toddler paparazzi

This is the farewell send-off every visitor leaving our house receives, along with their daddy, who had to go in to work early tonight for an extra-long shift. 

And while the kisses and hugs they demand at the door suffice, it's the goodbye wave from the car that they are truly interested in.

Just some ecstatic, over-the-top waving and maybe even a honk for good measure. 

It's basically required.

Forget fingerprint smudges on the glass, we have dirty toeprints on our windowsills.

my kid's got me pegged

So you all remember when I took a tumble down an entire flight of stairs a couple months ago, right?
If not, please refresh your memory:

Vanessa embarrasses herself by falling down the stairs like an idiot.

My sister Justy likes to reread this particular post whenever she needs a good laugh at my expense.

Anyway, just the other day it became fairly obvious that Bailey remembers this day very, very well.

I was sitting on the couch in the living room and watched as Bailey threw her stuffed pig down the staircase. It tumbled down each step and she calmly walked down to where it was resting on the landing. 

Then, in a high-pitched voice, she said as the pig, "Jared, No! I don't need an ambulance! That costs money!"

Then she replied, as Jared, "I don't care. I am calling right now!"

She proceeded to end her phone call with the ambulance, load the paralyzed pig onto a stretcher (aka a folded blanket), and carry it to the waiting ambulance (aka the toy box). 

I hate to even admit how extremely accurate her reenactment was...
But damn was it hilarious.
I love how my 4 year-old captured just how much of a tight-ass her mother is. 
Bravo Bailey.

Friday Five

1. 

I quit Facebook.

And the obvious question to this statement is why?
And I thought the answer to that was complex, but really it is pretty simple:
I have slowly come to realize over the past few weeks what I have known all along: Facebook isn't making me happier.

I have had a couple conversations with friends recently where the honest-to-God actual answer to their discontent/anxiety/you-name-it is "Stop getting on Facebook."
And it applies to me too.
I am happy with my life. There are obviously things I would love to be different (bye bye 20+ pounds, hello Jamaica, etc) but I am definitely a content person. Yet sometimes I log on to Facebook wanting to return a message or post a picture of my kid being cute and I leave with a bad taste in my mouth.
Sometimes that taste is jealousy. 
I am done having kids. I don't want any more babies. Why am I jealous of this acquaintance and their new baby?
Sometimes it's frustration.
Seriously, so-and-so keeps f*ing up her life royally and our family member just keeps rewarding her bad behavior!
Sometimes it's mommy guilt.
Look at those DisneyLand photos. I hope my kids like camping. In tents. For free. 
And other times it is just the inadequacy you feel from seeing the "perfect" picture painted by all your Facebook friends. 

We live in a keepin'-up with the Joneses society and Facebook feeds into that. Even if I am happy with myself and my life, some of those feelings creep in even when I log on quickly. And I don't think it is just me. Study after study gets play on the news, correlating feelings of unhappiness with social media such as Facebook. 

I am happy to hear from my friends and family about their happy news - engagements and babies and new homes and promotions and awesome vacations - all that.
Because we are friends. And I am actually happy for them.
It's all the extra. The stuff I wouldn't hear about if there weren't Facebook.
I want to hear about the real stuff, not read the picture-perfect airbrushed version that gets posted online.

What finally solidified my choice was talking to a friend who had to give up Facebook awhile ago for legal reasons. When I asked her how she felt about it, she replied that it was hard at first and family members gave her grief about how they needed Facebook to stay in touch and keep up with her family.
But then a great thing happened:
People sent handwritten letters.
They sent cards.
They emailed.
They picked up the phone and called.
She started having real interaction with people again.

In essence, the people who actually care about you are going to make the effort. And the rest? The rest were just your Facebook "friends." And in my case, I write this blog for family and friends so that they can see photos and read little stories and hear about what is going on in our lives. I'm not dropping off the face of the earth.
And who knows how long my deactivated status will last?
All those cat memes are pretty great - I might be back...

2.
A slightly-sad/slightly-amazing thing happened this week:
Graham's off the boob.
He turned 15 months old and decided enough was enough.
His sippy cup has officially taken over my position.

I have mixed emotions.
I was ready to have my body back to myself, but it's a little odd. Like, what shirt do I wear now?
(I kid, I kid. Sort of...)
I have been pregnant or breastfeeding nonstop since June of 2009. It's no wonder I have a non-existent wardrobe.

