A Couple of Items

1. I am starting to realize that, as a mom, I really don't care that much about germs. Probably a good thing since Lily is gross. This thought struck me when we were at the zoo the other day and I realized I hadn't brought any teething toys for Josie to busy herself with during our outing. So I dug real deep in the diaper bag and found a doll that Lily got from a McDonald's Happy Meal, oh, about a year ago. Said doll spent all summer alternately submerged in Lily's water table out back or in Dirk's water bowl, which, since I never was able to keep Dirk from drinking out of the water table, are basically the same thing. Then I watched Josie suck on this doll's hair as we strolled around the zoo. Every once in a while I would shudder but the idea of Josie's reaction to me taking the doll away kept me from taking any action. Maybe Lily's gross because I'm gross? Further introspection is needed...

2. Tim continues to say crazy stuff as he's falling asleep. Last night he said, "If I were going to start a street gang, I'd call us the leopards."

"Ok hon. Go to sleep."

"Not the jaguars."

I'm so glad we got that straight.

3. Lily hasn't slept through the night for the last 6 months. No exaggeration. Every night before she goes to sleep she talks and laughs hysterically to herself for anywhere from 1-3 hours, then will wake up in the middle of the night and do it some more.

I have tried:

Taking away all of her stuffed animals in her crib. All she has is blankets.

Taking her on really long walks before bed.

Threats (mostly idle).

Benadryl.

Reading a ridiculous amount of books before bedtime.

Putting her to bed earlier.

Putting her to bed later.

I'm convinced it's kind of a hopeless case.

4. I started taking guitar lessons. That's one reason why the blogging has been so pitiful recently. It's annoying for me to be such a beginner and have to play "baby songs" so I've been trying to practice diligently and therefore move on to more interesting fare. The other day I went to the guitar store to get a capo. I thought it would be a pretty quick trip and I'd just bring the girls and be in and out. I gave Lily strict instructions before going in: "You may LOOK at things inside the store but you MAY NOT TOUCH". Of course she's two years old so all she heard was "LOOK and TOUCH". Which she did. Then I had to stop her, which was tricky because I was also lugging the car seat with Josie, who was giving loud stacatto yells for no apparent reason. Meanwhile I'm asking the guitar store guy where I can find a capo? And what kind do I need? Beginner over here! And everyone that works in the store is looking at me like I'm crazy. And then I realize that I am wearing a turtleneck. Ohmygosh did I really just bring my two kids to the guitar store in my turtleneck? Yes. Yes I did.

5. I will leave you with this old post that I read today while looking through our archive. Cheers and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

If this doesn't make you merry, I don't know what will! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Portrait of a Sunday Morning

So recently...we have started getting to church on time. You wouldn't think this would be such a challenge for us SINCE CHURCH STARTS AT 11. I mean seriously. But all of this being on-timeness has required getting for church nice and early, which has left some time for getting beautiful pictures of our sweet girls.

Since I Didn't Deliver the Halloween Goods

Taken by the lovely Liz Evans.

If I Were a Good Mom You'd Be Looking at Halloween Pictures Right Now

But luckily I'm not a good mom, and I canceled Halloween this year. Yep, flat out vetoed it with my executive mom power after Lily threw an epic tantrum over not getting to eat candy before dinner. There was weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and to complete the Biblical visual, me in sackcloth and ashes wondering what I did to deserve this. Oh right, I kept her up past her bedtime for like three nights in a row prior to Halloween. Woops.

So Halloween was canceled and we didn't get her in her costume or trick or treat, and I was such a buzzkill that I didn't even put a bowl of candy out for the other kids so now I have a bunch of Halloween candy that I don't want. So come to my house and eat some.

I'll try again next year.

Crossfit Observations

Almost a year ago Tim started working out at a CrossFit "Box". CrossFit is a workout that combines strength training, weight lifting, plyometrics, sprinting, power lifting, and a bunch of other hard stuff in varied interval-style workouts.

Basically it's the kind of workout that makes you cry, vomit, and then leaves you with a hacking cough for a couple of days after until your lungs recover.

Tim's words: "Sometimes I taste blood when I'm doing CrossFit."

You may not know this, but I married a very athletic and competitive man. This is ironic because I am neither very athletic nor very competitive. When you're as slow as I am, it's really kind of pointless to be competitive.

Over the years I have benefited from being around Tim's sometimes obnoxious athleticism. (Example: We buy cross country skis. Neither of us have ever cross country skied before. Tim is immediately awesome. We do a couple of Triathlons (this hasn't happened in a while). Tim does great. Extrapolate to any physical endeavor, and chances are Tim can at least keep up with the middle of the pack at the very least.) I have improved at running and biking and have gotten to the point where I actually enjoy working out more, which wasn't always the case. Having said this, I'm still dang slow and I can't do more than one full push-up.

So...on Saturday Tim and I headed out to "BoxtOberfest", a CrossFit competition that Neighborhood Smiles sponsored. A couple of things that made me think, "Um yeah...this isn't for me":
1. I think wearing makeup while working out is an abomination. Sweating? With makeup on? And hairspray in the hair? Sick. Not all the female competitors were made up but the two just don't go together in my book.

2. Someone decided that knee high socks and butt-short shorts should be cool in CrossFit. Obviously no one asked me.

3. Tats. Lots of 'em.

There were some pretty funny shirts and signs, like, "Intentions are not enough" (sorry!). Or "If you like my Rack you should see my Snatch" (sorry? I believe these are two different types of lifts?). My favorite sign was "Just Keep Going (that's what she said)".

Anyway, I watched some of the girls compete, and I have to say that I was duly impressed. There was something amazing about watching girls with serious muscle definition and lifting prowess. I mean, these girls were powerful, out there doing things physically that I would have thought before were "too hard" for girls. Silly, I know, and against my "Girls can do anything" lip service, but I guess I just hadn't seen anything like that before.

It made me start considering adding in CrossFit once a week...once Josie starts sleeping through the night so that I don't go dropping kettleballs on myself.

Grandpa was here!

My dad came to Albuquerque this weekend to visit and meet Josie for the first time. He was awesome about being on slow-moving baby/toddler time and mostly just hanging out. We hit up the pumpkin patch again since Lily has not stopped talking about it. "I see animals! I see sheep! I see goats! Pumpkin patch!" I'm taking her to the zoo tomorrow. Oh the excitement... Anyway, it was so nice spending time with my dad and watching him with my girls. We miss him already.





Isn't my baby beautiful? She'll be four months old on November 2nd. I can hardly believe it.