What not and such

20 Weeks, had an ultra sound. Looks like #2 is going to be another sweet baby girl. She was very allusive however and hard to photograph in the womb. No classic profile ultra sound shot to show off... but we did get the feet and the face shot that makes the baby look like Skeletor. So far I know that she likes summersaults (?spelling??) and curling up into small spaces.

I love it when Fiona's diaper somehow works itself sideways into a leg of her pants. It makes her extra waddly when she walks.

This Easter she fulfilled her lifelong dream of sticking an egg in her mouth. She always reaches for them in the kitchen but I know better.

She proceeded to crack this hard boiled egg open on the steps and squash it into oblivion.... which is exactly why I don't give her raw eggs to stick in her mouth at home.... well and because they came out of a chickens you-who.

This is Fiona playing with the meow meow, but in translation it sounds more like humm humm.

And can you believe that Fiona's Great Grandpa went shopping and bought this absolutely adorable dress for her. What a sweet Great Grandpa!! I still can't image him shopping.

Birds and Beards

So this in one of those posts where I KNOW I should be doing my homework but I can't seem to get Birds and Beards off my mind, and have spent almost an hour looking into it.

If you are confused it is expected... but Chuck is probably giggling right now because I bring this up on a regular basis. So I have this crackpot theory that needs further investigation but goes something like this. Men with beards seem to like birds. Now, the reason it needs further investigation is that this could be a Chicken vs the egg thing... that is to say I don't know if love of birds causes the desire to grow a beard, or if having a beard fosters love of birds.

But lets just allow the evidence to speak for itself.

EXHIBIT A: Vincent Van Gogh

This is a painting of nests that he did, and he also has one of crows flying.

EXHIBIT B: Iron and Wine Lead Singer Sam Beam

As is true with many bearded musicians he often sings about birds. For example his songs... Flightless bird, American Mouth

Bird Stealing Bread

Boy with a Coin (talks about a girl with a bird)

Two Hungry Blackbirds

Exhibit C: Peter Griffin from Family Guy...

I only included this because I feel like although it is a cartoon... it depicts a clue in the puzzle.

EXHIBIT D: Aubrey De Grey (longevity specialist)

My argument for this is pretty weak, but I watched him give a speech when he accepted his TED award and he was wearing a T-shirt with a bird on it.

EXHIBIT E: Unknown artist in front of bird he painted.

I should google his name... nope... I have spent enough time on this already today!!!

EXHIBIT F: No idea... Need I SAY MORE?!?!?!?!

This is a flickr photo taken at some beard competition.

EXHIBIT G: Fleet Foxes Lead Singer ROBIN Pecknold

First of all his name is Robin, and he sings about all kinds of birds... medowlarks, hummingbirds, sparrows and seagulls.

EXHIBIT H: Ray LaMontagne

My personal favorite of the bearded musicians (next to Chuck that is) also sings about "silly sparrows" and "callous old crows" Plus he sings a song called Winter Birds.

AND IF YOU WERE NOT YET CONVINCED THERE IS SOME LINK...

EXHIBIT I: Chuck Call my husband

Picture that sits on his dresser of a Crane, done by our brother in law Daniel

Chuck's beard in progress.

If anyone has any further insight into this phenomenon I would really be interested.

Baby Steps

If you recognized that as a What About Bob reference please give yourself a pat on the back. Yesterday was a tremendous day for our family. We went to church, all got to take a nap, and FIONA WALKED for the first time by herself. Chuck and I have been trying to have little walking lessons each night before bed. She got up to taking a few steps between us but was really apprehensive about it.

Yesterday at church I took her to the nursrey where all the toys are. There was one of those little cars with a handle on the back that you can either sit in or ride. I showed her how to use it and she pushed that thing around the room for about 30 minutes, and you could see the gears in her brain turning. She finally got a taste of the freedom of walking from place to place. AND she saw that she could do it without my help.

When we got home she walked all by herself to and from the kitchen multiple times. I was so proud of her, I felt all emotional about it. Here is the LIVE footage if the explanation didn't do it justice... plus then you can hear her cute little voice.

ALSO today she let me put a headband in her hair for a few hours without ripping it out. I bought this headband on Black Friday after Thanksgiving and have been trying to get her to wear it ever since. So today was another small victory!

Over-Rated Radio

Yesterday on my drive to school I was doing my usual radio station search (99.57% of the time I can never find a good song to listen to... Radio stations around here act like Matchbox 20, Nickleback and U2 are the best bands who ever lived and need to be played every hour). So most of the time I end up listening to conservative talk radio... which has it's pros and cons, but that is a different post altogether. However, I stopped by the "teeny-bopper" radio station because they were talking about the most Over Rated songs of all time.

Now... this is the radio station that plays auto tuned music almost exclusively and dance party type songs all day. These songs typically include lyrics about being cool, getting drunk, partying, buying new stuff (like cars and shoes etc.), dancing, and having sex (or something like it) with random people you meet at dance clubs (in usually gross terms). Radio stations such as these are primarily listened to by 12 -18 year olds and it this bloggers humble opinion that the songs they play are one of the main contributors to teenage pregnancy and underage drinking.

A few of the "Over Rated" songs they listed in their discussion were as follows...

• The Eye of the Tiger - Survivior
• American Pie** - Don Mclean
• Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin
• White Wedding - Billy Idol
• Come on Baby Light My Fire - The Doors

Ummm I am going to have to disagree these ones. While they did select a few songs from their own playlist like, Rhianna (Come Mr. DJ), Nickleback (This is How you Remind Me) and some other old dance hits like The Macarana by Los Del Rio.... I still think they failed to realized that almost ALL of the music they play on their radio station is Over Rated.

I just found it to be Extremely ironic.

(**I must admit that American Pie annoys me, yet the song has withstood the test of time and still inspires large groups of people to sing along when played, so it's cool in my book).