Alternate Universe

Can I just say that my kid is pretty much the cutest kid ever???? The first one is her in her dress ups. She comes up to us with random clothing and has us put it on her. Sometimes it will be three shirts. One for her neck and one for each arm. This is her favorite look, the googly sunglasses, big floppy hat and usually she has a purse on her arm and plastic keys in her hand. Then she goes over to the door and says "byebye Lore" But it comes out byebye Loway. The next picture is outside our apartment when Daddy had his first dinner shift. We're not used to him being gone at night so we played outside with the camera and dressed her in the little Kenneth Cole outfit I got a this huge consignment fair called Rhea Lana's. It was a great deal and I conned Lore's aunt Katy and uncle Paul into buying it for her. It always works to preface questions with "how much do your love your schmoozly neice?" She's running with the sweet look of independence on her face.


Today we spent the day together as a family before Nick went to work a Dinner shift. We took turns working out while Lore slept, then went to the Library and saw a few people we know...and then to the park where we saw yet more people we know. I love this town. I love that I run into people everywhere, but most of all I love that we just had a nice, relaxed family day.

Remember my friend Lesli? I feel bad making my first two blog entries about her but what can I say she's been one of my very closest friends and basically I love her to death. I think we're living the same life across the country from each other...we had our babies like 9 hours apart, and now she has been freaking out recently about becoming an adult and has decided to just enjoy her life and accept the chaos that is life. ME TOO!!!!
She gave the example of her son eating yogurt and actually just letting him make the mess and I almost gasped out loud. Just in the last couple of weeks I have realized that it is not my job to prevent her from making messes...it is my responsibility to facilitate her learning and independence, and that stuff means messes! I had a really hard time with that, I usually just prevented her from getting into things by keeping them out of reach and sight but now its all out for her to discover...if she wants to tear up some toilet paper I give her a few squares...I wad it up to use it anyway, so it works out fine for both of us! When we go outside I let her pick everything up...though I draw the line at cigarette butts and dog poop. We've already had an incident with animal excrement. A friends dog set a cat turd from the litter box in front of her and she proceeded to put it in her mouth. I wasn't watching close enough...when I came to, she was spitting it out and smelled disgusting. I called poison control, and the litter can't really hurt but apparently the poo can upset her stomach. Funny, poo always upsets my stomach. She was fine aside from the breath that was brushed out.
Like Lesli I also have felt like I'm living this silly like, game of make-believe or dress up. I don't know if everyone feels that way once they hit this age or just the ones who marry young. It's creepy sometimes! Then I look around and think man, I wouldn't go back to the uncertainty and awkward confidence of adolescence for ANYTHING! I love the stability and security of my life. Even in the chaotic and unsure times I still have the things that matter most to me close by! The Gospel, My Husband and Baby, and My Family.
So I started working on a quiet activity book for Sacrament meeting. I have one full page so far and I'm kindof stuck. It's on pajama flannel(Light Yellow) and I cut out a shirt shape to put buttons on, the other side has little pants that have a pocket with a little toy in it. It is looking life it might start fraying. Really I should just call my mom, but I'm kind of enjoying the fact that I have imagined and created it all by myself so far. I'm not so good at crafty things, but I think its because I don't have much practice. I am going to learn how to sew clothing and decorate cakes when I am in Dallas while Nick is at Quantico for training. I'm pretty excited, because this means I might be able to make some extra money if we need it once Nick gets started, or before. AND I will hopefully be able to make drapes or curtains or whatever for our house when we get one! Well, I could write all night about random things because Nick is working tonight...but my neck is starting to feel weird from craning it to see the computer. It has to be positioned just right to get the good neighborhood hot spot to work well enough;)