Mormon Mommy Blogs

Brent sent me this article which made me laugh. The writer claims, "I'm a young, feminist atheist who can't bake a cupcake. Why am I addicted to the shiny, happy lives of these women?"

Baby Steps

Ireland took her first steps today. I was stooped over holding onto her when she just decided to take the plunge. She left my hands and did a quick but calculated one, two, three. Then she fell forward on her hands, her little bootie in the air. Ireland's pediatrician told us she would likely walk early and as my mom puts it, she's as "sturdy as a piano" when she's standing. It's exciting although I don't want to lose my baby just yet.

Even if she's walking she's still technically a baby since she has no teeth. Right? Right?

Ireland Update

Liesel is developing at such a breakneck speed I feel like my posts on Ireland are a bit lacking. Not that Ireland isn't making strides of her own! It's just that her strides are a lot less verbal and harder to blog about. To make up for my neglect, here's a few things Ireland is up to of late:

She loves gerkin pickles and can practically suck one dry:

She loves watching for people out the window. Grandma and Grandpa always waved to her as they were coming and going. She'd bounce up and down and bang on the window:

She likes taking Liesel on (with a lot of help from Dad):

She gets a lot of compliments on her name:

She's an absolute doll and I'm so happy I can be home with her. I love watching her learn and grow along with her sister.

Sabbath Sweethearts

After sacrament meeting ended, a little boy suddenly appeared in our pew. He didn't say anything, he just stood there and stared at Liesel. When his mother caught up with him she explained he'd spotted Liesel during the service. That probably wasn't too hard since they announced us as a new family in the ward. Anyway, once he saw her he was determined to meet her. I made the introduction and he continued to stare. Liesel was generally polite but finally told me she wanted to go to nursery.

Too bad for the little boy, there's another little boy in nursery. He's blond and his name is Joe. Liesel and Joe are apparently attached at the hip. His mother reports he's been telling other people about "my Liesel."

Ahhhh, it begins. I wasn't quite ready for this stage of raising kids!

Sorry Mickey

There's something about the way Disney markets their princesses that drives me crazy. I can't quite put my finger on it. When I'm in a store and I see something in bright pink with 1 to 3 of those princesses smiling provocatively at me, I just cringe. To me it's akin to giving my child a tattoo. I'm convinced Disney products are essentially gateway drugs that lead to sugar which leads to heroin and a life in prison. So much of it is made so cheaply! And what's with all the glitter? And why do the princesses have to be life-sized on a 3T shirt? Just to make sure I'm not being cynical, I recently took Liesel to a Disney store. Apparently nothing jumped out at her either because she acted like we were at Menard's.

Rather than focus on Disney movies for Liesel's entertainment, I've been slowly introducing her to some classics like Wizard of Oz, (child-appropriate parts of ) West Side Story and Annie. The latter has definitely become a favorite. I'd completely forgotten that the opening numbers have a cast of little girls doing gymnastics. She's now watched it enough she has parts memorized. My heart just melted when I heard her quietly singing in the back seat of the car, "Maybe they're stict, as straight as a line. Don't really care, as long as they're miiiiiiiiine. So maybe now this prayer, the last one of it's kind. Won't you please come get your baby? Maaaaaybeeeee." There are some other quotes that have come out at really inoppportune times. Like Miss Hannigan's, "KILL, KILL, KILL!" When a 2-year old repeats that to her baby sister in public there's just no way to make it cute. She sounds like a psychopath, no question. Also, when she's dragging her feet about something she now says, "I can't run anymore!" Even if she wasn't running to begin with. In any case, I'm glad she's watching something with actual humans in it, rather than animation. I'll take a cheeky orphan over a glittery princess any day. I'm hoping to take Liesel to the live Broadway show someday!

Digging Out

We are finally somewhat settled in our apartment here in Chicago. Settled enough to go about our daily tasks without having to dig through a box to find some necessity. Settled enough to begin a routine for the girls. And settled enough that I can re-enter the world of blogging. After our internet was set up, I sat down to catch up on the 75 blog posts waiting for me on my reader. However, I was thrilled to discover almost everyone had also been on hiatus and was just getting back into things so I'm not alone. For my loyal 3 readers- you can expect lots of back-dated posts until I get the Wuehler family firmly into the present. Enjoy!