what are hangers for?

Evidently, they are for reaching things when you can't reach it by yourself.

I have used a hanger, quite a few times, to reach Eden's paci that has fallen out of her crib but against the wall. So, if you came in her room at the right time, you'd see me lying across the floor stretched out using the hanger to pull the paci out.

It seems that Eden has been paying attention. The other day as I was putting clothes on hangers in the den, Eden came over and grabbed one. She needed to get her tennis ball from under the couch. There she was, stretched out on the rug, re-e-e-a-a-ching for that ball with the hanger.

I was so proud. Wouldn't you have been?

- Eden's proud Momma

update from 10/24/09 ...

oh my ...

The other day I came home and there were patterns of what looked like closet organizers on the kitchen table. Ashley had seen some at her friend Mary's house and had been inspired to try making a home-made version. Hmmmm ...

Yep. Ashley had spent some time labeling the sections of clothes in Eden's closet that only she could see before. Now I know which clothes Eden can wear and which ones I'm not supposed to put on her {because, apparently, clothes that she can't yet wear are still hanging in the closet ... now I know!}

But, just so you know that our entire life ... I mean, house ... is NOT this organized, here is what the rest of the house looked like that day. {Ashley decided it would be completely dishonest to put up a "look-how-organized" post, so she walked around the house taking pictures}

{the org com book is Ashley's, the mothering book is Graham's}

{Ashley has given up on putting up her shoes since E tries them on every day}

Although some of it is ours, it seems like as soon as we clean a tornado ransacks the house. We're not exactly sure of the source, but we have our hypotheses {notice the blurry tornado-like being in the photo above}. Well, we at least have an answer for the messes on the floors. The ones on the table we can't really blame on the little tornado ... yet.

I like using my spoon.

The other morning after Eden ate her oatmeal and eggs {Daddy's little girl} ...

... I grabbed a bowl of cereal. Of course,she wanted some. So, I sat down on the couch, and we began to eat. I would take a bite and then give Eden a bite. After her third or so bite, she kept asking for more. And not nicely. It was like "If you don't give me more cereal NOW I'm going to kick you." In retrospect, it is funny. Her mouth was completely full of milk and cereal. When she would say "more, more, more" milk would come gushing out of her mouth. Then she started crying. That part, not so funny. It wasn't the whining sort of cry. It was a full blown I'm-not-getting-my-way-and-you-should-know-about-it cry.

So, did what I thought was best. I put the cereal up completely. I told her there was no more until she could be a civilized creature. That worked about as well as you would imagine. The solution, put her in her highchair and give her her own bowl of cereal and a spoon. Magic! No more screaming. No more "more." No more crying.

Now we've learned to offer her a spoon at every meal, and she eats nearly everything with one {and she's getting quite good at it}.

books! books!

We talk about it alot, but Eden really does love books.

This is what Eden did while Ashley was drying her hair the other morning. Although the bow only stayed in for a few minutes, Eden stayed on the ground reading for at least 5 minutes {which is like 10 years in regular human time}.

We think her addiction is starting to take over. It's not all the time but it definitely runs deep. How deep, you ask? Well, a few nights this past week, Eden has been waking up screaming. A nightmare? Well, if it is, it is the strangest nightmare ever. When Ashley or I pick her up, the first thing she says is "book! book!" Seriously. She does the sign and says this {through her pacifier mind you}.

The response? "No, Eden. It's dark outside. See. It's night-night time. We'll read books when you wake up in the morning." That seems to be good enough most of the time. She'll look around, look at me (or Ashley), put her head on my (or Ashley's) shoulder, and fall back to sleep. I've only had to actually read her a book at 2 AM once. Probably won't be the last time.

and again ...

I know my belly.

When I picked E up from PDO this afternoon, her teacher showed me the cartoon scarecrow that Eden had painted earlier in the morning. Miss Michelle went on to say that Eden was the only one who showed any interest in what it was that she was painting instead of simply being in to the paint itself. Granted, she is the oldest one in her class by a week, but still this was an important accomplishment, the continuation of her artistic training ;).

"She was pointing to all the scarecrow's parts, his face and feet, and then picking up her feet. And, all I did was point to my stomach and say belly and Eden lifted her shirt to show me hers," she said.

I could tell with the way she told me the story that Eden's teacher was very impressed and proud of her little student. I of course told her that Graham has been working on body parts with Eden for months. He's all the time saying, "Eden, where's your nose? Where are your ears?" It's part of their nightly routine.

When I got home and told Graham, he responded, "Well, did you tell her Eden knows all her body parts?" He was pretty proud. It of course confirmed my belief that she is one super smart little cookie.

- ashley

the cleaning lady strikes again

Here's how five minutes of our afternoon went yesterday ...

Eden: "Momma, can I ple-e-e-a-a-a-se have the swiffers from on top of the ironing board? PLEASE?"

{well, it was really a whine and point and whine, but I knew what she wanted}

"Must ... get ... all ... the ... dirt" ...

"Why, yes, I should go under the table, too"

"Are you takin' pictures of me? Hmmmm ..."

"Ok, time for a fun one. Say cheese!"

I like giving kisses.

