Sweet baby face

What the heck am I supposed to do with those cheeks besides kiss them?

My Girl.

This is Erilyn. Let me tell you a little bit about this girl.

What she is wearing is a typical outfit. Pajama shirt, preferrably long-sleeved, tights (the lower the crotch, the better, apparently), socks on top of the tights to cover the hole in the toe from wearing the tights so much, matching isn't required, and "tappin'" shoes. She wears this outfit, or a variation of this outfit (green socks, and a purple pajama shirt, for example), every day. Every Day. That is, she wore this outfit every day until I put my foot down last week. We picked out four outfits, put them into her top drawer, and forbade her from getting any clothes out of the other drawers (until I can seal them shut). She can pick any one of the outfits from the top drawer, but once she puts it on, she can't change ALL DAY LONG. This is a difficult concept to her. You might think, considering her basic uniform, that she doesn't have many options, but you'd be wrong. She changes AT LEAST seven times a day. It's the same general rotation, so those particular pajamas and socks are getting well worn, let alone the tights.

Yesterday, though she was wearing one of her all time favorite outfits, a yellow Belle sweatsuit (so cute), all I heard all day long was, "But Mommy! I don't like these pants anymore! I can please change?" She was very persistent, for a three year old already wearing her favorite clothes. I let her put her pajamas on an hour early, but otherwise I was firm, thank you very much.

Another thing about Erilyn is that she flits. Like a butterfly. She's never in your face, but she never leaves you alone either. She's beautiful, but sometimes you just want to shoo her away. She's always humming or singing something, and she's got some dance moves down pretty well, considering she's never had a dance class (unless you count "So You Think You Can Dance," which I don't). She still adores Anthon and seems pretty much lost with out him, which problem I'm trying to solve by playing with her myself, but how could I possibly replace Anthon as a playmate? I know. It's a lost cause. Especially when I have laundry to do.

She's getting pretty good at counting and learning her letters, though I'm not getting serious about teaching her until next fall. I still have to force her to color (she takes after me, unfortunately) and even this only works if she has a princess or otherwise extremely girly coloring book to work in. She loves books. Just about the cutest thing to me on the planet is to watch Anthon read to her. It's the sweetest thing and melts my heart every time.

Everyday she asks to play with friends. She has plenty, but unfortunately, she also has a Mom who is terrible at planning playdates.

She says things like "mooskit" (music) and "I like this one the much." and "backard" (backyard) and "Yer can do it, Mom" and "Daddy said so I can have some candy" and "Please you can hold me, Mommy?" and tells me that I'm "diving" (dieing) so that she can use our cool (real!) stethoscope (from Tanner's hospital days) to check my heart. 

She loves horses and kittens and riding her bike in the driveway. She can almost walk the whole half-mile to Anthon's school without needing a break, or a ride in the stroller with Tanner, but she has no problem running the entire way home chasing Anthon on his scooter. We chopped her hair "It looks better than I thought it would," (Kirk). She doesn't get scared when Kirk jumps out at us, even when Anthon and I are screaming at the top of our lungs, and she likes to pet fuzzy catipillars.

This is Erilyn. She's my girl.

10pm, and I'm going to bed.

Actually, I started the going to bed process at 8:48pm.  I was very tired after feeding Tanner and putting him to bed.  Off to the bedroom I go...and, walking past the computer, I got a bit sidetracked.  I decided to check the latest "leaked" version of Target's Black Friday ads to see if they have the pots and pans I want for sale.  They do, but Amazon has them cheaper.  Then, I wonder, do they have....?  And so you see why I'm still up.  The approaching Black Friday has me all aflutter. 

Now it's 10:06.  Bedtime.

Back in the saddle...er, running shoes.

I went running!  Well, running/walking really.  And it confirmed something that I strongly suspected: I'm WAY out of shape.  It felt good to get out there again, though.  I'm starting a training schedule for a race in February.  It's only a 10k, but at this point, I can honestly not believe this body ever ran a marathon, let alone two.  Baby steps, right?  It's been a killer year, so I'm cutting myself some slack.  Thanks, Kinsey, for the inspiration:)

Crazy...I know.

Why do I feel like I'm doing something wrong if I'm not suffering?  I know I'm here to be happy, and experience joy as well as pain, but for some reason, I start feeling guilty if I get too happy.  Knowing something, and understanding it are two very different things.  Right now, I'm working on coming to some kind of understanding with myself about happiness and beauty and their roles in my life. 

Any comments?

Today, I'm Ina.

I love to cook. And bake. I love to experiment, and try new recipes from all over the world. My problem is, how can you stay thin with all that good food around?! So, though I'm constantly striving to be a "Giada" (skinny cook), today, I'm definitely an "Ina" (a, well, the opposite.).

The pumpkin cookies with cinnamon glaze and the banana nut roll were calling too loudly; I could no longer resist them today.

At least I have friends and neighbors I can share them with!

It's official!

 

It's official!  Tanner was--finally--blessed on Sunday.  We felt so grateful to have Grandma and Grandpa make the trip for the occasion! We missed Grandma and Grandpa Schramm, who made the trip two months ago, but weren't able to come again for the blessing.  We love you both!

We also had some friends come: Taylor Willingham and Brad and Kaci Odell--friends from law school, as well as Kirk's childhood friend Nathan White and his father, Kirk's former bishop, Bruce White.  Thanks to all of you who made the effort to support us!  We love you!

And we LOVE Tanner!

The many faces of Tanner Lee Morgan

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