• Raise your right hand, repeat after me…”I promise to be honest and faithful (and not forget) my tooth fairy duties.“

• Addie’s January in photos and her February in photos. (Who cares if it’s the middle of March?)

• Addie built sandcastles, only to destroy them.

• BikiniGate 2012. Part 1 here. Part 2? This was the first comment. “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. So uptight. So naive. So insecure…You’re (sp) naivety is a true shame.” Soo…here’s part 2.

• What’s your favorite song to sing to at the TOP OF YOUR LUNGS?

• What’s your greatest parenting challenge?

• How often do your kids bathe? The comments on this post will have you feeling normal no matter what your answer is.

• Addie wrote to the tooth fairy and asked her for bones. I love that kid.

• Can you believe how much technology has changed in 6 years?

Remember when blogs were just parents posting videos of their kids doing supposedly cute stuff but no one really cared but the parents and maybe a few grandparents, aunts and uncles?

This is one of those videos.

moosh in indy. Blogging like it’s 2007.

(Also, how cute is Cody’s talk to the baby voice?)

• First of, here’s a collection of Vivi’s last five weeks in photos. (Whew, totally fell behind there.)

• Second here’s a video of Vivi trying her first lemon and a video of Vivi making ridiculous baby mouth noises.

• Here’s Vivi’s first TV appearance! Yes! She’s strapped to me and we’re on live TV!

• I’m so in love with everything boon makes, so is Vivi.

• Did you see all the photos of Vivi in her Perry the Platypus costume? You should, she’s amazingly adorable.

• This one is wildly important to my heart, 17 of us shared our darkest moments with postpartum depression and anxiety, read it with compassion, and maybe tissues.

There’s a whole bunch more sprinkled in between about borrowing babies, poop, how boring I must have been and how much Vivi loves food if you’re interested. You can find it all here.

 

“Of course it matches, IT’S ALL FLOWERS.”

Argue with that logic.

Last month I wrote about why Addie had never worn a bikini, and why I wouldn’t be buying her one anytime soon on babble.

Whoops.

Commenters who didn’t know my family or me at all began predicting a future where Addie goes to school with mini skirts and halter tops shoved into the bottom of her bag so she could change in the bathroom. There were assumptions that I was controlling her, not giving her any choice and that all her clothing choices are far more Laura Ingalls and far less…well…Addie.

There was a time I picked out every outfit Addie wore, it was grand fun, just like dressing a doll.

Then suddenly she developed opinions and began dressing herself.

Clearly I lost all control with her wardrobe and ran with it.

*shrugs* It’s her thing, these crazy outfits she puts together.

So when comment after comment rolled in about what horrible parenting decisions I was making I was able to take a deep breath and know I was doing okay. I may buy Addie’s clothes, but the execution? It’s all her. Modesty is wildly important to me, but I don’t really care how she gets there as long as she does.

If it’s layering seven different floral patterned and lace trimmed pieces with red cowgirl boots? So be it.

I’ve started watching Project Runway with her, we’ve had the same favorites from the very beginning, Austin Scarlett and Mondo. I didn’t have any influence on her decision, we both like what we like. She loves how weird and quirky some of the outfits can get and doesn’t understand why I don’t leave the house swathed in tiny blinking LED lights. On Friday she decided to host her own runway show and demanded that I photograph the event.

When we asked her “Why so serious?” She rolled her eyes and said “BECAUSE FASHION IS SERIOUS.”

She then made me follow her around outside as she used our driveway as an (sub)urban runway.

I realize she’s wearing my boots, but you guys…LOOK WHAT HAPPENED.

SHE GOT ALL BIG AND STUFF.

If you want to wear tutus on your head for the rest of your life? SO BE IT.

Heck, if you want to wear tutus period for the rest of your life, so be it.

(I will have to draw the line at borrowing my shoes for the time being.)

I guess she’s still little in my head because she still loves clothes that glitter, skirts that twirl, and shoes with flair.