Over the past month, Eden has become really free with giving away her kisses to us. Once she decides that we get to have some, she'll go back and forth between us, puckering up, and then pushing our faces together so we'll kiss, too.

She has also been known to withhold kisses if she's feeling a bit fiesty. She'll turn her head to the side and start to giggle with amusement at her own power. It's of course even more fun if we respond with really, really wanting a kiss, "Ple-e-e-a-a-se can I have a kiss? Please?"

After a minute or two, she always gives in. Guess, she's just a sweety at heart.

{ajb}

my heart just smiled

Welcome! Glad you were able to joing us. We hope you feel comfortable enough to sit down and read for a while. Eden sure does.

Now, just so we're clear, it's certainly not all smiles all the time around here. Nevertheless, our hearts are smiling more often than not, especially when Miss Eden is around. If you've got kids {or anyone you love for that matter}, we're sure you understand our new blog title.


Just the same, this blog is not our place to jot down all the craziness and stress in our lives. It is, however, our place to write down all those things we just don't want to forget. Ashley's still not a scrapbooker {the first blog book's not even finished, started but not finished}, and Graham's not one to journal everyday. So, this is our way of keeping up with this great time in our lives.


We hope that in sharing a little bit about our lives, whether cute or silly or serious, that we'll help your heart smile just a bit, too.

I like being little-bitty.

Well, we can only assume that E enjoys her small size since she's pretty happy all the time. She definitely comes by it honest -- my sister is, well let's say she's just over 5'1", and my Grandmama and most of her sisters are all around the 5' mark, too. I guess there's still hope that Eden may take after her other aunts and relatives who are well over the 5'5" mark, but for now it seems she's got her momma's height.

I took her to her 18-month checkup this afternoon and here are the stats ...

weight - 21 lbs. 14 oz (10th percentile)

height - 30 1/2 inches (10th percentile)

head - 18 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Her doctor said that at this stage, the weight gain steadies out tremendously, hence the little weight gain since her one-year checkup. She also said that if she stays in the 10th percentile, she'll only weigh 26 lbs when she's 3 years old.

Overall, we're happy to report that all looked perfectly normal at the visit today. Eden and I spent 10 minutes going up and down the stairs in the lobby of the clinic (an entire two flights up to the second floor). She wanted to hold my hand and hold onto the railings with her other hand as she took the stairs "on her own." As a treat, we even stopped by McAlister's to bring home some sweet tea for Daddy. All in all, a nice visit and a good end to the day.

- ashley

I like pictures.

Eden has been fascinated with Ashley's camera for a while now. Whether it is watching videos of herself or scrolling through the hundreds of pictures, we can always count on the camera to calm or occupy her for a few minutes. Recently she has found a new way to be entertained by the camera ... posing.

If Ashley tells her she is going to take a picture, Eden will stop (with a little prodding) and look at the camera.

wearing Momma's belt ...

in her new bathrobe her Momma made for her ...

Sometimes she even smiles (which we can coax by asking her to smile or, if that doesn't work, asking "Are you silly?" ). Here she is last night in her new bathing suit courtesy of her Aunt Whitney.

The only way we could get her to take a bath was to let her wear it.

Eden is also taking after her mother in her new pursuit of a hobby in photography. Usually it starts by her holding the camera and pressing buttons while looking at pictures or videos. Then, she turns the camera around and starts to smile. Most times one of us has to help her press the button. We think she'll have that down very soon too.

I like my shelves.

Since her 18-month-day is a pretty big mark, the next few posts will be about things that Eden likes to do at 18 months of age. We just want to remember how she is these days.

Our den/dining room area is Eden's "safe" room in the house. We can close the doors to the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom {although the door to her room doesn't really close all the way}, and E ends up having a pretty big space that is baby-proofed to play in. Now, there are of course things like chairs and a couch that can be considered dangerous to a point, but for the most part it's her zone.

When we leave her zone to put things away and notice that it has gotten very quiet where she is, there are generally two answers to what's going on ... 1) she has gotten into something we didn't realize was in there or 2) {and the more likely answer} she's sitting in front of her shelves with all her books around her ...

She also loves her toy-shape-cube {can't think of what that's called} and has easily mastered the circle. Actually, it's the only one she uses. She just puts the circle through it's hole, opens up the cube, picks out the circle from the other shapes, and starts over. Pretty cute.

If you happen to enter the room after she has spent some time "reading" through her books on her own, you better be sitting down cross-legged on the floor because she's coming your way ..

She'll bring a book over, turn around backwards and plant herself in your lap to read. Everytime she does, I think there should be a truck-backin-up noise {you know the beep - beep - beep - beep} since it seems like she's backing in in slow motion to her correct spot. Then, she'll read her book with you, get up to go get another one, and repeat.

We do still make an effort to put things back on the shelves each night after she goes to sleep. Maybe that makes if more fun for her to discover again each day {or maybe it just helps to keep her Daddy sane}.

- ashley

one and a half years

 

One and a half years. Can that really be true?
Lot's happened over 18 months.

Although we don't remember everything, one thing's for sure ...

... she's still our little sunshine.

And for that, we're grateful every day.