Amazing moon

When we left dinner tonight, I noticed how cool the moon looked, complete with planet. Once we got home, I grabbed the camera and took a couple shots before I froze enough to come inside.

Read more...

Conversation with Lillian

After putting in a Disney DVD and Tinkerbell flies across the screen...

Lily: It's Rella!

Me: No, that's Tinkerbell.

Lily: No, it's Rella.

Me: Uh-uh. It's Tinkerbell.

Lily: It's Tinkerella. (very matter-of-factly)

Close enough, I guess.

Read more...

Purses

I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line, I developed a weird thing about purses. I never carried one in high school, even once I started driving. I just kept my license in a planner, and that was either shoved in my backpack or sitting in the center console. Once I left for college, I broke down and got a small purse since I needed something other than my entire school bag to carry stuff in. That must have been the start of my condition. Now I end up buying a new purse at least every six months, sometimes more often. And my condition only worsened after I had Lillian.

Before Lillian, I was perfectly content to carry the smallest purse known to man as long as it had a shoulder strap and as long as it held my wallet and cell phone. But now I have to carry a small store around with me. Diapers, wipes, fruit snacks, fruit bars, Kleenex, Excedrin, lotion, crayons, toys, etc., etc. (Some of this stuff is also for Erik's benefit. I think men should carry purses, too.) Since the diaper bag the hospital gave us for free was absolutely hideous, I was not going to carry that around. I went to carrying a cute tote, and then a very unstructured hobo, but I couldn't keep things organized and I was always digging through them to find anything. So I found a cute diaper bag made for OCD moms like me with lots of pockets for organizing and it could double as a purse, too. It was huge compared to what I used to carry, but I was ok with it.

Once Lillian stopped requiring diaper changes a million times a day, I decided I could go back to a more sophisticated purse. I'm currently on my fourth try at finding a good option. I originally went back to one of my older purses still sitting in my closet. It worked ok, but I wanted something new. The next try was a little too small to carry all I needed it to, so I went with a larger tote. But then I was back to digging through it to find everything since it was tall and skinny and everything settled at the bottom. So I went for something in the middle: a shorter, wider bag big enough to hold it all. Everything still settles on the bottom, but it doesn't take nearly as long to dig through it. I thought I could be happy with it.

But now I find myself eying people's purses. I imagine how my stuff would fit and what a better job it would do than what I have now. I try to justify spending $230 on this one when chances are it would also fall short of expectations (even though I'm absolutely in love with it). Today, I even went so far as to try convincing myself I should order it before tomorrow so I can get 20% off. And that's a great deal, so how can I pass it up? But I chickened out since I can just see myself, six months from now, back to this same point and out $184.

I wonder if I will ever find a purse that completely and totally lives up to my high expectations and the potential it has when I see it in the store. I highly doubt it, but I'm willing to keep looking.

Read more...

Help!

There I was, just chatting with my mom and reading Lillian a book at the same time (isn't multi-tasking great?) when I realize Laddie is emitting the saddest, most pathetic sounding whimper I've ever heard. So I decide to see what the ninny's problem is. I didn't think it was anything too serious since he does the same thing when the vacuum hose is in his path. You can't convince him to walk over it, by it, around it, anything to do with it for any amount of milk bones you might offer. But since the vacuum wasn't out, I was curious to see what the deal was. Turns out he was stuck in his blanket. Yep...stuck. He likes to chew holes in his blanket. And occasionally, those holes get big enough that he can squeeze through them. Unfortunately, this hole was only big enough for half of our dog, whose waist has been slowing increasing due to winter confinement and a toddler who likes to share her chips.

After exploiting his misfortune for the blog, I freed him. I guess it's time for some blanket surgery so it doesn't happen again, but it was dang funny!

Read more...

From the archives

Read more...

What do they really know?

Last night, I rocked Lillian until she was completely zonked. As I transferred her to the bed, she didn't even move; her arms and legs fell limply at her sides and if I hadn't had her head in my elbow, it would have been limp, too, mouth gaping open.

For those who haven't heard, this is one of the big no-nos of mommyhood. In order to create good "sleep habits," you should always put your kid in their bed groggy but still awake so they can learn to fall asleep on their own.

And usually, I do. I can tell when she's ready to lie down. She usually asks for Daddy to give her a kiss, and once he leaves, we don't hear another peep until morning. But there are nights when it doesn't go that smoothly. I usually try to convince her to get in bed still slightly awake, but it can be a little traumatic for both of us. And last night, I just wasn't in the mood to fight it.

