Squeek of the Morning

I love my big girl.  That's her, #7.  She is strong, smart, confident, compassionate, funny and beautiful.  She gives everything she attempts her best effort.  She's our guinea pig; I admit that we are learning as we go with our oldest daughter! I don't know what we did to deserve her, but God blessed us infinitely when he chose us to be her parents!

So enough gushing.

This morning I woke up too early to the sounds of a clumsy man crashing and shuffling into the bathroom and making all sorts of unnecessary noise.  So I went and snuggled next to big sis for a while and when she got up, since we were running ahead of schedule, I sat on her bed and french braided her hair for school while she talked.  And talked.  And talked.

Here's what was on her mind this morning.  "Claudia has this idea for a dance party.  She wants to make costumes and buy shoes.  Claudia's mom is a good sew-er (like seamstress, but she said "sower" and spelled out it looked like "sewer" which is entirely different) but she asks for help if she gets stuck because she has a friend who sews too.  And I would be in charge of making the signs for the dance party and getting a table. And the party would be here in our neighborhood.  Where would be a good place mom?  We were thinking on the grass in the backyard by those trees (greenbelt).  And we would have to ask (the neighborhood association) for permission I guess, although you don't have to ask for permission to have a lemonaide stand.  That doesn't seem fair, does it mom?  Do you think we could get some of those big pieces of paper for the signs?  Like at Hobby Lobby or something?  Would you make some snacks?  And Claudia wants to have it at sunset because it's so pretty but I don't think that's a good idea because we wouldn't have enough time.  Because it would take all our time just to set it up and then it would be bedtime!  So I think we should have it, like, at dinner time and then everyone can dance at sunset.  Do you think that's a good idea mom?  And I was thinking we should have lots of balloons and let them go right when our party is starting and then everyone would say "Wow!  Look at those beautiful balloons!" and they would know we were having a party because of the balloons and they would walk over to the grass because everyone is out in the evening playing and going for walks and stuff.  Do you think it's a good idea mom?"

"I certainly think you've put a lot of thought into it."

Lamaze International

I got to attend the annual Lamaze International Conference this year as an exhibitor for FNU.

I looked forward to it all week and it was lots of fun!

Nurses and childbirth people are so dang nice. 

The best part, besides the free food,

were all the entrepreneurial displays...

These dolls were so cute!  I want one for my future office!

And I met the creators of iBirth -

a birth app for the iPhone!! 

You know I'm buying it.  

The app has short videos to demonstrate different labor positions 

and how they benefit mom and baby; it has nutrition information

 and even examples of good sources of different nutrients!

  Forehead slap!  Why didn't I think of that??

I came up on a free bottle of Bio-Oil.

Originally designed for burn victims, 

they now market it for scars, stretch marks and just general skin wellness.

Preliminary results obtained from the warm bath I just exited indicate that this may be a winning product!

  I'll let you know after repeated uses.

  I'm going to use it on Mia and Eva's itchy, sensitive skin too.

And the totally awesomest thing was that I met the founder of 

Dancing For Birth!

I missed the class series that was offered here last month, 

but after meeting Stephanie, I have decided to attend her training workshop.

I hope it doesn't matter that I can't dance...

Just wanted to share the goodness!

Love to my peeps,

Katie

Ponytail!

This is a follow-up to my last post... Observe:

Ponytail!  

(Eva was feeling cooperative for about 20 seconds this morning!)

But I have to tell ya,

 nobaby rocks the Pebbles Flintstone ponytail quite like baby Ali did 6 years ago....

I meant to scan a photo of baby Ali, but scanner is not being as cooperative as Eva,

so here is a substitute pic of my sports fans:

GBR!!

Where Did All The Hair Ties Go?

It seems that I buy those thick elastic hair rubber bands every time I go to Target and yet, 

we still struggle to find enough of them to contain our ponytails every morning. 

 What is up with that?  

This afternoon the mystery was solved.  It's sort of a long story... 

Exhibit A.  

Athletic big sister requires 1 -2 hair ties for soccer and swimming lessons.

Ponytails independently.

Claims she wants to let hair grow 2 feet.

Exhibit B.

 Spirited baby sister.

Not enough hair for a ponytail, although Mom tries frequently.

Continuously flaps arms and exclaims "I fly!  I fly!"

Alternately claims to be a princess or a butterfly.

Occasionally identifies as "Superbunny."

Exhibit C.

Imaginative medium sister.

Previously obsessed with cheetahs and all things feline.

Now associates with her cold-blooded amphibian side.

Spends excessive time in the bathtub.

Hair is usually too wet to be ponytailed. 

Exhibit D.

Devin.

No, the frog is Devin.  She's not real.

She is more frequently lost than found.  

It was during one of her lost episodes that the mystery was solved.

Exhibit E.

Mischievous Mouder-Tat.

Way too affectionate and curious. 

No manners.

Has deep undying love for... hair ties.

When the most recent quest for Devin resulted in the rearrangement of furniture

20 elastic hair ties were discovered beneath the couch.  Along with 5 pens.

Apparently Mouder likes those too.

And the mystery is solved!