potty talk

all of the things i've dreaded doing with mae have been a cinch so far. taking away the binkie was fairly easy--the "binkie fairy" was a hit. the bottle after that was even easier. yes, she cried a little--but overall i'm surprised at how easy it was, especially when i imagined it would be so dramatic.

today we lost mae at costco. we were checking out, and when we turned around she was gone. we were totally frantic. katy, jayson and i split up to look for her and they paged all of the workers with her description. the point of this story isn't that i'm a horrible mother, or how completely frightened we were. the point is where they ultimately found her--

she wandered into the restroom, took off her diaper and was sitting on the toilet. she evidently needed to go potty, and didn't bother to tell us.

should i really be terrified of potty training? am i just psyching myself out of these things?

today...

...i realized something very important.

i've been avoiding my blog. can you tell? there are a lot of contributing factors--real logistical things that have kept me off the computer. but a lot of it has been emotional. i'm not sure when i developed such a bad attitude towards blogging, but i did. i think i got overwhelmed reading everyone else's blogs, and just feeling like i had nothing important to contribute to the blogosphere.

there are lots of reasons people blog--make money, keep a journal, make new friends, hobby, outlet, etc. i started my blog because my parents went to africa, and i missed them. and i know myself, and know that i am a really inconsistant letter writter. and i wanted to keep in touch. and i figured this would be a way to keep in touch with them, and at the same time keep in touch with my family and some of my friends.

somewhere last year, that all became mushy in my head. i thought that i had to do something more with my blog. because my blog isn't really that interesting if you don't know me, and sometimes even if you do know me. and there are so many interesting blogs out there, that mine would get lost in the mix.

well, let it get lost.

each comment i received yesterday and today from my classic skaing post sent me through the roof. it was like i had a route 44 diet coke each time, it was a total high. i savored every word. i shared something that was, in all reality, pretty boring and some of my loved ones took the time to tell me thanks for sharing. i read a blog that often gets tens of thousands of comments--i got eight--from a couple of dear friends, a cousin, a nephew, a long lost friend, and some mission companions. i'm so about quality, not quantity. who cares if a stranger ever makes it to my blog. i don't blog for them.

i blog for you. because i love you--my family and friends, and i like sharing things with you. and i love it when you share back. it's like we're having a conversation, which is so important to me. but the reality is the day is too short to have all the conversations i want. so i can have some of them here.

thank you, as always, for reading. i count my family and friends as my greatest blessing. i hope to be more consistant here. i've missed it in a lot of ways.

classic skate

I can blame my lack of blogging on several things. But excuses never really get me anywhere, so I'll save them for later.

Until then, please enjoy these pictures from our recent trip to Classic Skating. We had a blast.


Our first trip out onto the rink. Mae wasn't so sure, but aren't those skates adorable? It turns out she wasn't so hip on the whole idea. But that's really ok, because that meant she wanted to ride in the stroller. And what the really means is that I had something to hold onto. I'm a really terrible skater.


She was really hip on the couples skate. She has a really large crush on Mason.

And can you blame her?

Finally we let her try a different kind of skate. She very much preferred these skates. She was even able to move a little bit on her own. I didn't care for them because I lost my thing to hold onto.


Finally we found the skeeball, and Mae was in heaven. All those trips to the Nicklecade have paid off Katy, she knows exactly what to do.

Dance all over the game...

...and put the balls directly into the shoot.

Classic skate = very fun Friday night activity.