1:03 A.M.

Baby wakes. I grumble up stairs, yearning for my bed. Consoling, I wonder, when did legs grow so long, dangling from my cradling arms? I am caught off guard, overwhelmed in this moment with gratitude and love. Humbled, tears spill and I am awed anew by miracle, blessing and challenge of raising souls in tiny bodies. Thank you, Lord!

I cannot, I will not fail these previous ones with daily, straining efforts of my wisdom and power, reaching, longing for good. Foolish and weak are my strategies.

Psalm 63:1-4
Oh God you are my God
Earnestly I seek you
My soul thirsts for you
My body longs for you
In a dry and weary land where there is no water

I've seen you in your sanctuary
Beheld your power and your glory
Because your love is better than life
My lips will glorify you

I will praise you as long as I live
In your name I will lift up my hands

Oops!

Did I say I'd have an entire new post up "tomorrow" last time? Well, maybe that was a tad bit optimistic. Obviously my intentions are WAY better than my time management skills.

I will finish my toy story soon. Or soonish. I promise it is actually in the works.

Sorry to be such a slacker! But since I've got your attention again...seriously, I want to know what you are a snob about. I know there's something, so spill it!

Snobbery

I've decided that everyone is a snobby about something. For some it is new cars or healthy living or their lawn and garden (Lord help us if any of our neighbors are such, they will never be able to look past our pathetic, patchy "lawn" and see the responsible, loving people we truly are.)

Some people are food snobs,or "foodies" as they like to be known. People with such enlightened pallets appreciate the subtle flavor differences between Mediterranean goat cheese and domestic goat cheese and can tell you which sub-province of Italy grows the best olives. These food connoisseurs would never deign to consume such rubbish as canned soup or processed cheese. I, however, think a hot bowl of creamy Cambell's tomato soup (made with milk, not water) and a Velveeta sandwich grilled to a beautiful, buttery golden brown sounds delightfully comforting and delicious. So I don't think I fit the foodie profile.*

Other folks are always up on the latest clothing trends. I would tell you what they are wearing this season, but I can't keep up. Trend snobs can be heard saying such things as "that is so 2006" and can spot an inappropriately tied scarf a mile away. Unfortunately for my poor, repressed inner fashionista, if I can't corral my children in a shopping cart and/or pick up a gallon of milk in your store, I'm unlikely to do a lot of clothes shopping there. I wish I were more fashionable, I do! And if wishing were enough to make it so then I'd be rockin' some serious skinny jeans and tall boots right now. But, alas, wishing ain't gonna cut it, and I can't manage to care enough to devote the time and money required to overhaul my closet.**

When it comes to clothing and accessory brands I don't care in the slightest. I cannot think of a single reason a Gucci or Prada bag would be better than my purse from Target's clearance rack (I luv me some Mossimo). I mean, my purse is used to carry a wallet, lip gloss, keys, and maybe a box of raisins and an emergency matchbox car. If my bag is making a fashion statement it is saying "here comes a mommy". But it doesn't need to say anything because the peanut butter smear on my tshirt, baby on my hip and toddler streaking four aisles ahead of me as I (calmly) holler "stay! with! mommy!" already have that statement covered. Besides, next year this bag is going to be too big/small/structured/slouchy/colorful/bland/whathaveyou and SO out of style so I see no reason to spend more than $18 if I can avoid it.

(Ok, I admit, some designer bags are pretty cool or at least interesting...but for that amount of cash it should come packaged with a bar of gold and magically clean itself when my toddler's sippy cup leaks orange juice.)

So, everybody has their "thing". It is so easy to be all self-righteous and poo poo on someone else's "thing". I mean, how shallow! What a waste of money! And there are so many more important things in life. Right?

Well, I think I've discovered my "thing". Toys. Not grown up toys like cars or TVs or computers. But baby and kids toys.

It's like, suddenly I have all these opinions! I find myself inwardly rolling my eyes in disgust when passing certain plastic-filled toy aisles. Where did this fervor come from? And why am I so inexorably drawn to the playthings that are more expensive? That's not me! I love a deal! Does it matter anyway? Is this born out of a desire for my children's best interest? Or because I don't like all the flashing lights and high-pitched nursery tunes?

I will try to answer these questions and more. Tomorrow. Because I'm growing bored with myself and all the rambling.

I'm sure you will be on pins and needles. Until then, I'm so curious...what are you a snob about?? Please share!


*Although I am no foodie, as previously mentioned, I may be on the verge of having some food issues...to be discussed in a future post. I'm working on it.

** In all honesty my closet is in dire need of an overhaul so I can dress like the grown up mom person I'm supposed to be. I'm trying to mature my wardrobe but it's going to have to happen verrrrry slllloooowwwly. Any advice/help/personal shopper services/donations to the cause are welcome!

Sick or Treat

Our Halloween was not incredibly festive this year. Beginning Tuesday the 27th one or both of my kids were sick. We didn't pinpoint a diagnosis...there was a false positive strep test a negative (false negative?) flu test. My gut says they had the flu, but who knows?

I just know they were sick. Sad, feverish, no appetite, coughing, snotty, super-snuggly sick. Bennett got the worst of it and was out of commission for a full week. Dayton, probably because she is still nursing (liquid gold, I tell you!), was mildly affected with the same symptoms for only three days.

So, here are our kids, in their finest Halloween attire, preparing to greet the neighborhood trick-or-treaters Saturday evening:


Pretty pathetic, huh? I say they were dressed up as Swine Flu Pandemic victims.

Here is Bennett's "builder" outfit, minus the hard hat, exactly as I laid it out in an attempt to persuade him to at least sit on the porch in costume. It was a no go.


Instead he sat on Daddy's lap and passively watched the neighborhood batmen (batmans?), princesses, witches and football players come by and pick up their sugary loot. Poor kid. And this was one of his better sick days. (No children were harmed in the making of this Halloween. Candy was distributed from the front step and no one allowed close enough to get germed.)


After about half an hour of passing out candy I just couldn't stand being such party poopers and decided get Dayton dressed up, sickness be darned! She hadn't run a fever all day and seemed in pretty good spirits. And it was her first Halloween, I would be so sad to not have pictures of her in the costume I made.

So I did. And here's our little baby bird. She stayed in character for a few front porch pictures and visits to greet our three closest neighbors to show off her cuteness and procure some chocolate, which she kindly shared with her mommy.

In my opinion, you just can't go wrong with a little girl in a tutu.

She was not so much a fan of Ms. Red's talking skeleton.

But she was a fan of Daddy kisses.

Baby bird flying lessons.

(My snapshots are pretty terrible because it was already dark out and I had to use the flash, which washed out her little white outfit. If you can't tell she has feathers on her tutu and on her head. There were also, at one point, feathers clipped to her shirt sleeves, but they didn't last fifteen seconds.)

Hope you all had a happy and healthy Halloween!