Zoobnaya Pasta (Toothy Paste)

I grew up with a mixed childhood. My teeth were brushed with practically anything. When I lived with my mom I could sometimes saunter into the bathroom for a Melaluca tooth brushing experience. Then, BEHOLD, the Mentadent pump came into our bathroom scene. Once my mom discovered Mentadent in our bathroom it was practically love. There were times though. Oh there were times. When, upon the unfortunate discovery that our pump was empty, my teeth had the experience of brushing with Baking Soda and rinsing with hydrogen peroxide.

When I moved to Blackfoot I had a whole new world opened up to me: COLGATE. Oh, I remember my first time brushing with Colgate. It was a great feeling. That was it for me. My toothpaste LOVE. I realized I was a Colgate girl. Sometimes I would wake to a brand new tube of Crest and I cringed at the thought of brushing with that until it was gone.

When I moved to college I was strict in my Colgate love affair. There was never a day that I would dare brush with anything else. Thus my life has been until now.

What's happening now, you ask? Well...it's called a RECESSION. And Colgate is more expensive. At our local Sam's Club we compared prices and we simply had to save the 15 cents per tube that Crest would save us. So, reluctantly I bought crest. And my first tooth brushing was...well it was sad. I didn't want to like anything about my new toothpaste. I didn't want to enjoy my clean teeth feeling. I didn't want to like it at all. The next morning I woke, brushed my teeth and I still didn't want to have anything to do with liking what was happening in my mouth, but I did. I liked it.

"Hey, TJ. This Crest is SPICY!!!" (That is a good thing if you are wondering). I called out as I licked my smooth, clean teeth.

So, slowly, faster than I had expected, but still slowly, I have begun to enjoy brushing with something other than my beloved Colgate.

I've always been a Colgate girl, even before I was, I knew I would be one. But now it's all changing. So, what does that mean? Am I a Crest girl? Or am I simply a poor Colgate girl? Or...am I a Crest-gate girl?

What are you?

You won't regret...

...taking a moment from your day to watch this.

TJ's "beautiful" sweater

But first, here is a picture of me at 30 weeks pregnant. (Which is this week in case you were counting or wondering)


And second, a picture of Sophie in her Christmas dress.


And finally, what you all have been waiting for, a picture of TJ in the most beautiful sweater EVER. No, seriously, I LOVE this sweater SO MUCH! I just even LOVE seeing in in our closet. There's not a thing about this sweater that I don't love. Don't you love it too?

Donita Quixote

Yes, yes, it is true. Sophie still has her Binki. We try to keep it limited to naps and night time only, but we also drag it out when we are headed somewhere that she could cause a ruckus. But, with baby #2 getting closer and closer I have been debating with myself for quite sometime: Do I take it away before or after the baby comes?

She often throws her binki's out of her crib throughout the night and ends up without them anyway so today I tried an experiment. I decided to not go in and save the binki's and return them to her during her nap time. It took her an hour and a half of talking, playing with her socks, and an occasional shout out to finally fall asleep. Then I also (as of 5 minutes ago) tried putting her to bed without her binki.

Have I started a monster? Will she want a binki when our other baby has his? Or, will three months without it be enough and she'll never look back? Am I doing the right thing to try to get her off now? Or should I wait until she's two?