feed herself.

i'm thankful that judge hasn't tried to run away even though his fence has been broken for weeks. it is pretty low on our list of stuff to fix/replace right now.

i'm thankful that enough things work for me to make some delicious fresh bread. nothing makes me feel more accomplished or happy right now cutting into a warm loaf of homemade bread.

i am thankful for babies that take naps. i can't even tell you how thankful i am.

i'm thankful that we've had a few days of cooler weather. well, low-90s-cooler weather isn't much but it is definitely better. i've found myself staring longingly at my scarves and sweaters lately, knowing it will be a while yet. oh, and these pictures are of us celebrating the weather by actually going outside!

two-thirds.

2011-08-29T13:53:00.002-04:00

well, saturday we hit the third trimester. that's right, 28 weeks down and twelve(ish) to go.

(by the way, can someone please explain to me how 40 weeks of gestation equals nine months of pregnancy? it just seems like a really unfair trick when you're the one that is bloated, fat and uncomfortable.)

i feel like poor little boo is getting gypped (hopefully there aren't any gypsies out there who read this blog and get offended). it seems like this pregnancy is flying by without a lot of fanfare and that is mostly because we have an ellie to entertain us and to keep us running (and i do mean that literally). i can't complain about the lack of excitement, because an uneventful pregnancy is never a bad thing. on the other hand, i'm pretty sure i'm the only one who has felt boo's little kicks so far. we're so excited to have her here and see what kind of little human we get, but when i'm trying to keep a rowdy 18-month-old from flinging herself out of a shopping cart i find that i'm doing a lot less baby-daydreaming than i did last time.

boo, i'm sorry. we really do like you.

we just keep getting more and more personality from her. i think i mentioned that she did a complete flip during the 20 week ultrasound, right? at our appointment last week the nurse had a difficult time finding a heartbeat. we weren't concerned, though, because everyone could see her moving and she even kicked the wand with all her tiny might. whenever the nurse would get close and we'd get a few seconds of heartbeat, it would quickly fade away like a car passing on the highway. the nurse asked, "is she always like this?!" boo likes to wiggle, yes. ellie used to hold perfectly still until bedtime, then she'd give a few good kicks. it feels like boo is dancing ballet inside of me, sometimes pushing on so many different places that i start to think that there must be a second baby in there.

she has a crazy sweet tooth. i thought maybe she'd like the sour candies like i used to eat with ellie, but this girl likes it rich and sweet. i'm still eating golden grahams like crazy, along with any kind of chocolate i can get my hands on. she goes absolutely crazy when i drink diet root beer. we haven't been eating a lot of meat lately, but whenever i drive by a steakhouse or bbq place i can actually taste the food in my mouth. i'm getting to the point where i'm constantly hungry but, at the same time, i feel like there's no room for food inside me. it's one of the worst parts of being pregnant.

this pregnancy has been different in a lot of ways. i never really got swollen with ellie, but this time i'm swelling a little. i think the difference is the heat. the hot, hot heat. it's easy to keep from swelling in december and january, but august and september in the south? forget it. i'm also on my feet a lot more and that's a big contributor. i read somewhere that i should avoid any activity that keeps me from bending down past my knees at this point - ha! whoever said that didn't factor in a toddler. i think i spent more time bending down and squatting and sitting on the floor than i do standing.

here we are. belly! and boobs. and bum. ugh. i'm not even kidding when i say that my pregnant behind is giving me nightmares. BUT! the frumpy mom bun hit the catwalk on three project runway models last week (one of them was a winner!), proving my theory even further that being frazzled and lazy is totally in right now.
(oh, and i cleaned my mirror since the last picture. nesting instincts are starting to kick in. unfortunately there isn't a whole lot i can do around here except scrub and scrub and rescrub.)

november will be here soon and it's going to be a big blur of baby and holidays and everything i love. i can't wait to see what color eyes she'll have, what her nose looks like... and can't wait to see ellie hold her and love her. last night she was giving my belly ("her sister") kisses. she doesn't even like to give kisses to daddy or me without some prodding. she's going to be a really great big sister (she just doesn't know it yet).

2011-08-25T19:15:00.001-04:00

words are so much weaker than feelings, especially at a time like this.

funny though, because at the same time they still have so much power.

i had known the truth for hours last night but i didn't want to speak the words out loud. i thought if i held them inside myself, maybe i could make it untrue. out here i was the only one who knew it. if nobody else knew, it was like it didn't happen. for hours, i rolled the words around in my brain, not speaking them aloud and not knowing how to speak them.

as we crawled into bed, i cuddled up close to my husband and whispered: "while we were listening to our baby's heartbeart today, my friend was dying."

what can i say? we have so many words to express ourselves, but somehow there is no set of words that truly describes the feelings we have about the beauty and fragility of life and death.

lindsey was one of the most beautiful souls on this earth. in fact, i have been searching my brain trying to think of a time when she wasn't so flawless or wonderful, but i can't. i can't think of one instance when i was ever angry with her or even bothered by her. the only time that comes to mind was when i was fifteen and she told me that she was jealous of my skin, because i "never seemed to have any pimples." i remember being annoyed and thinking, "that's because i haven't hit puberty yet and i would gladly trade my skin for some curves, thank you very much."

she was like a character from a movie: impossibly positive, incredibly funny, endearing, smart, talented, quirky, lovable and, of course, downright gorgeous. i wouldn't believe it if i didn't know her myself -- and, i guarantee it, if you knew her you are better for it.

(one of my favorite things about lindsey is this: this face isn't just for the pictures. she made faces and posed like this and did silly voices for no reason at all.)

the world is a darker place today, but i know hundreds (if not thousands) of people will be working toward making it brighter because of her.

the craziest thing of all is that the world goes on spinning even after it has stopped for her. i still had doctors appointments and diapers to change and dinner to make today and it just seemed strange. it felt like there should be national headlines about her life and her fight.

if you're the praying kind, keep her family in your prayers. her husband especially needs them. they were married just a few months after we were. i can't imagine what it must be like to lose a spouse so young and after such a long, hard battle. i'm sure that they're still needing donations and there will definitely be a need for support for a long time to come, both for her family and for her foundation, living through laughter.

so i'm asking this of you:

every day, share your light and spread some laughter.

it's one of the easiest things you could ever do.

love you, linds.

(pictures stolen from her website - go there!)

it's nine o'clock on a saturday...

2011-08-20T12:13:00.002-04:00

okay, so it isn't really. but it is saturday.

after 18 months, i still don't know what to do with myself when everyone (even the dog!) is taking a nap. i could try to sleep, too, but everyone knows that something always happens when moms try to nap. the world collapses.

so, while they sleep, here are a couple of mish-mashed thoughts, since i have been a terrible blogger this week.

a.)

i've been feeling pretty fashion-forward lately, as my favorite "frumpy mom" hairdo has been pinned on pinterest as something hip and fresh. seriously, my hair looks like this (at least) 5/7 days of the week.

other people:

me:

(p.s. - are you pinning? are we friends on pinterest? you will notice that most of my pins are about sugary sweets, naturally.)

b.)

i have a new phone, so i have a new way to take pictures and video of a little girl at random.

examples:

ellie leaving the house yesterday. she accessoried by herself, as usual.

i was trying to catch her saying "no/neow" but she said "fries" instead.

i can also catch myself being a bad human.

why yes, i can make anything healthy into something totally unhealthy!

my breakfast: greek yogurt.

with bananas.

and nutella.

mmmmm.

and that is a little of what we've been up to. riveting stuff, i know.