May those be loves that never ever leave her.

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When I was given the topic of the things kids wear, I almost had too much material. I’m so grateful to partner with Hallmark in 2012 on their “Life is a Special Occasion” campaign again and I thank them tremendously for believing in my family, Addie’s fashion choices, me, and for sponsoring this post.

Vivi is army crawling, only it is not sneaky or stealth at all. She grunts with every scoot and squeals with every stop. Today in the bathtub she squealed so loud I lost full hearing capacity for approximately seven minutes. Yesterday she ate something that made her fart like a grandpa today, one was so loud she startled the one eyed cat. Something’s going on with that baby because she was returning to her sad baby roots with much whining and crying. Tomorrow morning she’ll probably have a full set of molars and the attitude of a pre-teen.

I cannot for the life of me stop staring at her, hugging her and sniffing her. The only thing that stops me is her vengeful eye poking, dangerous necklace yanking and her right armpit.

Seriously, her right armpit is capable of pumping out the stink of seven sweaty men sitting together in a very small non-ventilated room. It’s so strange and so gross.

The chances of her hair being curly like Addie’s is pretty much zero at this point, but she can do a killer Beiber circa 2009 impression. She’ll likely have that amazing hair with just enough wave to look effortlessly chic all the time. I’m planning on being very envious of it, I’m also fantasizing about braiding it, brushing it and touching it since Addie disowns me whenever I come near her these days.

Speaking of Addie, she has four giant gaps in her mouth (six teeth lost total) and it’s really strange.

Six pieces of my child are missing, somewhere in landfills or compost heaps. Teeth I lost sleep over when she was a baby, teeth that ruined a lot of good toys and bit many different parts of my body. With the first tooth I was horribly torn between keeping it or throwing it away. I think I tucked it away somewhere with the anticipation of being grossed out by it in the coming weeks, but by tooth number 6? I just shoved it deep enough into the garbage can she wouldn’t see it if she happened to glance in.

I must write this winter a thank you note for being so kind to me. Forget global warming and Armageddon, this winter was mild because Casey couldn’t handle another winter with 87 straight days of doom and freezing gloom.

The other day was a little dodgy as far as the weather but never ye fear!

I dressed my baby up as a platypus and followed her around with a camera.

Want to see more? They’re all right here. Who cares if Halloween was…a long time ago, IF THE COSTUME FITS? You dress your baby in it year ’round.

******

In other super random news. Guess what today is?

My blog’s birthday.

This little *thing* was born May 9, 2006

Happy sixth birthday blog, you’ve treated me well.

(Curling my hair today I realized…”Huh, it’s not May, IT’S MARCH YOU IDIOT.” But I also figured that gives you two months to figure out the perfect present for my blog. She likes yellow.)

 

Oh hey, how’s it going? Here? Just another weekday afternoon.

Whoa, wait, what are you doing back there Addie?

You realize the baby has no idea what’s going on Addie? ADDIE? What’s in your hands!?

BOP!

Oh, well, the baby thought that was kind of funny. It was kind of funny. OH…HEY! BABY! INCOMING!!

When it came time to write my post for Hallmark last month I felt as though I had said everything there was to be said about Addie as a big sister, short of showing you a picture of my heart exploding with love I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I asked Cody if he had anything to say, turns out, he did. So here it is…my darling husband’s second guest post in 6 years.

I sure am a lucky/blessed/happy lady.

**************

I grew up in a small oil town surrounded by other boys whose fathers worked in the oil field or on farms.  One thing I learned at a young age was that a person was not tough if that person showed emotion.

On my wedding day, my wife expected me to shed tears and show how happy I was to be getting married—unfortunately for my wife, no tears were shed.

At the birth of my first child, my wife expected me to shed tears and show how happy I was to be having a new daughter—unfortunately for my wife, no tears were shed.