The transition was easy, for which I am glad. He is happy and doesn't seem to miss it.
The part I am going to miss the most is the fact that while he was nursing it was easy to pretend he was still my little baby.
But he isn't.
The first year of his life flew by faster than it seemed to with our others. Probably because he is the baby. And because he is our last.

I can honestly say that breastfeeding my kids has been one of the best parts of being a mom. It sounds crazy to some, but for me it's true.
Those quiet moments, snuggling your baby, providing something only you can provide... there is nothing like it.
There is no way to describe it to someone.

I have no plans to nurse another child, so that makes those particular memories just a little bit more special. So it is with a sadness/happiness mixture that I bid a big farewell to the Boppy and my used-and-abused nursing camis. You were all so very good to me.
But now I can drink a delicious cocktail whenever I want with zero guilt.  Win for me.


3.
This past week we held our 2nd Annual Shrimp Fest at our home.
Okay, just kidding, it's really not that cool.
Last year my parents were in Louisiana and Mississippi on vacation and brought back fresh shrimp. Since my mom hates seafood, my dad asked Jared to cook it up for him. There was a large amount so we invited over my grandparents and Justy too. We made some fettuccine alfredo along with the shrimp so that those who can't/won't eat shrimp had something to eat as well.
No one went south this winter, so we had to settle with shrimp from Hy-Vee. Whatevs. It was still delicious.

And afterward we ended up watching the movie Uncle Buck in its entirety.

So random.
Because that is how we roll apparently.
I hadn't seen that movie in a long, long time and enjoyed quite a few laughs. Particularly the part about Felix, because I am a perv.

4.
I read this blog last night about giving up something for Lent. Wow, this is me.
It is a humorous blog and the author was writing that what she should really give up for Lent is the last hour of the day that she is awake. That last hour when she does nothing beneficial, just sits around watching House Hunters or other worthless TV while browsing the internet and laying on the couch thinking about how she should be in bed already.
Me.
Right here.
I do that all the time.
And every day when I wake up tired and slightly cranky, I tell myself, "I am going to go to bed at a decent hour tonight. I am going to get in bed early!" and it never happens. I like my personal time too much.
Jared leaves for work at 10 pm and "me time" truly begins.
No kids, no husband.
And clearly no time management.
Before I know it it is 11:30. How did that happen? Oh well, it doesn't matter because I am totally going to bed early tonight.

5.
I have been stumbling across a lot of quotes this week.
I have a daily devotional my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas that eerily seems to apply to my life daily. I will turn to the designated day and then so many times the story and verse correspond to exactly what I was needing to hear.

I also was reading a blog (actually the same one I mentioned in #4) and it quoted someone named Terry Pratchett, and while I have no idea who that dude is, I like the quote:

"Poison goes where poison's welcome." 

And really, it's just so true. 
So many times in life we experience negative things and wonder why it's happening. And while it doesn't explain everything, it explains a lot of the drama we have in our own lives. Because drama goes where drama is welcome. This probably ties in to #1 on this list, because without Facebook, I have exposure to so much less drama. And quite honestly, I think that is a good thing. 

Cleft Team Visit 2014

This past Monday we loaded up the car and the kids and drove to Omaha. Tuesday was Bailey's yearly cleft team visit. Just like last year we decided to go down the day before and make a small trip out of it. 

We hadn't even reached the outskirts of Omaha yet when Graham blessed us all with the sounds (and smells) of his apparent motion sickness. This hasn't ever been a problem we have had to deal with in the past, but he proceeded to get sick not only once, but twice - vomiting again on Tuesday morning. Do they make motion sickness medication for one year-olds? 

We might be needing some.

After cleaning up the vom as best as I possibly could using Casey's napkins and a cup of water from Pepperjax, we found a Target and bought some Febreze and some upholstery cleaner. Total waste of money as it did nothing for the smell or stains whatsoever. Hey, we tried. But it was clear that the Vomit Van title was here to stay.

We ended up spending a few hours in the afternoon at BounceU. Not only did they have tons of inflatables, there were also little cars for Graham to ride in and balls for him to throw. That's kind of his favorite thing right now, besides climbing on tables/desks/windowsills of course. Aunt Fe took the afternoon off and hung out with us.

Unfortunately I think Jared and I were more exhausted from this afternoon outing than any of the kids were. I loved these things as a kid. I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven to have a whole afternoon of unrestricted bouncing. In that spirit, I was in there jumping around like crazy with the kids. After nearly peeing my pants three separate times, I realized that small jumps are the key. Moms, I know you're feelin' me. Damn you, childbirth, and your random long-lasting side effects!