She was actually very good yesterday. We had a nice day with no major break downs (from her or me), and until Erik came home, she had been a perfect angel. For whatever reason, when he came in the door, she freaked out. Wouldn't go to him at all. If he talked to her, she ran away in hysterics. But at dinner, she decided he was ok again. So, like I said, except for that hour when she had a weird lapse in judgment, she was great. She willingly put on her pjs and brushed her teeth at bedtime. We gave Laddie a kiss and tucked Daddy in (he had to go back to work at 1:00 a.m. so he had an early bed time). We rocked for a while and then I went to put her in bed. She requested Daddy as usual, so I grabbed him just as he was drifting off. But apparently, she wasn't quite ready because after he left, she was out of bed asking for me. So rather than fight it, I rocked until she was out.

While we were rocking, I asked myself what doctors really know about anything. I understand it may be habit forming if your kid has to rock on your lap until they fall asleep, but is doing it occasionally going to really hurt anything? I rarely do it on purpose. Sometimes she's just so tired she's asleep before I've even settled in. But there are nights it's just better for my sanity to go with it, and if I do, it's usually after a particularly trying day, which is why it was weird she felt she needed it last night. It definitely hadn't been a trying day. And it can't be hurting her too badly. When my mom watched her on Valentine's Day, they started to rock, but when she was told Mommy wasn't there to do the rocking, she got off Nana's lap and climbed into bed of her own free will. Apparently, the appeal of rocking is cuddling with me, and who am I to tell my kid to stop loving me so much?

The question may have popped in my head since I'd sort of been thinking along those lines for a couple days anyway. I'm currently reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter about a doctor who sends his daughter away because she has Down's syndrome. It's set in the 60s and I guess that's what they did at the time, but really? Come on... There are several things wrong with that, especially telling his wife the girl was born dead. But I digress.

That, however, wasn't the only thing that had me wondering about doctors and their infinite wisdom. It describes the birthing process and they actually gassed the mother. My impression was that she was completely out of if for most of the labor. This wasn't just the numbing drugs we use today. That was what really made me wonder. 40 years later, the "in" thing is to go completely natural if you can; no drugs at all. You can even go really hippie if you want and get a mid-wife. J/K! But my point is, no doctor today would put a woman to sleep to have a baby naturally. I think women even stay awake during c-sections.

We put our trust in doctors because they're supposed to know better than we do. But in another 40 years, what procedures currently in use will we look at and think how uninformed we were. Not even 40 years from now: the advice for getting your infant into childhood has changed several times just in the last 20 years.

Which is why I've decided I'll rock my little girl to sleep occasionally when she needs the extra cuddle time. I doubt it will scar her for life, and I know there will be some day when she won't want to cuddle at all; I better take advantage while I still can. I'll stick to the battles that really do mean something, like not touching the oven or jumping from the landing to the floor or pulling Laddie's ears. Who knows? By the time Lillian has her own baby, that may be the advice they're giving anyway.

Read more...

Betty Crocker is your friend

This weekend was cause for celebration since not only was it Valentine's Day on Saturday, but it was Erik's birthday on Sunday. Our Valentine's Day was spent with the gang at the Coppermill for an amazing buffet of prime rib, a pasta bar, salads, pot roast, chicken, and desserts galore. It's been a long time since I've left a restaurant so stuffed, but it was totally worth it. On Sunday, we were able to enjoy my Valentine's present:

He did a great job this year, but I told him this doesn't get us out of going to the Melting Pot for my birthday!

On Sunday, we had our parents up to celebrate Erik's 28th birthday, and after snowmobiling the day before, he was definitely feeling his age. :) Since he had to work - and it was his birthday, after all - I was in charge of getting dinner together. Although I made sure everyone knew I slaved all day in a hot kitchen to get things ready, it was really just putting a roast in the crockpot before church and letting it do its thing.

But there was a bit of a fiasco with the cake. Erik didn't commit on whether he wanted a cake until Friday night. I don't usually keep cake mix in the house, so Saturday we ran to the store to get it along with a couple more things for dinner and the frosting makings. When we got home, we realized the cake mix was no where to be found. We finally found the receipt and discovered we never paid for it even though I know we put it on the counter at the checkout. Rather than go back to the store after our fabulous dinner, I decided I could handle making a cake on my own. I actually like to bake, so I didn't mind. So Sunday morning, I get going on my cake...just a simple two layer white cake. The recipe wasn't complicated and it looked great when I put it in the oven. About half way through cooking, I peeked through my oven's window and realized the cake was going to overflow the pan any second. And it did. I hoped that even though it overflowed a little, it would come out decent enough to frost and hide the imperfections. No one would know, right? This is how it looked once I turned it out of the pans (yes, this is both layers):

No amount of frosting was going to fix this disaster. So I had to start over, using a different recipe of course. Since the first cake had almost wiped me out of milk and eggs, I went for a single layer that didn't use as much of either. It came out ok...definitely not Betty Crocker, but at least it was frostable with the requested whipped cream frosting:

And that was our weekend in a nutshell, which seemed to center mostly around food. So back to the gym this week for me...

Read more...

