Happy Halloween!

My Corny Candy Man.

Princess Shirley

Princess Shirley plays on the royal swings.

Viking Richard sends no text messages.

The LOOT!

Probably the best photo from Halloween.

Awful Dress!

Shirley Jean LOVES dresses. Most days, I ask her which beautiful dress she wants to wear. Usually she ends up changing her mind a couple times a day.

One day I was getting her ready to go to Richard's softball game and she said, "Awful dress, Mama. Awful dress. Mama! Awful dress! Yook! Awful dress!"

I said, "No! Your dress is BEAUTIFUL!"

She said, "Yeah! Awful!"

Here she is, modeling one of her current favorite "awful dresses," with a shirt as a headdress--of course. This photo just takes my breath away.

5/24/10

Fashionista

We all know that Shirley Jean is something of a fashionista. I call this her "Boho Look:"

Sometimes she brings me something she needs help putting on, other times, she comes out of her bedroom in "creative" outfits. Either way, too cute!

Cowgirl

16 Weeks = 4 months!

In the last couple of weeks or so, socks have become necessary at our house (and I'm guessing yours) again. Can I just say, socks for a toddler are a p.a.i.n.??

Since I haven't put a pair of socks on Shirley Jean since May, there were many, many pairs in her drawer that were far too small. Many of them were from when she was first born. So, yesterday while packing to come to Wausau I decided to pull out all the socks she can't wear anymore. For some reason seeing the evidence that her feet were at one time THAT tiny was very sad. At least I know I'll get to pull them out again in 5 short months.

That's right! I turned 16 weeks yesterday. Can you believe how fast this pregnancy has gone so far? I have found that If I take my prenatal vitamin during the day instead of at night like I used to while pregnant with Shirley, I have a lot more energy during the day and it doesn't make me sick like it did with SJ. This pregnancy is so different, I feel sometimes like I'm doing it for the first time!

Here's what BabyCenter.com has to say about BittyWee this week:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

I'm hoping that as BittyWee's heart continues to pump more and more blood on its own that my own heart will SETTLE. DOWN. I get out of breath so easily and my heart beats like crazy trying to deal with all the extra blood I'm carrying around. I mean, I'm doing everything for this kiddo...perhaps s/he can do a little work for mommy?

Click on the image to visit the website.

Long post. Sorry guys. I dislike long posts.

Always with the underwear...

Fashionista

As you already know, Shirley Jean is something of a fashionista. Lately she has taken to dressing herself...even if she's already dressed.
Thanks, Carrie, for the photos!

My Beautiful Princess

Soooooo Pretty

SJ has been wearing this tutu all day.

She thinks she is SO beautiful in it.

(She's right.)

I tried to remove the pacifier for these photos, but was unsuccessful.

Laundry Helper

Shirley LOVES "helping" Mama with laundry. Her idea of helping is usually chewing on a sock, carrying around an article of clothing, or taking clothes out of the basket. All of these things are very helpful.

Last night, she carried around one of her Daddy's shirts for over an hour, so I decided to let her try it on. She thought it was SO COOL to wear one of Daddy's shirts.

Underwear Model

Mama! Big, big, BIG sale at Vickie's!

Hand-me-down-day.

On the (few) days that SJ and I have nowhere to go, we usually jammy it up for most of the day. When it's time to get dressed, I dress her in the hand-me-down's that seem to have come from other families without their mates, like their original matching onesies or pants or socks.

Today's outfit?

A hippo t-shirt, a pair of footed pants that match if you're color-blind, and purple bunny socks over the feet of the pants (they are harder to pull off this way).

I'm sorry, Shirley. This outfit does nothing for your hips.

Your personality shines through the even ugliest of outfits.

A New Christmas Tradition

For as long as I can remember, my mom has picked out a special ornament for us for Christmas. She likes to choose one that represents a major event in our year. For instance, last year, Richard got a home-made ornament: a chicken leg bone broken in half and "fixed" with two screws. Get it?
Well, I want to do the same thing for our children. I wanted Shirley's first ornament to be something very special...so, I preserved* the shoe she wore on the day she was dedicated and turned it into her very first ornament. I plan to do this for all of our children. Cool, right? It's very simple, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.
I love you, my girl. Thank you for a special Christmas.


*To preserve the shoe, I dipped it in craft starch and let it dry for 24 hours, then re-dipped twice. It is stiff and should hopefully stay as white as possible over the years.

Starfish Baby

Randy: I can't put my arms down!
Mother: Well... put your arms down when you get to school.

Halloweeney Shirley Jeaney

Finished Project

Too big.Too small.
Juuuuuust right!

Out with the old, in with the new!

Dear Baby Gap,

Thank you for calling your 6-12 month size "newborn" and "infant." It made cleaning out the closet a lot easier on this sentimental mommy to know that somebody else still thinks she's a newborn, too.

Good marketing.

I will remain a loyal customer, despite your ridiculous prices just for those little tags that say "infant."

Sincerely yours,

ShirleysMama

Her first Games

I should have written this post months ago, but I didn't think any of you would believe me.

Soon after SJ started laughing in July, I realized that she was playing a game with me. When we sit down to nurse, she eats her fill, and then "pretends" to latch on, and then lets go and looks at me with a huge grin on her face. Then I say, "OH! You tricked me!" And she laughs and laughs. And she does it over and over until one of us gets bored. It's the sweetest thing. And clever, no? She's seriously been doing this since she was about three months old.

She also made up another game about three weeks ago. She thinks it is so funny when her fingers find their way into OUR mouths. She laughs as I "cookie monster" her fingers, and she pulls them out, and then sneakily reaches back for my mouth.

I love a baby with a sense of humor.

The above photo is from a couple of weeks ago, wearing an outfit that my mom saved from when I was a baby. She looks so pretty in blue!

Nice Shoes, Baby!

I LOVE putting shoes on the baby. I think it's hilarious. I have a pair of Robeez with a white Pedro-dog on them from Grandma Brenda that I'm counting the days until they fit. (They fall off at this point.) So watch for that post. : )

Little Miss had a good night last night, and only got up once and then slept til 9am. Everyone at the Desvousges Household feels a lot better today. Thanks for your encouragement, friends.

Christmas Party

On December 5, my division had a "Holiday" Party. People got all dressed up for the shindig, and I wore my new dress, as some of you may remember, which did little to hide my growing body.

Earlier that day, my VP announced to the entire division in a quarterly meeting that I was pregnant. Until that moment, two-thirds of the division didn't know I was pregnant, and it's fair to say that I know or have spoken to most of the people in our group, simply because of the nature of my job.

So...at the Christmas--I mean Holiday--party, I not only unveiled my baby bump, but my secret was out ahead of me.

I kid you not, I couldn't get from the table to the buffet and back in under 15 minutes. Everyone wanted to congratulate me, or tell me they had no idea, tell me stories about their own children, or simply shake my hand. Surprisingly enough, no one tried to touch my belly.

It sounds silly, but it all made me feel so special. What a special memory--the Vice President cared enough to announce it, and everyone else cared enough to share in our joy. People were practically falling over themselves to congratulate Richard and I.

A very sweet Christmas and Pregnancy memory.