Bah Humbug!

Birthday Earth

I was told about a pretty cool product that I thought I'd share. Take a look:
This is what the Earth looked like when Addie was born.
And here is the Earth when Ellie was born.

I got the images from Birthday Earth. Email me if you want a coupon code for 50% off (expires end of 2009).

Most bizarre thing I've ever owned

Michael's aunt gave us some handmade bears that she did herself. Aren't they cute? So why would I claim that these are the most bizarre things I've ever owned? I asked her to make them for me. No, that's not why. Wait for it... wait for it...

The bears are made out of Merlin's hair. Yes! I'm not kidding you! Do you remember his first haircut? You're probably thinking to yourself, "She didn't!?" to which I have to say "I did!" I think I'm going to have to blame the pregnancy for that idea because I can't fathom why I would have ever thought to make bears out of my dog's hair if it weren't for my hormones going crazy.

Believing in something

Someone recently asked me when we will start taking Ellie to church. Not being much of a church-goer, I said we didn't have such plans. She then responded with "How is she going to believe in anything then? She needs to believe in something."

I'm curious... many of my readers are religious and attend church regularly. Others are not. What do you guys think?

Do I have to send my children to church in order for them to believe in something? Is it even fair for me to pretend to be a church-goer when I really am not? What if I want them to be open to other religions? This person obviously was thinking of a Christian church, but would she be ok if I told her that we've decided to sign Ellie up for a Jewish school?

If I want my children to grow up and make their own decision on which religion they want to believe, what's the best way to do that?

In my ideal world, I envision picnics and hikes where my daughters and I sit and ponder how wonderful God must be to have made such a beautiful and complicated world. Is that not enough?

Is it not enough that Ellie and I sing "I see the moon and the moon sees me... God bless the moon and God bless me and God bless the one I want to see. God looked down from up above and he picked you out for me to love...?"

What do you think? If you're a more religious person than I, I'd like to know how you feel - if your goal was for your children to make their own decisions on religion, would you feel that church was required? If you're not a religious person, but have the same goal, what's your approach?

Flowers

OH MY GOSH! What a special moment! Ellie drew me a picture, but what was special about the picture is that it actually almost, sort of kind of looks like what she said she drew. She was even telling Nana how to draw flowers:

Firs you go dis (draws a big line down the page). Firs you go dis (draws another line down the page). Firs you go dis circles (draws the flower on top of the stem).

Not too bad. Mommy's so proud. And she drew them for me! I'm the luckiest mother around.

Addie cries it out

On a whim I decided to see what would happen if I let Addie fuss a little while putting her to sleep so this morning, before her first nap, I went through my little bedtime routine and I put her in the car seat (currently in the crib to help minimize the puking) and left.

What would Ellie have done? I know what she would have done because I tried it with her too. She screamed bloody murder until the I could not stand it any more. I seem to recall even sitting outside for a while so that I couldn't hear her. She never stopped but I don't recall how long I waited.

Addie cried a little. She actually cried off and on for 15 minutes. Every time she cried it was just to file her complaint. She knew she wasn't doing to die. Then she'd stop for a while. After 13 minutes of total fussing (I planned on going in after 15) she was sound asleep.

Not only that, she slept for an hour and a half instead of her normal 30-45 minutes!

The rest of the day she had no problem falling asleep without the pacifier (which has such a love/hate relationship with us).

Best yet - I just got done putting her down for sleep. I did my bedtime routine and put her in the car seat without her pacifier at all. What happened?

Nothing. She went straight to sleep! No fussing at all! I even waited in her room for 15 minutes for her to do her normal "wake up and cry" thing that she does.

NOTHING!

Seriously, if 15 minutes of crying is all it took for her to get excellent naps in and to fall asleep by herself the rest of the day then Yay!

Finally

I'm glad they're finally doing real artwork in school now.

Thankful

I purposefully didn't write a post about how thankful I am because I know I'd break down in tears if I even attempted to put it into words. However, there is a song on the radio that has a line in the lyrics that I think puts it all into perspective.

"I guess we're all one phone call from our knees"

Think about it. How easily can your life be turned upside down in the matter of seconds? How quickly can you go from having a life that is not necessarily perfect every moment, but perfect for you, to having difficulties wondering how you can continue to go on.

Think about it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few people I need to hug.

I think she's trying to communicate

This morning I was trying desperately to get more milk into my baby than she felt was necessary. It's a mother's job. After finally giving up out of sheer frustration, I started to talk to her instead. Much to my surprise, she started talking back! She was making all sorts of adorable coos and ahhs, and even an occasional cah! "Oh, look at you talking away," and Addie's only response was a gigantic burp worthy of a sumo wrestler. I've never heard a sumo wrestler burp, but now I know what one would sound like.

Sigh. I guess she wasn't talking after all. She just needed to burp.

Then she starts up again. OH! OH! Talk away, baby! You are so cute. Following that comes a couple minutes of more adorable bahs and coos. "You really ARE talking, aren't you?" and Addie's only response is to puke all over the bed. This wasn't your average baby spit up (I would have used those cute words if it were). It wasn't even your average baby puke. Again, it was worthy of a sumo wrestler (of course, assuming said wrestler only ate milk and lots of it).

Sigh. I guess she wasn't talking after all. She just needed to puke.

Then she starts up again! Oh my! Maybe she really is talking! There isn't anything left in her to complain about! Dang, can you get any more adorable? After a couple minutes of sheer cuteness, I mistakenly say "I love it when you talk to me, Addie!" and Addie's only response was to explode her diaper and when I say "explode" that's exactly what I meant. Now I have seen those sumo wrestlers and what they wear. I'm sure this was worthy of one of their poopy accidents.

Sigh. I guess she wasn't talking after all. She just needed a poop.

Then she starts up again! No, say it isn't so. Do you see where this is going? Can you guess what the final slime is that comes out of this little thing in front of me? Let's just skip to the end, shall we? There was cooing and awwing followed by a fountain of piss. Yep, she peed on me. After all that, she peed on me. Thank goodness she wasn't a sumo wrestler!

Sigh. "Are you done now?" and Addie's only response is a stare. No blinking. No moving. She is still. All is calm. And there is peace in the world again. My apologies for insulting the tribe of sumo wrestlers.

I guess I shouldn't complain. Maybe she was just trying to warn me of the grossness to come? You'd think I'd learn.