A little dose of reality...

I'm not sure where I really want to go with this post. I just had some random thoughts this week that got me thinking. Until Wednesday, our Christmas tree had no presents under it and every time I looked at it, it just looked empty and unfinished to me. After I put a few presents under it, I instantly felt better. And then it hit me. There are so many families that won't have any presents under their tree this year, period. Carly's preschool had a family they adopted and a list was sent home of things they needed. The list had items like diapers in two different sizes, laundry detergent, soap, toilet paper, clothing in three different sizes, and the last two things were new or gently used toys and books. A Christmas list where things most people consider necessities- things that we just run in and out of a store and pick up without thinking twice- are at the top of the list.

P.S. I love you

Does anyone else have this problem? I guess because I mostly talk to my parents and Andrew on the phone, I'm used to saying I love you to end a conversation. Not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're talking to someone like the guy from Comcast or the nurse at the pediatrician's office. Thank goodness it's never slipped out, but I always have to catch myself before I say it.

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa?

Claustrophobic :)

What's something every parent teaches their kids? Never talk to strangers (and never take candy from strangers, but do they really do that??)...except when they are wearing a Santa suit! No wonder so many kids freak out about sitting on Santa's lap for the obligatory Santa picture each year. We hammer into their little impressionable brains how bad strangers are, but then force them to sit on a strange man's lap and even use the candy he gives out to bribe them. I guess when it comes to Santa, all bets are off. We lie to our kids, we ask them to go against what we've taught them, we even sometimes walk away happily with a picture of our child screaming. Would we pay for a school picture of our child screaming? Probably not. And so this leads to the progression of Santa pictures we have since Carly was born.

The first year she was just over a year old. She looked at Santa like he had five eyes and three noses, but she didn't cry. (I'm still searching for the cd it's on...)

The next year, she was perfectly happy looking at him, walking around him, and even talking to him, but as soon as she got on his lap, meltdown! This picture was after he patiently let us take an hour trying and letting other people go.

(Notice how in the first two, Santa still does his nice smiling pose. For the third, I think he just gave up.)

This year, we almost didn't go. Andrew isn't a fan of the screaming children pictures and Carly has gotten to where she'll focus on something that scares her and dwell on it for days. Not a good combination for Santa....she even told me she'd cry if I took her. However, friends and family guilt tripped convinced me that I could NOT miss Taylor's first Christmas with Santa. So I told Carly it was her choice about sitting with Santa but Taylor would be having her picture with him...why not, Taylor is such a happy baby?! We went this morning, Carly said she still didn't want to have her picture, and Taylor protested being woken up to be passed to some bearded man she'd never seen before by arching her back and crying. (did I mention the "happy baby" reasoning?) Insert paci, problem solved. Then Carly catches on that Santa's giving kids suckers after their pictures, so I asked if maybe she'd want to stand by Santa and not sit in his lap.....and voila! We actually came home with a Santa picture with no tears and both girls. Woohoo!!

Dr. Carly...

Carly went for her 3 year check-up this morning. She did so well, even though she had to have her finger stuck and get one shot. I was surprised to find she's in the 50th percentile for height! She's so much taller than other kids her age...all the tall ones must live somewhere else. :) The best part was when we got home. She got her magna doodle, sat down next to Taylor, and started asking her own questions...

"Do you go poop or teetee in the potty?", "Do you go potty like a big girl or a boy?"(not sure how she came up with that one!), and then Taylor sneezed, so she "wrote" that down too.

A striking resemblance!

I saw this cute Thumper outfit and had to get it for Taylor. Thumper's smile reminds me of my happy baby and look what I caught the first day she wore it....

Things I'm probably too old for, but still love anyway...

Not that 27 is old (28 in just a few weeks), but there are some things I watch or do that I think are maybe not meant for someone my age. So, all embarassment aside, here they are:

• The Hills- who doesn't love a little (possibly staged) drama? My addiction goes back to the original Laguna Beach...way before Speidi (yep, I said it!) came along (
• The new 90210- It is ridiculously...ridiculous. The acting is horrible. The girls would fall over in a small breeze they're so skinny. For some unknown reason I've continued to watch it every week. I got sucked in when it was a mystery if Kelly's son's father was Brendon or Dylan...and then didn't stop when they finally revealed it.
• Rihanna-I LOVE her music but for some reason I feel like I'm too old for it. That might be more of a mom thing than an age thing.

To be continued as I get older...

What's next??

I can't believe this!

This is an actual ad being shown on buses in Washington D.C. It is from the American Humanist Association, which claims it is not to question if God exists or to change someone's mind, but "to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds." (By the way, how are they not questioning God's existence if they are saying they want to plant a seed of questioning...???)

My response to that...

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Thank goodness I don't live in D.C. and need to ride the bus.

Uncle Matt with the Headlights...

So, Carly has two Uncle Matts...the one with Aunt Jessica and Sasha and, until yesterday, just Uncle Matt. My brother works on intersections doing the traffic light timings (yes, he's the one to blame or love for your daily commute :) ). He's been working in our area for a few months and this week we saw him twice on our way home, so we stopped to talk to him. Carly was so excited, especially when Matt made it look like he was making the lights change by clapping. (reminds me of an embarassing Christmas light story from my childhood but we won't go there...)

So when Andrew took her to church last night, Carly went on and on about, yep, you guessed it! Uncle Matt with the HEADLIGHTS! I'm not going to let him live this one down anytime soon. Sorry, Matt! :)

Carly's words...

Kids always have their own way of saying words and it's always so funny to me. These are some words and the way Carly says them.

• "Glubs"- gloves

• "Park"- part (I don't like this "park". It scares me.) :)

• "Poptark"- Poptart

• "Shelf Hat"- chef hat

• "diamondsaur"- dinosaur

• "him's"- his

My personal favorite...she calls flies "shoo flies" because my mom would always say "Shoo, Fly!" when one was around Carly!

And don't you dare make the mistake of trying to correct her! I could hear Carly yelling at Andrew when I was getting ready the other morning because he tried to explain the park/part one. :)

Something every mom should read...

http://www.parenting.com/article/Mom/Health--Fitness/Kiss-Mommy-Guilt-Goodbye

It doesn't matter how great of a mom you try to be, no woman is perfect and guilt is sometimes unavoidable. I love this article. It really puts things in perspective.

Pancakes and Tears...

Andrew and Carly have a tradition...they love to make pancakes together for dinner. I need to get a picture of them next time b/c I love to watch them together. Last time we had them, Carly surprised us when we sat down. She has a prayer she says at lunch at school. Up until that night, she would say it with us....this time she wanted to say it by herself. It's not an easy one either...it took Andrew and I as long to learn it as it took Carly.

"For all thy foods and gifts of love, we give thee thanks and praise.

Look down, O Father, from above,

And bless us all our days.

Amen"

(Quite a prayer for a 2-year old class, huh?) So, when she said it in her cute little almost-three year old voice, I cried...and couldn't stop. And now it's my favorite time of day when she says the prayer for us at dinner. She's learned the Pledge of Allegiance too! (but we don't say that before we eat. :) )

A Must Listen...

I have to admit I'm disappointed this morning. I'm not always an optimist but last night I watched the election results hoping, as each state turned colors, that the results were not as obvious as they seemed.

So, I just want to share the message from last week's service at my church. It was really moving and has been on my mind ever since.

http://boxstr.com/files/4007806_vltwn/11-02-2008%20Surrendering%20to%20the%20King%20of%20Glory.mp3