"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."

Thursday, July 29, 2010

My second gift from God...





Skin that even tastes pink.





Squeals of glee just for me...





I love her more than you can know.


Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rainy day flowers

Rain! Yes, rain! If only I could take a nap. Oh well, I'll settle for BabyCakes taking a good nap.





I bought these old bottles at a yard sale for 50 cents a pop and the yet-to-bloom purple irises (where my tennesseans at?!) at Trader Joe's this morning for $4.50.





One says "One Quart Liquid, N.C. Approved, FOREMOST" and the other says "Biltmore, One Quart Liquid."





You know I love me some repurposed-with-a-vintage-twist.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

After bathtime and before bedtime, I took a few impromptu shots of BigBoy and BabyCakes. He in his new (aka- purchased for 50 cents at a yardsale yesterday) spiderman pj's and she in her snowflake hand-me-down sleeper from Biz. (Thanks, Rach!) You wouldn't know by the pajama choices that our heat index reached 115 today.


BigBoy in his protective-yet-proud older brother pose.





BabyCakes trying to break free of his protection, possibly foreshadowing their future relationship. :)





They are enamored by one another... unless she's pulling his hair.





The original stinker and his stinker in training. He can already get her riled up and squeeling like no one else.





I must remember that they are always looking up to me. I'm the only mother they will ever have.





I'm going to do my best.
Hopefully redefine my best.
And then let my best eat my dust.

Hold on kids, we're in for a wild ride.

Toy Story 3

Saturday I took BigBoy to see his first movie on the big screen (and, sadly, my first movie in FOUR years.) -- Toy Story 3.

He was so excited that we (yes we, not he) were actually yelling "Yay, Toy Story! Yaaaayy!!!" in the car ride over there.
In the candy aisle of Dollar Tree -- conveniently located next to the theater -- he was jumping up and down in his Woody t-shirt and Toy Story flip flops saying "come on, Mom, I go see Big Toy Story!" I group of teenagers were really amused by him.





The movie was GREAT but BigBoy thought it was pretty scary at parts.
After it was over, I though for sure he would say he didn't like it but he said "I really loved it!" :) When I asked him about getting scared so often he just said "No, it was just a little bit scary."
Ha. I thought he would say he hated it.

Now he refers to it as the Big LOUD Toy Story, though. :)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

This is how we roll...

through the grocery store. :)



(Try to pretend those cupcakes are fresh produce.)


When you have a baby in a huge carseat-carrier-thing and a kid in the front of the cart, it leaves little room for you know, groceries. Most of the time BigBoy walks but today he was "tiiiired" (I think it was the heat) so he hitched a ride.

Can you see the boxes of pasta sitting precariously on the edge of the cart and the edge of the car seat? There are 18 eggs in the bottom of the cart that I prayed would not slide out and be run over in a slimy-crunchy disaster.

No disaster, though. Just a typical trip to the store and I thought I'd share it.
Okay, off to finish dinner...

Monday, July 19, 2010

Last week was filled with a lot of fun but now it's time to get back to business. I have some projects that need completing so I just thought I'd drop by for a second.

I managed to catch a pic of BabyCakes' new tooth with my phone this morning.
(Look very closely at her bottom gums.)



Ok, back to my work!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

You will die laughing

Oh. my. goodness.
Suburbia at its best. I laughed so hard BigBoy came running with his popsicle.

Enjoy.



P.S. I love you J. Thank you for your "dad life."

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Baths

A couple years ago when we were looking for a house to buy, I was thrilled to see a nice, big soaking tub in our soon-to-be master bath.
I imagined it being something like this:





I had it like that a few times in the beginning, but this is reality:





It's okay, though.
Bubble baths are for any age, but baby baths are fleeting.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Yesterday while I was making dinner, BabyCakes was sweet enough to keep me company in the kitchen. I thought she looked cute in her cherries.



She loves these rings right now. I just throw them in the dishwasher every night because they can get pretty slobbery.



This was BigBoy.



Dinner-prep time is not usually so peaceful, so I thought I'd document the moment for posterity. No one's begging for popsicles or cartoons, no crying or nasty diapers, no talking on the phone... just 3 people in a good mood doing their thing.

Tonight we're having leftovers. I doubt in the future I'll need a photo to remember what the microwave looks like.
Here's the freesia I mentioned earlier. I think there's something so fresh and clean about it.


If you've read my blaaaahg (again, I HATE this word.) before you know how much I love fresh flowers in my home. These pink roses are beside me here at my desk in the bedroom.


