There are a bunch of little things to talk about, but as I find is often the case, none of them warrants their own post so they’re getting all lumped into this one, along with some pictures because WE ALL love pictures. Right, guys?

Gah, the “mommy blogging” segment on the “Today Show” was yesterday, if you’ve been living under a rock and didn’t know. And it was… mostly okay. I mean, I thought all the parts where Hoda and Kathie-Lee weren’t on the screen were great, that is. Yes, Hoda DID refer to mommy blogging with air quotes. Which made me want to promptly punch her in the face. And then Kathie-Lee babbled about how she doesn’t know anything about computers. And before you knew it, she was questioning the safety of blogging about your children. Because, you know, we wouldn’t want the INTERNET to know what our kids look like, their names, what they do on a daily basis, etc. Excuse me while I introduce Kathie-Lee (hereafter known as “pot”) to the kettle. Shoot, that women is renowned for babbling about her kids on her old show. And, uhm, HOW is it any different? Oh yeah, one medium is the internet where thousands read and one is television where MILLIONS watch. Ahem. And then poor Heather was cut off before she could even form a decent rebuttal. What a bunch of morons.

We had another “earthquake” last night. It was only a 3.5 or so (last night it was a 3.8… these things are always changing, apparently). Not terribly big, but enough to get my adrenaline pumping. I hadn’t felt a shake in over a week and I think I was starting to get a good false sense of security going. Dang it.

Evie is seven weeks old today. That doesn’t seem possible, does it? SEVEN WEEKS? That’s getting pretty close to two months. And after that it’s all downhill. Where has the time gone? I can’t believe how big she’s getting every day. She’s already getting a good layer of chunk going on. Her thighs are getting downright juicy. She’s getting long too. I’m used to how puny Liam always was, and I can already tell she’s out pacing him as an infant quite easily. Of course, that’s not really hard to do. He really was quite a puny runt.

My days have a pretty good rhythm to them now. Evie is still very resistant to being set down for any length of time, but I do it anyhow. I have to, at least a couple times a day while I’m dealing with Liam. She’s getting more used to her car seat so I’m hoping she’ll get more used to being un-attached to my person as well. After all, my to-do list is getting rather obscene. On the other hand, it’s really cool to be able to watch her become more and more aware as each day passes.

I learned when Harry was a baby that finding movies that he enjoyed but that didn’t make my brain want to bleed out of my ears was actually a rather tall order.  Tell me, was children’s programming this inane when we were kids?  It couldn’t possibly have been, I think I would have remembered.  I’m not even going to go into the cartoons that plague the children’s channels these days because half of them make me want to gouge out my own eyes.  I WILL ask why in God’s name do the put the halfway decent shows on at odd hours?  “Jack’s Big Music Show” is on before we’re all up and about and “Blue’s Clues” is on at dinner time when there’s no TV being watched.  And “The Backyardigans” is on during nap time.  Instead?  I’m left with “Oswald”.  GAH.  Anyhow.

The good news is I’ve found a couple movies that please everyone.  Well, I’ve found more than I’m going to talk about here, but these are my two favorites.  The first is fairly recent and is “Happy Feet“.   Surely you’ve heard of this one.  It’s got penguins in it, as did half of the movies for kids that came out that year.  It’s about a little penguin that, unlike the rest of his kind, can’t sing.  But he can sure dance.  It’s a story of difference and finding your place and being your own person and conservation and… gosh.  You get the idea.  It features awesome animation that at times makes you wonder if it is real (and sometimes, it is).  The music is fun and infectious.  Some people complain that the moral is too “depressing” or that the film is simply too long (it’s not).  Some say it lacks the classic quality of “March of Penguins”, which, of course it would because it is not “March of the Penguins”.  I’m not sure why the comparison is even made.  No, I think this is a great story.  It’s got toe-tapping music and a feel-good ending.  What more could you want?  To round it all out, we’ve got some great celebrity voices here, including Elijah Wood, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Robin Williams and Brittany Murphy.  When I don’t know what else to watch, I pop this in and everyone from me  to Harry and on down to Liam enjoys the show.  That’s a tall order to fill!

The next movie is one that has been out for a while.  It came out when Harry was a wee one and I had such a love for this movie that it bordered on obsession.  And that movie was “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”  I am incredibly sad that we do not have this one on DVD or even VHS.  While I have “Happy Feet” recorded to the DVR, ready to watch at a moment’s notice, it has been a few years since I’ve been able to watch “Spirit”.  So Liam hasn’t even seen this one yet.  I hope to rectify that sooner rather than later, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Anyhow, “Spirit” is the story of a wild mustang back in the “old west”.  It follows his story from birth and through his tumultuous life.  Unlike a lot of animal-centric animated movies, the horses don’t talk.  Well, not to each other, at least.  See, the movie is narrated by Spirit (the voice of Matt Damon, no less!), but you never actually see the horse “speak”.  Spirit overcomes some awesome obstacles in order to be reunited with his herd, and even picks up a girlfriend along the way.  Go Spirit!  There’s humor and there’s drama and there is a touching story.  And there’s music too.  The soundtrack is provided by Bryan Adams and believe me when I say, it’s not half bad.  In fact, I may (or may not) have purchased the soundtrack and listened to it in the car on many an occasion. (cough)  (My favorite track is a reprise of “I Will Return”.) (cough)  I love this movie.  I remember how Harry used to get on his bouncy horse (named Dakota) while watching this movie and ride that poor thing like a bat out of hell as the horses ran onscreen.  That’s a fabulous memory, ya’ll.  And this is a fabulous movie.

