{ Frustrations }

I'm fairly certain that picture gets the award for best picture of Eisley ever taken. We got that hat at the mall the other day, at the most adorable kids store, Janie & Jack. It was on clearance for $5 and Eisley and I decided we had to have it.

Today that photo is cheering me up. I'm frustrated. Lots of little things.

I'm frustrated that Eisley has inherited her daddy's eye problems, because we were so hoping she'd get my genes on this area. We took her to the eye doctor yesterday morning. He confirmed our suspicions. Eisley has accommodative esotropia. Basically, she's farsighted to such an extent that her eyes "over focus", causing them to cross sometimes. It annoys me, even though I know it's not that big of a deal, glasses will eradicate the problem when she starts wearing them just like it has for Justin. But as a mom, I just don't want my baby to have to deal with anything like this. The logical mom in me knows it's impossible to provide this for our children and that no one is perfect, but you can't help but want the best for your child. It's a mom thing, I'm sure you understand if you are one...

I'm also a little frustrated because my oatmeal decided to try and escape from the bowl while it was being microwaved this morning. Grr...

And I'm frustrated because I've been sleep deprived lately. That never makes for a happy Heather. But this is my own fault because I stay up late trying to get things done.

Eisley gets frustrated sometimes too:

Eisley Frustrated



If you're having a bad day, just scroll back up to that adorable photo of my girl. It's quite cheery.

{ Things We Did This Week }

See, the problem here is that I can never pick just one thing to blog about. Thus, the photo montage. Here are some of the past week's 'appenings (that's my Cockney accent).

{ Blue toe nail pedicures on little feet }

{Learning to fly with daddy. }

{Big Love came back to us! And what a great season premier it was. Or "twas"... }

{ Eisley's dollhouse - more to come on this topic soon - was officially started with the finishing of Eisley's first China hutch. }

{ Okay, don't laugh. I'm the creative sort and one of my favorite mediums is makeup. So one day last week during a particularly long nap Eisley was taking I got bored and with the house clean and errands all done I played with my makeup. Yes, I play with makeup. Ever since I was a little girl, and I love stage makeup. This week I channeled Marie Antoinette. Powdered hair, Cupid's bow lips, two birthmarks: the works. T'was fun. And yes, I'm a nerd. }

{ Hand crafted 38 baby shower invitations and got those sent. }

{ Eisley and I got a last minute photo shoot from dad/Justin. }
Other events for which there are not pictures include today's free day at the zoo. It was so crowded I wish we'd gone on a non-free day and paid for a less crowded zoo.

My friend from waaay back in the high school days, Cyndi, came to visit us. It was fun, but I accidentally spit on her, and I'm sad to say it wasn't the first time in the last month I've accidentally spit my drink on her... apparently Cyndi makes it hard for me to keep my mouth shut when drinking.

And finally, there was a night of Rock Band 2 at Eisley's godparents house. She loves to hear me sing "Eye of the Tiger"...

{Dear Eisley} - Vol. 1

{Dear Eisley}

Mommy loves you so much, but can you please start eating during the day as good as you do during the night? Formula is expensive and all these spoiled unfinished bottles going down the drain is like pouring dollars into the trash.

And by the way, why is it that lately the only time you efficiently down a bottle is when you're sleeping? It's the teething isn't it?

{Love, Mommy}

PS - Your new trick of sitting up all by yourself is really great! Keep up the good work, Strong Girl!

{ The Pacifier Clip Story }

Today I met my mom at Costco, where formula is MUCHO CHEAPO. Yes :-( I'm doing formula now, and I hate it but that's another post, not the story...

Since I was near my mom's house, which is near a great little used-children-stuff shop called Once Upon a Child that I've heard so much about, I decided to stop in to see if they had any highchairs or pack-n-plays for sale (they did), but again, not the story...

While I was browsing the great little store I spied something I wanted. A pacifier clip! One that would work with a Soothie! Soothies are Eisley's favorite pacifiers, but the hardest ones to keep. They're made of rubber, without hooks or latches or handles, and when the baby drops them they bounce away under furniture where they hide and probably start little Soothie colonies. Babies love them; parents hate that their babies love them.

So I spent the few bucks for this little treasure, a pacifier clip that would keep it attached to our baby, instead of bouncing every which way when dropped from her mouth. I even made sure to check that the ribbon was 6" or less - which they recommend for all strings your baby comes in contact with to avoid strangulation.

All day, I've been loving the pacifier clip. It's been great! That is, until about an hour ago. About an hour ago I wandered into Eisley's room during her nap to check on her, and as I looked over her, once again admiring my new purchase and how great it is, that's when I realized just what I'd done. It hit me like a projectiled vomit straight to the head. Oh. My. Gosh.

"I've ATTACHED a CHOKING HAZARD TO MY BABY."

I handed it to her, a friggin choking hazard. See, the clip is embellished with a cute, but deadly, button thing about an inch in diameter and is merely glued on. It could easily pop off. Eisley is in that stage where her hands search for something - anything - and once she finds that anything it goes straight to her mouth. How did I not catch that?! As I was mentally berrating myself for making such a stupid mistake I snatched up my camera (to take the above picture, just so I could prove my great folly to you) and went to find another pacifier.
Once Eisley was safe and sound and choking-hazard-free I shot off an email to the owner of that store. I don't think that they should be selling these. If they're going to sell these, they need to attach it to something that could not fit down a child's throat, and I saw recently on TV that they recommend your child not play with any toys or parts that can fit through a toilet paper tube, as a general rule of thumb.

