Call Me Maybe

The firstest of all first world problems has happened to me.

I'm out of cellular data. A full nine days before Verizon will graciously refill the bucket. I just don't know what to do with myself.

My phone has just reverted itself back to its most primitive form - a phone. I can use it to call people. And that's it.

No GPS - I guess I'll have to pay attention on the road now. I totally took a wrong turn on the way home from church the other day and had to wing it. I go East on 285, yes?

No email. No pulling up coupons on my phone when I go to checkout at Target. No Amazon price comparisons. No weather. No killing time on Facebook while waiting for my kids to finish up gymnastics camp. No posting to Instagram those artfully filtered photos. I'm barely even getting text messages. (You should hear the way my phone blows up when I pull into the driveway and cross the border into our wireless circle. Nine texts, 14 posts, three alerts...)

My phone is basically worthless at this point. I use it to actually call people, what... nine percent of the time? Who actually talks on the phone anymore?

Do you remember your very first cell phone? Mine was this very flashy Nokia brick. And I thought it was so amazing. I got it my sophomore year in college. Before that, the Athens dorms had a special deal where you could call five Atlanta numbers without paying long distance charges. Can you even imagine? Living in the dark ages, we were. The Nokia was a massive step up from the pager I possessed in high school, but would quickly be replaced with the much coveted flip phone. I remember obsessively checking the phone to make sure I was still within my 300 minutes of talking time. Texts weren't even a big thing yet, although the x-amount of texting package was not far behind. I remember carrying around this phone, but not really using it. No one was relying on cell phones yet. We were still arranging our plans in advance, waiting patiently for everyone to show up at predetermined locations.

Think about how rapidly things have changed. Now we have unlimited talk, unlimited text, free long distance, so much coverage that roaming is barely a thing anymore. Remember the fear of roaming and its massive overage charges? Remember when a new phone meant getting a new phone number and having to somehow update all your friends in the pre-social media days? Good grief, how did we live? How did we come to rely so heavily on our technology? What a transformation we've made, my fellow Xennial Generation, those of us with an analog childhood and digital adulthood.

I have two more days of cellular blackout before I can once again rejoin the mobile world. It's been educational, trying to explain to Violet how we survived in the pre-wireless age. "I had to call the store and ask for directions, then write them down on a piece of paper and take it in the car with me, possibly stopping along the way at a random gas station to verify I was actually on the right road..." She doesn't get it. Kids these days.

Going Organic

Along with my new beauty routine, another change slowly taking place this summer has been at the grocery. More and more of my grocery picks are of the organic variety.

You're probably rolling your eyes right now. Either because you practically have stock in Whole Foods and have been buying organic, cage-free, nitrate-free, grass-fed, locally-sourced, minimally-processed whole-grain super foods for the past decade, or because you refuse to buy into the over-priced hype that is "organic," whatever that label means.

Just a few months ago, I fell firmly into the latter category. I mean, no one can really argue that food with fewer pesticides and hormone injections is worse for you. But is it really better for you? And it certainly isn't better for your wallet. I basically lived by the rule of "when I win the lottery, sure I'll buy organic".

But then my neighbor Kim had to do a persuasive speech as part of a class assignment and I was invited to be part of the audience. (Yep, she had to do the speech for an audience, and film us to prove we were there listening attentively. Side note - I totally wanted to punk her professor and show up in costume or something. Oddly, Kim refused to let us...) As part of the assignment, she had to pick a side: organic or not worth it. And as often happens, in the course of her researching and writing and persuading, she actually convinced herself. Not only that organic is better (no one really argues there), but that it's also worth the increased cost. To put her money where her mouth was, she decided to buy all organic for a month. And as her neighbor, I benefited once a week from this shopping decision. I then proceeded to get brainwashed by her enthusiasm.

Now that organic products are relatively easy to find, and sloooowly coming down in price, I've started making a few switches. Now we buy organic milk. (Gulp. I get SO mad when the girls waste it. Talk about crying over spilt milk. I haven't been this sensitive about milk consumption since I was nursing/pumping. If breastmilk is liquid gold, organic milk is liquid silver.)

I bought organic chicken the other day. My eggs are cage-free. The girls have organic mac and cheese, animal crackers, apple sauce and juice boxes. We haven't made a complete switch yet, though. I can't seem to bring myself to buy organic cheese. And it's hard to buy organic fruit when the in-season produce is finally so cheap. Organic pasta, is it really necessary?

So, baby steps. I can't say I've noticed any radical differences, other than feeling more smug and superior when I roll through the aisles of Publix. But as Kim oh so persuasively pointed out, the more we (the universal we) buy organic, the greater the demand, the lower prices will drop, you get the economic picture.

But until then, you can find me crying into my (organic) milk.

