I asked Katie Rowten to make Ben's 30th birthday cake in December and she did such an amazing job. Unfortunately I came down with a 102 fever and strep throat on the day of his party and we had to cancel everything. But the cake was amazing and I so appreciate her doing it. Ben loved it!!
I just want to give a quick shout out to my husband who made sure I had a great birthday yesterday even if he wasn't in a celebrating mood. He fed me yummy food, bought me perfume, and took me to not one, but TWO bookstores and let me browse to my hearts content. Fortunately for him I get tired pretty early these days.
Thanks Ben, I love you.
There is a lot of bad stuff going down this week. I can't turn on the news without crying, wanting to punch someone, or adopt 7 Haitian children. Meanwhile my best friend's family is being put through the ringer.
Lailah's sister-in-law Jamie has been serving as a Peace Corps worker in Kazakstan. Instead of sitting around on her butt and complaining about the world she's been out there trying to make it a better place. Jamie was in a car accident and is in a coma. She's been flown from Kazakhstan to an Air Force Base in Afghanistan to Landstuhl Military Hospital and now she's getting flown to Bethesda in the morning. Lailah and her family will have flown thousands and thousands of miles before the week is up and I know they are so exhausted. Please keep Jamie and the rest of the Morris family in your prayers. http://lailahrafik.blogspot.com/
Also please give to Haiti, there's not a person in this country that's worse off than anyone in Haiti right now. And you can tell Rush Limbaugh I said so. In fact you probably should, because I would punch him.
Surprise! You're getting a sister! Ben and I found out at the end of December that we're having another girl. We're really excited and Aidan has seemed more interested in this whole baby thing since we told her about getting to boss around a little sister. I don't think I could have handled giving Aidan's little baby clothes away, I cried just putting them in a box. They will be almost exactly 3 years apart.
I was 20 weeks yesterday so I'm already halfway through this pregnancy. It's going by so quickly this time! Probably because I don't have time to sit and think about it. I feel pretty good except that I am sooo much sleepier this time around.
We got to have the first white Christmas in Fort Worth in 80 years! We didn't bring any snow clothing so we wrapped plastic baggies around her shoes. 
Dear Disney marketing department. You win.
We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!
Thanks for the pictures Mandy!
14 is my generic bad attitude age for girls so forgive me if you have a delightful non-moody 14 year old. I was certainly no walk in the park at 14.
Oh really?
Please tell me I am not the only one who saw this last night. This is REAL.
I would like to provide a public service announcement for all the husbands out there. This is creepy. Like the husband in Sleeping With the Enemy creepy. Do not do this.
So when Aidan fell a few weeks ago we tried to focus on the positive aspect of her no longer using a pacifier. Unfortunately, over the past few days we discovered that they may have been another issue. Her front two teeth were knocked pretty hard and now there's some pretty noticeable discoloration. In the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? Absolutely not, but when you combine pregnancy hormones and the first bad thing to happen to your daughter you get something resembling a small Terms of Endearment hospital fit. Needless to say I didn't handle it very well when our regular dentist informed me that it was no big deal and her teeth would fall out in 5 years anyways. Um, anyone else remember Kindergarten and 1st grade? I do I had the biggest rabbity buck teeth ever and was kind of scarred, so this did not help.
So I marched our behinds to the most Edmondy of Edmond pediatric dentists. You know what I'm talking about. Lots of video screens, charge you twice the amount they should, decor like the inside of a Chuckie Cheese. Because I knew that they are used to moms having Terms of Endearment freak outs and wouldn't bat an eye. Can I tell you that I don't care how much he overcharges me? He was so awesome and wonderful and I feel so much better about her teeth being okay and feel silly about even freaking out. I honestly don't know what came over me but I think I just went nuts remembering the teasing I endured as a little girl and the realization that there was nothing I could do to completely prevent Aidan from enduring that. We're going back in 3 weeks and my only job is to keep her from falling again because that could permanently damage them. Just keep a 2 yr old from falling for 3 weeks? Noooooo problem.
Thank you for providing the one source of entertainment my daughter loves that doesn't drive me up the wall (I'm looking at you Dora, stop yelling everything!)
In honor of little monsters everywhere, my favorite Sesame Street moment.
The Rosses were Raising Arizona.
Mandy and I persevered last night and were very excited to meet Pioneer Woman/Ree Drummond and get our cookbooks signed. It was so gratifying to learn that she is just as nice in person as she seems on her blog, and we met her after she had already been signing autographs for 2 hours. What was extra fun was that she brought all of her kids, her husband (hellooooo cowboy), her sister, her nephew and her mom and GaGa so it was the entire cast of the blog! Her kids are so precious and polite, it makes me want to home school. Her girls were very sweetly walking around the line and talking to people and signing their books.
Aidan was actually pretty patient in the line and Mandy and I switched out taking her and Viv to the children's section at Full Circle which thankfully had toys. The bag of Halloween candy we brought as a last resort may have had something to do with our success as well. We went into the line knowing we would have to leave if the girls just completely lost it but it never really got to that point. We were out of there by 8:30 but I feel bad for the hundreds of people who were behind us in line. Who knows when they got out of there.
Amy Bellgardt took a good picture of Aidan, PW and I.
Here's my little Hermione Granger getting ready to go to her Sonshine School Party. I didn't let her take her wand, that's just a fight waiting to happen.
I'm trying to assess what's left of my maternity clothes as they seem to have all disappeared in the past 2 1/2 years. I was browsing the interwebs when I came upon American Apparel's new maternity line. I thought it must be a joke. But this is real. If you are currently expecting, know that you too can purchase a fabulous little outfit like this.
I don't know about you but when I was pregnant I often thought, you know what would make me look better and feel less huge? Some sort of spandex unitard.
I am willing to bet cold hard cash that no one involved with the development of this line has ever been pregnant. Was there a focus group? Did this focus group include pregnant 15 yr olds? I'm not exactly sure that's an audience you should be targeting. I can't for the life of me imagine a pregnant person talking to a designer and saying, You know what I would really love? An outfit that makes it even harder to pee ever 5 minutes. Yeah I want something I have to completely peel down to my ankles.
Oh don't worry there's an option for all the summer mommies too. Order now, they may sell out.
PS Before you ask, no these are not work out clothes. Although I'm not sure that would make it better.
PSS If you think this is cute...just don't talk to me.
With her daddy spotting her, Aidan can now crawl to the top of the rope pyramid on the playground.
I don't know what we did but Aidan and I have hit the contagious virus jackpot. I haven't had the energy to blog in between running to the doctor and Walgreen's and back and forth from my sick bed to my sick couch. Now we have strep throat and I have to say that I preferred the swine flu. I plan on experiencing all the illnesses this fall and then I'll prepare a final report on my favorite.
