QUIT GROWING, DANGIT!

4 Month Stats: 

Length: 26 inches

Weight: 12 lbs 6.8 oz

Dear Elsie, 

You are such a smiley, happy little baby! I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. You've been rolling over from front to back for about three and a half weeks now, and you've started to try to army crawl. You know how to roll from your back to your tummy, but you have no desire whatsoever to do so. You love to blow spit bubbles, laugh your little belly laugh, and squeal at the top of your lungs. About a week ago, you discovered your little feet and grab onto them whenever you can. You've also discovered that you can manipulate mom and dad - way to go, smarty pants! 

You absolutely love music, and you sing. I know people think I'm crazy for saying that my 4-month-old baby can sing, but you can! You hum along when I play your favorite songs - I can't wait until you have words to put with your little hums. Dad is so excited for that, too, because he's convinced that you two are going to sing lots and lots of duets together. 

Other things you love: bath time, story time, and being outside. Oh, and bananas. But you don't get any more of those till you learn to like your veggies. 

We are working on teaching you German - so far I think you're doing great. I mean, you've already got all the growling and gagging sounds down... now you just need to combine those sounds with words and you're set! 

Anyway, you're pretty much the most amazing, most advanced baby ever. Obviously. 

As far as the ongoing diaper count is concerned, you have gone through 714, with another pack of 180 open and about halfway gone. You're in size 2's - your time in size 1's was short lived. I think you'll be in this size for a while, though. Oh, and you had your first massive blowout a few weeks ago. I mean, it was on the walls and everything. Pretty gross. 

So to sum it all up: you are smart, curious, lovely, funny, goofy, and perfect in every way. I don't think I could love you any more than I do if I tried. My heart is so full of love for you... it's the most amazing, phenomenal feeling knowing that you are mine. I am blessed to be your mama. I love you, Elsie Lyn. 

Love, 

Mom

Women (and Men?) of the Blogosphere, Let's Make a Difference

Hey there, everyone - long time no see! 

To say I've been busy with school and life would be the understatement of the century. That being said, I just want to tell you all a little something (please humor me and read my mini-rant). 

The young girls of today need to be empowered. They need to be taught that there is more to life than being sexy. They are not objects, dammit! They are smart, beautiful, curious, and strong. They have worth and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them is important and valuable. Where the hell do the media and corporations get off marketing sex to kids as young as 3 and 4 years old? HOW IS THAT OKAY?! 

Answer: it's NOT. It's not okay, and something needs to change. I don't know how to go about doing it, but I want to stand up and voice my opinions. I want to band together with other women across the country who feel the same way. I want to take those girls who don't have a positive role model in their lives and show them amazing they are. I want them to realize that they are more than a sexy outfit, more than an object, more than the size of their jeans or the color of their hair, and that any man worth their time would recognize that. Let's breed confidence and poise in the next generation of women!

So. I've thought about this list of things that I wanted to do before my 25th birthday. This is where #18 comes in. This cause is near and dear to my heart now that I have a daughter. I know that I can teach my daughter these things, by I want other girls to know how valuable they are, as well. There are plenty of young girls out there that don't have positive role models in their lives. They are shoved aside, left to wonder why. They turn to sex to feel wanted, desired, and important, and that's not okay. This is not some agenda to try and force young girls to dress modestly or remain sexually pure until marriage. That needs to be a personal choice. No, instead, this is my mission - to make young girls realize their worth. 

This is where I need your help. I don't know how or where to start. I don't know if this idea should grow into a non-profit organization, or become a sort of internet movement, with a youtube channel, short videos, an online store to raise money to eventually make professional videos, etc. etc. I need other women who care. Other women who want to make a difference. We need to band together and stand up for our beliefs. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. 

Note: Although I am LDS, this will NOT be a faith-based organization. This is simply me, a mother of a daughter, trying to raise awareness of an issue about which I care very, very deeply. 

Growing up is Hard to do

Yo, yo, yo!! 

Just to let you all know - this blog post is kind of a way for me to put off reading German lit. So... you should probably all just yell at me right now.

In other news... Elsie turned three months on Saturday! I seriously can't believe it's been that long already (I know, I know... I say that all. the. freaking. time.) So... here's a little letter to my little girl!

Dear Elsie bear, 

I still can't believe you're mine to keep forever (well, until some handsome dude decides to sweep you off your feet, but let's not talk about that). I look at you and I see a beautiful, smart, curious, and strong little girl. You're always so happy - I'm not really sure how I ended up so lucky. When I wake up in the morning, there you are, ready to greet me with a big, toothless grin. When I tell you I love you, you smile up and me and growl (I'm convinced it's Elsie-language for, "I love you, too, Mom"). When your dad and I sing to you, you look up at us with those big blue eyes of yours and start to coo along. I can't wait until that cooing becomes actual singing - if you're anything like your dad, you will have an amazing voice.

Every day I fall more and more in love with you. Sure, there are days where I wonder what the heck I'm doing, but for the most part, you and I make a pretty good team. I love absolutely everything about you, and I am so excited to watch you grow and progress. Part of me wishes you'd stay little forever, but then I wouldn't get the opportunity to teach you, and that would be pretty lame.

Elsie, you are the best thing that has ever happened to your daddy and I, and we thank God every day that He brought you into our lives. I love you, you little turkey!!

Love, 

Mom

Sunday Confessions Link Up

Happy Sunday! 

