it goes without saying that Ellie is a little mini-me. i took this picture of her dressed up in Rapunzel because she made this flower crown out of all of her bows - i love how creative she is. when i asked to take her picture, she said, "i'm going to look out the window at the leaves for Pascal," and then she gazed stoically to our yard. such a drama queen. when i saw the picture, it kind of freaked me out because it reminded me of a picture i have of myself -- i think i've shown you that before- but let me show it again. it's from when i was about 4 or 5 dressing up as Dorothy- i was obsessed (is loving to dress up genetic?).
kind of crazy, right?
i have always thought that Alice looked just like M when he was a baby. here's one of my favorite baby pictures of M (on the left), next to a couple of Alice (couldn't find one that exactly matched).
(Ellie just said to me "baby Daddy looks like baby Alice. but Daddy is a boy and Alice isn't a boy. that's weird.")
here's another one that's a more recent resemblance:
put some lil piggies on that M, and it'd be hard to tell which was which. am i right, or am i imagining it?
(side note: oh man, M was the cutest little boy. i hope hope hope there's a little boy that cute up there waiting for us.)
then yesterday, Alice was playing in the kitchen with the tupperware. she looked up at me and gave me this crinkled-nose-fake-smile and i kind of freaked out then. "she does look like me!" (i am kind of famous in my fam for the the crinkled-nose-fake-smile). and so i grabbed my phone and tried to recreate the moment. it wasn't quite as good, but still close (the one on the left with the funky linoleum and retro ruffle outfit is obviously me. the 80's were awesome).
why does it make us feel so good when our kids look like us? kind of weird, right? i think it just gives me relief that there is no way there was any baby mix-ups in the hospital (phew). also it's pretty cool to finally see the faces that you've wondered your whole life about- "will my kids have my nose? will any have my annoying crazy hair? what color will their eyes be? will one of them do my crinkled-nose-fake-smile someday?"
though i'm positive that even if they didn't have a single thing of mine i'd love 'em just as much. cutest little punks on the planet.
the last couple of days i have been thinking about General Conference and how excited i am for it this weekend. this little video made all the hairs on my arm stand today when i watched it. i love the spirit of Conference.
it's always funny to me how a few weeks before it's Conference time, i start to feel my soul a little hungry for a spiritual boost. it always comes at such a perfect time.
back when i was in college (i can't believe i'm old enough to say stuff like that- but i've been graduated from college for 5 years now. nuts, i tell you!) i took a couple of classes from Lloyd Newell, the voice of the Spoken Word. he is an awesome professor- and the way i know that is that things that i learned in his classes still resonate in my mind. i couldn't say the same about a Econ 110 or Astronomy 200. such lame-sauce classes. anyway, back to Lloyd Newell. my favorite class of his that i took was called "Teachings of the Living Prophets." we studied each of the apostles' and members of the first presidency's lives in detail throughout the semester. i loved it. it really helped me gain a unique appreciation and understanding of how much these men have sacrificed for our church. they were all successful and wise in their professions. they all have families who they love dearly. they all are scholarly and intellectual. and yet they always put God first in their lives, no matter what. it's amazing.
my favorite part of the class was during conference time. i remember clearly one lesson in particular before Conference. Professor Newell said to us, "i want to make a suggestion to each of you. i want you to take a question that you may be pondering over in your life right now. it doesn't have to be related to church- but something that might be troubling you and that you are struggling with. whatever it is, pray about it, and ask Heavenly Father each day from now until conference to help receive an answer to this question through one of the living prophets." and then he made a pretty steep promise: "i promise you, if you pray and ask these questions in faith, he will answer them during Conference."
and so i followed his counsel. i went to Conference with a specific question that i had been praying about. honestly, i can't remember what the question was anymore. but i do remember this: my question was answered.
this has stuck with me for the past 8 years. and every time i have followed his advice, i have found answers in ways that i haven't found anywhere else. i have to tell you: i have brought some pretty crazy questions to Conference! and i'd wonder how in the world i'd find an answer to it there (one even about potty training!). sometimes it isn't so much through the words the prophets are saying, but thoughts that come into my mind as i am doing my best to listen. i know it sounds nuts- but it works. and i believe in it. and i think it is one of the reasons i have come to love General Conference so much. i mean, don't you think Heavenly Father is worried about the littlest details in our lives? especially things that may be causing us worry and stress- even if it is potty-training related? i know He is. He loves each and every one of us and wants us to make it home to Him- and will do all He can do help us get there- even if it's to give us a tip on how to not lose our marbles with a constipated child. we just have to be willing to ask the questions, and then put ourselves in the spiritually charged places (like Conference) where we can really listen and receive answers.