So if you’re having “one of those days”, and need something to put in the DVD player that will keep the kids happy but not at the expense of your brain cells, try these out.  You won’t be sorry.

I cannot seem to help myself with this baby.  I see something cute and I MUST HAVE IT.  Such was the case with these little cuties.  I defy you to tell me those aren’t cute.  I’ve loved the idea of these baby leggings ever since I first saw them a couple years ago, but the “name brand” was a little pricier than I was hoping to find late last week.  I was already on Etsy drooling over all the beautiful things and thought to look up baby legwarmers and lo and behold, I found this fabulous shop.  The price was VERY right, the designs were VERY cute… so I was sold.  Then, yesterday, my Crawler Cover arrived.  I was like a kid at Christmas.  And who wouldn’t be with packaging like this?

That’s frickin’ adorable, is what that is.  But even more adorable?  Is how these little cuties looked on my little cutie.

^{The awesome tie-dyed onesie is courtesy of Brit.  Thanks, girl!}

Way too cute right?  I KNOW.  And now I’m just biding my time until I can get more.  If I bought them now I think Kile might just set me out with the garbage on Garbage Day (note to self: Garbage Day is tomorrow, do not forget this time!).  But all in good time.  The leggings WILL be mine!

^{Who wouldn’t want to eat legs encased in such attractive wrapping?}

^{I think they make her toes look all the more delectable.}

^{Oh come on, like you didn’t think I wouldn’t sneak in a picture of her cloth diapers SOMEHOW.}

Another week already? Who is in charge of making these weekends so danged short, anyhow? In the hopes of spreading some happy, happy, joy, joy around on an otherwise bummer Monday, I’m going to list out some things that I am getting an unreasonable amount of enjoyment from right now (and I won’t promise that one of those things won’t be my new diapers). I’m hoping that maybe I’ll mention something that you will want to discover and then YOU will find joy and then my life will be complete. That’s not too much to ask of a Monday afternoon, is it?

• Owen Wilson. I’ve always enjoyed him, and since I haven’t seen “Drillbit Taylor”, I feel I can say that I haven’t see him in anything where I haven’t enjoyed his character immensely. Often, it’s his character that causes me to enjoy an otherwise blah movie. We subscribed to HBO and Cinemax a couple months ago so I’ve been fortunate enough to see Owen Wilson pretty much whenever I want in either “Night at the Museum” or in “You, Me and Dupree”. In the former, he has a teeny weeny part, playing a teeny weeny western fella, Jedediah. And he’s funny as hell.
  

  Jedadiah: I’m gonna shoot you in your dang eye. In your dadgum eye.
  [gun clicks empty]
  Larry: Yeah. Keep shootin’. Nothing’s gonna happen.
  Jedadiah: Now you know my shame. Jedadiah’s impotent rage. His guns don’t fire. Take me away.

  See what I mean? Hmm. Maybe you had to be there. But STILL. “You, Me and Dupree” was, for me at least, surprisingly hilarious. I completely adored his character in this movie. I can watch this movie whenever it pops up and have even DVR’d it so that I can watch it even after it falls of of OnDemand. It brings me irrational amounts of joy. And I know it’s all because of Owen Wilson.

• Yes, the cloth diapers. Shut up, I can’t help it. I’m working on a plan that would hopefully give me a good outlet for discussing this to my heart’s content without boring the rest of you to tears. I read your lack of enthusiasm loud and clear (plus, the poll count so far registers overwhelmingly in the “You are insane” category). But I get such a little high out of putting her in these diapers. And I can spend hours looking at the various websites out there. And even washing the darn things has made me feel joy. I hope the feeling continues, because I actually ordered some prefolds and covers last night. I’m committed now!
• This face right here. I could stare at her all day long. I find myself so excited for the coming months and watching her grow and discover and develop her own look.
• All of you guys. Yes, you. Even you over there in the corner. I see you. I love everyone who comes to this blog and reads what I write (even stupid, silly, pointless posts like this one).  You guys make this whole blogging gig (which is already pretty fabulous in and of itself) so rewarding.  I’m consistently amazed that anyone even reads this blog and waking up to find out that, yes, people DO read it, well… that just makes me so happy.  I love all you guys.  I hope, in the months ahead, to be able to show you guys just HOW MUCH.  Stay tuned.  And hold me to it!

Okay, that’s enough mushy stuff for now.  I’m sure there’s a load of laundry around here somewhere that’s calling my name.