You all know how this goes - grab a button, write up some confessions, and link them up at the bottom of the post.
  <center> <a href="http://itsalyx.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6701442513_4c7153a301.jpg" width="200" height="200" /></a></center> 1. I lost my lens cap while at a shoot yesterday. Holy oops!!! I proceeded to crawl around on my hands and knees trying to find it. No luck. I promptly drove to Best Buy and bought another. Good thing the next shoot was for a friend who was very understanding and didn't mind moving her shoot back a half hour.

2. I lost my cell phone at the mall on Thursday. I don't know if I set it down somewhere or if it fell out of my pocket, or what. All I know is that if you don't have the "Find My iPhone" app, then you should download it now. Otherwise I would probably not have my trusty little phone right now.

3. I forgot to put the diaper wipes in Elsie's diaper bag the other day. Are we sensing a pattern here? Mommy brain is real, people!! Anyway, I definitely cleaned her butt with a wet paper towel. Ha!

4. I ate seven apples yesterday. They were small, okay?! So freakin' delicious. Om nom nom (and you KNOW I had my JIF).

5. I really need to shower. Like, seriously. I'm disgusting. Five photo shoots in super hot, super humid weather. I am gross, gross, GROSS!!!

What do you have to confess? 

Junk in the Trunk

... of my car. And my house. I swear, the longer I live in a place, the more things pile up and the more junk I accumulate (is anyone else like this? Bueller.... Bueller...)

(Oooh.... This is a sponsored post, by the way. Everything in here is my opinion, blah, blah... you know, the good stuff)

Anyway. You wanna know the number one item of "junk" that I have somehow managed to acquire plenty of? CDs. I have hundreds of CDs just laying around the house. Sometimes I swear I hear them when everything else is quiet. They're whispering, "Play me, Alyx. Listen to my horrible mid-90's songs. You know you want to shake it to 'The Thong Song.' Or 'Wannabe' - that's a good one, too!"

Do I ever listen to them? No. Instead, I just try to find some little nook or cranny to shove them into. Basically... my house is full of nooks and crannies, and those nooks and crannies are filled with old CDs that will probably never again see the light of day.

You know what I should be doing with these poor, abandoned discs, though? Giving them a new home. And because I like money (who doesn't?!), I feel like I should get some kind of reward for taking these CDs out of their misery. 

Enter Music Magpie. You guys, this site is brilliant!! Not only can I sell those poor, poor CDs... but I can sell my husband's old games (you know, the ones he just HAD to have, but then played once or twice?) and DVDs. The best part? It's free. Free money, people!! It's like money is growing on a CD/DVD/game tree of junk that's made your home its growing space.

I kid you not - they will even offer you money for this gem:

It's okay, I danced, too. 

That Time We Took a Roadtrip

Okay, okay, Courtney.... this one's for you. :)

Once upon a time, we took a road trip to the grand ole state of Utah (that's right, not only the Mormon motherland, but also the blogging motherland. Coincidence? I think not, but we'll get into the whole Mormon blogger thing another time).

Anyway. Where was I? Oh, right... we took a road trip to Utah. This was like, ages ago. And you know what?! I had my camera, but I did not take one. single. picture. How's that for rockstar blogger status? I know, I know... I'm the next "Daybook."

Okay, I keep getting off track here. So I was in the Mormon/Blogging motherland, and you know what?! I only met ONE blogger. I'm a disgrace, I know. In my defense, we were only in Utah for four days and (because we are Mormon) approximately 92.6% of our relatives live there. You all know what that means, right? Nonstop family visits. Like, we pop in, say, "HI! How are you? Great? Great. I'm good, too. Welp, gotta get to my great aunt's sister's cousin's house to see how she and her family are doing, so see ya!"

Maybe not quite that extreme, but you get the idea. So yeah. Anyway, I got to meet this super awesome blogger and her super adorable baby (seriously - cutest kid in the world besides Elsie). My darling daughter was covered in puke from altitude sickness (the grandpa took over and shooed me out the door because I was in tears that she was losing weight and spitting up everything she ate), so she didn't get to come with me, but Courtney, Mia, and I had a blast. We ate frozen yogurt, asked a random dude to take our picture, then asked a bored cashier to take our picture again because said random dude was a really crappy picture-taker, and had an all-around good time.

Picture or it didn't happen.

BOOM. It happened. 

Sunday Confessions Link Up

Happy Sunday!! 

You all know how this works, so get going!!
  <center> <a href="http://itsalyx.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6701442513_4c7153a301.jpg" width="200" height="200" /></a></center> 1. Right when I thought I was getting back into the blogging groove, I lost it. Yeah... that'd explain why I haven't blogged in forever, right?!

2. I've decided I have the cutest baby in the world. I mean, really. I just can't get enough of her (and I believe that every mommy thinks her baby is the cutest - it's just natural).

3. I'm NOT ready for school to start. I have orientation all this week, and I'm sort of freaking out a little bit. What was I thinking?! Going back to school to get a master's with a 3-month-old? I must be on crack.

4. I finally figured out what my favorite animal is! I've never really known what to say when people ask what my favorite animal is, but after going to the zoo yesterday, I finally decided that I love giraffes. They are the best!

5. My brain is totally not functioning right now. Like, it's a huge pile of mush. Mushy gushy mushy gush mush.

What do you have to confess? 

PS: I haven't read more than 5 blog posts in the past two weeks, and I don't think I've commented on any, so if I haven't visited you lately, please don't be offended! My life is a big ole pile of crazy trash right now!!