25 goals.

2011-08-15T10:35:00.000-04:00

birthday goals.

i realize that some of these goals are much more measurable than others.
some of them will require very specific actions to complete.
others will be more a constant, conscious effort to do things differently.

1. eat at least one green, leafyish thing per day.
2. be better at realizing when i'm in a "technology loop" and getting out of it immediately!
3. make better breakfasts for myself and for ellie.
4. finish at least one book a month (but let's shoot for two).
5. finally sew that bathrobe for myself before the baby comes.
6. make a quilt for baby boo.
7. print off more pictures and get a good start on an ellie book and a family book.
8. get organized with the bills and budget.
9. get out of bed earlier (i want to say that i'll wake up at 4:45 with the husband but we all know that isn't happening).
10. make more dates happen (we've been on like, two real dates since ellie was born).
11. participate in some kind of organized walk/run. i'm not committing to running, though.
12. spend more time reading with ellie (she likes to "read" to herself, but i need to read to her more).
13. drink more water. i go through phases where i drink a lot and then i don't. back to being a fish.
14. take the little family on at least three awesome, memory-making adventures.
15. pare down my closet and start only buying the things i really want/need (example: the perfect black jeans), not just what's on sale or cute at the time.
16. lose the baby weight (that would be by my next birthday, but within four months would be ideal).
17. eat more dinners at the table.
18. get back into keeping a real journal.
19. reduce the sugar intake. bake healthier.
20. keep some plants alive.
21. do another money experiment like the one we did last year (where we only spent $100 for the whole week).
22. potty train ellie. eek.
23. keep my room cleaner, make my bed, etc. (somehow my room is the worst in the house, no matter how hard i try to keep ellie out).
24. be better about keeping in touch without the internet.
25. say and show my love and appreciation as often as possible.

i have some other, more personal goals to work on as well.
we'll see how this goes. i'm pretty bad with specific goals.
general goals - eh, sometimes.

25 years.

2011-08-12T09:24:00.000-04:00

so far it has been a great day and it isn't even noon yet.

ellie decided she couldn't wait to say happy birthday and woke up very upset at two in the morning (which hasn't happened in months). she wouldn't go back to sleep without a long backrub and, since it isn't easy to lean over the crib with my giant tummy, she got in bed with us and went back to sleep between mommy and daddy (which also hasn't happened in months).

baby boo got in on the action, too.
i woke up thinking that during the night i had been transformed into one of these:

(found on google image search)

i already got my mabel and, last night, a spectacular new phone - the most technologically up to date phone i have ever owned - which i will be using soon. i just have to figure out how to get my old phone off autopay first so that we aren't stuck with two bills.

you may have already noticed my other wonderful gift on this screen. today is officially 99 days until d-day, which means i am in double digits on the baby countdown (of course, give or take a few days). i'm feeling the change into the third trimester already. i'm huffing around, i'm having to leave rooms because it is just so hot! aren't you hot?!, i'm getting more and more emotional by the minute... it goes on and on.

oh, and this is what i look like in the midsection (26 weeks tomorrow, if you're wondering):

i had been trying to be sneaky and not wear actual maternity clothes, but that just isn't cutting it anymore.

my friend nikki (who also takes really sweet pictures, by the way) had the great idea to make a goal for each year of life on her birthday.

so i'm totally copying that.
but not today. on monday i'll make my list, which gives me the weekend to think about it.
oh, and party.

25 little things i love.

2011-08-11T11:03:00.002-04:00

so it's a quarter of a century for me tomorrow. yeah, i know, it's no big deal to some.
let me just tell you that it is positively ancient to the kids i know. upon discussing ages, a friend mentioned she was turning thirty and one of the kids said "my grandma just turned ninety!" as if it was pretty much the same thing.

for some reason, i feel like i want more this birthday. more celebrating, more introspection, more gratitude, more "hello! it's my birthday!' than ever before.
i think being a mom has made me try to take as many of the "me!" moments as i can get, since most of the time it is "who needs what first?"

today i want to let you in on a list of the little things i've had on my mind lately, because the little things are what make up life.

25 little things i love:

1. perfectly toasted toast with perfectly melting butter.
2. clean, cool sheets after a long, hot day.
3. the way my wedding band fits on my finger like air.
4. finding the perfect music on a road trip.
5. having a conversation with my baby and forgetting how strange i must sound to other people.
6. organizing the food on my plate by how much i like it and taking the best bite last.
7. the way ellie shushes: with her finger up one nostril instead of on her lips. "ttthhhh! tyte!" (shhh! quiet!)
8. putting chocolate chips or marshmallows on my cold cereal, even if it is already sugary.
9. watching "murders" with husband and snuggling.
10. finishing a good book.
11. a truly flattering outfit.
12. listening to an interesting news story like this one.
13. "taste-testing" baked goods. (then tasting more, just to be sure.)
14. getting at least one room in the house completely clean.
15. morning light.
16. touching feet with a husband (but touching feet with anybody else - not so much).
17. having an exact grocery list and remembering to get everything on it.
18. quiet and beautiful public places, like museums and libraries.
19. baby giggles.
20. that once-in-a-blue-moon moment when my hair looks exactly the way i wanted it to look.
21. a good conversation.
22. being able to really help someone.
23. sweater/scarf/boot weather.
24. naptime (!!!!).
25. feeling both old and young at the same time.

of course, there are so many more things. these were just on my mind today.

another thing i love, but also makes me the tiniest bit sad:

watching my daughter grow up.
and walk around in my shoes and jewelry.
and seeing how happy she is.

more tomorrow.

movin' on up...

2011-08-05T11:34:00.000-04:00

how rude of me!
i haven't introduced you to my new best friend.
her name is mabel and she's mine.

she's an early birthday present from my whole family.
she's my new "kitchen maid."
she's totally professional.
she's definitely a step up from the six-dollar handheld mixer that only has one working beater.

in the first four days that she was in my kitchen she helped me make
the fluffiest peanut butter frosting
and my first (ever!) loaves of crusty, soft yummy white bread.
the bread was so good i went so far as to make 100% whole grain bread with honey and it is amazing.
oh, and don't forget the gooey caramel creme brownies.

now that i know i can make bread without screwing it up (pretty sure the dough hook is the key, because my pizza dough attempts have been miserable), i think i'm ready to start making some for other people to try.

boy, do i like mabel.
thank you to all my family, for trusting me with your tastebuds. you won't be sorry.

wait? who ate half the pan of brownies? i guess it was the baby.

speaking of babies, just a quick update:

baby boo is doing well. she is kicking me nearly senseless.

she really loves red meat. ribs, steak, burgers - you name it and i want it. i could eat ribs every single day. twice. mmm, and steak for breakfast.

she loves sweets, especially chocolate. i've been downing golden grahams like crazy.

she also loves when i drink diet rootbeer.

pretty sure we're going to have double trouble around here.

this new little boo has such a big personality already.

brasstown bald.

2011-08-03T14:49:00.005-04:00

during our little vacation, daddy took us on a day trip to brasstown bald.

it's the highest point in georgia and is very close to our border with north carolina.

the drive isn't actually very far, just a few hours north. it was fun to be in the mountain country on the winding roads - almost like being back for a visit in the rockies.

it was a perfect day for hiking. even though it was hot, it was breezy and a little overcast and the sun didn't bother us much. there is a .6 mile trail from the parking lot to the summit. we were a little bit worried about getting ellie and my wide load up the trail, seeing as it is described as "very steep" and there is a shuttle available. also... i was wearing flip-flops, because i didn't know where we were going when i got in the car.

we wanted to give it a try and it ended up being no sweat - okay, maybe a lot of sweat but not a tough hike. we only had to rest twice and, although the trail was steep, it was nothing compared to timp cave - if you've been there you know what i'm talking about. in fact, it really wasn't a big deal compared to almost any trail i've been on in utah. i think they warn people about the steepness because they don't want to be rescuing retirees off the mountain all day (and because they get to charge $3 a pop for the shuttle).