ahhhh, i can't wait for it- especially since it also means a plethora of good eats and a break from the sometimes-daunting task of regular Sunday duties. yes yes, General Conference is grand.
i'm in the middle of writing the longest Disneyland Tips post there ever was. and also a post on beauty products. but the world around me keeps moving fast and things keep happening and i keep having random thoughts.so here's my jumbled jots post for the day.
when we got home from our trip, we dove right back into the swing of things. we had joy school at our house the very next day, and then the day after that we got to participate in a Relief Society activity (Women through the Ages) where Ellie and i (along with the YW and some of my friends) got to model clothing from different eras. Ellie was adorable in a Vintage 1890's Victorian dress. she was thrilled to be the featured little girl in the fashion show, complete with a vintage beaded purse and a big pink bow. i love having little girls. the outfits i got to wear were definitely memorable- an 1890's school gal, a 1970's flower child, and a 1980's prom diva. we had some good laughs.
then both girls and i got really sick. Ellie got croup, Alice got the stomach flu (both diagnosed by the dr.), and i got bronchitis (as diagnosed by my mother who's hardly ever wrong). ok so it may not have been bronchitis at all, but the earth definitely shook multiple times a day when i coughed my guts out, and my throat felt the size of a golf ball, so i'm saying it was bronchitis.what a horrible strand of luck we've had! (both girls had terrible ear infections leaving on our trip and were on antibiotics almost the whole time- i think we've been sick more often than not this winter. super discouraging! what am i doing wrong?? i've turned into super-freak-wash-your-hands-a-hundred-times-a-day-mom, have-anti-bacterial-soap-in-every-jacket-purse-pocket-and-sweater-mom, lysol-every-room-ten-times-a-day-mom, and wash-the-sheets-and-towels-multiple-times-a-week-mom. i don't know what else to do).
in order to cope with this terrible luck, we watched an insane amount of tv and movies. Ellie is recently hooked on Little Einsteins. Alice lovvves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. both girls love Sesame Street and Word World. and then there's the endless list of disney movies: the new Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, Tangled, Princess and the Frog, Snow White, Dumbo, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Cars....i mean seriously. it's nuts!
Sunday rolled around and we kept the girls home from church because Ellie was still coughing that scary croup-cough and Alice was still fevering/having crazy digestive problems. that afternoon, Ellie wanted to watch something. i told her i that i thought we had watched enough tv together the last few days and that maybe we could go color and read some books together. you would not believe the crazy reaction that ensued. you'd have thought i was trying to get her to eat cabbage! or that i had threatened to take her to the dentist! or that i was trying to convince her to wear a color other than red or pink! it was in that moment that i realized that i had created a tv-crazed-monster and i needed to figure out what to do to fix it.
initially i really didn't want to say "no TV" because i admit, i love the breaks that a tv show here and there gives me. and i'm pretty strict on what shows they can watch- aside from Mickey Mouse, i feel like all the shows they watch are pretty educational (and even Mickey can be educational), and so allowing them to watch some shows is easy to justify; "they're learning!", i tell myself. but the truth was, i had let the show-watching get out of control, and we needed a cleanse. so starting last Monday (3/19) i said "no TV."
you should have heard the water works! how could i be so cruel! it was like i was oppressing my people, not allowing them to have a fundamental survival tool like toilet paper or water. such a dictator, i am! multiple times on Monday, Ellie would cry and say, "Pleeeasssseee Mama, let me watch something!" and i would nicely say, "i'm so sorry, Ellie. i know it's hard to understand, but we can't watch any tv for a while. it's making us mean." because it was. she was a mean-zombie-headed-tv-addicted little girl. and she thought i was the grinch-mom who was keeping Christmas from coming every moment of the day.
the first thing we did to divert attention from a tv-less existence was to go to the Library. this meant that i had to cough up the $20 of overdue fines that had kept me from going to the library the past few months, but i knew it would be worth it. i gave the lady librarian my crisp $20, realizing i could have bought 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies with that cash. i hate being dumb and paying $20 for stupid things like late books., so after checking out new ones, i put a reminder in my phone the day before they were due. no more lost boxes of Girl Scout cookies for me, no siree. the girls had a blast at the library that morning- we picked out 16 books to take home with us. Alice ripped a page in one of the books within the first 5 minutes- what is it with these toddlers that makes them so destructive? she's a mess! regardless, i love having Library books, and always wonder why i don't make the effort to go more often. we even found some new super cute ones this time (like 'Who Hops?' the girls think it's hilarious). i love that. and it's provided lots and lots of moments of little girls tucked in corners and snuggled on laps lost in the pages of books. heaven, i tell you.