That afternoon we checked into our hotel and swam with the kids. We ordered some pizza for supper and hung out in the room. All three of the kids and Jared were passed out by 8 pm. Talk about a rowdy party crowd... geesh.

Our cleft team appointment was at 8:15 the next morning. She sees a ton of people at these visits and it takes the entire morning. In the meantime, Graham and Avery went and made sure their handprints were on every single window in the place.

Since Bailey had surgery last August, that is likely to be her last surgery until the cleft in her gumline is filled around age 7. So most of our visit this time involved finding out info regarding the next steps in the cleft process. She gets a break from any procedures for the next 2-3 years, but decisions will need to be made in order to prepare for that surgery. 

A cleft of the palate also makes a cleft in the child's gumline, usually resulting in some change to their teeth - either giving them too many teeth (weird I know) or not enough (which is Bailey's case.) And as they start getting in their permanent adult teeth, cleft kids lack healthy bone for the teeth to erupt in to. This is why she will need a bone graft to fill in that site. With healthy bone filling in this gap, her adult teeth stand a good chance of remaining in place. She doesn't have an adult tooth in the cleft space, so that will be addressed much later on down the line. (Very likely she will need a dental implant, but that isn't usually possible until she is around 18 years old.)

When the time comes, there are two options to fill in the gumline cleft: 

Option 1 - Harvested bone from her hip bone. 

This is what was originally explained to us when she was born. We have been told from many different doctors that this will be the most painful surgery she will likely ever have.

Option 2 - Synthetic bone that is made in a lab.

When Bailey had her first cleft visit, this was mentioned in passing as "a new technology some doctors are utilizing." Now four years later, Bailey's dental surgeon used synthetic bone in roughly 50% of these procedures this past year. The technology is improving, so we can only imagine it will continue to do so in the next few years until it is Bailey's turn.

So obviously synthetic bone is far easier as far as patient involvement and pain, but we will only know when the times comes which option is the better choice for Bailey's particular cleft. 

In the meantime - about a year before the surgery - Bailey will need to utilize a palate expander. It will help shape her mouth into the correct shape. (Cleft kids' mouths essentially cave in on themselves due to the incomplete palate, resulting in an incorrect shape and problems with overbite/underbite.) The expansion itself only takes a month or two, but she will need to wear it for approximately a year to maintain the correct shape. She will also need braces somewhere in this mess of mouth/teeth procedures. Likely she will have braces for many many years and maybe even multiple times. 

And while on the subject of teeth, the dentist portion of the afternoon went off without a hitch. Both girls were in outstanding moods. They did great while getting their teeth cleaned and the dentist praised their efforts at tooth brushing. It helps that they can zone out and watch some 'toons on the ceiling throughout all of it.

It also helps that we love their dentist. I got the recommendation from a fellow cleft mom in Omaha a few years back, and I am so glad I did! I can't speak highly enough of the place. 

(Click on the "Cleft info" tab at the top to check out all of Bailey's cleft related care providers.)

The take-away from our visit is that we have some downtime now. 
Before next year's visit, I will need to contact orthodontists in our area and determine who will be the best fit for us. It will be extremely important that they can work closely together with our dentist and cleft team to follow her plan of care exactly. The next step is all about timing: monitoring the permanent teeth, monitoring the palate expansion, choosing the right time to perform the bone graft. 

But before all that craziness starts, we are grateful for a year or two of surgery-free time. I am not looking forward to those very frequent trips to the orthodontist. I have a feeling that I will all-too-soon know just how my mom felt all those years driving over an hour round-trip for a five minute appointment.... (Thanks, Mom!)

Friday Five

Some random (per usual, right?) thoughts for my Friday.

1. 
First up: new hair
I basically never ever switch it up. I haven't desired to be a different hair color, and I am not a risk taker in any sense when it comes to my hair. It's not a diss on Jared's part when I come home from a haircut and he doesn't notice. I am boring when it comes to hair. Well yesterday I decided that it was time to take a little risk and embrace a little change.

Here it is.
Highlights.
Several inches taken off.
Bangs.
Pretty big stuff for little ol' me.

(And my hair isn't a different shade, just different lighting than my profile picture.)