(disclaimer: after carrying that girl all the way up on his shoulders, his sweaty hair makes it look like he has bald spot. :) that is just what happens when a baby musses up sweaty hair. both of us ended up with such sweaty, gross hair that most of our pictures aren't very glamorous.)

("it's not the heat, it's the humidity!" - except the heat index has been like, 110 degrees lately.)

ellie was a wonderful little shoulder-rider and we explored when we got to the top. i think she thought it was a playground and she didn't want to stop running from one end of the deck to the other. the view is pretty incredible, especially considering that the woods in georgia keep you from seeing very far in any direction when you're anywhere else. you can see south carolina, north carolina, tennessee and (of course) georgia from the lookout.

both smiling at the same time. miracle?! too bad my hair is a joke!

in the visitors center, there was even a two-man saw display! we thought grampa brad would be happy to see it. ellie liked playing with it, but it was hard to get pictures in there with the way that the sun was coming in the windows. she also liked crossing the little bridge and looking at the "stuffed" animals.

on the way home, we stopped at burger king because ellie's tummy was making her grumpy. she got a little ahead of herself - this girl is getting too big for her britches. i was feeding her pieces of a burger when she decided to grab the entire thing and eat it herself. i tried to pry it out of her hands because the toppings were all about to slide out onto her lap and in the chaos she threw the burger at the window and we all watched in horror as it slid down the glass. what an attitude! luckily we were in a booth - i don't know what would have happened if she had thrown it into the crowded dining room. she hadn't ever done anything like that before, but she was extremely hungry and tired at the time. i'm hoping that the terrible twos aren't starting already. i'm also glad that we most likely won't ever be eating there again. not only did we make a beautiful scene, but there were no high chairs and they didn't even have a changing station in the bathroom! (maybe it's their fault that ellie had a fit - she felt like she wasn't wanted.)

it was nice to get out and see the mountains here in georgia. it made me want to hike the appalachian trail even more than i did before we went. maybe in a long time, when we're empty nesters and have free time again. that gives me a few years to get in shape, too.

wordsmith.

2011-08-02T10:01:00.003-04:00

i feel like i'm really behind on mentioning this, but ellie has become a little chatterbox.

even just a few weeks ago we could hardly get her to talk. she would whisper and sing a little, but nothing much - especially in public. she didn't even really jabber. i remember someone asking me "you know how babies just scream to hear themselves make noise?" no, i didn't know.

it used to be impossible to make her laugh, even. she would smile and sometimes do the silent giggle, but laughing out loud was rare.

it has all happened so suddenly, but it feels like she has always been talking.

some of the things she says:

"mama" (finally.)

"baw" (ball)

"beebee" (baby)

"mee mee!" (usually "hungry" or "gimme")

"shet" (sit - yes, it's a good one)

"duhie" (judgie)

"eye" (exactly what it sounds like)

"dut" (duck)
"toyee" (story)

"byeeee! byeee!" and "buh-bye"

(whenever we go anywhere or shut a door or walk away from someone or something, including toys)

"err eh-ee" ("where's ellie?")

"ear ahh" ("here are," which means "here i am")

"ehdoh?" ("where'd it go?")

"whydeh" ("right there")

oh, and her new favorite word (now that she has been in nursery):

"noew!"(no)

i have to try not to laugh when she says it, not only because i'm surprised but because it sounds like she is saying "meow" with an "n." oh, it is so horrible and so cute.

she can say "pees" and "dando" (please and thank you), but she rarely does.

i say to her: "can you say please?"
she replies: "yes."

oh dear.

oh, and sneak preview:

that's right. in other world news, daddy has been taking a vacation of sorts and we have a lot to catch up on - including a hike to the tallest peak in georgia, spending time with our first and only nephew and my early birthday present. woohoo! be looking for some posts later this week.

daring again.

2011-07-29T10:44:00.006-04:00

it's that time of year again.

(see last year's post)

okay, so i have only done this once before but i feel totally awkward when i do things like this. i'm a rather private person on some accounts and i'm really not one to toot my own horn or draw attention to myself. part of me wishes i could just submit these and then let you know how it goes, or if it even "goes."

but here we go: toooot. tooooot.

last year i entered

shabby apple's dare to design contest

(click to see their blog and read about the contest)

and i was a semifinalist, so i figured i'd try my hand at it again.

the colors at the top have been on my mind lately, so my dresses all have them.

i'm not loving the colors i used on number 2, so i decided to include the unfinished drawings.

(can you tell that i did these late at night after my tornado baby finally fell asleep?)

with this last one i like all the colors, but pink best of all. maybe having a little girl growing inside me makes me love pink more, i don't know. the last design is my favorite in general, too.

anyway, check out their blog for updates (but i'll be sure to let you know, too).

and if you're in need of a beautiful dress, this one is one of my favorites.

the blessed day.

2011-07-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

(singing the popcorn song: "... surprise!")

hallelujahs were heard world-round as this little booger stepped into nursery for the first time.

it had been a long nine months of wrestling a fully mobile baby. i can't lie, it was mostly daddy who had to wrestle since i was tied up teaching kids. these past few months she has been a tiny tornado. who wants to sit still when you're in a giant room with plenty of space to run, anyway?

she loved playing with toys and didn't even notice when i left the room for a few minutes. she also followed the lead of the older kids after playtime and sat quietly around the table, waiting for snacks. she didn't want to leave the table for the lesson, though, because she wanted more food to show up in front of her.

her hair even stayed in little pigtails the whole time.

(this hairdo - and mine - brought to you by yo gabba gabba. it keeps her mesmerized enough to let me mess with her and content enough that i can get some things done. let's admit it: if church was a cartoon on tv, life would be much easier.)

some thoughts on a tuesday.

2011-07-26T08:33:00.003-04:00

on sunday, some guys in a band stopped by church. they're on tour and just happened to be in the area for the weekend. husband talked with them a little and found out they knew a lot of people from our "previous life" in provo.

we told them, "they haven't ever seen us like this."
they especially haven't seen me in a dress, six months pregnant, holding a squirmy toddler and wearing a backpack full of diapers, scriptures, crayons and toys.
(incidentally, it was ellie's first week in nursery. i'll give you some pictures of my big girl tomorrow.)

i can't stop thinking about how much has changed in just a few short years.

i often find myself thinking
"if anyone told me five years ago that this was going to be my life, i wouldn't have believed it."

not that my life isn't what i wanted, it just would have been impossible for me to comprehend all the things that have happened between then and now.

this song always makes me think of parenthood, of marriage and of life in general. it's simply beautiful and beautifully simple, as most good things are. it is 100% appropriate for how i feel.

putting all the vegetables away
that you bought at the grocery store today
and it goes fast
you think of the past
suddenly everything has changed

driving home, the sky accelerates
and the clouds all form a geometric shape
and it goes fast
you think of the past
suddenly everything has changed

putting all the clothes you’ve washed away
and as you’re folding up the shirts you hesitate
then it goes fast
you think of the past
and suddenly everything has changed

(my favorite song by the flaming lips, covered by the postal service)
(i couldn't find a very good video of the flaming lips version)

dinosaur park on a stormy morning.

