Beware.

I was reading through my Marie Claire last night and audibly gasped.

Scrunchies.

Omg. Scrunchies are making a comeback?

Oh no.

I couldn't believe it, so I did some research and look! They're being sold.

Forever 21 calls them "hair ties." Looks like a scrunchie [or a lifeless squirrel] to me. See left. And, they're not just selling one; they have more here and HERE!

Oh no.

MexMo: It's raining... mangos.

I'd like for you all to see our mango tree.

It is literally dripping with mini mangos. 

(They're about the size of peaches now. When they're finished growing they'll be the size of an orange. MMmmmm...)

Kinda uncomfortable.Alternate Title: Don't buy movies from the VFW

...so we attempted* to watch, 'Precious' Sunday night.

Remember when the movie, 'Crash' came out?
Remember how it just offended you at every turn and how at times it was just far too much to handle?
But then remember how after you watched the movie you said, "Ah, I get it. I was supposed to feel that way?"

Yeah, that's how 'Precious' felt for me, too.

--

*When I say we "attempted" to watch Precious, here's what I mean. My MIL brought several movies with her from Ohio. The first one we watched was, 'Couples' Retreat' and Craig put it in the DVR and was like, "Um, Mom - where did you get this DVD? Is it illegal?"

She's like, "Yep. I got it from the Post. [As in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post.] There's a guy who's there every Friday at 2 p.m. He sells copied DVDs. Every DVD is only $5."

Craig was like, "Yeah, I thought so. The DVD cover was made with a copy machine and scotch tape."

--

NOTE: We were like 95% into watching 'Precious' when it started skipping. We took it out. Cleaned it. Played it. Still skipped. Then we took it out again. Windex-ed it. Still skipped.

We ended up LOOKING ONLINE to figure out how the movie ended. Oy. Annoying.

Lesson: Don't buy hot merchandise from the Post in Point Place.

Lila Lunes:Still 9 months...

"Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, EH"

What's that?

That's the sound that Lila makes whenever she wants anything. Does she want to get out of her highchair? Does she want something to eat? Does she want you to play with her?

Oy. I'll be honest. It's kind of annoying.

I'll be honest again: I've told her it's kind of annoying (so has Craig) and she's still doing it. Ah, well. Our baby is developing a personality, that's for sure.


Q. So what else is new this week?
A. Lila be loving the food. This week she had her first blueberry. Care to see the face she made whilst eating it? She's proceeded to love them.

Aside from that, Miss Lila is doing well.

This past week she was falling asleep in her highchair while Craig was feeding her. He caught it on camera. Um, cute.

Next, here's my Lila. Sitting on my computer?!

Happy little Cupcake after a nap.

And, here she is answering some email (with Ferg at her side).

Blackberries are fun!

Here are new bird cars from Aunt T. (Perfect for us, no?)

 Love this cheeks.

With her bestie.

After a day of screaming on and off - the only place she was happy was her stroller.

(Nope, we didn't wake her up.)

Sweet baby girl.

Wearing her shoes from Sarah W. 

(Sarah, we put these shoes on her WHENEVER we go anywhere. I'm serious. They're our favorite.)

Have a great week!

kb&lb

A-ha! More about little people on TLC.

Is Learning Channel's 'Little People' Franchise 21st Century Exploitation of Dwarfism? - Article here.

(Thank you, sister!)

Ferg Friday: Chillin' like a villain

Here's Ferg hanging out beside the door in the courtyard.

Craig had just left for a walk with Lila and Ferg wasn't pleased that she wasn't asked to go.

(Ignore the graininess. The ISO on my camera was uber-high.)

Family's here.

My mother-in-law is here and she brought with her two suitcases full of United Status stuff and a collection of recipes (and ingredients!)  for dinners for the next week.

Today's dinner and salad.were.FANTASTIC.

YAY!

I'll tell you what's not a "yay-worthy" item: the fact that Lila screamed ALL DAY LONG. Her Grandma hasn't seen her for months and how did she behave all day? Well, she screamed. And cried. And whined. And moaned.

"We swear she's not like this all the time."