Stuff from around here

Matt searched high and low on Sunday to get Violet a gingerbread house kit.

Aww, sweet girl.

Our small group and neighborhood friends volunteered to help a local church get their Holiday Shop ready.

Cat in the Hat

Every weekend someone in Violet's class gets to take home the Cat in the Hat stuffed animal. They take pictures of their adventures together and share with the class when they go back to school. (Oh, and the Cool Cat person gets to be line leader for the week as well, Violet reminded me 87 times.)

So this weekend we had the Cat, and here are our adventures...

First the Cat came to soccer practice...

He even tried kicking the ball!

Then he got tired and decided to watch from the sidelines.

Next up, movie night!

Frozen was playing...

Slumber party time!

Then Cat came with us to the pumpkin patch and played in the bouncy house!

Then Mommy packed him up in Violet's backpack so we wouldn't forget to take him back to school, and that's where he stayed the rest of the weekend, oops! But hey, we have plenty of photographic evidence that he was out and about with us quite a bit. Hopefully he had as much fun as we did!

Fancy

Violet loves Fridays because not only is it show-and-tell and treasure box day, it's also the day she doesn't have to wear her school uniform and the dreaded khaki pants. (Seriously, who knew my child would have such a fashion opinion.)

This is the outfit she picked out all on her own on Friday. Pretty fancy, huh?

Back at it

Violet gets a driving lesson. She looks mildly excited. We are in trouble!

We are back in the swing of things around here. I am in full working mode. It's amazing how the memory of those lazy maternity leave days just slips away once the daily grind of first grade starts up again. Now my day starts at 5:30 a.m. and doesn't slow down until I fall into bed (sometimes as early as 8:30, and I'm not even sad about it). It's all I can do to remember to prepare bottles for the next day before I pass out. But speaking of bottles, Annie is rocking it at daycare. She's such a sweet, easy-going girl. She just rolls with our crazy life. She has big smiles for anyone who talks to her and cares for her. What a blessing she is to me!

Just handing out.

 Now that I'm officially back in the real world, our days are busier than ever. This past weekend Matt and I went to a one-day marriage conference hosted by our church, followed by bowling (I bowled the best game of my life followed immediately by the worst game of my life). I start volunteering in the church nursery this weekend. Matt's been playing in the band at least twice a month. I'm going to a baby shower this weekend, planning another one for February, I have Violet's fourth (4!!!) birthday to figure out before too long, Annie has her 4-month well-check at the end of the month (on my birthday, actually!), we have circus tickets in a few weeks... I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.

Introducing Violet to the Lite Brite.

Violet started speech yesterday! I love that her speech teacher Stephanie works at my school - I get all sorts of fun updates from their sessions together. Violet was full of details herself when I picked her up from school. Apparently she played princess puzzles on the iPad, practiced her 'k' sounds, and my favorite quote of the day: "Miss Stephanie says she LOOOVES me!" I think it's the start of a beautiful friendship.

Trying to instill an early love of reading.

So, you know, our life goes on. As busy and crazy as it is!

Free Books

Look what we discovered while taking a walk in Peachtree City... how fun!

I love this idea! There was even a children's section, nice and low where kids can reach.

Annie was less impressed with our discovery.

Say Cheese

We finally had our family photos taken. I procrastinated big time scheduling these, scrambled to find a new photographer, and then our original date two weeks ago got rained out. When the appointed Saturday finally rolled around, all four of us had colds, it was a chilly, windy day, and Violet had woken up for unknown (and unwelcome) reasons at 4:45 a.m. and refused to go back to bed. I waffled all day on what the girls were going to wear, afraid it was too cold for them to don their red matching Christmas dressed (purchased specifically for this purpose). I'd spend a week prepping Violet for wearing her dress (she had so far even refused to try it on), and when I changed my mind that day and told her she could wear jeans, she did a 180 on me and freaked out, insisting on her "pretty red Christmas dress."

Yep, the recipe for success, let me tell you.

Family pictures stress me out. You need the right outfits, the right background, the right smiles, just so you can look like the "right" family for the .2 seconds it took to snap the shot. I'd love to hear the behind-the-scenes story of some of the cards that will come through our mailbox this year. Were your kids freaking out and crying the whole time save the moment the shutter snapped? Did your photographer have to photoshop that massive zit off your chin? Did everyone smile even though on the inside you were seething? Ah, good times.

Right before we left the house, I managed to convince Violet to smile for me and actually look at the camera (she tends to let her eyes wander these days, or put on a really forced smile to prove how annoyed she is by the entire process). We got a few of the girls together, too. Knowing at least something was preserved on camera helped me relax when it came time for the real photo shoot - at least I had my own pictures in my back pocket should worse come to worse.

Can anyone photoshop me a nice winter scene into the background?