2011-07-19T08:11:00.002-04:00

there is a lot of cranky boredom going on around here, caused by molars, toddlerhood and hot summer days (oh, and naughty, noisy birds living in our chimney - yeck!). we've been trying to get out of the house almost every day. we have a pass to the huge park nearby, so a couple of days ago we took off during the cool morning hours before the rain started.

can you think of a better place to play than a dinosaur tot lot?

we took a very short walk around the boat docking area and ended up drenched with sweat in the humid air. a good day in the park always makes for a good nap, though.

(taking pictures was hard - as you can see by the quality. i had to wipe off the lens almost constantly because it fogged up in the humidity. any tips on how to keep that from happening?)

five ways to tell that your baby is no longer a baby:

2011-07-15T07:47:00.003-04:00

(she is making the baby and dog kiss in the first picture, she is kissing the dog in the second picture - and kind of biting him.)

1. you pull a ball of grilled cheese sandwich out of her ear after lunch.

2. you ask her if she stopped playing and came out of her room because she has a poopy and she says "yeah." then she covers her bum and runs away.

3. you have to put her and her doll stroller in time out after she tries to stand in it for the hundredth time ("that's a no-no!").

4. she can point to her ears, mouth and eyes when asked. when it comes to her nose, she knows where it is ... but she somehow can't keep her finger out of it.

5. she hides behind a chair and quietly colors on the windowsill with a pen. when caught, her response is to giggle and run. in fact ... giggling and running is her response to most everything.

toddlerdom. ready or not, here we come.

major score.

2011-07-12T07:59:00.004-04:00

just had to share my thrifty luck.

pottery barn duvet cover and shams: $6.98

that's right. you heard me.
used, yes, but nothing a little wash with my favorite lavender-scented gain wouldn't fix.

i love them. ellie loves them. i don't think husband loves them, but he can't complain. they were practically 95% off. he did mention that the cover was "soft" last night, so maybe he likes them after all.

i also got a lovely banana republic cowl neck sweater and a sweet merona dress.

i don't even feel bad about bringing more stuff into the house because i donated a dog halloween costume, some old curtains, a weird ceramic pot and some other my-trash-someone's-treasure items before i shopped.

i have been blessed with the patience to sift through absolute garbage and find something great. i've also been blessed with "the eye" - i can easily spot something with potential amid the castoffs. i truly love good days at the thrift store. it's in my blood.

(when it comes to furniture, though, i can't find anything reasonable out here. even garbage is $30+.)

oh, and i'm almost finished sprucing up bean + boo's room. most of the stuff in there was thrifted, too, and it is turning out to be the perfect place for little girls to spend time. i'll post pictures of that eventually.

(why, yes, she does have a handful of candy wrappers in her little mitts. and yes, that is why she is smiling. not because she ate the candy, but because she thinks she is being naughty and she loves it.)

little people, big personalities.

2011-07-08T09:16:00.003-04:00

the past couple of days, ellie has been making a lot of decisions about her personal style.

she picked out her first entire ensemble. she brought the boots to me and brought the slip to me (after unsuccessfully trying to put it on herself).

i thought she looked kinda like she belonged with the hillbilly family on the simpsons, but still pretty cute.

via this guy

then yesterday, i dressed her to go run errands and she begged for the boots again (she sits on the floor and gets frustrated when she needs help to get them on). she topped it off with her princess crown. it was the absolute perfect combination to express who she is. needless to say, i let her go out like that.

i think she may have gotten a little bit of attitude from her newfound confidence, though, because she spent the whole afternoon trying to stand up in the cart or climb out of it. she wanted to help me push the cart because big girls that dress themselves don't ride in carts - duh, mom.

(had to sneak this one in, even though it's not the greatest picture.

she stomps around in those boots like no one else can.)

in other kid news, baby boo is shaping up to be a real firecracker. of course, we'll have to wait and see what she is like when she gets here, but i have a feeling we're in for double trouble.

so far, she doesn't like to just kick. she does somersaults instead, over and over. we actually watched her do it when we had the ultrasound. it actually makes me a little sick sometimes, like too many rollercoaster rides.

any kind of soda pop is sure to make her wiggle. i have also been craving queso ruffles after i ate some at a family party and she nearly jumped out of my stomach.

i don't blame her for starting early with the attention seeking. she's going to have to hold her own with an ellie in the house and that isn't going to be easy.

here's what i'm looking like, since we most likely won't be seeing boo again until she's actually born:

(yes, unless i'm leaving the house i'm usually wearing sweatpants ... or no pants!)

she likes it!

2011-07-06T09:59:00.004-04:00

you may recall about this same time last year when i put a camouflage onesize on the baby?

needless to say, she was not amused.

well, i guess camo is like some foods - you might have to try it a couple of times before you decide whether you like it or not.

while cleaning her closet we found some boots her aunties got for her. they're still a little big, but she insisted on putting them on.

i hope they're proud. she is lovin' her some deer huh-in' boots.

and pretty sure babies + boots + shorts makes for one of the most adorable things i've ever seen.

try it. you'll see.

freedom food.

2011-07-05T09:06:00.000-04:00

pizza, waffles, hash browns, loaded baked potato soup, sausage, ham, eggs, queso ruffles, doritos, biscuits, watermelon, french onion dip, baked beans, potato salad, steaks, hot dogs, fruit salad...
oh! and apple pie, cherry rhubarb bars, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookie cake, and two kinds of ice cream with magic shell, oreos, reeses, m&ms, walnuts and caramel topping.

hmm.
just listing off some of the food we've eaten over the long weekend and trying to decide if we hit most of the summertime classics along the way. all-in-all, i think it was a success.

fortunately/unfortunately, when any sort of holidays roll around i have a deep desire to make and eat lots of wonderful food. something about special food makes the whole day feel special. luckily, we have plenty of people willing to share our food (and share their food with us) and that's what really makes the food special. we were able to spend time with friends and family, although we didn't even get to see everyone we had planned on seeing.

the fourth of july has always been on par with (and sometimes bigger than) christmas for my family. it's the "high holidays" of the summer, the culmination and celebration of all the things we love most about good weather and fun and family and God and country and freedom. and food and fireworks, of course.
it's one holiday that doesn't need gifts, because just being able to live where we do and enjoy ourselves is good enough.

here's to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

oh, and can you see those molars?!

storytime.

2011-07-01T09:39:00.000-04:00

remember back when i found ellie reading?

i finally got the video to work.

she's a pretty quiet girl in public, so i'm excited to show you what i get to see every day.

have a wonderful weekend!

we're halfway to baby boo tomorrow - 20 weeks. new pictures of a bump coming soon.

i know i say this all the time, but ...

2011-06-30T09:20:00.001-04:00

it doesn't get much better than this.

baby and doggy, keeping watch for daddy out the window.

it's especially good when that baby keeps saying "dada! dada! dadadadada!"

even better when she sees him pull in the driveway and then starts crying because he is taking too long to get inside.

and even better when he finally comes in and she squeals and shrieks with excitement and starts running in circles.

and, yes, even better when he brings home an elmo toy that makes kissy noises and she proceeds to make elmo kiss everyone and everything and she even blows a kiss on her own for the first time.

sigh.

oh, and we have a few pregnancy names for our little #2. i think ellie wanted in on the action, because she brought me three foam letters yesterday that said "boo." last night i dreamed about the baby and i can't remember anything except that we were calling her "baby boo."

so what do you think of baby boo?

bean and boo. kind of has a ring to it.

representin'.

