Oh Girls...

...we can be crazy cool and insane!!! Bear with me for a tangent for a moment...one of the oh so many reasons I LOVE my husband is that he is totally cool with having all daughters. He tells people he loves raising girls because the world needs more strong women like me (not so sure about that myself, but I feel loved by the comment)! When we were dating in college, I vividly remember a conversation he stumbled into with my roomie (love you, Lauren) and another (ahem, feminist) friend of mine...we were talking about choices and women and careers...and Pete totally just went with it. I like to think he'd call himself a feminist (although he'd probably define it for you...as in, he's not one of the radical, political types...and neither am I, for the record). But, my wonderful husband is an egalitarian (for those who know what I mean)...and that is COOL, considering he married one. Haha!

So, some crazy and cool links...I have to credit my husband (hence the ode to him above)...he found these links (for those who don't know...he works with teens and actually does research teen culture...and sends me interesting links...which we subsequently discuss over dinner with our still very young girls...who will someday, I know, roll their eyes at us).

High Heels for Babies...oh.my.goodness. Seriously? I mean, I know it's probably meant to be a gag gift, but wow. We want to indoctrinate our little baby girls ALREADY into thinking that beauty trumps all? Who cares if it's uncomfortable? Who cares if it's completely, ridiculously impracticable? Who cares if it sends the message that we better be "in style" or else, whatever that means? Side note about heels coming up...

(So in Colombia, I read that sometimes at a teen's 15th birthday party, the birthday girl starts the party in flats and then her dad gives her her first pair of heels to mark her becoming a woman, so to speak. Well, we thought that was a cool idea, until we both laughed at the fact that I NEVER wear heels (WAY too uncomfortable and fashion has NEVER been worth that to me)...so I think the gesture might be somewhat amusing to our girls.)

Anyway...

Twilight Addictions (and before you say you're not a "Twi-hard"...I have the same beef with being overly addicted to "chick flicks" or any similar genre which pushes unrealistic relationships)...look at what people are doing for Eclipse! Insane!

And then a last REALLY COOL girl...who's just graduated high school. I love, love, love it that she's picking on a magazine that I abhor for many of the same reasons she picks on it...when girls on our trip buy such magazines, Pete and I usually have fun writing little comments to them in the magazines when they're not looking, such as "She's airbrushed...She's pushing a false standard of beauty...This article is trying to tell you you'll be happy if you just have the right clothes...FALSE...Be a person, not just an outfit...etc. Her blog is fun, read it!

Read This...Seriously....

Ok, I know I've linked to her blog several times, but she's doing the work for me, so why repeat what she's already said, right? :)

So, I absolutely love what Kristen says about adoption here (and for some background, she's talking about what she wanted to say on the View about adoption, but unfortunately she just had a few minutes...but with that, she did great...I watched it today)!

My Girls...

So Ali is such a little girl...she will ONLY wear dresses, and I am not kidding. Every morning I try to get her in a cute non-dress outfit with absolutely no luck. The frillier, pinker, fancier the dress, the happier she is. Luckily, we have a wonderful thrift store so my little princess can prance around in Easter dresses to her heart's content without me worrying about how dirty/messed up the dress will get. (People like to laugh while Ali plays on a playground or in the dirt with a fancy dress on...but, hey, she's happy)!



Oh, and whatever Ava has done to her hair, Ali wants it, too, hence the headband in this picture, which of course she had to put on herself. So, when we start beads, I'm sure both my little girls will be sporting the colorful beads. Haha! So fun!



Ava is a RISK-TAKER...my mom likes to say that watching Ava means you literally have to watch her every second to keep her alive. She is only 16 months, but will stand at the top of the stairs and just step off...no matter how many "controlled" falls we have done with her...she just wants to go again. And she throws herself off the couch, headfirst, feet first, whatever she wants. She climbs EVERYTHING, and she's always moving. Can't wait to see how else she puts that energy into action as she continues to grow!



Despite her activity, we've come to an understanding about "hair time." She actually sits and lets me do it now (within reason...I did try some rows the other day and ended up in tears b/c they were so bad and I felt inadequate and Ava was OVER getting her hair yanked on...I guess I'll have to practice those more when she's older and can appreciate lollypops and movies). But I absolutely LOVE doing her hair. She's beautiful!