And ugh, can we just talk selfies for a moment?
Once you're of a certain age, aren't they just kinda awkward?
Like I am clearly taking a picture of myself to post/show other people. It just feels weird. So this is the best I got to offer. I digress..

I am happy with how it turned out and even happier that I just rolled with it and gave my hairstylist control over my virgin hair.

And on a funny/ironic note, it turns out my friend Sarah and I both just got haircuts. We both decided to go for bangs. Yeah... we got the same haircut. Apparently great minds think alike. But as long as we don't go back to that boy bowl-cut we had back in 5th grade, we should be good.

2. 
I will never ever again buy Puffs instead of the Kleenex brand.
Not because they are bad, they are great in fact - much thicker.
No, I will be buying only Kleenex brand because of the simple fact that with children, the pull-out-the-top-of-the-box feature is an absolute necessity. Yes, they will still be able to pull one after another after another after another out of the box, but that takes time. And I could possibly catch them before they waste an entire box.

The Puffs on the other hand, it took only a couple of seconds for Avery to use an entire brand-spankin-new box as "toilet paper" in the toilet. Because naturally she went and used the toilet by herself, making a mess. And being the thoughtful, cleaning-prone girl that she is *can you hear the sarcasm?*, she decided to clean up.
Cut to me: digging an entire box of tissue out of the #2 filled toilet.
An awesome mental picture, right?
So... No more easy-access kleenex boxes for the Solko family.

3.
I am just mentally preparing myself right now for Graham's inaugural trip to the emergency room.
It's gonna happen.
This kid is ridiculous.

He climbs e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

My other two climbed. They would get on top of the table and grin, all proud of themselves. I took them down, whatever. They moved on to other things.
Not our Baby #3. 
He is fixated on trying to climb things. Things I can't even prevent him from climbing on.
Just the other day I came in to the living room to find him standing on the back of the couch balancing precariously by holding on to a table lamp.
I'll close the roll-top desk just to find he has scaled it anyway and is sitting on top, mocking me.
He will stand on top of the kid-sized rocking chair in the girls' room (while it is rocking back and forth - just adding to the challenge, Mom!) and use it to hoist himself on to Bailey's bed.

Keepin' it tame this time with some simple chair standing.

If I spent my day removing him from things he shouldn't have climbed on to, I would literally get nothing done. So I just do the dishes and let him sit on the kitchen table watching me. He's kind of like our cat: he wants to get up on the table, but he doesn't know what to do when he gets there. So he just chills. Sucks his thumb. Shouts out at me every 30 seconds so that I wont forget he is up there and that he is oh so clever.
So yep, ER here we come.
One of these days. Be ready for us.
4.
Coffee.
Until about 3 weeks ago, I can honestly say I had coffee only once before. Ever.
And then I finally tried the deliciousness that is the coffee Jared bought from Costco, and I have since become a fan.
Sure I need a lot of Splenda and some milk, but I am working my way up to full-strength.
Slow but steady progress.
I have become one of those people who thinks she needs coffee to tackle a morning with a large to-do list.
Laundry, breakfast to make, cleaning to do, whiny sick kids, and a dog that pissed in his kennel overnight? I. Need. Coffee.
Like that.
Whatever gets ya through the day, right?
5.
And I will finish up with a sweet picture from this past week.
Our kids love books.
And for some reason books in bed are an even bigger hit.

Notice Graham and his chair balancing?
Typical.

Happy Friday!

Bailey's 4th birthday party

This past Saturday afternoon we celebrated Bailey's 4th birthday with family at a princess themed party at our house.

Quite honestly, I am not sure how it became themed exactly. We haven't ever thrown parties with a specific theme in mind before. I walked into the party store to look at balloons and walked out with a bunch of princess stuff. Everything was under $30 total (with the exception of the helium tank), so I felt okay jumping on the theme bandwagon.

Plus Bailey was very excited about it all.

She loves her Disney movies! 

She was all smiles for the entire time.

It's rare for her to tolerate more than a couple pictures, and you can see she was grinning ear to ear.

Grandma Cathy made the trip from Colorado and stayed with us for a few days.
She always seems to bring a new fancy dress for Bailey, which works out perfectly as a party dress.

The apparent gift trends this year were Barbies and dresses. 
Don't let her side eye fool you - this girl is obsessed with Skipper (?) and the pony! Avery is quite enamored with it too. The Barbie convertible is also a hit. Those Disney princess dolls are riding in style now!

