and now presenting...

It's time for baby tricks! I'm sure no one will be as amused by these new tricks as I am, but I figured it had been a while since I posted videos. Eole has come up with two tricks this week. I noticed while listening to NPR that Eole would be busy with her toys until a music interlude played. Then she'd get a big smile and start dancing along. My attempts to recreate this are not nearly as darling as the spontaneous results. And for her newest baby trick, may we present the clapping monkey! I'm sure this will be her new favorite for sacrament meeting.

look at me.....

I agree with those few of you who haven't succumbed to the blog world that blogs have a tendency to be a little too self-centered. I completely agree. And now, I'm going to be self-centered and brag about my latest project...or at least show off my latest project. Recently, my mom gave me some fabric and old pillowcases embroidered by both of my grandmothers. I decided to awaken my long-dormant sewing skills. Here are some of my creations for Baby Girl. She's not crazy about these dresses as they greatly inhibit her cruising ability. She has even figured out how to untie the dresses and squirm out of her fabric prison.

the lies we tell ourselves

I am a clean person: therefore, I only need to clean my bathroom once a month. I am a clean person: therefore, I only need to sweep my floor once a week. I am a clean person, I never need to clean my oven. I have lived quite well with this philosophy for the past six years. But children-- especially babies-- have ways of seeing through your lies. You can tell yourself that your bathroom is clean but then Baby will crawl behind the toilet and reemerge with old toilet paper in her mouth as if to say, "Aha! Explain this if you will, "clean" Mom!" And you don't notice the pink rings around your bathtub until Baby starts emerging from bathtime with strange rashes on her body. You believe that your floor is perfectly clean, or at least clean enough, until you notice Baby sucking on a-- what is that....OH MY GOSH! WHERE DID SHE GET THAT SHARP SCREW? Or better yet, what happened earlier this week when I had finished changing Baby and came back to find her chewing on a little blueberry. But wait, we don't have any blueberries....is that chocolate...NO! THAT'S NOT CHOCOLATE! THAT'S POOP! And once again, I find myself asking how any baby survives to adulthood.