At the birth of my second child, my wife expected me to shed tears and show how happy I was to be having a second daughter—unfortunately for my wife, no tears were shed.

Here is a confession for my wife.  Even though there were no tears shed on our wedding day, I was unbelievably overcome with joy when I first saw her walking down the aisle.  I will never forget the look she had on her face and how stunning she looked that day.

Here is another confession for my wife.  Even though there were no tears shed when my first daughter was born, the emotions I experienced were indescribable.  Getting to touch my daughter for the first time was one of the most exciting and euphoric moments of my life.

Here is another confession for my wife.  Even though there were no tears shed when my second daughter was born, the emotions I experienced were just as indescribable and incredible as when my first daughter was born.  As I kept my hand on my daughter’s minutes-old stomach, I realized that the feelings a father feels at the birth of his child is a feeling that he will experience only a handful of times and will be one of the peaks of his life.  I decided to cherish that experience because I realized I may never feel that way again.

This post is supposed to be about Addie as a big sister, and you may be wondering how I got so off track; however, Addie as a big sister fits perfectly in this post, and here is why.

I did not expect Addie and Vivi to get along as well as they do.  After Vivi was born, I left the delivery room to call Addie and tell her that she was a big sister.  I discovered Addie had left about fifteen voice mails on my phone begging for updates on Vivi’s birth.  That kid was just as excited to welcome Vivi into the world as I was.  I have watched Addie play with Vivi for hours at a time.  She does not play with Vivi because she doesn’t have anything else to do—she genuinely loves playing with her little sister, and Vivi genuinely loves playing with Addie.

Addie has been the best big sister Vivi could ever want.  There have been several moments where I have seen Addie taking care of Vivi and I have experienced that euphoric feeling that I felt when both Addie and Vivi were born.  Although I did not shed tears at my wedding, at Addie’s birth or at Vivi’s birth, I have had to fight back tears when seeing the love Addie has for Vivi.

*******************

If this isn’t a dream come true, I don’t know what is.  It’s a literal dream come true to partner with Hallmark in 2012 on their “Life is a Special Occasion” campaign again and I thank them tremendously for believing in my family and me and for sponsoring this post.

Allow me to sum up my February for you:

Different hotels slept in: 4

Planes taken: 5

Nights spent sleeping in my own bed: 9

Nights spent sleeping in the car: 2

States visited: 8

WHEW.

That being said I’m desperately attempting to play catch up to my duties as a responsible adult (see: laundry, grocery shopping, general self care) as well as my responsibilities as a working professional (see: write write write, click click click) and one of the most exciting things that I didn’t even get a chance to talk about was the fact that I was chosen as an ambassador for Clickin’ Moms. WHEE!

The ever lovely Jill from Baby Rabies was the matchmaker and seeing as how I’ve been gleaning wisdom and inspiration from her photos for the last several months I couldn’t say no to an opportunity to learn from the same forums she’s been so heavily involved with (and loving.)

That being said…I have only barely begun to scratch the surface of what Clickin’ Moms has to offer and I’m really excited about it. The truth is I kind of have no idea where to start but I’m really excited to all AT THE SAME TIME. Using my camera almost every single day this year has already taught me so much and given me so much confidence as well as some of my most favorite photos I’ve ever taken.

Won’t you learn with me?

I have a discount and a free trial offer for you…

Use the code <a href="MOOSHTRIAL for a (you guessed it) free trial and if you love it or find any sort of inspiration then use the code <a href="MOOSH20 for 20% off a 6 month (reg. $30) or 1 year membership (reg. $50)

I’ll be posting here and there about things I’ve learned or photos that have been inspired by the Clickin’ Moms forums, IT’S LIKE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL BUT ONLY TAKING THE CLASSES I WANT TO.

*ehem*

Current favorite photo? THIS ONE.

Who’s with me?

**I have been compensated with a 6 month membership and access to forums and online classes by Clickin’ Moms as an ambassador, links are affiliates.**