Bailey got five different dresses too.
And a cute pair of pink shoes, which Graham refused to take off. With two older sisters he is already prepared to be outfitted in Disney dresses, purses, and furry slippers.

Halfway through the gift opening, someone noticed Graham had walked off in those pretty pink shoes and asked Bailey where her brother was.
She thought about it for a split second and nonchalantly said, "Oh, he's on the table."
Five different people raced for the kitchen. 
I personally imagined him sitting in the punch bowl.
He had found the BLT dip instead. And he apparently really enjoyed it.

Bailey requested a flower cake this year - the same one we used for Avery's last birthday. We changed up the colors per her request. We also made another round layer cake with a princess crown design in frosting. I think I shocked Jared with my superb tiara drawing.  ;)

And boy, was that flower cake a thorn in my side.

I had tons of issues with the tip I was using. After struggling through that and essentially slopping the frosting on the sides, I was finally using the pink to outline the petals one last time. I was on the second to last petal when suddenly the tip shoots out of the end of the disposable bag and a HUGE glob of pink frosting lands on and covers most of one white petal. It was so frustrating and summed up my morning so completely that it was comical. Thankfully I fixed it and you couldn't really tell.

This year, blowing out the candles was a highlight, as well as licking the frosting off those candles. 

We all had a wonderful day.

It was special to see the excitement on Bailey's face as she saw her decorations and donned her birthday tiara. 

I enjoyed sitting and chatting with family as the girls tried out Bailey's new Let's Go Fishing game and Graham ran through the streamer-bedazzled doorway over and over again.

It was a sweet day to be a parent, knowing how much fun Bailey was having. And even if she doesn't remember it, I will.

And now that it is over, I am ready for some boring days again! 

her first friends

Bailey has been asking begging for months to have two friends from preschool over to play. I have been putting her off since November. 

Her birthday seemed like a good time to dive into the big-kid world of having friends over.

Obviously Bailey was ecstatic to have Hailey and Jesse over, but Avery was perhaps more excited than even the birthday girl. She spent the entire time trying to get their attention and was constantly copying everything the "big girls" did. Bailey was very sweet and didn't mind Avery tagging along, although I can see that changing in the near future.

Clearly, none of them enjoy dress-up.

All four girls got to top their very own mini pizzas.
I can't even tell you how many times I answered the question  
Can we just try a little?
Avery doesn't typically wait for permission, and this time was no exception. More cheese went into her mouth than on her pizza.

Everyone needed their own princess cup. 
And only pink or purple plates were acceptable.
Duh, Mom.

This birthday girl has always loved dessert.

Hearing all the giggles and seeing the look of pure happiness on Bailey's face as she ran room to room with her little friends in tow made the day (and the excessive volume) all worth it. 
And let's just say I am glad we fed them cupcakes at the end of the day rather than the beginning...

4 years ago

Last night I was getting ready for bed and I happened to glance at the clock. 
10:25
At almost that exact moment four years ago, I was jumping out of bed in surprise, scaring the daylights out of my husband, as my water broke everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

It was the most surreal experience of my life.
What? Now? It's too early! Is this really happening?! 
We weren't expecting to meet our first born for another three weeks.

As with any new parents, we were anxious to lay eyes on our baby. 
Were we having a boy or girl? 
What would he or she look like?  
We were anxious to know if he or she was okay. 
And along with those normal curiosities, we also had other questions, questions pertaining to our baby's cleft diagnosis as well as the fact that my due date was exactly 4 weeks away.

Bailey Marie was born in the wee hours of February 19th and all our questions were answered.
We had a baby girl.
She had big blue eyes and, according to my family, her daddy's forehead.
She was healthy.
She had a cleft palate as well as lip.
She weighed over 7 lbs at 36 weeks - no concerns there!

I didn't get those precious first moments to snuggle her or snap a just-born photo. I got a quick glance as the nurses whisked her away to the NICU. 

And when I finally got to hold her almost 18 hours later, 
I couldn't believe how much I could love a person I had just met.

Or how that love could just keep growing and growing.
But it does.

Happy 4th Birthday, sweet Bailey Boo!

Past birthdays:
Bailey turns 3
Bailey turns 2

pool time

Yesterday afternoon Jared and I loaded up the kids (and Justy) and went to King's Pointe in Storm Lake. I figured a little water park action during the bleakest part of winter might liven things up. Plus Sunday is half-price day. It was under 15 bucks for all five of us to go - can't beat that!

