Faces I Love

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Who are you expressing your love and adoration for this Valentine's Day? These are some faces I kind of love:

1. Alice's sweet face
2. Charles' sweet face
3. The man in the Hawaiian shirt.  Caleb, the guy in the glasses, comes in a solid 2nd place to the man in the Hawaiian shirt.
4. Dark chocolate.  Dark chocolate is, in fact, a face.

I also love that Caleb (that guy in the glasses) did this to my college house when we were dating.  I woke up on Saturday morning and, to my great heart-melty delight, my house had been covered in beautiful paper hearts.

He's pretty great like that.  The Hawaiian man is even greater.

It's breakin' my heart, baby!

That's my sweetheart.  She is the most precious sweetie in the world.  And she would never do anything wrong, right?  I.wish.

Alice has developed a new habit: dropping food off her tray.  She drops food off her tray with great intention, grabbing a piece of cheese in her fist, stretching out her arm past the little tray, opening that hand, and letting the cheese faaaall to the floor.  One piece after the other.  We have worked on this food-wasting, disobedient habit, but not much has come of it. I'll sit with her as she stretches out her arm, about to do the dirty deed, and take her wrist, saying "No," then bring her hand back to the tray.  There came a day when I could see it in her eyes -- something clicked.  I said, "No," and Alice stared at me, then shook her head.  "That's right, no-no.  Don't drop your food, Alice.  Keep it here, on your tray."

Since this recognition of "no," Alice has decided to test the power of this word.  Does mom really mean it? She repeats the food-dropping ritual, and I repeat the "no" ritual -- and it has become just that: a ritual!  I knew the day would come and I was dreading it... today happened to be the day that "no" was not enough.

Alice had a tray full of sweet potato chunks smothered in coconut oil.  After a few bites, she decided that dropping them would be more fun.  The ritual ensued and I took her wrist, put it back to the tray, told her no, and offered up the food to her lips.  She shook her head.  Then she eyed me with those knowing eyes, reached out her arm, I gave a "No, Alice," and just as she opened her hand to let that little potato drop, I hit her hand.  It was really more of a firm tap, but it was enough to send the message.  She looked confused and brought her hand up and looked at it, then looked at me.  She didn't look sad, but her eyes were watery -- she was one confused baby and I was one crushed mommy.  Before my heart burst into a million pieces, I brought her face to my lips, kissed her forehead, and said, "I love you."  I took another piece of sweet potato and asked if she was all done.  Her confusion disappeared and she ate the potato, then signed that she was all done.

It was only a few seconds of a first and most mild discipline, and it took seconds for Alice to move on.  She got the picture, didn't drop her food, and was done.  But, my goodness, talk about the worst.

I know that enforcing our words and protecting Alice is one of the most profound ways to show Alice we love her, but that doesn't make it any easier.  Seeing her obey her parents in the Lord will be the greatest reward.

Love you, babsies!  Quit dropping your food, mmkay?

Alice is a super hero(-ine)!

As I sat Alice on the floor of her room tonight, surrounded by many books and a few scattered toys, I wondered how many times I'd be able to blink before she dove into playing while I collected and put away her things.  Like every day, Alice had made sure to play the part of a small tornado during her "room time," leaving me to make it like new before putting her to bed.  But the little baby surprised me.

I picked up her books, stacking them in front of me, narrating to her as I went.  "And then we take the books from all around and we put them in a pile and we rest them on the shelf." She watched intently.  Her eyes went from the books, to my hands, to the shelf.  I had almost gotten all of the books when Alice began looking on either side of her -- her eyes landed on a toy.  It was a big toy, too heavy for her to carry, but she tried very hard to pick it up.  I assumed she wanted to play with it, but pretended she had intentions of cleaning and said, "Thank you!" as I put it away.  Her chubby face held its thoughtful expression, and she looked around some more. This time, her eyes landed on her socks that she had yanked off earlier.  With her two tiny hands, she fisted the socks up, leaned forward, and dropped them in my hands.  I suppose my heart has become far too melatable because, in that instant, it turned to mush.  First, I was amazed that her little one-year-old mind could catch on so quickly.  Second, I couldn't get over how sweet her desires were to be a part of whatever it was mommy was doing.

