The Eyes in the Back of My Head

I'm starting to realize just how real the whole "eyes in the back of the head" saying is for moms. I have them now. I hadn't even noticed until recently, but now that Blake is into a new phase of dishonesty, my magical mom powers are really kicking in. From what I've read and heard, this whole lying thing is completely common and normal for 4-year-olds, but it sure is annoying. It's usually little things and sometimes it's things that I don't even understand at all why she would lie about it (like "I washed my hands" when she didn't or "I put my shoes where you asked me to" when she didn't). Sometimes it's things that really get to me like her obviously suspicious response of "nothing" when I ask what she's doing in another room. Then there's the downright make me mad times like when she's obviously wearing my lipstick or my perfume without asking for help and permission and says "I wasn't doing anything, I'm being honest". When she has a dishonest moment I say stuff like "It's important to be honest", "Remember God is always watching what we do and He wants us to be honest" and when she asks me how I know what she's up to I say, "I'm a Mommy and I always know". It's so funny though because every time she asks me how I know, I say "I just do" and it makes me think about the old saying of moms having eyes in the back of their head and how true it is. Thanks God for the extra set of "Mom" eyes. Now can you just help me figure out what to do and how to respond when I see the less than ideal behavior occurring? Any advice from other moms is also welcome.

My Lovely Grocery Hair-Do

I just discovered I went grocery shopping with one of Blake's little yellow hairclips stuck in a random tangled-up section of hair in the back of my head. I had no idea and I had completely forgotten that Blake was "fixing" my hair earlier. I took off the headband she put on, but I couldn't see the clip way back there. I really don't care what anybody at Kroger thinks of my hair and I looked pretty crappy anyway. However, I think if I'm out somewhere and I see a woman with something really obviously, odd going on with her hair and she's with a little girl who looks like she'd be into giving mommy fancy hairstyles, I think I'm going to say something to her because it would be pretty annoying to find that in your hair after a long day of running errands and stuff. I've found stickers stuck to me in some pretty funny places too. I think I need to start checking myself out a little more closely before I leave the house.

15 Months!

Emma Grace is now 15 months old as of yesterday. She weighs 23 pounds and 2 ounces (just above 50th percentile) and she's 33 inches tall (above 97th percentile). When I told Chris her measurements yesterday he said "yep, I make tall babies". She's walking, saying "Uh-oh", "Hi", "Doggie" (which sounds like Da-Da), "Baby" (which sounds like Da-Da), Da-Da and Ma-Ma. Her hair is long enough to put in little pig-tails and she's still super-blonde. She still loves to cuddle and she's so stinkin cute I can barely stand it. I love this age. We've watched some video of Blake at this age recently and it just melted me. When they first start walking and talking it's just adorable. I wish I could just bottle a little of this cuteness, but since I can't, I'm trying to soak it in as much as I can.

Since I wasn't blogging back when Blake was this age I thought I'd include her picture and measurements from when she was this age. I'm one lucky Mommy to have two such wonderful girls!













At 15 months Blake was 24 pounds and 2 ounces and 32 and 1/4 inches tall. I remember her saying "Uh-oh" a lot too, but I think she was also saying quite a few other words by this point. She was completely adorable too of course. She wasn't quite as affectionate, but she was just as friendly to strangers and being our first child I know we thought everything she did was genius.

By the way I realize 15 months isn't exactly some huge milestone, but it happens to be a moment in time I'm making an effort to record since I haven't been very good about doing it. Hey, I think you take your opportunities when they present themselves.

Here's a recent picture of Blake on Christmas day showing off her Belle dress from Santa. I think this shows just how far (in what seems like such little time) we've come from 15 months old and where Emma may be in just three short years. Oh my, how much princess stuff will be in our house at that point?!

I Love Lucy

I feel like expressing my love of this timeless show. I Love Lucy has to be one of the very best shows ever created. I remember watching reruns of I Love Lucy when I was a kid and now I'm sharing them with Blake. I've been recording them to DVR lately and she's been watching them with me. She may be a little young to really appreciate the show like I do, but she can already appreciate how silly Lucy can be, what good friends she and Ethel are, how cute Lucy and Ricky are together sometimes, all the great song and dance numbers on the show and the many adventures and ridiculous scenarios that the foursome get themselves into. The first few times we watched it together she had a hard time getting past the show being in black and white. That seemed pretty strange to her. Now I think she's getting that they're actual real people who were in the show and it was just a long time ago. She notices all of Lucy's great clothes, she loves the episodes with Little Ricky (and she told me the other day that when she grows up and has a little boy she's going to name him "Little Chris") and she loves when Lucy manages to find a way to dance and sing in Ricky's shows. I love all the same things and so much more about that show. It makes me feel good to watch it. I like thinking about living in that time period and in New York City. I like thinking about the days when nightclubs were like the one Ricky worked in where people got all dressed up and had dinner, danced and watched a show. I like thinking about being a part of the entertainment world back then. And I like Lucy's spirit. She may come up with some crazy plans (that are often disastrous), but she's always so bold and adventurous and fun. Not only that, but she's a pretty impressive housewife at the same time. I'm sure I could go on. I'm just thankful that this show exists and that Lucille Ball and the rest of the people who made this show were the geniuses that they were and they were able to share it with countless people for generations to come.