2011-06-24T09:06:00.000-04:00

this time of year i miss my home state.
well, really, i miss it all summer.
strawberry days. sleeping in backyards. setting chairs out for parades. rodeos and rodeo food. the fourth of july. several big fireworks shows going at the same time. walking all over at night when it is cool. 24-hour del taco. carnivals. small town festivals every weekend. walking to get snacks and drinks. daytrips. drives around the alpine loop and the nebo loop. moonlight lift rides. hikes to a letter on the mountain. bonfires in the canyon.
oh, i could go on and on. i could also go on and on about the reasons why i couldn't ever do some of those things here. (for example, i would not walk almost anywhere around our house at night for fear of being hit by a car, robbed or murdered. in fact, i probably wouldn't walk anywhere here during the day for several of the same reasons.)
the internet really makes it worse, since i constantly get to see pictures and hear stories about all the fun everyone is having.

not to say that nothing fun happens around here. it's just that most of the big community events mostly involve more alcohol than family fun. i guess that's what we get for living ten minutes from a party school and two minutes from a local brewery.

the closest i can get to home is filling up my giant hart's mug at the few good soda fountain gas stations, which are almost thirty minutes away. sigh.

(oh, and that's right, i brought home a giant hart's mug in my suitcase last time i visited.)

maybe next year we'll try and make a visit during june/july, the very best time of year to be in the beehive state.

last year's model.

2011-06-23T09:35:00.001-04:00

i keep telling ellie that she doesn't have to go into storage when the new baby comes.

not sure if she believes me, because i keep finding in her closet with her toys.

she's going to love being a sister.

don't mess with a good thing.

2011-06-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

it seems that we're doing so well with our little girl ...

that we're having another!

she was not half as willing as eleanor to show off her little parts, though. she even did an entire flip while we were looking at her. she started head down and ended up breach. hopefully that was because of the coke i had with lunch, because i'm not sure if i can handle two super wiggly worms.

she also spent most of the time trying to grab her toes. maybe she's telling me i need to get going with that prenatal yoga.

isn't she a sweet little alien?

ellie liked looking at the pictures but she sure did not like watching them do whatever they were doing to me. as soon as she saw a stranger about to put some weird tool on my naked belly she started screaming. she also cried and cried when i was throwing up last week (p.s. - i'm all better). she's such a tender little girl. she's going to make an excellent big sister.

we do not have a name yet but we're working on a little something for the interim. husband likes "princess peepee" but i'm not sure that she'll appreciate that later on in life. we'll let you know soon.

400?!

2011-06-15T12:47:00.000-04:00

wait, this can't be my 400th post! why not?

because all i can do is just sit, sit, sit, sit.

and i do not like it, not one little bit.

i've been sick since friday. it started out with a queasy tummy. i didn't eat anything friday evening. saturday morning it felt like my morning sickness had returned very suddenly. i tried to fight through it, thinking it was my body making a very silly mistake. we went to a birthday party that afternoon and i felt just a little terrible but we made it home before i started throwing up the delicious (and i mean delicious) cake. by saturday night i wasn't even keeping water down. since then i have had a couple of pieces of toast, a handful of crackers, some jello and lots of gatorade and ginger ale. blech.

i have also been the most totally boring wife and mother on the planet. i can't be vertical too long without getting the yucks, so netflix has been running constantly and i am taking lots of naps.

i know i don't have a lot to complain about, since this is still a relatively easy pregnancy compared to most. i am starting to feel better, but i'm not sure if that is because i haven't attempted to eat much of anything or if i'm really on the mend. i'm a little bummed because i'm starting to think the culprit was the tub of hummus that i got on friday. i ate some with chips and cucumbers and it was all downhill from there (but it tasted so good!). also, i went grocery shopping thursday and i'm afraid that, yet again, most of the food will go bad before i can eat it. i thought i was finally past the part of pregnancy where i was wasting all my groceries!

hopefully, in the next couple of days (at least by the weekend) i'll be good as new and we'll be able to have as much fun as we had previously been having. we'll get back to swimming, playing, shopping, cuddling, relaxing - you know, living the life. we'll clean the house sometime, too.

in the meantime, i have a lovely little companion who makes me laugh and keeps me going. i found her like this the other day, wrapped in blankets and reading stories in her room.

yep: heart officially melted.

(p.s. - there's a video of her reading to me, but after trying for almost 12 hours to get it to load ... i give up for now. maybe later.)

maybe we'll celebrate more at ... #402?

good mom/bad mom + an ellie update.

2011-06-06T08:55:00.000-04:00

good mom:

ellie eating an apple for a snack.

bad mom:

(or good mom? depends on who you ask. i think ellie would say "good mom.")

ellie's first hamburger happy meal, complete with silly kung fu panda toy.

she ate most of the burger by herself. the fries she didn't finish, but that's okay. more for me ... uh, i mean, daddy.

it's time for an ellie update! we had our (late) 15 month appointment last week. ellie gained 3 pounds in three months! she is now at 22 pounds and change and is right at average for her age. she's average height, as well, at 30 inches and her head is still in the 75th percentile. she has been growing by leaps and bounds, physically and mentally. she's getting to be so smart and coordinated and hilarious!

she still doesn't say a whole lot of words, but she has been babbling a lot more. her most commonly used real words are "yeah," "dada" and "uh-oh!" (her most commonly used made-up words are "shee-shee," "nominominomi" and "yawa-eeee." yeah, i think she speaks ewok.) she pretty much says "uh-oh" all the time. she threw her food on the floor because i didn't notice she was finished? "uh-oh." i get a text and my phone beeps? "uh-oh." a garbage truck is backing up outside? "uh-oh." did she go potty in her diaper? "uh-oh." even though she doesn't talk much she still communicates pretty well. she follows directions and understands when i ask her questions.

she likes to be independent and gets frustrated when she needs help. i try to get her to use her words, but usually she just makes a lot of baby cuss noises until she is able to fix her problem or i fix it for her (and her problem is usually that her baby doll stroller won't go over a bump or something like that). she's a little high-strung and dramatic about things, but usually calms down easily. she just has to make sure we all know the gravity of the situation first.

we hit a huge milestone last week: we got rid of the paci. it started by accident, but i don't even know where it is now and she hasn't used it in a week. i was really nervous about getting shots without her favorite comfort item, but she was fine! of course, she screamed but as soon as i started getting her clothes back on she calmed right down and was ready to march on out of there. the only real downside is that her sleep schedule went out the window. we had finally established a regular naptime and bedtime and it is totally kaput. hopefully it won't take long to get it back again.

her favorite foods right now are watermelon, chips with dip and yogurt. she has gotten really good at dipping her chips and actually picking food up. i'm tempted to let her use chips as utensils at every meal. she likes mexican food and, of course, loves any sort of dessert item. her favorite activities lately include: trying to put her own pants on, walking around the house shutting all the doors, climbing up and grabbing fruit out of the bowl, hiding behind her favorite chair and making trouble, eating (she could spend all day eating and be happy), sharing her food while saying "yum," giggling and drinking from straws.

i think that is long enough for now. just know that we have a beautiful little creature with a ton of personality and we're very happy.

i think she's pretty happy, too.

summertime and the livin's easy.

