"big things poppin', and little things stoppin'..."

yeeeaaah, so i'm way super late on plenty of things. BUT, the important thing is that i'm finally getting around to posting! "better late than never", that's my motto...lol. anywho, we have a lot of "big things poppin'" right now, so prepare for a lot of reading. let's begin with...

WE'RE MOVING OUT!! last Friday, Gee, my parents and i went up to Fayetteville in search of living space and childcare, and got to check *both* of off my list! i did some internet research on both apartments and daycares, so i already had a number one preference for both. and after visiting both the complex and the daycare, i was pleased with both, and put down a deposit on both! so i'll be going back up in mid-July to sign my lease and fill out all of the paperwork for Gee to start daycare! aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ya'll, excited isn't EVEN the word. finally, after 4 years in dorms and a sorority house, and 1 year at home, i get to live in an apartment! with my own room! and me & Gee not living on top of each other anymore! omgee...ya'll have no idea! anyway, enough about that [but did i mention that Gee will have her own ROOM!?]. on to...

1ST YEAR G*DAY!!! my babygirl is a baby, no more! as of today, June 10th, she is officially a ONE year old Toddler! can you believe it? i know i can't... it seems like just days ago that i was waddling into the Dr.'s office and being told that it was baby time! wow. time really does fly, as if i haven't been cliche enough today [lol]. however, i embrace the passage of time. some people mourn the days when their children were immobile and totally dependent on them. um, not me!! while yes, it was tiresome to keep tabs on a little one who loves to bang on the TV and put everything she sees in her mouth [except for the things that are actually meant for her to chew on!], but i don't have to hold her cup now. she can feed herself. when she gets to walking a bit better, i'll be relieved from hauling her heavy little self around [the doctor said she was only 18lbs8oz. but i don't believe it for a second...]. her personality and intuitiveness are amazing to observe; newborns and young infants are pretty boring, if you ask me. pretty to look at, yes. but still boring. so bring on toddlerhood, lil' mama. i'm pretty sure she's giving me sneak peeks of the Terrible Twos already, but as my mother loves to remind me, i'm only getting what i gave her! LOL, oh well! for the last update, let's....

PARTY! rather, partieS. Gee had her first 1st birthday party down here, under a pavilion in the park [basically]. it was a small, intimate affair, attended only by close family and friends [although one of her daycare buddies did stop by for a few minutes, which was nice]. we had my famous rainbow cupcakes [lol], and i made a large rainbow cupcake for Gee to eat/play in, which was hilarious to watch. not so hilarious to clean up, but still totally worth it. she got some great gifts, too. since i'm too lazy to list them or post pics here, check them out on Facebook. if we're not friends, shoot me a message so i can add you. i don't let people add me because there are some strange folks lurking on FB, nah'mean? anyway, we're having Gee's second 1st birthday party tomorrow in Little Rock, so that we can get out of the house, and so that our friends from the northern part of the state don't have to drive as far to celebrate with us. i'll do my best not to let a week pass before i tell ya'll about it. ;) until next time!

-love elle&BIGGIRL!gee-

tardy for the party.

yes, i was hooked on RHOA the first couple of seasons [WHO GON' CHECK ME, BOO!?], and i am still perplexed as to how this song even came into existence. however, i am super tardy on a couple of things, and this song came to mind. listen and enjoy. or cringe. :)

...aaaand we're back. here's what yours truly is "tardy to the party" for:

[not another] manic monday! --- it is clearly Wednesday. but honestly, i'm doing good to get it in before the end of the week! i'm back working regularly again for a couple of weeks [with 1st and 2nd graders, not the jr. high heathens, thank GOD], and i'm still trying to get back in the swing of it after hardly subbing at all for a few weeks [due to other important duties, like getting out of this place so i can QUIT subbing. lol]. it's boring as i don't know what, but i can't complain when i'm getting paid! anyways, here's this week's list, which should actually be "weekly rituals," but aside from church, i don't really have any...so here we go!

list#THIRTEEN: "DIYs i want to try"
--> website design, from scratch. back in my MySpace days, i self-taught myself a lot of HTML, which i've mostly forgotten, but would love to re-learn. i also fancied myself a fledgling graphic designer, as evidenced by this album of embarrassing MySpace background paraphernalia and my major in Advertising and Public Relations. please keep in mind i was, like, 14 or 15 when i made these. "yung & sexxii"? really??? -_-