Laddie's no Chuck

Thanks to Meg, I've become a huge fan of the blog dooce, especially the Daily Chuck. I see the things she subjects that poor dog to and wish Laddie would be obedient enough to let me subject him to the same things. But I finally decided today was the day. Laddie was going to pose for his own "Daily Laddie" pictorial.

Erik picked up a cute Valentine's Day tin for Lillian, and I came to the conclusion it would look adorable in Laddie's mouth. With camera in one hand and the tin in the other, I approached my target. I let him sniff it; no interest in putting it in his mouth. Of course, if he'd known there was a cookie inside, he would have been at it in a heart beat. So I changed tactics. It would be just as cute on his head, I thought. So I moved it up a little and placed it ever so gingerly on his head. Before I could get the camera focused and take the shot, it had slid off while he looked terrified of this metal disc I had placed on him. So I enlisted Erik's help:


The plan was to have Erik get him to sit and stay (which he's actually quite good at) and then put the tin on. I was all set to take the picture, so we were sure it would work. Not quite... The sit and stay was very good, but as soon as that tin came anywhere close, he was out of there. I guess I'll have to settle with having a dog not willing to do silly poses purely for my enjoyment.

But look at his intensity as he anticipates getting that delicious treat. I didn't know he was capable of such concentration!

Read more...

Doll house

I don't really have anything exciting to blog about today, but I just wanted to share this picture of Lillian playing with the doll house she got for Christmas. I just thought it turned out cute.

She has such a fun time with it. The boy is "Daddy" and the girl is "Rella," which is the name of any princess-looking woman, and at least five times a day, she comes to me asking to "play" and I have to pull it out for her. I don't know what she's doing with all her other toys if it's not "playing," but this is the only one she uses that word for...

Read more...

Hair Cut

After 2 years, Lillian finally got her first haircut yesterday. We've hesitated doing anything to it since we wanted to grow it out and it was finally long enough to do some cute stuff with it, but it was starting to look a little unkempt with all the different lengths. Plus, it never looked like it was combed on the days we just left it down. So I made the executive decision yesterday to have it trimmed.

It's not too much shorter, but I was still kind of sad. She had these adorable natural curls at the ends, but they got cut off and I don't know if it will still do that. Still, it's cute, and it's long enough to still do some cute things with it.

At first, she didn't want to get in the chair or put the cape on, but once she was in the seat, she was a perfect angel. It actually went much better than expected. She was polite to the stylist when she asked Lillian if she could spray her hair and looked down at her toes when asked. She was even rewarded with an elephant sticker when we were done.

Read more...

Such yummy sweetness

For those of you who've never experienced the deliciousness that is a Juniper Takeout Fruit Cookie, you must! It's a been a while since I've had one, and it was just as good as I remembered...

Read more...

Pay attention, Disneyland:

Because I have an idea for a new ride. It has ups and downs, twists and turns, amazingly fun loop-d-loops, stomach-wrenching drops, a serene lull right in the middle, followed by more corkscrews and pleasant moments chased by blind drops you never see coming. Throw in a couple automated arms pummeling you - for reasons you have yet to figure out - that suddenly decide to give you the sweetest hug ever and blood curdling screams and unstoppable laughter, both of which are completely unprovoked...at least from what you can tell.

I call this ride...the two year old.

Today was just about like that. She woke up happy as could be. She even climbed out of bed on her own. It was so fun to be sitting at the computer and all the sudden, this very cheerful girl opens her door and says, "Hi Mommy!" I couldn't help but smile. But about 90 minutes later, that very cheerful girl's shift was up, and she left a little terror for her replacement. If I didn't meet all of her demands in less than a nano-second, I was subjected to wailing and gnashing of teeth. Not attractive on anyone let along a usually adorable toddler. She was willing to take her pajamas off, but there was no amount of convincing that would get her into real clothes. At one point, she even wanted to put the pajamas back on. I've learned at times like this, it's best just to give up, so she strutted around in just her diaper. About half an hour later, she brought me the shirt but still refused the pants. Baby steps, I guess. She was fully dressed by nap time. At one point, she wanted a snack; when I complied, she broke into huge tears and was completely inconsolable. But then just as quickly as that little terror showed up, we had another shift change, and we were back to cheerful. Somedays I wonder if she's bipolar.

After her nap, it was pretty much a repeat, including getting undressed in stages. First the pants came off. Then the shirt came off for her bath. After drying off, she refused the pajamas and went around in a diaper (which was tramatic in itself to get on) for about an hour before it was time for bed. After the perfectly happy little girl who woke up from the nap, we went through several personalities before bed time, and I'm exhausted.

But as I was rocking her to sleep, none of it mattered. I just sat there in the dark with this gorgeous little person cuddling with me, sucking her thumb (a habit I should probably start to wean her from), and counting on me to keep her safe and secure as she drifted off. I realized how blessed I am and how when it comes right down to it, I wouldn't trade this day for anything.

Read more...