Ah well.

We all have bad days. Here's to a better tomorrow. Hopefully.

Sneek peak: Lila's first professional photoshoot

A couple of weeks back The Cucpake was asked to pose for her first professional photoshoot on the beach.

Um, of course I said yes. (No brainer.)

Lila was still on antibiotics for her sinus infection and was such a trooper throughout - it probably helped that we were with some exceedingly professional photographers and that we had plenty of cheerios in tow.

Here's the first picture... I cannot wait to see more!

My sweet girl.
(Click to make larger)

Note: Sarah Smith is the artist behind the photo and shoot and guess what, friends? She's located in both OHIO and CABO! Please, check out her work at kentsmith.com. 

Article.

Caesarean Births are at a High in U.S. - New York Times. Article here.

(Just a random article that I fancied reading and thought I'd pass on to ya'll.)

I got nothing.

I'll write more later today. I'm sure of it. I just don't have much to say at this moment.

(Oddly.)

I'm stewing.

So you're in the salon getting your hair cut, then a girl with butt-length, plain-Jane, brown Duggar hair walks in and tells the stylist next to you that she really wants something different - come hell or high water - she wants a short pixie cut. And, make it blonde.

Her sytlist says, "Really? Are you sure about that? I'm not sure if it's the best fit for your features..."

I mean, the long-haired girl has a semi-larger face and could quite possibly look devastatingly terrible with that cut -- let alone a blonde pixie cut. Let's be honest, just because she LIKES the pixie cut doesn't mean it'll work for her.

The long-haired, Duggar-esque girl responds without thinking and says, "I've made up my mind. JUST DO IT. I NEED A CHANGE FOR CHANGE'S SAKE. Pixie me."

... you silently gasp and think, "Oh, boy. She's going to regret this decision... it takes quite a while to grow a pixie out. "

--

That is precisely how I feel about the current healthcare sitch.

Pixie cuts don't work for everyone.

We're going to regret this.

And, we're going to pay for it.

Why is there a gallon of milk sitting out? At work? All day?

 Yesterday at work my co-worker had a gallon of milk sitting near her desk. It did not belong to her.

I noticed it in the morning.

I took a picture of it as I left the the office last night.

It was sitting out ALL.DAY.LONG.

Imagine it. Taste it. Mexico-warm milk.

Barf.

The gallon of milk was not there this morning...

...it moved... to another room... and people were DRINKING IT.

Barf again.

Questions:
1. Who brings milk to work to just drink? Water? Yes. Soda/pop? Yes. Gatorade/tea? Yes. Milk? No.
2. Who drinks milk that has been sitting out all day? On someone's desk?
3. Who drinks WARM milk when it's 80 degrees out?

Oy.

CloMo: Wanna see what my niece can do?!

This weekend my niece had a gymnastics meet in La Paz.

She took second on vault, bars, beam (with two falls!!), first on floor and second all around.

You must watch the videos now.

My fave - FLOOR:



Bars - First time doing giants.



Beam - (Videography by my sister. Who cut off Clo's landing. :)



WELL DONE, Chloe! I am so proud of you!

March. 4:07 pm. Hot.

Clearly spring skipped us and we just directly into summer.

(P.S. Lila has her first heat rash of the "summer". In March.)

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Not so sure about this one.

Oh yeah, remember that one movie?
The one where the really small people made chocolates?

Yeah, me too. They were Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

WHAT in the WORLD is TLC thinking with their show, "The Little Chocolatiers."

No, I'm not a little person... yet I'm still offended.

This just doesn't seem right.

How is this ok?

Enough with the pressure.

I think the super-green, earthy, fabric grocery bag, carbon footprint shrinkers are noteworthy, yet judgemental.

There. I said it.

I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN for living in a country that still widely prefers styrofoam.

However, I'm going to figure out a way to fashion all of the little milky way wrapper foil wrappers into a sustainable and re-usable, water-tight shot glass. Jack Daniels, anyone?

Lila Lunes:GASP! The Cupcake is 9 months old!

 It's true. Here's Lila celebrating her nine months of age on Sunday.

