52:14:Meet

Around our house...

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!

Today I realized (to my horror) that we had definitely dropped the ball on all things Easter and hadn't taken Claire to see the Easter Bunny this year!  I've been so sick (and we're all sick, and all out of it, making it even worse) that I haven't even broke out my Easter decorations yet.  We quickly got organized this morning and took off to Bass Pro in Columbia which is the only Easter Bunny in this area since the malls stopped having him at some point. 

Claire still isn't afraid of costumed characters, however, she did NOT want to pet the Easter Bunny.  At Christmas she was really excited by the Rudolph character and petted him quite happily, but that was a big no this time.  I'm worried by Christmas she'll finally have fear of "strangers" and start crying.  I see scared, crying kids every time we do these things.  I know it's only a matter of time.

Luckily, this creepy Easter Bunny (did I say creepy?  Well... look at him!) was the same as last year, so we have a cool side by side comparison:

What a difference a year makes!

52:13:Breakaway

Around our house...

We are finding our independence!

Maybe it's just because we all came down with exactly what Claire had this week, but I've been thinking a lot about this picture.  I feel like my role as a mother is a delicate ballet of near and far.  Sometimes Claire wants to be close, like when she wasn't feeling well and curled up with me for comfort.  Other times, like in this picture, Claire was happy and inquisitive and comfortable, so she broke away and did her own thing. 

Even in small instances, I realize the heartbreak and pride that go hand-in-hand as a parent.  I love my little girl and if I could, I'd just hold her close all the time.  However, I realize how much pride I have watching Claire become her own person.  She can do all sorts of things without me, and now can ask for me to do things she needs help with.  How different from a year ago! 

So this is a picture of my little girl running off to pick tulips without me.  And behind the camera, I'm smiling.

52:12:Drive

Around Grandpa's House...

We drive tractors!

We had a few sick days this week.  Double ear infections suck, don't they!  Well, watching Claire yesterday, you wouldn't guess it!  We decided to go visit one of her favorite people, Papa!  It's so heart warming to see how much love Claire gives our parents--she's even starting to warm up to Matt's dad, which is enough to bring tears to my eyes! 

However, there will always be a special love for Papa.  Watching Claire fall in love with him just reminds me again and again how special a person he is to me, too.  So it was really special for me to take Claire over to my old house and have her play in MY yard!  Even though she was sick (and honestly, I'd have never guessed she had a double ear infection), she got to see cows up close plus a baby cow!  It's funny how baby animals, no matter the species, always identify with each other.  We also got to see the peacocks, and Claire thought those were pretty cool.  We saw fish, too.  Then Papa took her on a tractor ride (which is right about the time I remembered I had a camera).  Claire, obviously, is fearless.  She wasn't scared of being up high on the tractor or scared when it started to move or anything.  What did Claire want to do?  Grab the wheel and drive!  I guess she's got some country in her, after all!  Maybe I shouldn't be shocked.  I can ride a horse, feed the cows, drive a tractor... and keenly identify a fake Louis Vuitton from across the mall.  :)  Maybe there is room for both in her, too!

My First Birchbox!

I won't lie, I've been waiting for what seems like forever to start getting Birchboxes.  I read about them on The Small Things blog (which I love, check her out).  Basically a Birchbox is a box delivered once a month full of high-end beauty samples and costs $10 a month.  I was skeptical about paying even this small amount, but that amount includes shipping and you can earn points through your reviews to get discounts on full-sized items you can't live without.  I figured this was a good way to sample products without committing.  I'm that person who goes to Sephora and wanders around and can't justify purchasing anything without knowing if I'll like it. 

So what came in this month's Birchbox?  (I know, you're dying)

