Dresses for Baby Girls

One of the things that's fun about having a baby girl is all the CUTE dresses. You see them in the store and they're so tiny and so pretty and so irresistable, like this one from Old Navy....



You imagine how cute your baby will look in it, then you put her in it and Yes, she looks SO cute...



But the reality is, seconds after you put it on her and for the rest of the time she wears it, it looks like this:



You can't keep the skirt from hiking up or the shoulders from bunching up, so you're constantly tugging at the thing, but it's a hopeless cause.

So, you learn never to dress you infant in anything that doesn't snap between the legs until they start walking.

I think I'll have more fun dressing Ellie in dresses next year. For now I'll just enjoy her cute pink sleepers.

Mostly for the Benefit of my Sisters

Here are some pictures of some parts of my house that are very interesting to me, but probably not to the world in general, unless you are one of my sisters who listens to me prattle on and on about interior decorating.

The first one is the large closet at the top of my stairs. This is the kind of closet that every home should have and most homes built nowdays don't. That's why I'm so excited to have it in this almost brand-new house (the original owner had it built in specially). It's actually even bigger than it looks.



The second is the kids' bathroom because I wanted to show my sisters the great shower curtain I found-- they know how "me" it is! I guess you can't really see it too well-- it's blue floral on white background (I like blue and white, and flowers, etc.)



The third is what I've done with a wall in my living room with some stuff I bought at a home decor outlet last Thursday. I get neurotic about home decor, because somehow I have this idea that it has to look perfect to me AND everyone else (especially the persons whose opinions matter a lot to me) and so in the past I've actually done very little home decorating because of some irrational fear that it won't be "just right." But I am trying to overcome this problem, and I think I'm starting to believe that as long as I like the way it looks, everyone else's opinion doesn't matter at all. So if you think this looks dreadful, TOO DANG BAD!!! I like it!

Wild Thing

Joey's hair is so cool-looking when it's wet. He has such nice thick curly hair. I should cut it, but it's so beautiful I can't stand to.

Jared's Investment House-- Before and After

Jared took some pictures of his completed investment house today. It looks so nice. Then Rob, his business parter, emailed us the "before" pictures. I had never actually seen the house "before" because Jared said it was so disgusting he wouldn't let me go over there (I was very pregnant and sensitive to smell, among other things, so I didn't mind!) There were roaches everywhere, mice nests in the kitchen, a dead cat under the back porch, the carpet was soaked with animal urine, there was poop smeared on the walls, you get the idea. So here are five "before" pictures:






AND.... ta da! Here are five "after" pictures!






Wow! What a job! Glad it was Jared doing it and not me!

Evening in the Back Yard

Tonight was one of those perfect spring evenings where the light is beautiful, the wind is calm, and the temperature is just right. I spent an hour in the backyard pulling weeds in the flower beds while the kids ran around screaming. Sometimes they play happily, sometimes they fight. Today was a fighting day. (Poor Sam, sometimes I really wonder if he's going to grow up traumatized by his older brother.) I kept telling them, "Look! Look at this beautiful backyard you have to play in! You're so lucky!"



They weren't impressed. (I need to take them to Africa so they can learn to appreciate their life.) But I'm impressed! I love this yard!

I can't keep them out of the garden plot,



but once I get the weeds and wood scraps cleaned out and an actual garden planted I think they're old enough to leave it alone for the most part. Or else I'll lock the gate.

In my last yard I chose and planted each tree, shrub, and flower myself, but this yard was built by another gardener. It's kind of fun to discover what is growing in the yard as springtime progresses. A small tree by the garden turns out to be an apple tree, with beautiful blossoms. Maybe it will help us not miss our peach trees so much.

The Creatures

Here are a couple pictures of my three kids that I meant to get on here a couple weeks ago and never did. The boys sure love their baby sister.

I have to watch them really close with her though!

Ellie

I knew that once Eleanor got really chubby and smiley we would start calling her Ellie and it's happening. Most of the time I call her Ellie now.


My friend Wendy gave me this stuffed octopus and I think it's just the cutest thing. I've decided that it's Ellie's octopus, and I keep giving it to her in hopes that when she's older she'll make it her special object. I know that she probably won't, just because I want her to, but I can put it on her head now and take cute pictures and hope. She does like to chew on the legs. She is starting to get things in her mouth a little bit.


Speaking of Ellie's development, she rolled over several times today.

Uncle Ted in the front of the house

Here is a picture of the front of our new house:



Oops, just kidding. That is a picture of the front of the investment house that the Badger is fixing up to sell. It's almost done, though you can't really tell. They didn't do much to the outside, and the buyers don't care about that. The inside they pretty much gutted and started over, so it looks fabulous now. They did a great job. I'll have to get pictures of that.

But Here is really the front of our new house! It's big and yellow! I love it!

Moving Up

I haven't been blogging because I've been too busy with the move and the new house. I kept thinking about things to blog-- before and after pictures with the move, witty comments about the trials of moving, etc. But even when I could find the computer I couldn't find the digital camera. However, things are finally coming together. I've even got some pictures hung. My new mantle looks great:



The living room doesn't have any couches yet, but the bookshelves are coming together:



In the morning, my kitchen is flooded with light:



And the best part is, when I look out my kitchen window, this is what I see:



The boys have been having so much fun playing on their new swingset. Bean has even learned to swing by himself. It's so nice to be able to have friends over and let the kids just play out back. I even had my friend Mrs. Beaver over the other night with her five boys (and a baby girl) and it was fine until it got dark. Then her boys had to come in and things got a little wild, but not as bad as it used to be in my old house. There is plenty of room in the family room.

The other night the Badger and I stayed up after putting the kids to bed and watched a movie. We turned on the fireplace and had popcorn and hot chocolate. It was so nice to have the boys in their room upstairs where they weren't constantly peeking out into the living room and begging to be able to watch with us. Roo fell asleep in the Badger's arms, and he said he was so happy and content he wanted me to take a picture so he could remember the moment.



Life is good right now!

Two Little Monkeys

I wrote in my first post how I thought my boys might destroy the house while I wrote blogs. Well, my house is still standing, but my little peach tree has had one of its main limbs broken off (while I was on the computer) and this afternoon I went to check on them and found them 3 houses down, on the corner, playing in the gutter puddles, and Bean was in his underwear. Lovely! So I may not be able to post here very often, because I need to keep a better eye on my children!

Miss Piggy

Last summer when my friend Allison gave me a huge pile of baby girl clothes (just in case!) this outfit was one I couldn't Wait to put on my baby. Here is Roo in the Pig Suit! You cannot tell from the picture how soft and cuddly it is. Also I am noticing that you can barely see the pig face on the front, but at least it's a cute picture of Roo.



She knows she's cute!




Bean wanted me to take a picture of him coloring. He is getting better and better at coloring in the lines, and he always makes everything so colorful! I wish the picture wasn't so washed out. I'm still trying to figure out how to put pictures on here without having them take 80 million years to upload with our dialup.



So of course then Fish wanted me to take a picture of him too...

Do I dare do this again?

I think I should get back into blogging. Problem is, my kids will probably destroy my house while I sit blissfully at the computer describing how wonderful they are and posting cute pictures of them for their doting grandparents to coo over. They are dang cute and wonderful, but unfortunately this one

will not let me do much with the computer these days! Well, she's only 7 weeks old. Give her a month and she'll be typing for me.