a whole new world

no i'm not referring to the music in disney's aladdin, though now it's taking all my self control to not burst out into song right about now. no, this whole new world is fashion. baby fashion to be precise. there is something to be said about how dull and plain boys clothes are. you've got your simple polo shirts, logo t-shirts, sweaters/sweatshirts, and jeans. go to any store and they are pretty much identical to the ones in every other store. i can spend $5 on a batman tee at target that costs $14.50 at the gap. and walmart has plain colored t's that are only $3 that are crazy expensive at gymboree or even children's place. i am pretty snobby though about finn's jeans, which have to be purchased at old navy or gap. i don't care how much they cost, because boy's got some chunky thighs and stubby legs. i mean that in the most loving way of course.

but girls. oh girls clothes. every where you look, it's like "BAM! BUY ME! I'M RIDICULOUSLY CUTE!" 3 days after ada was born, i was perusing the racks at kohl's and spent more on four outfits than i think i'd spent on finn's clothes for an entire season, maybe even two seasons. for finn, i buy things at the end of the season for the following year when it's so stinkin' cheap. last year, i bought 17 items for less than $50! i know it's going to be the same stuff they will try to sell me next year for 7 times the cost. boys stuff looks pretty much the same year to year. for ada though, i'm afraid to buy too much, because i know next year's stuff is going to be even cuter than before. yet i have already bought too much. girl has a serious stash of clothes for the next year. more than enough for her precious little self to wear in the 3 month span before she grows out of it. but i don't care, because she is going to look fabulous!

not what he expected

finn is obsessed with animals. overly obsessed. if there were a word stronger than obsessed, it would be defined by how much finn loves animals. at night after prayers, he tells me all the animals that are sleeping in the world. "cows are sleeping. pigs are sleeping. turtles are sleeping..." unfortunately, he knows a lot of animals, so many nights we just shut the door on him as he continues to go through his list of who's already asleep. when we talk of any animal or see them at the zoo, he always says he wants to hold it and ride it, regardless of size or how terrifying it might be. i was certain he would someday become a veterinarian or farmer or just be the crazy cat man who lives with hundreds of cats. oooooh, or that man on animal hoarders that had thousands of pet rats that pooped all over the house and were running all over everything. that could totally be finn in 50 years. or so i thought.

my mom has a little girl in her class who raises cattle, so she invited us over to see the two baby cows that they have. finn was so excited and kept saying all weekend, "i go feed the baby cows now?" well, the time came and suddenly, he didn't want to be anywhere near them. we had to force him to touch the sweet little (taller than finn) babies and he was trembling as we walked toward the fence of the adult cows. yet now, 24 hours later, his recollection of our field trip is a little skewed. he keeps saying, "i touched the cows. i love the baby cows. i want a cow. i ride on a cow." my special boy.

from caveman chic to major geek

i think i just have bad luck with getting haircuts. no matter what i say to the hairdresser, my hair never turns out exactly as i had envisioned. perhaps it is the fact that they never quite understand what i want. perhaps it is my lack of acceptance that my stringy thin hair will never look lush and thick and gorgeous like those people in the magazines. perhaps it is my inability to understand that those people probably don't roll out bed or spend 3.5 minutes on a "good hair day" to make it look that way. regardless, i feel pretty unlucky in the hair department.

apparently, this luck has fallen on my poor son as well. his last haircut was in october, so it was long overdue. emphasis on long. very long. i asked the woman to take a little off, but to leave it long on top. a little surfer-esque, since we live in the surfing capital of the world and all. well, thing is, he is inherited the same thickness of my hair, and surfer-esque doesn't really work well with thin hair. insert a little temper tantrum that led to him sitting sideways on the chair and a some clipper action to take "a little off the back" and BAM! most of his hair was on the ground. like my mother said upon seeing his after photo, it will grow back.

before

after

looks can be deceiving

instant coffee. it'll do in a pinch, but definitely looks more delicious than it tastes.

the second

sweet to cheese progression

how to exhaust your two year old and yourself

i think it takes just as much time to get ready to go outside to play in the snow as time spent playing in the snow. on one of the ridiculously cold days last week, we braved the cold in an effort to exhaust finn enough that he would quickly pass out the moment he came inside and sleep the entire afternoon. i definitely felt that way before we even made it out the door. finn excitedly jumped in the ice-topped snow, which completely supported his weight. i kept waiting for him to run across the snow, hit a weak spot, then vanish under the snow. twenty minutes later, the single digit weather hit us all and we scurried back inside, drank hot cocoa, and passed out on the couch. mission accomplished.

happy snow day!

after too many days of being stuck in our house and secluded from the world, we decided to bundle up, brave the cold, and meet daddy for lunch. finn had to wear his nomer hat, of course. we're not sure what nomer hat means, but finn decided that this faux-fur lined hat was it.