Life....

Above: This is what I can make my life look like in pictures sometimes.
Below:  A story about what life is ACTUALLY like most times.

I was talking on the phone with Katie the other evening.  I was explaining that Grace was going through a challenging phase. Then I got off the phone, and a few minutes later had to call Katie back to explain to her exactly what “challenging” had just looked like.  This is basically what I told her.

I had taken Grace to the bathroom every 20 minutes for the last hour.  She did not once use the toilet.  We went outside.  I was on the phone.  A few minutes later, I see that while she is sitting outside under the neighbors front steps, she has mud all over her upper lip.  How strange.  Then I watched her pick up a plastic orange cup filled with dirt, bring it to her mouth and back down to her lap, and then begin chewing on something.

“Grace! Are you eating dirt?!?!”

“No, I’m drinking it.  And watching TV.  It’s my water.”

And sure enough, she was ingesting soil.  I grabbed her out of the dirt because what is cute at 9 months is not cute at 32.  On the way out of the dirt, I noticed she was also sitting in mud and had a bum covered in mud, but only in the spot where she would have just wet her pants.

Pee mud.   

Awesome.

So, Katie, that’s what I mean when I say challenging.

The Littlest of My Littles

Lillian

·         Lillian is a chatty little thing

·         Lillian will share a huge, open-mouth smile with just about anyone who pays her attention

·         If she is crying she wants one of 5 things

o   Bottle

o   Nap

o   Pacifier

o   Swaddle

o   Cuddle

·         Quickest way to dry Lil’s tears is to swaddle her and pop in her bink

·         Lillian has a flat spot on the back-left side of her head

·         I can finally get her to sleep on other parts of her head so that maybe it’s not quite so flat forever

·         Her hair is straight, brown, and two inches long on the top of her head

·         It’s only ½ long on the sides

·          Her eyes are dark blue

·         She has deliciously chunky rolls all over her legs and arms

·         Lillian likes to sing

·         Lillian likes to be read to

·         She found her fists this week

·         She learned how to play with toys this week

·         Her favorite way to fall asleep is swaddled, bink-ied, and laying on the floor watching mom and Grace play

·         Lil likes raspberries and tickles on her neck

·         She is 25 inches long

·         Lillian is absolutely the most happy when she is in the bath

·         Lillian has already had 3 colds

·         Her preferred nick names are Lil (mom), Lil-lil(Grace), Lilly(Dad), and Chunka-Monka Bay-bey (Mom)

·         When Lil is sad, she rubs her feet together

·         Mostly, Lil is happy

Remember...

My Gracie-girl

Life only looks picturesque

Know how I know that?

Cuz in that precious picture up there, I know that Grace has completely soiled undies.

But I wanted that picture anyway, cuz I love my girl

Accidents and all

Things I love—or at the very least should remember—about Grace:

·         When she feels a little self-conscious or silly, she talks with her bottom lip pulled over her bottom teeth

·         She likes to read the picture version of the Book of Mormon

·         Her prayers are NEVER more than four sentences long

o   Dear Heavenly Father

o   Thank you for the day

o   Thank you for Jesus (or everybody or Lillian or Addy)

o   In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

·         She’s figured out that if she tells you that you skipped a part of her lullaby, you’ll re-sing that part

·         Bribing only works sometimes

·         She loves Lillian

·         She falls off of furniture all the time

·         If that child does not get an afternoon snack, her sugar drops and she is a MESS

·         She’ll only try new food if a Disney princess also eats it

·         She always wants to know who gave her each of her things

·         She snuck into the fridge and ate about 30 olives yesterday

·         She calls bobby pins “barbie pins”

·         She gets a dinosaur vitamin every morning as long as she lets me do her hair

·         She loves Dora toothpaste

·         She loves when I have “Someping Fecial” (Something Special) to tell her or show her

·         She wears shoes as infrequently as possible

·         She puts on tutus and costume jewelry every single day

·         She is a sucker for a Princess Crown

·         Her favorite movie is “Punchback”  (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

·         She likes to put stickers on paper and then promptly rip them all back off

·         She loves to paint but only if it’s acrylic—crayola watercolor is cheap

·         She loves hamburgers and French fries and could eat them till she keeled over

·         Friends/cousins are her favorite part of life—and her uncles

·         She loves nursery and wears a “Princess Dress” every single week

·         She likes to put on makeup in the morning with Mom

·         Anytime she’s into something she shouldn’t be, she’ll explain that she was “Helping You” (i.e. cut her hair, pick up Lillian, open bottles at the store, put battery operated toys in the bath)

·         If it is “Far-ka-ly” (sparkly) she is probably going to love it

·         If it has a butterfly, she’s probably going to love it

·         She loves to do dishes

·         She always has to touch the food on other people’s plates

·         Telling her you want to hold her is the quickest way to stop her crying

·         She loves riding on your back like a horse

·         She wants to get married in the temple

·         She wants to marry Repunzel

·         She doesn’t really like to exercise with mom, but she’ll do it every time if it means she can have a sip of hot chocolate (protein drink)

·         She can’t keep hot chocolate and chocolate milk straight to save her life

·         She spends all her time climbing up and down the stuff at the park but avoids all the slides

·         She loves, loves, loves playing in dirt—in her tutu