But all is okay, Eisley is not choked but instead chatting happily on her daddy's lap as I type this. Maybe nothing would ever go wrong with the pacifier clip. Maybe I could get away using it and avoiding any issues. But I'm just not that type of mom. Maybe isn't good enough for me. Call me overprotective, I don't care. As a mother, I consider one of my duties to be minimizing all risks. I know I can't make her live in a bubble, that she's going to get hurt, but I can't take risks like this. This mommy is NO risk taker. Not with her Eisley.

Crisis has been averted.

This morning I cleaned out our closet and dresser. While I did that, Eisley was sleeping soundly in the bassinet nearby.

When I was nearly finished with the mess of clothes, I headed downstairs with trash bags and made myself a cup of coffee (darn you International Delights Creamer and darn you King Sooper's for having it on sale every week) and headed back upstairs.

Eisley was not still sleeping anymore but gazing around the room in silence, pacifier in her mouth.

She beckoned me to take a picture of her, and I gave in like I always do when she nags me to take her picture {not with words, mind you, but with her cuteness}. Then she told me to email it to daddy, which I did {see above}. I was baby-talking to her, she reached up and tried to pull my lips off with her baby claws. She did her double-eyebrow-raise, looking very much like Groucho Marx.

Then I burped. Loudly. Apparently I'd gulped down coffee too fast. I giggled and excused myself, but Eisley stared up at me with wide eyes, seeming uncertain about the strange noise I'd just made and not quite sure how to respond.

Then a smile slowly crept onto her face and -

"PPPPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT!"

- from underneath the covers came.

She turned the tables on me. Now it was I who stared wide-eyed at her. She is, truly, her mother's daughter.

5 Months Old

Eisley is 5 Months old today. As I sit here writing this, she is rocking around in her exersaucer happily, chatting to herself. Also, right this second my c-section scar is itching. It's been doing that lately.

When daddy left ten minutes ago for work, he knelt down to say goodbye to his daughter. As soon as his face came into view she thrashed excitedly and grinned wide. At the post office yesterday (sending off my very first etsy sale- woo hoo!) Eisley was giving out free smiles - big, enthusiastic ones - to everyone in line. She is a smiley little thing!

Just last night we were talking about how it's already hard to remember her being so little, like she was when she was born. How strange it was in the hospital, taking care of this new little creature. We didn't really know much about her at that point. We didn't know she'd be a smiley baby, that she would love baths but hate being pulled out of them, or that she would love to stand all day and march on her feet. We still have so much to learn about her...

5 YEARS!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Justin and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary today. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we married, and about eight and a half since we got together! I was thinking earlier today about how we've spent a third of our lives together already... crazy.

We got married very young - at just 19 years old. I've never regretted that decision.

My husband and I have always had so much fun together. I often wish we had our own camera crew that followed us around, because the best moments are when no one is around, we're both just being ourselves and enjoying each others company.

We're best friends. I tell Justin everything. He knows me better than anyone else in the world, and I'm pretty certain I know him just as well.

We've had our ups and downs in our relationship, but looking back I see more ups than downs. And in a society where the divorce rate is skyrocketing, I know we're lucky. 2008 was rough at times, and definitely was a year that tested our dedication to each other. But I know we're good together. We work. And so when we're in the middle of a down, I know an up is on it's way back around and that this time we're a little bit stronger, older, and wiser.


When Justin and I were in high school together, we didn't like each other for the first couple years. Justin thought I was annoying and silly (which I was). I thought he was a nerd (no comment). When Justin joined the theatre crowd, we slowly became friends.

After a few months, we were great friends. Soon, we started thinking romantically about each other. Suddenly, we were very much in love. I think our strong friendship that came before our romantic involvement has much attributed to our successful marriage.



We knew well before graduating high school that we were going to get married. At first we said we'd wait until we were 24 or so. Then we said maybe we'd wait until a few years into college. But it got harder and harder not to LIVE together, so we bumped up the date to January 3rd, 2004. (After the proposal, that is.)

Some people thought we were crazy. Some people were pretty dramatic about it. Some people told my mom she shouldn't "let us" and said, "Don't they know they have their whole lives ahead of them? They're so young!" My mom wasn't worried. She knew us...

Of course we knew we had our "whole lives" ahead of us! Who better to spend it with than with each other?

No marriage is perfect, and I won't pretend we don't have our challenges. We have our fights, our disagreements, character flaws, and our selfish moments - of course we do. We have moments where we drive each other crazy, yep! But I love Justin and I have a lot of fun with him. I couldn't ask for a better father to my daughter. And we balance each other.

And you never stop growing, either. You never stop learning about each other. These days when I hear about people getting engaged after only a few months of dating I worry a bit for them. Because nearly everyday I learn something new about us, and we started dating over 8 years ago.

When I was little my mom used to tell me often, "I pray all the time for your future husband... and that he's blessed and a good person...." I used to roll my eyes and blow that off.

But looking back, I know God heard my moms prayers. And He granted them.
Here's to five years. Here's to many, many more.

Happy New Year! It's 2009, which is really hard to believe. It seems like all that Y2K stuff was just yesterday...

We're hopeful that 2009 will be a good year for Justin and I. We're hoping to really work on our finances, and make some changes to how we manage that issue. We're looking forward to the arrival of Mara Jade Stratton - Peter & Angela's daughter who is due in April. A new niece or nephew in May from our Olsen side of the family is expected as well! In August, our little girl will have one rockin' 1st Birthday Party!

Here's to 2009 and all the joyous events that are to come with it!

Cheers ;-)