(Super cute outfit from Turtle Parade... whose little bambino will be here soon!)

Q. How is Miss Lila?
A. I asked her. She said, "I'm F-i-i-i-i-ne. Now hand me another cheerio."

Q. Is Lila eating a lot lately?
A. Yes. Lila is convinced that her fingers are great -- not only to look at and chew on, but because they're little tools by which she can pick up (with her left hand) important and scrumptious foods.

Q. Can Lila eat ANYTHING without wiping it through her ear curls?
A. No.

Q. Does this bother me?
A. Nope! I think it's awesome how she looks at me with her, "HEY, LOOK!!! I just put AVOCADO In.MY.HAIR!?! Do you like it?!?!"

I try to match her enthusiasm.

"YES! YOU look amazing."

Q. So, how is 9 months? What are my thoughts regarding this age?
A. Oh, my. If someone would have told me that Lila was going to be this fun I'd tell them that they were lying. She is SO much more interactive than what she was in the early days. She is a little person. I love watching that personality come out.

Q. What are some of Lila's personality traits at this point?
A. At this point, Lila's first reaction to everything is to smile. Like when she crawls over to the laptop power cord, stares at me, then slowly moves it toward her mouth... she's smiling. When you wake her up in the morning, she's smiling. When you bring food to her, she's smiling.


Q. Does Lila smile all the time?
A. Um.

No.

It would be a shameful mistruth if I claimed that my sweet baby Lilakins was happy all the time. Because she isn't. She continues to waffle between, "SUPER HAPPY!" and "REALLY ANNOYED" at all times. (I have no idea where she gets that from.)

Like, take for example that at EACH and EVERY diaper changing she screams. Yep. The only time she hasn't screamed is when I changed her diaper in the back of my car yesterday in the Costco parking lot. Jeep tailgate up. Lila quiet as a mouse.

So, looks like we'll be moving her changing table outside.

You think I'm joking.

Q. How big is the little lady?
A. At this point, she weighs 18 lbs and is 28 inches long. She's wearing 6 month and 9 month clothing... and some 12-month PJ's because her stems are long.

Q. Is Lila talking?
A. Yep. She's babbling a LOT. Craig and I think she says, "Mama"... But we're pretty positive it's not in reference to me. Still, it makes my heart smile.  

--

It's pretty astounding how much more comfortable I am being Lila's mom than I was, say - seven months ago. We're growing together. I can't believe she's been on the outside longer than she was on the inside..

Cool.

Onward to the pictures.

Ferg Friday: I'm in.

Ferg loves to go on walks with us, however - I must confess, there are times I don't take her. Why? Well, sometmes it's all just a little bit much.

Ferg has figured out a way to bypass my approval for her accompaniament on walks by rapidly hopping into the bottom basket of the stroller before I can blink.

I think she honestly thinks, "If I'm really still... this won't be a problem."

She's right.

Ferg needs her hair cut. I know.

She had a bath the day before so she was still a titch fluffy.

Whatever happened to...

...the Nelson twins?

I'm sure I could google it, but I'm not so certain I care that much.

(Look at that hair. Wow-wee.)

It's a special day in Cabo...

 (It ain't easy finding a cute ladybug cupcake. Mission accomplished. Sort of...)

Dear Sister,

Quite simply, I shall sum up my otherwise normal wordiness in three, yes three, short-esque statements.

1. Selfishly, I am so blessed that you are MY sister.
2. I love you to the moon and back. No kidding.
3. I am so glad you were born and that I get to hug you on this, your day of birth.

h a p p y  b i r t h d a y,  to my sister, mi amiga.

With love,
ky

Your niece wanted to say a little something, too.

She is wordy, as well.

She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry for when she cries at your house and that she's working on it. She also wanted me to tell you, "Thank you!" for all of the *wonderfully* fun things you buy her. She really likes them. Most of all, she wants to tell you that there is no other person that she'd rather share the same genetically straight/curly hair with than you.

She says she really loves you. And, of course... happy birthday.

We love you!
love,
kb&lb