2011-06-03T09:58:00.000-04:00

we have had "unseasonably" high temperatures for a little while now, so we've been living it up like it is full-blown summer already. after a couple of weekends filled with fun birthday parties for ellie's little peers, we celebrated memorial day weekend like crazy - relaxing, eating, playing.

it was so balmy out that my first few pictures looked like glam shots from the steam.

a water park for under $10? you don't say!

ellie has a new crush on watermelon. also, did i mention that we got a dining room set for mother's day? we did. that means the patio set is actually out on the patio. hooray for eating dinner under an umbrella!

she loves the weather. i get the feeling she was made for the south. seeing as i haven't been wearing sunscreen at all and i'm only a little pink, maybe i was made for the south, too.

i'm serious about this heat. it is 92 degrees out as i write this at 8 pm. we bought a pass to the park five minutes away that has a lake with a man-made beach area. i may actually get a tan this summer (and if you know anything about my history with the sun, a tan would probably be a bonafide miracle).

blogger and i = not friends.

2011-06-02T13:14:00.002-04:00

i don't think i have truly forgiven blogger for being totally inaccessible that one time.

well, i thought i had forgiven and forgotten, but then today i was working on a memorial day post and, although my pictures had been properly edited and rotated, blogger refused to post them correctly.

long sigh.

not to mention that ellie was pressing buttons on the keyboard, etc. so i'll be getting back to that a little later when i have more time and patience and for now i'm putting this post up.

i know, boring. totally boring. no cute babies.

okay, one cute baby preview:

three for thursday, via wonder woman.

1. three of my favorite pandora.com stations:

- my morning jacket.

- elton john.

- regina spektor.

2. three lessons learned since i graduated from high school:

(oh, p.s. - my sister is officially done with high school today! go tate!)

- the same amount of work that gets you an "a" in school can easily go unnoticed in the real world.

- most adults don't really know what they are doing, either.

- summer, christmas break and all other "holidays" should never be taken for granted, because they may disappear without a trace (and you might find yourself working on those days and being busier than ever).

3. three people i was remembering on memorial day:

wait, just three?

come on now.

4. three bad habits:

- putting off phone calls.

- staying online too long.

- not finishing the chores i started.

(all of which i am doing right now.)

5. three foods i will never put in my mouth:

(wow, this list has really changed over the last few years. really, i'll try almost anything.)

- milk, plain. just a glass.

- um, a scoop of mayo? i don't mind a little on salads, but i don't like it on sandwiches.

- any sort of delicacy that involves an anus, i guess.

6. three things that sounded like a good idea at the time:

(recently?)

- letting ellie climb on a chair to watch her dad out the window (she ended up with a cut lip).

- giving ellie her mcdonald's drink, since she has mastered the straw (she dumped it all over herself).

- eating a whole bunch of pineapple while my morning sickness was still bad (have you ever thrown up pineapple? it burns.).

7. three plans for father’s day 2011:

- relax. eat. try to find a really great gift.

- think of something good to do for sharing time - eek!

- dream about what kind of baby we will see the next day.

8. three things that make me a “mean mom":

- uhhhhhh.

- i started doing tiny time outs when ellie does things like throw books across the room or spill my powdered make-up all over the floor.

- considering that ellie and i have gone to play, shop and have eaten out for lunch almost every day this week ... i am not good at being mean.

9. three things i'm supposed to do today:

- make some phone calls (okay, okay, i'll go do it already!).

- put together an over-the-toilet furniture thing.

- put away laundry.

- work on primary stuff.

- clean, clean, clean.

- think about making some kind of dinner that won't make us hotter than we already are (with 98 degrees for a high today).

yeah, that's a good place to end and remind myself that i'm actually busy.

i'll try again with those cute pictures later.

inside and out pictures.

2011-05-26T09:48:00.000-04:00

as promised, a picture of that bony little bum and legs all curled up:

and a little profile, it's hard to see:

and the bump:

(check out how nice my nails look from the vitamins and the hormones!)

part of me wants to say that it is just the huge amount of water i had before the picture that makes the bump so big, but i think i am bigger than last time. i still haven't gained five pounds yet, though. weird.

i have now been pregnant during every day of the year. not for a whole year straight, of course, but i have been pregnant during each month of the year between these two pregnancies.

(you have to remember that most of this bloggity stuff is shared because a lot of my family and friends have never even seen me pregnant. well, technically i was pregnant when i went to utah in february/march but i didn't know it. no wonder i was so exhausted!)

we find out the gender next month when we check all the tiny parts. it seems like time is speeding by a little, but i'm glad the worst is almost over! wait - second worst. real worst would probably be that part where i push a baby out of my body. yeah.

(me, thinking about labor. actually, just some pictures of my face before it gets too fat.)

luvs and kisses.

2011-05-25T09:14:00.000-04:00

why i haven't posted this week:

my house looks like the set of a diaper commercial most of the time.

good news, though! i only feel like the inside of a diaper some of the time.

it's getting better every day. i can pretty much eat and cook again.

i even cleaned out the fridge and took out the garbage and only gagged once!

now i just need these danged headaches to quit so my brain can function.

i'm going to try to scan the pictures of my insides this afternoon while the babies nap and maybe take a picture of the outside of my belly, too. here's hoping.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.

2011-05-20T10:44:00.002-04:00

eleanor has started singing all the time. it's the cutest thing ever. sometimes she does it really quietly and i have to put my head up by her mouth to hear it.

she loves the abc song. yesterday we were on a hike and daddy started to sing it. she turned and looked at me with surprise and happiness and excitement. her face said, "oh my gosh! daddy knows that song, too!"

sometimes it really sounds like she is saying letters.

other cute things she does lately:

"blows her nose" on everything (really she just wrinkles her nose and sniffs and spits).

smells flowers.

rubs my belly!

tries to feed everyone by shoving things in their face while saying "yummmm!"

sometimes gives kisses without being asked! :)

next week = new ultrasound pictures. we're starting to feel better around here ... now if i could just get the motivation to cook again.

girl, you'll be a woman soon.

2011-05-19T10:54:00.002-04:00

my beautiful sister turns 18 today! can you believe it? can i believe it?! can you believe that all my sisters are now legally adults?

it can't be!

i remember when she was born and i made a card that said something like "i love you taydumb" while i secretly wondered why my parents would give a kid a name with the word "dumb" in it.

tatum, you're not dumb! you're graduating high school and i can't believe all you've accomplished so far. i can't wait to see what comes next for you - because it could truly be anything.

love you sis. hope your day is great.

(yeah, i'm starting to fall back in love with blogger after it shut me out for a day. i was really hurt.)

war wound.

2011-05-11T14:01:00.002-04:00

well, the girliest little war wound you've ever seen.

ellie likes to do this funny swagger sometimes. she gets all bow-legged and kind of, i don't know, saunters. she also does this thing when she's "running away" where she just moves her feet twice as much and twice as loud but doesn't go any faster. it's like a human cartoon.

anyway, she was doing some sort of silly walk in the hallway and fell and knocked her head on the door hinge. (it's official. doors = her archenemies.)

she didn't want to keep the bandaid on it, but after she wiped her bloody head on the carpet and in the curtains, we forced compliance. we went to the store and daddy let her buy her very own, very special hello kitty bandaids. she carried them up to the register herself, put them on the belt and was very happy when the cashier gave her the box back in its own bag, just for her.

she spent the next few days sporting the ultimate accessory.

is it possibly the most adorable boo-boo ever? yes, yes it is.

(stop taking pictures of me, mom!)

little things.