---> sewing dresses for G, and myself, for that matter. i've known some sewing women in my day, and i love the whole idea of making my own clothes. did i ever tell ya'll that i thought it would be supercool to be a fashion designer in 8th grade? only because i was taking Home Ec, and we had to draw three different clothing designs. i thought mine were awesome, so i drew little mannequins with slutty clothes for the rest of the semester. they really weren't that great. and i have no clue why all of them were half-clothed. whatever.

---> calligraphy art. my Granny Annie was a calligraphy artiste. she took bible verses, quotes, poems, and made them pop off of the page with her beautiful writing. why wouldn't i want to learn how to do that?

---> diaper cakes. they look easy, and people pay for them. need i say more? :)

---> quilting. see "sewing dresses".

the other item for which i am "tardy for the party": my baby's G*DAY!!!! i am over a week late with my G*DAY report, not to mention that i didn't even remember G*DAY until the day after G*DAY...shame on me. but anyways, here it is: the 11-month G*DAY report!

*Gee can now stand up without pulling up. she also can almost run when someone holds her hands; just waiting for her to be ready to step out solo! :) did i mention that she is a dancing machine? in case you didn't see it on Facebook, check her out:

 yes, we adore The Fresh Beat Band :)

*she's discovered how ticklish i am on my feet!! she was playing on the floor and grabbed my foot. i am ridiculously ticklish everywhere, but especially on my feet, so i started laughing. what did Gee do? attacked my foot! it was all i could do not to kick her in the face - my normal defense against tickle monsters. mama and i just laughed and looked at each other in amazement of how perceptive Gee is...aren't babies amazing?

*she drools. All. The. Time. i'm still waiting on her to have more than two teeth, though...

*the baby food days are LONG gone. i gotta say, i used to feel bad about serving her Chef Boyardee and green beans or carrots almost everyday...up until yesterday, when i talked some sense into myself: if she likes it AND it's easy? what's the problem? i promise, that's one thing i can't stand about myself. if something seems too easy, it must be too good to be true, so i must make it harder on myself. motherhood is helping me break myself of that mentality, thank God!

*Gee is soooo affectionate, i love it! she hugs and slobber-kisses and gives back-pats... just the sweetest baby ever :)

*and look how freakin' HUGE she's getting!

Love. That. Girl. can't say it enough :)

until next time!

-love elle&gee-

taste the rainbow!

i'm pretty sure my mom is sick of hearing about rainbow cupcakes. lol. as you *should* know, a certain G*Baby has her 1st MAJOR G*Day coming up in 1 month and 9 days! i've decided to make the "theme" Cupcakes & Rainbows, so i'll be baking rainbow cupcakes for the occasion. after talking about this for the fifth time in three or four days, my mom was finally like, "You know, I'll just buy her a cake and you won't have to go through all that trouble."
"But if I wanted to buy her a cake, I would buy it myself. I want to bake the cupcakes myself! I know I can buy her a cake...I don't want to."
i didn't really mean to put her on shut-mouth, but i low-key did. -sorry mom-. anyway, the point is, i really really want to be one of those moms who has the "to-die-for" home-baked goods. i may not have a floor you can eat off of, but you'll be so busy eating my cupcakes and brownies, you won't even notice....hehe. :D

excuse me, just had to fantasize about the future for a moment. but back to the present. i'm determined to serve these homemade rainbow cupcakes at G's birthday celebration. i found the recipe at tablespoon.com. what i did differently:
-used 5 colors instead of 6. you have no clue how long it takes to mix food coloring into batter inside of a ziploc bag until you actually start doing it. i ended up using a spoon, and it still took plenty of time.
-i didn't make the rainbow toppers. i didn't even frost the cupcakes (making them look like muffins, which is what my little brothers keep calling them. lol.); after all of the work it took to make 5 colors of batter and pour each color, one by one, into the cupcake tin?? pssht, i was tired. i'm just a rookie baker, remember, so i wasn't used to doing all of that! anyway, i know you're just itching to see how they turned out...even if you aren't, you're going to find out anyway!