back to the tv-less life. we ended up surviving without TV the whole week- Monday thru Friday (well, till Friday night, when we let them have a special movie night with a babysitter while we saw Hunger Games- booyah!). then on Saturday, we let the girls watch some of their favorite shows-- they were seriously thrilled- like birthday-holiday-presents-style thrilled... andddd, the best part was that they weren't even upset when i said it was time to turn it off. success! i think that's my main goal- for the girls to understand that TV is a special treat/privilege- not something that you're just entitled to, or that you do in any free moment. now, don't get me wrong. there were definitely moments that i almost broke; like when i would be trying to make dinner, M would still not be home, and both girls were whining or making a huge disaster somewhere. or when Alice would bring me a Mickey Mouse DVD and say ever-so-sweetly, "pllleeeeaassse?" but i stuck to my guns, and i feel like the girls have found other much-more-meaningful things to do than just sitting in front of the tube (helping me in the kitchen, spending un-rainy moments at the park and twirling on the grass, and finding interesting uses for toys and objects like lining toys up on the mini ironing board, just to name a few). and the very best part is that it's Monday afternoon, and the kids haven't asked to watch tv once today.
what's your plan with your kids and tv-watching? how do you not let it spiral out of control? i don't think always want to be the mom that is a "no-tv" freak (i mean, i love watching tv, too!)- but i feel like my kids need serious structure and limits or else they go crazy and that's all they want to do. right now i'm thinking no tv during the week for a while. is that an idealistic, lofty goal? i'm obviously a rookie at it and could use tips.
other than TV-fasting, i, like the rest of the planet was aboard the "Hunger Games" craze and saw the movie this weekend. i feel like there are some total harsh critics out there! i mean, i'm not the hardest person to please when it comes to movies...and i know that they had to leave some stuff out- and let's be honest, books are ALWAYS better than movies, but i thought he movie was pretty amazing. and it was super fun to go with a big group of friends, too. who's Katniss, again?
also, did you know that i am baby hungry? well i am. it's weird because when Ellie grew out of baby-hood, i never really got baby-hungry. like at all. like even when i got pregnant with Alice, i was super skeptical and freaked out. i thought everyone who wanted another baby was crazy, even people with really cute ones. i think it was just my way of coping with Ellie being a hard one. conversely, i've been abnormally baby hungry since before Alice even turned 1. she was such a sweet baby- and i never wanted her to grow up, and when i realized she wasn't listening to me, i longed for another one. timing is an interesting thing, isn't it? because even though i have had this longing, i've known it wasn't right. hopefully someday soon. until then, i have now organized all my bins of girl clothes (even though we are crossing our fingers that there's a boy waiting up in heaven somewhere) and even organized all the baby toys and blankets and trinkets. strange way to cope with baby hunger- but whatever. i will also live vicariously through all my pregnant friends and friends with brand new babies. is there anything more miraculous than a newborn? i think not. even M was smitten with lil Viv.
{our friends, Dale & Elyse's new baby girl Vivian}
oh! which reminds me! before Elyse had that precious little baby Vivian, a few friends and i threw her the cutest baby shower at my house. it was a "build-a-library" shower (since you know me and my love for Children's books), with the cutest little crepe bar and juice bar. it turned out so darling, thanks to the help of some awesome gals. (i snagged these pictures from Elyse's blog. you can check out more details on the shower here).
i'm so blessed to have such awesome women in my life.
and other than all of that, plus eating lots of treats and warm soup and bread to help keep warm + cozy with this crazy rain we've been having, i think that about sums it all up. only took me 1,789 words to get there.
p.s. if you're in need of a laugh, check out this youtube video. the lady is a total weirdo, but she's sure to make you laugh. thanks Bec for the tip.
right now i'm having a real hard time NOT writing a "not-top-ten things about our Southern Cal trip ending," since yesterday we ended up at the doctor, yet AGAIN...
...i'm currently laying on the floor with Ellie laying on my legs while she croup-coughs her guts out, and stomach-flu'd Alice is laying down next to me (and just noticing that she's zonked out...on the carpet...at 10:30 am... wow)...