2011-05-09T09:25:00.001-04:00

ellie has been watching a lot of sesame street lately. she loves her shows and they are one of the rare things that can get her to sit still.

i've always loved sesame street.*
things have definitely changed on the show, of course, but every once in a while i'll see a little clip or character that i remember from my childhood. all it takes is one "ala-peanut-butter-sandwiches!" and i'm back there, watching it all over again for the first time.

the other day we saw the story of bert's blanket.

i had totally forgotten about it! so catchy.

there are also the new clips that are amazing, like when donald grump (the grouch) needs a new apprentice.
("i'm the trashiest! i'm the grumpiest!" uh, truer words were never spoken?)

then, the other day, a song came on that i knew by heart but hardly remembered. maybe it's the baby in me (okay, pretty sure it's the baby in me, messing with my hormones) but i really heard the words for the first time and the meaning just went straight to my mushy, overly-emotional soul.

the lyrics:

i believe in little things
that you can hardly see
like honeycomb and spider webs
and starfish in the sea
i believe in little things
like icy drops of rain
that melt into the morning mist
when winds are warm again
i believe in little things
like colors in the sky
and noticing the waves roll in
and how the flowers die
knowing they'll be back again
whenever it's july
i believe in little things
like you and me
and just how big
little things can be

simple and beautiful. i really do believe in little things.
life is made up entirely of sweet, small moments and lovely little things.
i hope you believe in them, too.

*(i love any television that can help you learn. i remember once, back in sixth grade, somebody said to me "geez, you probably just read the encyclopedia all day!" i actually thought she was the strange one. i thought to myself, "it's just from tv. haven't you ever watched tv?" we did watch a lot of public television though, back when there were shows that weren't just trying to teach kids how to speak spanish. anyway, i think you can get an extensive education, good or bad, from television.)

your suspicions confirmed.

2011-05-06T08:05:00.001-04:00

that's right, folks. another.

so if you've noticed i've been lazy, annoying, tired, lackadaisical, flaky, absent-minded, pale, blah, or just not myself . . . now you know why.

and if you've been noticing the tummy growth, thanks for not mentioning it.

it's 12 weeks (tomorrow) and i'm still feeling rather yucky (ie increasingly gross). we're surviving, but i really can't tell you how.

ellie's pretty excited about it.

okay, she has no idea what's going on, but she smiles anyway.
(until i try to take the pee stick away and she starts screaming because it looks like it could be something interesting and electronic.)
(also, the line was pretty faint when i took a picture of it.)

ultrasound from 10 weeks:

and to all of you who are moms, will be moms someday and especially to those of you who are brand new moms or are waiting patiently to be moms - happy mother's day!
you are wonderful.

mountain goat.

2011-05-04T08:56:00.000-04:00

we've been rearranging our house lately due to the incredible climbing abilities that ellie has been developing.

please ignore the mail trash on the couch in this video. i thought i was keeping it away from her up there, but i guess i have to find all new places to put things for a few minutes until i can properly clean them up. it was exactly why she wanted to get on the couch, of course.

because she's in her diaper, you can see her crazy little muscles. she has a round belly, but those muscles are nuts! she lifts her leg so high.

not only that, but we had the couch pushed against the back of kitchen counter. it didn't last long against her skills. she climbed all the way up (with a pacifier in her mouth), she got the apple she wanted, took two "bites" and then she threw it on the ground.

what am i going to do with her?

besides moving the couch.

what the may?

2011-05-02T08:20:00.001-04:00

how is this year already a third of the way over? maybe it's because easter came so "late."

maybe it's because i've been pretty busy with all of life's little details.

it also might have something to do with the fact that we didn't have regular church on the first sundays of march, april, and now may (for stake conference, general conference, and the atlanta temple rededication respectively) and that really has been throwing me off. sunday is the day i interact with the most humans and is kind of a break to my every day routine. when we don't have a normal sunday it almost feels like a 14 day week to me.

i have noticed that it is already getting kinda hot (we do live near hotlanta, remember?) and that it's time to drastically change our wardrobe . . . because it is only going to get (almost unbearably) worse.

and that reminds me, because i've been asked a couple of times: we were very much untouched by this terrible southern disaster. we did spend a few hours that night awake in bed with the radio on, listening to hear which town was next to be hit. it was pretty frightening, knowing there is a tornado to the north or to the south (or both) and wondering what direction it will decide to go next. the tornado siren did go off, but they never came too close to us. the storms weakened a lot. in fact, i don't think it was the worst thunderstorm we've had this year. we do know a few people who have relatives and friends who were in the path, but so far i've heard mostly good news.

the videos are incredible, if you haven't seen them. tornadoes have to be the scariest natural disaster. they're so unpredictable. with floods you pretty much know where the water is headed. earthquakes have an epicenter and everything is hit. when you have a tornado, you might have one house completely flattened and the house next door is almost untouched.

lately i feel like so much more happens every single year of my life. more things happened when i was a teenager than when i was a child, even more things happen now that i'm an adult. the disasters get bigger and more frequent. the wonderful events, like babies and weddings, seem to happen more often, too. i can't tell if that is just part of getting older - that i'm noticing more.

is it me or is it the world?

p.s. - my new header is from our local park. that's the thing i like best about these storms. everything is super, super green right now. it seems like it can't get greener, then we have a another storm and guess what? green like crazy.

and green is my favorite color.

communication.

2011-04-27T08:17:00.003-04:00

(this is what is looks like when the baby cuss words come out. in this instance, she had been told that she was finished eating cookies for the night. what can i say? the girl loves sweets. i don't know where she gets it.)

ellie has always been pretty quiet and, until recently, she never really happily yelled or babbled a whole lot like some babies do. now she sings and jibber-jabbers and cusses me out and laughs when everyone else is laughing. the past couple of weeks, ellie has really started communicating with us. she could always say "more" in her made-up sign language, but now she shakes her head yes and no and has added another ellie sign*, "please." she has also started saying a few regular words, too, which is really fun.

her favorite lately is "yeah, yeah!" she usually sort of whispers it. i'll ask her if she wants something or likes something and she'll nod her head and whisper, "yeah! yeah!"

for example:

mommy: "ellie, do you want to watch a show?"
ellie: (points at tv) "yeah!"

mommy: "ellie, would you like a cookie?"
ellie: (nodding vigorously) "yeah! yeah!"

(ellie throws her bowl on the floor.)
mommy: "are you all done?"
ellie: (puts her hands up) "yeah. yeah. ah dah."

and my personal favorite, when she is tired or upset:
mommy: "ellie, do you want to go to bed?"
ellie: (almost falling over) "yeahahahahahaha."

the other way she does it is this: when daddy brought her to find me in church, she walked up to me and said "yeah! yeah!" - letting us know she approved the decision.

she also says "yum" a lot. she says it while she eats, obviously, but she'll say it when she sees other people eating and she wants to eat, too. she'll say it if she sees something yummy. she also enjoys trying to feed me and give me drinks while saying "yum, yum." she tries to feed daddy, her friends and the dog. yeah, she doesn't have an issue with sharing.

my favorite little word that she has just started saying is "whoa." when she opened easter eggs, when she gets a yummy treat, when she picks up something that she isn't supposed to have but is really cool it is "whooooaaaaaa."

funny enough, she rarely shakes her head no. sometimes she'll do it if she's mad or if i take something away, and then she'll make her little baby swear words at me (and they sound so vile, haha) and she'll fall over dramatically. the one time she always shakes her head no is when i ask if she is cold when she isn't wearing anything but a diaper. the answer is always a very serious head shake "no!" even if her little lips are starting to look purple.

i guess my mission now is to try and get some of these things on camera, right? because talking about ellie is fun, but it can't replace the actual experience.

