wait,

so you're saying that just because my body was once marathon-ready doesn't mean i can lie around stuffing my face with ice cream for a year and a half and still be able to easily handle a little 6-mile jog?

NOW you tell me.

should i tell them

our country's space exploration pursuits landed us on the moon about 50 years ago already?

nah. but i will compliment them on lulu's (the doll's) official NASA headgear.

hallmark

i've decided to make a career out of designing love notes for hallmark. for example:


[goopy syrupy flowers and hearts and xoxoxox's on the front] "i love you so much..."


[open card] "...that i would spend 2 hours trimming the fat off of 40 pounds' worth of boneless skinless chicken breasts, fitting them into little bags, toting them out to the freezer, and smelling like raw meat for the rest of the night, just so you and our beautiful children can eat." [with the following pictures]




not to brag, but i think i'll be wildly successful. because that's a lotta love.

i'm embarrassed

i've watched about a total of 20 minutes of biggest loser this season (mutual on tuesday nights, you know). i actually caught a bit of the show tonight, and i randomly started some empathetic crying about halfway through (if you've seen the episode, you know why).

paul laughed at me, rolled his eyes, handed me the remote, and headed to bed.

so, yeah, i'm embarrassed.

carson

he's growing up sooo much. of course, carson is still just 4 years old and acts it, but he is my big helper. often, i'll find him quietly cleaning up not only his toys but layla's as well. he loves to "babysit" addelyn (who loves her big brother right back), and will stop his own playing to try to make her happy or give her a toy or make a silly face to bring out a giggle. yesterday, he headed to his sunday school class by himself; when i tried to catch up with and walk with him, he looked at me and said, "dat's okay, mom, i can take myself." for those of you who know carson, this is unprecedented. "alone" and "by myself" are definitely not part of his everyday plans...

this afternoon, layla woke up from her nap on the wrong side of the bed and was throwing an irrational fit about something. the conversation i overheard from the kitchen (occasionally, i like to let them "duke it out," just to see what will happen) made me swell with pride for the big-brotherness of carson. he calmly, rationally, and sympathetically talked layla through a myriad of alternatives, solutions, and ideas. she continued to scream, but he didn't lose his cool -- this lasted several minutes. i was beyond impressed.

carson told me today, "with legos, it's like you get a new toy every time you build something!" he's waaaaaaaay into legos and star wars, and i'm pretty sure the earth stops spinning and the stars align for the boy when the two are combined. we've spent i don't know how many hours building i don't know how many lego things, but it never seems to get old. he gets frustrated when things break or don't go the way he wants, but he's learning to laugh and i've heard him say, "it's okay, dat's part of the fun of legos!" even when his masterpiece goes to crumble. carson is a joy. i'm proud of him and the way he's beginning to handle some of life's hard lessons and curveballs.

layla

i'm having a hard time figuring out which personality of layla i'll be interacting with, hour-by-hour. she can be the most imaginative, helpful, loving, sweet little thing. at times, the opposite is true (like probably most 3-year-old girls). i'm learning to laugh, and to let her see me laughing, at her intensest of tantrums, because they're done with such flair. but her moments of goodness are so very endearing that i'm hopeful this is just a phase. (can someone back me up? pretty please?) either way, let the record show: i ADORE this little blondie.

layla has taken a liking to doing my hair with "pretties," which, not surprisingly, include nearly every hair accessory in her bathroom drawer. paul showers me with compliments after layla does my hair, which only feeds the fire. it's fun; i remember doing the same to my mom, and i felt very grownup. layla will also come up and randomly rub my back or gently comb my hair with her fingers before giving me hugs, which is sweet. my favorite part of nearly any day is this little game, where layla out-of-the-blue says, "mo-om," to which i must respond, "wha-at?" to which she replies, "i love you."

she climbs into bed with me every morning and gets into my jar of lip stuff. what you see below is the typical result. i suppose i could hide my lip stuff, because it really startles me to turn my face toward her in my morning grogginess and see this, but i can't bring myself to put any kind of damper on her pride in making herself so beautiful. the sparkles wear off on our pillowcases and the post-breakfast washcloth, anyway. i'll be sad when this mess stops being made.

addie

addelyn: now 6 months old. loves to suck her fingers and play with her toes, is a drooler, and is as bald (and beautiful) as ever. she & carson have a special bond. she thinks her wide-open display of gums & tongue equals a smile. she's started eating, mashed up, pretty much what we eat, but she especially loves fruit.

addie prefers to be where the action is until she's tired, and then all she wants is her sleep, which she communicates very effectively. (the people at church feel very sorry for us, i think, because sundays are her crabbiest days, by far. 1-4 p.m., though, so what do you expect.) she still needs to be swaddled to fall asleep, but she's strong enough to wiggle herself free sometimes.

she can be picky and temperamental, but mostly she's sweetness itself, embodied in an adorable, dimply ball of muscle. which, of course, her dimples (and smile, for that matter) are nowhere to be found when i finally busted out the camera.