Still, as you can see from the previous post, we still managed to capture a few good ones. My favorites are with me and the girls, although we got a serviceable family shot for the Christmas card too. And at least it's over with!

Annie Makes Some Noise

A Glimpse at Our New Life

Melt.

Awake!

It fits again!

A quiet morning.

There's an App for That

When you have a newborn, everyone is obsessed with their eating and pooping. Probably because it's the only thing your baby can do. With Violet, we had a little notebook we recorded her daily stats in religiously. It was handy for when the pediatrician inevitably asked at each appointment, and it also helped keep my head in the game come four a.m.

Well, we have apparently lost our touch, because we got fussed at by the nurse in the hospital for not keeping up with the chart they provided us with. I'd be woken up in the middle of the night and asked to recite half a day's worth of nursing and diaper changes. So after the first day of stern looks from those in charge, I downloaded myself an app to help keep track of all such vital matters.

Yep, they have an app for that.

Baby Connect is awesome. Not only does it let me record each diaper change, I can also describe its size, color and consistency (because life is in the details, they say). Then I can turn the collected information into a nerdy bar graph showing how many diapers were wet or dirty, compare today's stats to yesterday's output, track how long Annie has been feeding with the push of a timer button, remember which side she fed on, graph the total number of minutes spent feeding each day... talk about a nerd alert!

Needless to say, my nurses were impressed. Not necessarily by my fancy technology, just by the fact that we were finally able to fill out their chart.

Our rainy, indoor 4tho f July.

These faces just crack me up. I think she inherited a wee flair for the dramatic. No idea which side of the family that came from!

Date night with Daddy.

The Merry Merry Month of May

Happy we can "go to summertime"!

It's been a busy month, filled with...

• two birthday parties
• two end-of-year parties
• two business trips for Matt
• Mother's Day
• an 8-year wedding anniversary
• a ballet recital for Violet
• haircuts for everyone
• a Braves game
• Field Day
• the end of school
• a wedding weekend
• Memorial Day
• our first trip to the pool

Looking forward to finding a few lazy days somewhere this summer...

Self-portrait, Violet-style.

These sneaky girls have been planning playdates behind their mamas' backs!

Flower Girl Practice

Flower Girl Practice

Audience: beanie babies

Flowers: legos

Outfit: pjs

Verdict: we need a bit more practice

Scenes from Spring Break

We discovered Guster likes bath time.

Braves Opening Day!

Cupcake decorating Easter fun!

Guster also likes my classroom gerbils.

Practicing her flower girl pose!

Randoms

Violet has learned how to take pictures with my phone.

Princess time!

Violet helps me grade some papers.

That's right, it's report card time again! This round comes with the extra pressure of preparing for parent-teacher conferences on the same day grades are due. Awesome. But amazingly enough, the end of third quarter means there are only nine weeks left of school!

Doctors and Dentists

Now that Violet is three, there were some check-ups to be made. First we headed to the pediatrician. Luckily there were no shots this time, although Violet did experience the novelty of peeing in a cup. She's 39 1/4 inches tall (90-97 percentile) and 34.8 pounds (90 percentile). No surprises there, based on how she towers over some of her school friends. Now that Violet is old enough, the pediatrician conducted a little interview with her, asking her to point out various colors, tell her age, and perform a few tricks (jumping on one foot, for example). She passed with flying colors, although the doctor did note her speech and suggest we get her screened for early intervention. Again, no surprise there. Already on my summer to-do list!

Next on the list was Violet's first official dentist appointment. We did a lot of talking leading up to the appointment about what to expect and how to behave. I'm happy to say that Violet did great! No meltdowns, no refusals, and she only asked to go home once. So glad we've gotten this one out of the way.

Violet has become quite the little story teller lately. On the way home from school she'll say, "Mom," (oh yeah, she's started calling me 'mom' instead of 'mommy'. I do not approve.) "Mom, do you want to hear a scary story?" she'll ask. "Yesterday," (because all her stories start with 'yesterday'. This signifies merely that the story is happening some time in the past.) "Yesterday, when Daddy was a little baby, he burned himself." End of story. Then, "Mom, do you want to hear a funny story? Yesterday when I was a baby, I fell down and hurt my collarbone." (I promise not all the stories about are injuries, those are just the two I can remember. We hear the "Daddy burned himself" story a lot for some reason.)

Biased

I know I'm biased... but this child of mine is just about the most awesome thing I've ever seen. 

Dressed up like Cinderella for the first-time viewing of the classic movie.

Certain there is more in the present.

A favorite gift - old-school stick horse.

My heart.

Some Holiday Pictures

Angry Birds with Grandma.

Merry Christmas from this guy...

...and this guy (it still surprises me that my brother doesn't have hair)...

...and this guy.

Violet is loving her princess gear!