Buy yourself a cheap bouquet some time and see if it doesn't make you just a little bit happier.

You're worth it.
After dropping Bigboy off at camp for the morning, BabyCakes and I went to Trader Joes. I hadn't been there since before she was born and now I can't remember why.
I couldn't resist these pink mini-roses and white freesia.



The reason they are still plopped on the counter is because this is BabyCakes right now:



It's amazing that she didn't wake up on the way in the house so I'm not going to mess with her by making noise in the kitchen.

Ok, I'm headed out to the garage to sand on some teak outdoor furniture we are refinishing.
(Don't worry, I have the baby monitor on!)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

BabyCakes' First Tooth

We have teeth!
OK, well tooth... barely.
I don't have a picture because you can't even see it yet. you can feel it, though.
After 3 days of BabyCakes' stomach nastiness, I was seriously questioning the doctor's teething theory. This evening during her post-first-dinner snack on my thumb I felt it, though!
Weird thing is, it's at the exact same age as her brother had his emerge. Six months, three weeks. Strange, huh? BigBoy even braved her drooly mouth more than once to get a feel, and he usually runs from her "slobber fist."

Today it's her first tooth, tomorrow it will be braces. I should enjoy her sweet mouth before it learns how to sass. :)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

BabyCakes had her 6 month check up on Friday (almost 3 weeks late).
The doctor said everything looked great -- size, skin, heart, lungs, ears, etc.
She weighed over 19 pounds and was 27 inches long.

We're so lucky to have such healthy children, chubby and skinny. :)

We're also lucky to have phones with cameras.


Unfortunately it looks like a combination of teething and her recent vaccinations has BabyCakes not feeling so hot. Hopefully she will be back to her normal bubbly self soon.

Friday, July 9, 2010

It's Friday.




It's Friday.



I need to repeat that to myself so I can get geared up for the day.
I didn't exactly get a lot of sleep last night. Wet Star Wars sheets and hungry babies were involved. I'm feeling a little zombie-ish still this morning, even though I've been up for, well, a while.

Ok, think happy thoughts. Here we go:



Yeah, and that'll do it too:



And I've NEVER ONCE been woken up in the middle of the night by a flower:




Ok, I'm already more bright-eyed.

I think the bushy tail might have the day off, though. ;)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

BabyCakes is starting to get the hang of this sitting-up thing. (She's had the spitting-up thing down for a while already.)
After a while she gets tired and starts to fall over, though. :)

I don't really have much to share today. The neighbor boys are coming over to play inside this afternoon because it's going to be hotter than Hades out there.
Stay cool!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Meet Mort.

"Mort" (my name for him--it's unknown what his real name is) is a galapagos tortoise.



This weekend we went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina. Mort lives here. It's unknown just how old he is because most galapagous tortoises live between 100-120 years but some live as long as 170 years.
There was something very humbling about Mort.



Only a widely-spaced gate or wooden posts divided the zoo tourist from the tortoises so lots of people had access to the animals. They would touch them and be loud and wild around them.
It felt very disrespectful, in my opinion. These animals have been around so long. It felt like I was up-close and personal with a living, breathing, piece of the earth and its history.



We were lucky to have some quiet time alone with Mort. When I was down on his level really looking at him, the look in his eye seemed so wise. I know that sounds silly, but I just felt so honored to be in this animal's presence. An animal of this age deserves respect.


I wanted him to tell me about his adventures on his island.
I wanted to see how he got to America.
I wanted to see the world that he's seen.

HE wanted to take a nap in the sun.



Thank you Mort, for making me feel like I was still that 7 year old girl with so many questions and a desire to see everything.

I think God would want us to keep some of our childish enthusiasm. After all, we're all still children to Him -- even Mort.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Independence Day

With the Fourth of July coming up this weekend, it has me thinking about freedoms.
Here I sit, a healthy woman with two healthy children. I am free to write things like this:

According to a 2009 UN report, 500,000 women in the developing world die each year as a result of pregnancy, and for every woman who dies, another 20 suffer illness or injury, which can be permanent.
Also, a child born in one of the least developed countries is nearly 14 times more likely to die within the first 28 days of life than in industrialized countries.

I am very thankful that our forefathers (and the women who supported them) declared their independence 234 years ago, and that I was lucky enough to be born in the country that they built for me.

Now two beautiful little baby girls I call BabyCakes and LadyBug are free to grow up and declare their own independence as free women.



Happy Independence Day, my fellow lucky Americans!