Musings on Mommy-dom

So, about 4 months ago, Miss Isabell tagged me with this, and I'm just now getting 'round to doing it:
Instructions:"Just write a post of your own 5 things that you love about being a mom and find someone to link to and tag - someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country."

So here we go! Five things I love about being a mom. This list could probably alternately be titled "Five Things I Love About Isobel," since my experience of being a mom is tied up so closely with her and who she is.

1. Getting to share with Isobel things that I loved as a kid, and seeing her reaction to those things. She makes old things new again. A recent example:

The first time through, she wasn't too thrilled about Dumbo, but now she loves him and we talk about him a lot. This is the conversation we have at least once a day:
I: Dumbo! Everybody tease Dumbo.
C: Oh, yeah, everybody teased Dumbo.
I: Ears!
C: Yep, they teased him about his ears. Poor Dumbo.
I: Big Ears!

2. Deciphering Isobelspeak. Here are some of my favorites:
"Teeters" (Her name for Harris Teeter, the grocery store we've been going to.)
"Monkey George" (Curious George)
"Moonie" (Movie)
I know it's wrong in the teaching-the-kid-to-speak-properly sense, but I just can't resist using these words and phrases that she comes up with.

3. The sound of Isobel's voice, whether singing, laughing, or talking. I should really get a video of Brooke making her laugh, but in the meantime here's one that includes some singing:

(In case you can't tell, she's reenacting the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.)

4. The attention she gets from strangers. I know this is shallow, but I've always LOVED hearing how cute Isobel is from random people we meet. It helps that I know she loves the attention. It just makes me feel so good to know that people who have no reason to say it make a point of complimenting her (and, vicariously, me).

5. Valuing my own life more than ever. I can't imagine not being with Isobel, and the idea of her growing up without ME as her mom is heartbreaking. So I have more reason to live, and live a good life, than I did before she was born.

So! I hereby tag: Tracy as my out-of-country pick, and also Krista and Nicole.

Greensboro Apartment Tour

Greetings, one and all. Witness our apartment in HD (horrendous defiance) and tell all your friends so that THE WHOLD FRIGGIN' WORLD CAN SEE WHERE WE LIVE.

PREGGERS!

While in the Salt Lake City Isobel screamed "Gimme a photo shoot pronto or I will make this trip a living hell!" every 35 seconds until we capitulated. She describes this piece as "my pensive look that Barack Obama has when he's trying to look into the future."

Photo by Little Dream Photography

Despite leaving Colorado with naught but bitter resentment and sworn revenge in our hearts we managed to fit in this family photo between fits of choking on our own rage.

My new home for classes for the next long while.

Greetings from the site of a terrible terrible foodfight...er..battle. Twas between the good guys (Union) and bad guys (Confederate slave-loving jerks). The good guys won, btw. This is a tower from which the Union troops bungee-jumped in celebration immediately following their victory.

Where there is a need: Target provides. This pool may be filled with water, but Isobel's heart is filled with the spirit of good cheer and sorority with her fellow water creatures. Any change donated to "Little Isobel Einstein's Wiggly Curious George Pool Fund" will be promptly thrown to bottom with the exclamation: "Nummy!" (that's Isobelspeak for "money!")

I picked that shirt out, ladies. I still got it.