After I said "thank you" more times than necessary, with more enthusiasm than necessary, we called Daddy in and showed him Alice's new skill.  Then we all clapped (Alice, too, of course) and smiled soooo big and said "yaaaay" for soooo long.  Everyday is a party in one-year-old land!  It's a good land.

Alice and I have a chat

Alice is sitting on my lap, having just nursed.

"Alice," I ask, "do you want some more?"  She looks at me for a few seconds, clearly in thought, then shakes her head "no."  Doubtful that her head-shake is anything but a coincidence, I ask, "Okay, are you all done?"  Alice smiles and confirms her head-shake by waving her hand in the motion that means "all done."  "Okay!  Do you want to go nigh-nigh now, or do you want to get down and play?"  She gives a little jerk of excitement and says, "DAH!" while turning away, ready to get down.

And that was the longest conversation I've had with Alice.

P.S.  For those of you wondering why I bothered to ask if she'd rather go to bed or play, it's not uncommon for her choice to be "nigh-nigh." :)

Alice and Pants

The other night I dressed Alice for bed.  She wore a little t-shirt and some gray, polka-dot pants.  We did our nighttime routine (nurse, book, prayer, crib), I said goodnight, and left the room.

This was one of those nights that she cried and whined for 30 minutes straight, so I headed in to rock her and opened her door.  I wish I had a picture -- our little 11-month-old was standing in her crib, wearing a t-shirt and diaper.  That's it!  Not only had she removed her pants, but she had tossed them out of the crib and onto the floor. She has never undressed herself and, quite frankly, I don't know any 11-month-old who has.

If only we had recorded her craziness... I would have loved to see how she managed to yank those pants off with her tiny baby hands.  I would also like to know why an 11-month-old would decide against pants, but I don't count on ever knowing that.  We can, however, trust that Alice Clementine did not want to wear pants that night.

And I love her for that.

Tuesday at Home

While Thomas the Train is going and Alice is happy exploring her car seat that is in the living room instead of the car (oooo!), I thought I'd share how eventful my day has been.  Let me tell you, taking pictures of little things throughout the day has already enhanced my sanity.  Something to break up the day and mark different points of the day as "highlights" is a breath of fresh air when I feel like my life at home is a seamless line of blurred meaninglessness (I know it's not meaningless... but it can feel that way, so sue me).

I sipped on some apple cider vinegar.  You should read about it.

You might also like to know that my constant summer treat has been frozen bananas.  I keep them in the freezer and often douse them with loads of melted dark chocolate/butter when I need a pick-me-up.

I don't care if it looks gross.  It is amazing.  Try it -- there's no turning back.

After successfully getting Alice to sleep, I sat down with Pinterest and planned out a few Christmas gift ideas.  It's never too early.  Ever.

And Alice continues to play in her car seat... I don't know why it is such a wonderful toy when it is in a new setting.  I'm glad she's having the time of her life.

So far my day sounds quite pleasant -- I didn't realize how pleasant until I wrote it out.  Magic!  Also, I did wash dishes and do other not-awesome things, but everyday requires not-awesome things in order to be successful.

On another note, Alice/I really need some more rhyming books.  As much as I love saying, "Tick tock, tick tock, that's the sound of baby's clock," multiple times a day, I'm starting to dread Alice's book-reading desires.  She adores books, but only enjoys the rhyming ones so far.  But she is so happy with her small selection.  Way to be, Alice.

P.S.  This is cute.

Climb Every Mountain (baby Alice style)

My parents have stairs in their house.  Yesterday we hung out with those stairs, when Alice and I were over to help my mom with her cookie business.  At first Alice was needy and confused, since my attention for her was divided between cookies and baby.  Soon, though, she become comfortable enough to explore the grounds, and was crawling everywhere.  She had been patting around for awhile, when we looked up to see this:

She was climbing the stairs and had absolutely no fear!  I stood behind her and let her climb, just to see how far she could get.  She got to the landing and was ready to round the corner to the second set of stairs... sadly, for Alice, the second set did not get to be climbed (due to a mother's fear and not to a baby's).

Today Alice is pulling up on everything.  I suppose the stairs inspired her.  I am so grateful we don't have stairs, or my job would be a lot harder now!

I love this little crazy baby.

"I came, I saw, I conquered."  -Baby Alice

Alice Writes Again: 10 Months Old

Good morning!  I'm 10 months old this month, and I'm here to share all of my baby secrets, as well as way too many photos of myself.