Three adults to three toddlers was a good ratio. 
The girls wore their puddle jumpers and were basically independent with supervision. I can't even begin to count how many times Avery and Bailey went down the kiddie slide. It was definitely their favorite part. They also snuck in a head-first slide every once in a while.
probably just to get the cute, shirtless lifeguard to come talk to them.  ;)

Meanwhile Graham was content to be held. The entire time.
He enjoyed splashing around a little bit, but didn't want to venture anywhere on his own.
Justy got in a lot of Graham snuggles.

I think we were there a grand total of three and a half hours.

And just a random observation: Jared and I couldn't believe how many women were there - with their kids - with like full-on stage make-up on. Like the stuff was caked. False eyelashes and more foundation than I probably use in a month. I thought that was weird. Really, who are you trying to impress at the kids' water park? I digress...

And as expected, all three kids were exhausted.

Some more than others.

(Talkin' about you, Avery Jo.)

And to be honest, Jared and I were too.

And as it seems to happen with parenting, no good deed goes unpunished.

When we arrived home, Avery threw the largest fit in recent memory. 

If it weren't for the fact that the kids all reeked of chlorine and have dry skin to begin with, bath time would have been skipped. Alas, baths were given, clean pajamas put on. 

And as I tucked Graham in to bed and headed for the door I heard it: the sound of vomiting and the smell of grease. (Did I mention we ate out for supper after swimming?)

Today hasn't been much better. 

Avery had to have been put in time-out at least 8 times before 10 AM. 

And Bailey was so tired and cranky, she passed out on the couch at 3:00 this afternoon.

I am hoping everyone sleeps in tomorrow morning and catches up a bit, because I don't want another whine-filled day tomorrow!

(Hey, a mom can dream!...)

mid-week randomness

A random assortment of topics ahead.

This past weekend Jared and I got a last second invite (literally, like 2 hours notice) from my sisters to come with them and my cousin Matt and his girlfriend to a concert. Honestly, I had never even heard of the guy (Keith Anderson), but it turns out I did know two songs. Tickets were $13. (I know, right?) How could I say no?
The concert was at a casino. Bonus.
My dad was our D.D. for the ride home. Bonus.
And my mom watched the kids = free babysitting.  BONUS.

We might have parked and pre-gamed a bit in the conversion van before going inside...
My parents own a sweet 1995 maroon Ford Econoline van. 
Oh the memories!
I hope they still have that big, beautiful beast when my own kids are old enough to drive.  

We proceeded to drink some Captain Morgan that mysteriously made it inside...
Drink mixing in the bathroom always adds a bit of fun to a night.
(I love my family.)

Apparently it was hot in there....

About halfway through the concert, all us girls decided to make our way to the stage.
We proceeded to liven up the party.
(Not hard to do when 3/4 of the crowd is over the age of 50.)

A McDonald's run by our trusty driver Jeff rounded our the night. Nothing like ordering 16 burgers and some fries from one vehicle to confuse the teenagers running the place!

In last week's post I discussed how I was trying out a new brand of fingernail polish: Essie.

I am pleased to report that it is AH-MAZING.

I am finishing out Day 7 right now, and I have zero chips. 

(I used the base and top coat, along with 2 coats of color as directed.)

In fact I am probably going to take it off soon just because I am tired of it - not because it chipped off and looks crappy. 

And that has never happened before.

Yesterday morning when Graham woke up, I started to change him. 

He was wearing a fleece sleeper that is a bit big for him.

I slide the zipper down and find this in the leg of his sleeper:

He slept with a plastic ear of corn in his pant leg.

How comfy!

That started my day off with a good laugh.

And finally (and also FINALLY!),

I bit the bullet and got a smartphone yesterday.

My old piece-o-crap was not even charging anymore.

I went into the store to just browse a few phones for when I did decide to switch, and I had them put my phone on their charger since it was dying. It wouldn't even charge on any of their chargers.

Time to upgrade.

I opted for the Samsung Galaxy s4 mini. 

Jared and my sis Beaner have the s3, but I never have liked how big it is. The mini is designed to compete with the Iphone since it is the same size. I like that it fits in my pocket a little better, but still has all the same features.

And this is the part where I say I am going to try hard not to become one of *those people.* 

Those constant phone-checking, Facebook-scrolling people.

I still think it's really important to be present when you are with people, and for me that means the especially important little people in my house. And maybe Jared too. ;)