• Color Club Nail Lacquer in He Loves Me--a pretty pink polish in a fairly good sized bottle for me since it seems I can never keep my nail polish from separating.  It's a good pink color, too.  I rarely buy pink because it seems I always get hit with some pale shade that fades or just looks wrong.  This is a stronger pink that I forsee replacing my current black nail polish on my toesies, probably this weekend.  It's also gracing a few of my fingers since I was so curious to see the shade.  Almost a peachy pink.  Love it!  And the full size?  Only $8 if I absolutely can't live without it.
• Harvy Prince Ageless perfume--claims it's designed to make me feel more youthful (something I need since I just turned ancient, after all).  I really like it actually.  It's light and pretty--very flirty for spring.  And it's one of those awesome perfume samples in a little spray container instead of a swab.  It'll last me about a week, which is great.  At $55-$98 for a full-sized bottle, I seriously doubt this will be something I can't live without, but I might tack it on to a future gift list or something.  
• Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint--I've been TRYING to find the right tinted moisturizer.  I have Aveeno's version and I just think it's too thick.  It has SPF in it, same as this, but it just feels so heavy.  I'm going to try this either tomorrow or this weekend instead of foundation and see what I think.  For $38 for a full sized portion it might be steep--but if it replaces my summer foundation, I won't feel too bad about it!  I'm terrible about moisturizing before foundation because my face just feels heavy.  Could this be my easy fix?
• Orofluido Beauty Elixir--This looked like a mystery potion.  I had to read about it to find out it was hair oil.  I have hair oils (chi and some other thing that I've had for literally six years).  I like a hair oil for softening, shine, and simply silky hair.  Lately I haven't been going sleek, opting instead for some body and bounce, but tomorrow I'm going to go straight and use my oil.  It can be added to dry hair for fly aways, but I prefer a few drops on my hair before I even comb it out after washing it.  It also smells intoxicating.  The info says it's vanilla amber.  I can't wait to try it, just feeling it I know it's good.  For a full sized jar of $30, it's probably doable if I decide this is THE hair oil for me.
• Stila Smoky Eye Card--I won't lie, I was angry to see an eyeshadow card.  I hate those things.  I dread all those make up parties because they give you eye shadow cards to try and it's always stupid.  This, however, looks like really neat eyeshadow.  It has really easy instructions, it's beautiful color, and has a liner shadow, too.  The three shadows will cost $45, but I've done worse.  Actually, I already have kind of similar shades, so if I really really like it, I might go out and get the shade I don't have and just mix those using the styling tips.  Who knows?
• Lifestyle Extra--Tea Forte Skin Smart Teas--I don't like tea much (at all?).  I want to be a tea drinker, I do, but I just make faces.  This came in three different flavors, Cucumber Mint, Honey Yuzu, and Cherry Marzipan (which I tried tonight).  First let me say it smelled amazing.  I wanted to eat the tea bag.  I enjoyed my tea which is supposed to help with "corrective repair."  For $6, you get 16 tea bags.  I'm not a tea drinker so I don't know if this is insane, but after drinking it, I'm thinking this is one thing I'll invest in.  I can see myself drinking an afternoon tea, can't you?

 

All in all, I think this month's Birchbox was a success.  After seeing what others got in their boxes, I was a little bummed and it took me a while to warm up to my box.  They had perfume that I like more, they had cooler stuff than the eyeshadow... but hey... I don't have much to draw from in the beauty routine world, so I'm going to try to use and honestly evaluate everything.  Hey, I don't like tea and I'm thinking about buying a box now!  So that's pretty cool!

Are you considering a Birchbox now?  Remember to let them know I sent you there!

52:11:Explore

Around our house...

It's spring break!

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I felt the need to have a blow out spring break with Claire.  So far this week (and it's only Wednesday, by the way) we've gone on a two mile walk to the park (plus played in the park... after walking such a distance, she's lucky I didn't just turn around and skip that part).  Then we went to a local nature center called the Runge Center.  It's got great walking trails plus a neat indoor area full of displays and live Missouri reptiles and amphibians.  Then today we went on a walk, went to Bonkers in Columbia, had a big girl lunch out plus ran around on the Mizzou campus.  Oy!  My feet!

Claire walking on the trail... I had to become one of THOSE parents with the leash.  She won't hold my hand that long and she does NOT want to be in the stroller.  That leaves either me letting her run loose or putting her on a leash.  You can't blame me for wanting a little control over her still!

She peeked in these cabinets about 100 times.  She kept running back to look in the cabinets over and over again. 

Claire at Bonkers... mastering the slide.

Claire was obsessed with this car.  A group of boys kept riding it and every time she'd cling to the fence and watch.  So we plunked down some change and gave her a ride.  She had a great time!  I couldn't believe she would ride in the car!

She's had a lot of great experiences this week.  Little Miss Independent has to walk all on her own.  She's locked me out of her bedroom.  She picks out her own snacks.  She can slide down any slide anywhere ALL on her own.  No momma needed.  She walked the trail that was 3/10 of a mile at the Runge Center (on her own) then didn't really want my assistance going through the exhibits... except when she needed a boost so she could see.  She loved the exhibits that had lots of doors and things to push and open and close.  I doubt she learned much, but she had fun looking.  And now we're working on learning the word "turtle." 

52:10:Wash

Around our House...

We wash ourselves!

Just call her Miss Independent, Claire takes charge every chance she gets.  She can walk on her own, she can get in her car seat on her own, she can go to bed, grab a diaper... and now she's taken over bath-time duties!  Along with singing and playing in the tub, she's got to steal the wash cloth and give herself a good rub down.  She'll wash her chest, face (which is nice because I canNOT get her to let me do it) and sometimes she'll wash her "lady bits" or under her arms... whichever makes her laugh harder when I'm taking a stab at wash-cloth duty!

She's so funny and proud of doing things herself.  She even gets a little lotion after her bath and while I put it on for real, she rubs her hands (like I do to distribute the lotion) and then she'll rub it on her belly.  Too cute!