You Know You're A Mom When...

...trying to get into the bathroom can be a seriously frustrating experience...no handles...ever since your toddler became tall enough to open the french door handles.

...maxi pads have become your children's impromptu band-aids and stickers...they are all over the walls, your arms, legs, feet, etc.

...you forget your wallet, but you have plenty of diapers, wet-ones, pull-ups, clothes, big girl panties, fruit snacks, apple juice boxes, pacifiers...

...going to the market without children is a luxury worth lingering over...at least an hour or two...

Best Buds

Kendall loves her cousin Ella. Not that she doesn't love her other cousins, but she seems to have a special bond with Ella. Many times the only way I can get her to put on a certain pair of shoes or a particular outfit is to tell her they were Ella's, or that Ella has a pair just like them. I thought after our full week away in Colorado she might have forgotten a bit, but as soon as we said we were going home she said "Going to Ella's home?"

She missed her best friend dearly.

It's hilarious to watch them in their toddler conversations. My sister caught them in such a moment on Saturday during Leah's birthday party. The rest of the crowd was outside in the pool, but not Ella and Kendall. They were playing dress-up in Ella's room. It was just too precious to listen to Kendall putting a necklace on Ella and vice versa, than the other stating how 'coot' they looked.

Kendall and Ella through the years...

Leah's First Year

Sweet Leah, who can believe you are already a year old today? It seems like just yesterday I was going in for a routine prenatal visit and was told that you were to be born the next day! How could we ever forget how our air conditioner broke on your birth day and your daddy had to run home to meet the repair man so the dogs wouldn't burn up.


You've come a long way from dipping under 6 pounds to your cuddly, chunky self today. You crawl when you want to, but find that most things are delivered to you by Ma and big sister Kendall, so why would you need to? You pull up on anything that sits still - and sometimes some things (aka people) that don't!


We get so many comments and compliments on your fabulously spiky auburn hair. You have so many nicknames that you may not even know your real first name. Big sister likes to call you 'sissy wendy' - a combination of what I call you both sometimes 'kendy wendy' and 'sissy wissy.' I've tried to correct her, but she adamantly tells me you are 'sissy wendy' not 'sissy wissy.'


No one makes you laugh or cry harder than your big sister and I love watching you two grow up together.


Love you, Love you, Love you

A Glimpse of Heaven

I've been to Colorado a time or two, but I must have forgotten how pretty it all is...from the aspen trees, with their small fan-shaped leaves that seem to sparkle in the wind, to the majestic mountains, covered in their earthy gray velour...

We spent this past fourth of July in Aspen, and what a beautiful place it was. Beyond the pricey shops and the fresh water streams that feed impossibly perfect flowers, there was a moment where I swear we all got a glimpse of heaven. In fact, if I could guess what God was saying, it was "Aspen, see if you can outdo this!"

We were rounding a street to watch fireworks when suddenly we saw the sunset on the neighboring mountains - it was just a brilliant gold in the near-evening sky. I tried to take a picture, but I'm sure my camera could not do it justice:

As with all good things, this one quickly came to an end. I walked a few yards back to get a better picture (minus the building) and it was gone...just as quickly as it appeared it was gone.

Sing, Sing a Song

I inherited this strange family trait...it involves taking a popular (well, sometimes only popular to me) song and changing the words to apply to whatever situation is happening at the moment. Perhaps this is normal, however I have yet to run across many that do it (other than my dad, which again is why I believe it to be a family trait), but many times I myself even find it strange and annoying. It's even more bizarre because I cannot sing and would never think to try it in public. I couldn't carry a note to save my life and I usually save most family and friends from the torture of it...

I thought of this yesterday while I was randomly singing new words to an old song again and thinking "why on earth do I do this?"

The part that has become funny to me is that I think Kendall has inherited this family trait. Although perhaps more on the part of misunderstanding, she will sing "Are you sleeping?" with a wide variety of words and phrases. Unfortunately she usually does this in the car while I'm driving, so I have few opportunities to record her toddler sweetness, butchering the words to another lullaby.

What's your embarrassing 'family trait?'

Fruitcake

I've lacked a bit of creativity lately...cute things happen in life and I think "wow I should really blog about that" but then I lack the energy to put it into words. I've even taken a break from my 'mama-razzi' status in the house...I think it's due to a combination of a lot of factors ranging from the usual lack of time to our old pc flaking out and us having to switch over to a Mac.

At any rate, I had a moment of freedom with Leah snacking on finger foods in her high chair and big sister asleep, so I thought I'd share a quick update...fruit you ask? Well, because fruitcake has about every bit and piece of something all rolled into one, so I thought that might be an appropriate description of this post...

Kendall is starting to use complete sentences and it's so funny. One tidbit from the other evening...I was rocking her to sleep and asked her "Kendall, don't you want some daddy time?" since her daddy is normally the one who puts her to bed, to which she replied "no, Mommy, I want some mommy time." Another popular phrase in the house is "uh oh, Mommy, what happened?" and it's usually asked repeatedly - like a good 100 times or more. One great example was a couple weeks ago when I accidentally dropped a coffee cup on the floor. The cup shattered into a million pieces, as well as the residual coffee that splattered all over the floor and surrounding walls. For the next at least three hours, I heard "uh oh, Mommy, what happened?!?" Thanks Bee for the constant reminder of mommy's clumsiness...

Leah is getting more teeth by the day it seems...she has two on the bottom and getting 4 on the top! Her favorite food is Gerber Graduates 'lil crunchies (kinda like cheetos puffs) and she is taking to a sippy cup like a champ. Although almost 11 months, she still cannot crawl or walk yet but she finds her own unique way to get around...she has started making this 'snuffy' sound recently, where she will scrunch up her nose and snuff like a little piggy. She is still the Sleeping Champion of 2010 and if only I could get her to teach her big sister some lessons on that!

Someone recently said (in different words)...you always knew you would love your kids, but you never thought about how much you could love watching them love each other. This so true - nothing makes me happier than to watch Kendall give Leah a kiss or to watch them laugh hysterically at one another in the bathtub.

Password on Giggles

I've decided to put a password on this blog - I plan to do so by this Wednesday so if you would like to continue reading please let me know and I'll add you on the list to allow. FYI you will need a google id in on order to read going forward.

Thanks friends!