#3

Wouldn't we love to say that we treat all our children equally? It isn't even close to being true. Hayden got all the undivided attention of a first child. Is it any wonder he's such an early reader? We must have read to him 2 hours a day. Poor Trevor probably only knows 2 letters right now (T I'm sure of, maybe H). Hopefully he'll pick it all up in preschool.

And Miss J? She's on her own entirely. Still don't have any video of her crawling...but she's been at it for months. Now she's pulling herself up to stand...without an audience of clapping, adoring fans. She tried to pull herself up on my leg in the kitchen last night but only succeeded in pulling down my pants. She's a do-it-herself kind of gal, way ahead of where the boys were on gross motor development at the same age. But I think it's by necessity. As much as I absolutely and truly adore her, I can't lay on the floor to play with her for a minute without the wild boys clawing at us. So she gets to explore and try to stand, and fall, all on her own. No safety net of hands ready to catch her. I think she'll be our adventurous one--jumping out of planes and traveling the world with only a backpack.

Birth order isn't everything, but it sure seems to make a difference in our house.

The problem...

I went to return a pair of shoes at lunch today. When I bought Juliette an outfit for her 10 month pictures (yes, she got a new outfit just for pictures, don't lecture me yet) I bought the shoes in two different sizes, because I wasn't sure which ones would fit. So today I went to return the ones that were too big. There you go, $14 back in the bank.

Until I saw this hat. I mean, if your name is Juliette Claire and you are 12.5% French, you must have a beret, oui?

And you can't wear that beret without these shoes, can you?

And those shoes practically demand this blouse if you ask me...

And what the heck, if we're going nuts, we'd better finish the outfit with this skirt...

And that, my friends, is the problem in a nutshell. I may have waited my whole life for this little girl, but I really should have been saving my whole life for this little girl.

But since she doesn't need a college fund (on account of being cute and intending to marry rich), I guess it's OK, right?

He's redeemed himself...

You may or may not know that my friend Vito is a stay-at-home dad. I know that's a big important job and not something to make fun of. But he does seem to have a more than ample allotment of web-surfing time every day. Lately, he's been sending me lots of links to web-trash. I'm talking the worst of the worst videos of dubbed Transformer cartoons and Mario Brothers humor. I'd almost given up clicking on the links he sends, but then comes this gem...

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Vito says it's funny no matter how you plan to vote. I can't vouch for that, but it's sure funny if you plan to vote the way I'm voting.

Hijacked...

I tried to check my blog from a coworker's computer today to show her the soccer picture. I typed in my address and instead of this blog, up popped some blog in German about GUNS! Pictures of my sweet children replaced by pictures of GUNS. I was sure I typed the address right, but just in case, I googled myself and clicked on the link from Google. Once again, GUNS! It was very disturbing. I checked again 15 min later from my own computer and it was back to normal. But what in the world???

Anyways, feeling some mom-guilt for rarely posting pics of the big boys, so here...

Oh, and since I can't get enough of this one...

My new hairbows for Miss J arrived in the mail today. I am beyond excited. I was getting tired of the one little plaid bow, but couldn't stomach any more $9 itty bitty bows. But I scored a bunch from a cute Ebay shop for only $2 each. Y'see, when we wear the hairbows, we can get away with colors other than pink and avoid being called a boy. And mommy is tired of people calling her little flower a boy.

Wow, has it been that long?

I just saw that my last post was Oct 11th...I shouldn't even be posting though because I'm so far behind on everything else. I'm still working on editing the wedding I shot on Oct 11th and then I have 3 other photo sessions to wade through.

And yet, here I am, shopping on-line for Halloween costumes and looking through pics of my own cuties. Here are a few updates...

This edible little morsel turned 10 months old today.
She had to demonstrate her new skills...

The sun sets on another month and I'm overjoyed and sad at the same time. She almost isn't a baby anymore.

Speaking of skills, what's wrong with this picture of the Sharks' soccer game yesterday? I've noted for your reference #1) the ball which is in play #2) David pointing to tell Logan where to go #3) Trevor running around the field with his jersey pulled over his head and #4) Logan blissfully unaware of where the action is. Gotta love 3-year old soccer.

And finally, we had another milestone around here yesterday. Someone had a little birthday cake with two #4 candles on it. Care to guess who that might be?

I'd say I'll post again when I get caught up with everything else, but that will probably never happen.

On the road...

To Louisiana. I miss Louisiana. Wish I could get there a little more frequently.

Whew!

Despite more wrong turns than any one person should be able to make in a single day, I made it to my meeting on time this morning. And despite my ability to turn a 30 mile trip to the airport into a 60 mile trip (one really wrong turn that took me 15 miles to figure out), I'm boarding my flight as we speak after a madcap dash through the airport. Remember the old commercials with OJ sprinting through the airport dodging obstacles? That was totally me. Without the future life of crime, I hope.

Maybe I'll make it to soccer practice tonight. Yay!

By the way, passed a restaurant called the Beef Connection. Is it possible that Louisiana is less vegetarian than Texas? My lunch at the meeting would suggest the answer is yes. Green beans? Yum, but not with pork. Pasta? Double yum, but not with seafood. Chicken? Not even a half-yum in my book. Oh well, leftover breakfast doughnuts and pound cake are a balanced meal for me these days.

In case you're curious, I'm still caffeine free. I almost caved in during a particularly scintillating presentation today, since my 3:30 alarm was coming back to haunt me, but I stood strong. Oops, doors closing. Signing off.

Got up at 3:30 am...

So I could get to the airport by 5 am so I could catch a 6 am flight to Louisiana so I could attend a 9 am meeting. And then catch a 4 pm flight back to Houston so I can get to bed early so we can get on the road Saturday morning to drive to Louisiana.

Sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff, wondering if your life keeps going in circles too?

Just spent $150. Remember when you used to get exciting stuff when you went shopping. I got diapers, wipes, and batteries. Doesn't get much more exciting than that folks.

Don't open Quicken...

It's just depressing. Sean has it set up to update all the stock prices automatically and the little net worth box in the corner is looking sad. That's what you get when 90% of your net worth is invested in stock. Just repeat after me: we're in it for the long haul, we're nowhere near retirement, the kids have years before they need their college funds, the market always recovers...it's all just a wonderful opportunity to buy more at bargain prices. And don't look at the numbers 'cause there isn't a darn thing you can do about it.

My brother would say...at least Juliette is cute, she can just marry well and not worry about needing a college fund.

GOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!

Times 4 for Hayden yesterday...

Think he's a little bit excited???

Trevor's game was a little more low key, but at least we got him out on the field this week. Sean promised to high-5 him for each time he kicked the ball. So every time his foot touched the ball, he would run off the field to find Sean for a high-5.

3-year old logic

We saw a woman on crutches at McDonald's this morning...yeah, nothing but the best nutrition for me and my kids...but not the point...

Trevor: "Why does that woman have those things Mommy?"
Me: "Because her foot is hurt and those things help her walk, they're called crutches."
Trevor: "How did her foot get hurt Mommy?"
Me: "I really don't know Trevor."
Trevor: "Maybe a policeman ran over her foot with his police car Mommy."
Me: "Yeah Trev, that's probably what happened."

Things to do...

1) Sort through pics for digital picture frame gift.
2) Make t-shirts that were for Art's 2006 Xmas gift.
3) Wedding album for Shelley.
4) Halloween costumes x3
5) Family Xmas pics/cards.
6) Family photo album update (hint: Juliette doesn't exist in our albums)

When will I find the time to get it all done? Already starting to get booked for Xmas pictures. In the midst of soccer season. Maybe it's good that I don't have internet to distract me.