the main dish!

some mini-cupcakes i made with the leftover batter.

my brother's way of letting me know that they were a hit! :)

they were pretty good; cream cheese frosting would've made them fanTASTIC :)

for a first attempt, they weren't too bad; however, cupcakes need frosting like pizza needs ranch dressing. therefore, on the next attempt, there will be frosting. and M&Ms or something. i may eventually get bold enough to try the rainbow toppers, but i'm aight with them for now. until next time! :)

-love elle&gee-

G*DAY report!

we'll get back to the lists tomorrow (err, later today). this one is ALLLL for Baby Gee, who seems to be acting less and less like a baby these days! the only baby food she'll let me feed her is fruits and yogurt; no veggies unless she's eating them with her fingers, so it looks like i'm going to have to start microwaving & chopping up some green beans for that child of mine. she eats chicken, beef, bread (LOVES bread), bananas, watermelon... it's looking like it's almost time to say "bye-bye" to baby food (woot woot!). now, if only she'd start feeding herself with a spoon, there'd be one happy mama over here :D

as far as that hair of hers, she has her days when she still fights it, but mornings have been made SO much easier by my plaiting her hair at night:

shoot, now all she needs is a stocking cap! and believe me, i'm *this* close to making her one; she does have a few pairs of stockings that are a little snug... lol. anyway, the plaits make morning detangling a breeze. she still doesn't always want to stay still for styling, but brushing the plaits out makes a pretty cute baby 'fro (which i completely messed up this morning, but got it right a couple of days ago, as shown here:)

as if i haven't said it enough, that girl has A. Lot. Of. HAIR!!! but we're getting better with it, especially since i don't have to worry about my own hair anymore :D

and to wrap up this G*DAY update, we gotta talk about Gee's new nickname: "Thunder & Lightning". LOL! She has those thunder thighs fo' sho, and when she crawls, i promise she's fast as lightning. corny? yes. applicable? totally. i'll have to try to catch her on the iPhone cam and give ya'll a peek. it's crazy, i'm telling you!

i think that's it for the 10-month G*DAY report. i can't believe there are only TWO MORE MONTHS until her first birthday! which means that, if she's gonna have any type of party, i better get to work, huh? we'll see how that goes... :)

-love elle&gee-

PS: here's the G*DAY girl, in her full -grown- glory. :)

G*DAY and rainbows

changed the name back. idk, something just didn't seem right about the new one...it may change again. but more importantly, the 9-month G*DAY has come and gone. whoa!! my pumpkin (as i've begun calling her lately, for whatever reason) has one tooth and one on the way; she can walk with assistance; eats a few finger foods; and has the hugest baby afro (as evidenced by the picture in the second-to-last post). she is also becoming more affectionate. i love the way she'll hold my face with her little long-fingered hands, even if she does it as a prelude to yanking out my hair. i love how, after playing in her playpen for a while, she'll look at me with those huge brown eyes as if to say "mommy, you already know i'm ready to get out of here. save me the trouble of whining and come get me please!" which i do. i absolutely ADORE the grin i get when i come pick her up from daycare. mommyhood = love. total, unconditional, phenomenal love. YES!

one of my Facebook friends had a status posted one day that sums up life perfectly: "Why do we feel pain? We feel it 'cause it has a place on Earth, just as JOY does, and JOY always comes in the morning; it's just a matter of letting it come in..." when i found out i was pregnant, i thought the pain would never go away. the pain of disappointing and hurting those around me, the pain of Gee's rejection by the donor of half of her DNA, the pain of plans that would never come to fruition. but then, Gee came into my world and brought the morning and JOY along with her. instead of seeing her as the result of pain, i see her as a source of JOY and light in my life. i can't let myself circle the drain or let pain take over, because she needs me. and really, i need her just as much, to remind me that there is always JOY to be had, no matter how great the pain is. as Katy Perry says in my anthem "FIREWORK": "if you only knew what the future holds/after the hurricane, comes a rainbow". and baby Gee is my rainbow. love you babygirl :)

-love *elle&gee*

PS: that "Day in the Life" is still coming...just had to get this out into cyberspace first :)