*(in case you were wondering, "more" in sign language is touching the fingertips of both hands together. ellie points one finger horizontally to her open palm. for "please," you rub your chest with your open hand. she rubs her hands together, like she's washing them. but i know what she means, so i guess that's what matters, right?)

the eggs.

2011-04-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

she woke up and found a trail of eggs leading out of her room, down the hall, and into the den.

she didn't make it out of the hallway for a while because she couldn't figure out how to hold that much candy in her hands and she didn't trust us to put it in a basket.

she spent the morning finding eggs, opening them and trying to eat the candy with the wrapper still on so that we wouldn't try to ration her chocolate intake.

there was a chickie, a sprinkler, a big ball and a bubble wand.

let's face it, this bunny was all about the sugary treats.

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, jelly beans, peeps, airheads and koolaid. balanced breakfast.

happy easter!

2011-04-24T18:08:00.000-04:00

happy easter!

elliebean jellybean, one year later. can you believe the difference?!

her hair is long enough now to hold a little bow . . . for a minute or two.

i promise we did have a happy easter, even though this bunny doesn't really look so happy.

(best picture ever)

more egg party pictures tomorrow.

lost. or just busy.

2011-04-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

husband is usually spot on when it comes to finding a resemblance to celebrities and characters.

when i got my new glasses, it was lisa loeb (except she's obviously more put-together and looks a lot less crazy than i do).

source

then it was the comparison to sue heck.

i don't have photos as proof, but trust me. there was a striking similarity.

today, apparently, i looked like a woman who was shipwrecked for years.

i can't deny it.

(i made the pictures of me black and white so you can tell the difference.)

source.

(if you don't know, she's from lost. the show. you should watch it, especially since it is over and you don't have to wait forever to find out what happens next. it's pretty fun.)

that explains my life lately. shipwrecked. well, just wrecked. i have been crazy and lazy and my house and self are total wrecks. i have a few excuses, but i'm not sure you really want to hear any of them.

i've been playing with my girl and i've started babysitting a little and, well, just doing whatever i want.

and eating some chocolate eggs and jelly beans and all of that stuff while i'm at it.

life is pretty good, even when things get crazy.

will have easter things to post tomorrow and/or the next day, for sure. i guarantee that they'll be adorable.

good little mommy.

2011-04-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

as i'm sure you are well aware by now, we have a bit of dolly obsession at our house. ellie rescues her dollies from her crib in the morning, she takes them on car rides, they watch her shows with her, they snuggle her at night.

she wants the dollies to do everything that she does in the day - and she wants to do it exactly the way it should be done. in the last few days i have watched her spend (what seems like) hours trying to buckle her dollies into car seats, trying to feed them in her booster seat and trying to get their legs positioned correctly in the bumbo. she even pretends that her little walking toy is a shopping cart and pushes the babies around on it.

and what would i be without photo evidence? :)

one thing i don't have photo evidence of is the mandatory baby kisses. she brings her babies for kisses from us. it isn't optional. those babies will stay in front of your face until you kiss them adequately. we also get to hold them sometimes, too ... while she goes to get another dolly.

love notes.

2011-04-18T09:40:00.000-04:00

we have a little whiteboard in our kitchen. i find notes like these on it when the husband leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning (i am a bad wife and i sleep in most of the time):

that's a braid, by the way (not a double helix, like i thought it was for about five minutes) (nerd).

braid-e = bradie. get it?

also this:

it's cute, until you get to the end. see it? kiss, kiss . . . fart.

good thing i love him.

a girl and her dog.

2011-04-14T09:55:00.002-04:00

well, this time it's a toy dog. had to post these for our very own greatie, who presented ellie with this adorable pup while we were in utah. she loves it.

(really, she's so funny about her toys. i swear she loves them all so much. it's like toy story for real.)

cutest thing on two feet.

2011-04-13T08:34:00.000-04:00

see?

still not convinced?

told ya.

caught in the act!

2011-04-11T09:35:00.000-04:00

ellie has suddenly become a little tornado of a person. she's in trouble left and right!

she unplugged a receptionist's monitor while we were at an appointment.

she climbs on everything - she even tried to climb up the attic ladder while the husband was up there!

she has somehow gotten the scissors off the table and brought them to me (she has like, a super reach?!).

she immediately heads for the driveway and the street as soon as we let her outside, even though she has a huge backyard to explore.

there are so many more things and they all make me sound like a terrible mother. it really sounds like i don't even watch what she's doing but i promise you, i'm right there with her. she's so quick and so sneaky. it's not like i can really discipline her, either. time out for a one-year-old? uh . . .

now for her latest scheme, another example of her incredible reach. she somehow got a giant lollipop off the top of my dresser (seriously, how?!). i found her in my room trying to hide it in her mouth.

(sorry for the poor quality, i was literally catching her in the act.

notice the boysenberry dribble down her shirt.)

and you're telling me this is supposed to get worse when she's two?

friday.

2011-04-08T08:16:00.000-04:00

just some pictures of a little girl with food all over her face for your friday enjoyment.

please note: applesauce can be a finger food

and everyone loves a baby with an oreo beard.

happy weekend!

more accessories. more, more, more.

2011-04-05T09:45:00.000-04:00

this girl loves to accessorize. headbands, bracelets, necklaces, you name it.

and of course, she loves shoes.

here's the latest headband addition that i mentioned:

why, yes! she is watching sesame street and sporting the just-a-diaper-and-headband look!

(in case you didn't know, every time someone puts a headband on you have to clap. yay, headbands!!)

p.s. - pretty sure there is a dolly somewhere in every picture i ever take lately. she usually has one or two in her arms.

my kid, the ham.

2011-04-04T08:53:00.002-04:00

(first thing in the morning, bringing her animals out to play)

lately she's been hamming it up for the camera. really, i think she's just trying to smile and squint so that the flash doesn't get her. she's been especially fun, too. she has a great sense of humor and just gets more and more funny. well, at least, i think she's funny. she makes me laugh.

(this was not a staged photo. she was really hanging out in the trunk with her baby.)

she's such a big girl and she's really not much of a baby anymore. she's a kid.

a little sad, but mostly great . . . i'm just dreading the day when she thinks i'm super lame. at this rate, it's right around the corner.

just a few things i am liking about her being "a kid":

she comes to me and plops herself on my lap for snuggles

she helps clean up and knows where things go

she able to enjoy some of my favorite things, like potstickers and ginger snaps

she's becoming familiar with "the potty" (more to come on that one)

i ask her yes or no questions and she can respond

she takes fairly regular naps and sleeps 12 hours!!! (knockonwood/don'tjinxit!)

she runs up to me and throws her arms around my neck and gives me giant hugs several times a day

awww. my girl is growing up.

oh, brother.

2011-04-03T09:42:00.002-04:00

i have to give a shout out to my big little brother on his 14th birthday.

fourteen was my favorite for a while. i felt like things finally started to get better during that whole mess that is junior high and teenagedom and everything that we all wish we never had to experience (but we're better for it . . . i guess).

here's to a great year and an even better year after that!

my brother, on the day that i introduced him to the wonder that is fritos honey bbq twists. it's safe to assume he was blown away.

seriously? you never had those? go get you some!

it was a great day. so glad you "didn't have to go to school." love you little brother.

(sorry you had to have a sunday birthday. wuhhh wuhhhhhhh.)