...it's raining outside (and has been since we got home Monday night), i still have laundry to do...and i really could keep going but that's super lame and whiny of me- i mean it's always hard to recover from a trip, huh? truthfully, in spite of the yucky stuff, it is great to be home- in our beds and with the girls' toys (and me with more than 5 outfits to choose from...i struggle at packing the right stuff for trips). but yes, it was a great trip- and so let me share some of the things that made it so great:
10) going to Disneyland 5 times (sure, 3 of those days were for 3 hours or less, but still).
i know, some of you think we're totally nuts. but whatever, i don't care. we love Disneyland, and we're not afraid to admit it. my parents got us Season Passes for Christmas, so that was actually the primary purpose in us going this trip- to get our passes and spend a couple of days there. i am going to post the majority of my pictures about our Disney adventures in a Disneyland postt-come (otherwise this post would become its own website). i have had a lot of you emailing me and asking me for my Disneyland tips-- i'm no expert, but we do have a little experience and tips that i'm ready to share on that post. oh, and the best part of our Disneyland trip? being there while they filmed Modern Family and being within feet of some of our favorite Modern Family celebs. more on that soon, too.
9) getting to spend so much time with daddy. we piggy-backed a work trip for M and our vacation (he worked in San Deigo Wednesday-Sunday)- but we still got to spend 10 straight days together. the girls were in heaven. and i loved having my best friend around all the time. we miss seeing him so much already.
8) running on the beach. there is something so perfect to me about running on the beach. it's like heaven for me, so it was like heaven to get to do it a handful of times while there. i love running with the ocean breeze, the views all around, and sometimes even get the company of my dad. this time was super duper awesome because i saw dolphins swimming on a sunset run- it was the first time i had ever seen dolphins there and was pretty sweet. we actually saw them a couple of times after that, too- it's a common time of year for them to be pretty close to the shore. i think dolphins are so cool so i was pretty pumped.
7) along with running on the beach, we got to spend several days just playing at the beach- the weather was perfect! i live in California- but am still amazed at beach weather in Feb/early March. (plus Northern Cal is a little different from Southern- we typically experience more seasonal weather than Southern, hence the rain this week). one reason the beach was so fun was because the girls got to debut their 2012 swimsuits. it was not-so-awesome that my ultra-whiteness made its 2012 debut in a frumpy swimsuit- but whatevs. the girls looked so adorable and that's what really matters.
6) we ate a whole lotta delicious food. from authentic Mexican, to Chick-fil-a, to Cafe Rio, our favorite coconut water, Sprinkles cupcakes, in-n-out, Rocco's fried chicken and waffles, all my favorite homemade things from mama's kitchen, and the most delicious brie-pear sandwich i've ever eaten (not to even mention all the delicious Disneyland food). yeah i gained like 10 lbs easily. i love food so so so so so so much. (and so does Alice- she especially loved gammy's pantry- we'd find her sneaking snacks at least 5 times a day). note: as if it wasn't obvious, my heaven is going to be made of delicious food.
5) borrowing sister's clothes. it took everything righteous in me to not steal that blazer. i miss living with other girls and sharing clothes.
4) going to my first Runway show- a Cosmetic Fashion Show at Nordstrom. it was so fun! my sister, mom and i all got facials and makeovers- and i came home with a huge back of new stuff. who doesn't love new make-up? and i came home a new believer of philosophy products and NARS makeup. maybe i'll do a beauty products post in the future, too.
3) watching the Polar Bear pace up and down the ice straight at Ellie and Alice, and the huge sea turtles swim right at us at Sea World. Sea World had a promotion going on that if you bought a ticket for that day you could get in the rest of the year free.- isn't that awesome? i'm so excited because i think Sea World is pretty amazing. the girls loved the shows- Alice kept saying, "woooww! whoooaaa!" she was so cute. and they also absolutely lovvved the Sesame Street Bay at Play kid area. the workers had to kick us out after closing because the girls wouldn't leave. my poor mom is a total-rule follower so she was a little mortified that we were being reprimanded for playing 15 extra minutes after it closed.
2) going out with my lil sis, and seeing the movie 'The Artist.' sure, we dozed a little- but that's what you get when you go to the 10:00 pm showing of a silent film. in spite of that, it was absolutely wonderful- it reminded me so much of Singin' in the Rain, my very favorite movie (i type this while listening to its soundtrack)- which i think made me love it more. i am convinced i was born in the wrong era.
1) spending so much time with Gammy + Pops + Mimi. i was so glad we spent so much time because Alice was surprisingly shy and reserved when we first got there. she would look down and away from my mom whenever she'd talk to her, or grab onto me when my dad would try to hold her. i hate that part of living far away so much. but after a few days, she warmed right up and even would run to my mom open-armed and squealing when she'd see her first thing in the morning. it was so sweet. and Ellie adores Gammy, Pops + Mimi so much. honestly, i haven't seen both girls that happy for a long time- and that made me so happy. they were given so much love and attention...and i know they were so happy because they know that they are very loved by my family. that makes me so happy.
and here are a few extra happies:
happy happy happy trip.
love my family, so so much.
love that Southern California, so so much.