To start, I like a lot of things.  In fact, I like most things since, after all, I am a baby.

                                                      I like cheese. Yes, even blue cheese.

I like crazy smiles.

I like making up new words whenever I'm not too tired.

I love reading books, having them read to me, and tearing pages.

Mama's jewelry makes the best toy, hands down.

I'm love observing and thinking about all kinds of things.

I also love songs.  When people laugh, I think it's funny.  When babies cry, I think that's funny, too.  I like waving when there is a silent moment to fill.  When I wake up from my nap, I like to pull myself up and either say, "Dadadadada" or "Mamamama" or I just cry.  

Now, some things I don't like are when I'm crawling around and I find a little treasure and mom takes it away.  It tastes so good, I feel so great about finding something special, and she just takes it.  I don't really understand that, but mom says that someday when I'm not a baby I'll understand.  When it comes down to it, there's a whole lot that I DO understand, so it's okay to be confused about one thing.  I do not like people holding my hand... never have, never will.  Getting into my car seat is also pretty terrible, but once I'm all buckled in, it's a great ride.  

 I'm gonna hand it over to my mom from here.  Thanks for reading and looking at all of my pictures!

Here are some things Alice is saying/trying to say:

Saying: Mama, Dada

Trying to say: Hi (sounds like "I"), more (sounds like "bo"), no (sounds like oooh), Moo (like the cow -- sounds like a humming "mmmm"), all done (sounds like aaaah daaaah)

I feel like every day there is a new side of Alice that shines through -- it is so much fun getting to know her and getting to kiss her all.the.time.  Some days are hard, but most days that she crawls by my feet or I hear her squeal from another room, I am reminded of my many days of longing for such constant baby-companionship.   She's with me ALL DAY LONG!! I never have to say good bye, and why would I want to?  Keep being adorable, sweet babes! 

It's so impossibly hard to believe that 1 year old is two short months away! 

Alice Learns to Read

Alice has been crawling everywhere.  Currently, the crawling and getting into things is still adorable and hasn't reached the "when will this end" stage.  Here's what she found today.

Books and a bookmark from mom and dad's bookshelf... so much better than her own bookshelf.

P.S.  Alice will be posting her 10-month-old update soon!

Alice continues to be cute (and family comes to town)

I'm here, I'm alive, it's been awhile.

This past week was quite the refresher, since sister Jenny and her hubby Eric came in from Virginia/D.C./you-know AND the sister-in-law and two sweet nieces were in town as well!  Caleb and I considered it a "stay-cation" (I kind of hate that term) and, though our week was slightly crazy with driving all over the place/spending the night at my parents' in the middle of the week, it was seriously a wonderful break from the norm.  Here are some highlights...

Lydia got to hold Baby Alice (she loved doing this, even though -- due to Alice's growth in fatness since their last visit -- Lydia can hardly hold Alice up).

And my parents threw their usually-annual 4th of July party... which is and was a blast! (<-- pun)

Alice thought two-flaggin' it was as good as it got.  She also loves Emily.

She also loves Jennifer buuuut at this point in the evening Alice was asleep, so she didn't get to remember how much she loves Jennifer.  (Note: this is Jennifer's attempt at "Smile like you're in Europe" smile.  I don't know if it worked)





















If you are wondering, little Pickle slept through the giant fireworks show without a peep (special treat for Caleb and I!).

And then we just hung out.   And little Sophia (I still want to call her "Baby Soph") played "Wheel on da Bus" on Uncle Eric's phone 80% of the time.  It's an addicting game, let me tell you.

Other highlights:
-Alice is crawling (more to come on that).
-My sister got engaged!! The one who actually lives in Oklahoma.  "We need pictures, Julie!"  Oh, as it turns out, I am a terrible sister.  I was sifting through my pictures from the week and have NONE of sister and fiance.  I will fix that.
-My nieces are still in town and I can't wait to hang out with them some more.
-Summer tans are pretty nice.
-Favorite Lydia quote:
(Scenario: Lydia is jumping into the pool and her mom/Molly is trying to get her to close her mouth before jumping in to avoid water-swallowing)
Molly: Okay, close your mouth, don't smile, go!
Lydia: (jumps in, comes back up, and in a pitiful voice) Why can't I smiiiiile?

Because you shouldn't be happy, Lydia.  That's why.

I can't wait until Alice can talk.