RAISE YOUR HAND

... if you wish you could be Hailee Steinfeld. Because, seriously? Beyond the fact that she is:

nice
cute as a button
well spoken
one frickin talented 14 year-old

... she got to wear this dress. To the Oscars. Where she was nominated. Sigh.

What was I doing at 14? Oh that's right, jumping on my trampoline and listening to Natalie Imbruglia.

Yesterday's winner Melissa Leo was first nominated two years ago which means to be in Hailee Steinfeld's same place Melissa had to wait THIRTY FOUR more years. Ouch. But I guess that's better than my statistics for potentially being nominated for an Oscar.

Sidenote - Here's another fun fact that blew my mind yesterday. The first movie Jennifer Hudson was in, she won an Oscar. The first album she ever recorded, she won a Grammy. That would be fantastic and all but I would be seriously paralyzed by my own standards. What is there left to do but go for the EGOT?

YOU ARE MY FAV

Today I needed a few good hours to work on some things for church and the only way to get everything done plus keep Finley alive was to keep giving her new things to interest her every ten minutes. I got a little desperate until I finally started giving her non-toy items. And you know what pre-occupied her the longest? A ribbon, a hair diffuser and some blank cds. Oooookay kid, whatever.

So for a good 30 minutes she played with these:


Instead of any of these:


Or these:




Dear Fin,

Remember this day. You have just set yourself up for years of really interesting Christmas and Birthday presents. But good news! You are gonna save mom and dad tons of loot! Thanks a heap.

Love, mamma & the dad

PS - When you are 16 and instead of a car you get an empty coke can and a crumpled piece of paper, no complaints. Remember, they are your FAVORITE!

CURRENTLY LISTENING

I've been listening to this on repeat all morning - can't get enough. SOOOOO GOOOOD. Right now my favorites are: Rolling in the Deep, Turning Tables, and Set Fire to the Rain. But they are all fantastic. I think for the first time ever an album lives up to the hype and is unbelievably better than her previous album 19. I'm so excited to have good new music again, lately I have been in quite a musical funk.

EIGHT MONTHS

Our little monkey is 8 months old and getting more personality every day. She has learned to squawk, squeel, and squirm to get her way - a trait she uses to her advantage constantly. If only she weren't so darn cute then I would be a good mom and actually teach her she can't her way every time. Oops. Oh well. I've already come to terms with the fact that she will be spoiled rotten.

She takes bathes in our tub but sometimes when she's really fussy we go check out the wonder that is the sink. She loves sitting in it and playing with the faucet. On this particular day Brad had been gone all evening at a church function and sometimes you just do what you gotta do to keep the baby happy.

She has made big advances into the forays of crawling. She can pretty much get wherever she wants to go with the speed depending on how badly she wants to put something in her mouth. Often she ends up with her arms and legs completely extended so it looks like she's doing push ups. Or she'll get really excited when she's crawling and rocks back and forth until she realizes she actually needs to move her limbs to propell herself forward. This new mobility adds another level of sadness to my day because she'll use all her energy to follow my around the house just to have me move again. She hasn't quite mastered the definition of, "I'll be right back don't waste your energy following me." Poor child.

I don't normally let her play under the desk with all the electrical cords ready to zap her to death, but she found her way under there when I was folding laundry and then complained until I turned her around. She just couldn't figure out how to get back out.

I got a BOB stroller for Christmas and I L-O-V-E, adore, and cherish him. If me and the BOB could be BFFs and braid each others hair and gab about American Idol, we would. Can't say enough wonderful things about him. Fin is just big enough for him and when the weather is nice we go running. When it's not (which is more often these days) we find an excuse to take the BOB to the grocery store or library.

We sometimes wonder if we went home with the wrong baby. How could we have gotten so lucky with such a happy cute one? Maybe I should read that last statement on the days when it seems like she won't stop crying and pooping. Ha! Funny because it's true. Either way, through the good and the bad we love her more and more every day.