speaking of weight gain.

Today we made these.
They were a very good idea.

quote to remember...and one to forget.

At my monthly appointment:
Doctor- "You gained 6 lbs. since your last appointment. Have you been eating a lot?"
Me- "Yes."

Driving by Home Depot:
Claire (shouts), "Dada's Groceries!"

this is what 2 looks like first thing in the morning.

Bad bangs. Big smile. I am the luckiest.

Happy Birthday, Pooper.

motivation: doggie stickers & elmo panties. also, oma & papa.

Just when I thought she was never going to go.
She went.

I asked her what she wanted as a reward and she said she wanted to go to Border's with Oma and Papa. She wanted a mooshies and a new sticker book. Mom, what are you doing this weekend?

today in the tulips.

Remember her? Today, in the tulips, I remembered her. At the time, my big problem was that her little flowered boot kept falling off. This year, she was all, "I hate you, tulips."

boy clothes & beach girls.

It didn't take long to realize that cute boy clothes are not in the same abundance as girl ones. Thankfully, Priscilla clued me in on a great resource for moms that don't feel like dressing their infant boys as miniature firefighters, baseball players or astronauts. Priscilla is an amazing bargain shopper and an extremely cool girl. We took our girlies to the coast for a little outlet shopping and a great lunch. They weren't impressed with the shopping, but they were thrilled to run hand-in-hand and explore.

boy oh boy.

Confession: I was hoping for another girl. I felt horrible for feeling this way. I mean, there are people who would take ANY baby and here I am feeling picky because mine has this pesky lil penis. So I wasn't going to write about it. I was going to suck it up and pretend to be excited about the impending dong. But the thing is, I wasn't. And it seems unnatural to put on a happy face in your own blog, you know?

Slowly, though, my heart started to warm toward the little guy. We settled on a name. I discovered the fun of miniature man sweaters. I held a few little boys. I had great conversations with great moms (of boys and of girls) who were maybe not initially thrilled with the gender of their babies. Apparently, I am not the first person to ever feel like this, and for that I am thankful. It's clear that these feelings don't last and I didn't speak with anyone who was cross-dressing a five year old. I realized that I wasn't alone. That last thing helped more than all of the miniature sweaters I could buy.

I also looked at my girl. This little wonder of a person who I wasn't planning on and I realized that the very best surprise of my life was something that had initially terrified me.
And I'd say that turned out pretty good.

three pictures by request.

Here it is, in all its glory, our Element. This car is a serious pleasure to drive.

Also, I know you've been dying to see the belly, so here it is, careful, don't blind yourself by looking directly at my upper arm:

Camo pants in honor of the extra testosterone floating around in there. Lastly, the girlie, rocking piggytails that she spent an hour pulling out and then saying, "Mama, my piggies, my piggies" and begging me to put them back in.