Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Super C-U-T-E

I figure it's about time for a post full of random cute pictures of my little Molly. Here ya go!




MR still loves bath time and has recently started kicking a lot during her bath which makes a big, watery mess. Her new favorite part of bath time is most definitely the baby massage she gets while we slather her in baby lotion. She squeals and laughs the whole time.




She is getting better at practicing sitting up in her Bumbo. However, her tolerance of the Bumbo is limited to a 15 minute time span for now.


Just today, MR sat and listened as Grandma Bebe read not 1 but 2 books to her! She studied each and every page and loved to touch them and grab the edges.


Her sweet little hand holding her book.


I sure am a proud mommy.






Sunday, August 7, 2011

Visit to Opryland

During the last weekend in July, we made a trip to the Opryland hotel on Sunday afternoon. My dad was up from Birmingham attending a convention at Opryland so we figured it was a perfect time for him to meet Molly Ruth.


This was the first time we had been to the hotel since the flood and everything looked pretty similar, except that all of the restaurants had changed. We ate at an upscale Mexican place called Solario which was delicious and we were able to get our $18 parking passes validated because we ate there. You read that right- $18 just to park!


Did I mention I love chubby little baby thighs?


Bottle break with daddy.



Dad brought an old silver spoon that was his as a child and gave it to Molly.


We had a nice visit and I am glad that Molly got to meet her only living grandfather.

-J

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Teaching Beauty

Toddlers and Tiaras has got to be one of the most disturbing shows on TV right now, even more so than Hoarders and My Strange Addiction. Initially, I'd stop and watch the show for a few minutes for the bizarre, comedic factor. I mean, we all take some pleasure in watching trainwrecks, right?


But this is more than a trainwreck. It's downright child abuse, in my opinion. After seeing several different episodes and actually listening to the little girls and their delusional, deranged parents, I realized how deeply disfunctional that whole underworld is. And it got me thinking about what little girls are taught to value and how that effects their self esteem.

It's so unhealthy for us to teach our little girls that being a girl is all about beauty and getting what you want. I'm all for playing make believe and dress up as a child, but when little girls are bombarded with sexualized images from the time they are born, there are bound to be dire consequences.

Sure, I want Molly to feel pretty one day when she starts to become self-aware. But more importantly, I want her to feel confident in herself and her abilities. I want her to feel valued for her mind and her sense of humor, not her body and her hairstyle. I want her to know that it's more important to love others and treat people fairly than it is to win. She needs to know that people love her heart and that God created her to be a unique individual- unlike anyone else!

To all you parents out there, I challenge you to make sure you are teaching your impressionable young children that beauty is relative and that there are many ways to be beautiful. I promise to do the same.

I will never, ever let Molly have a Bratz doll. What's that? you ask.


Those monstrosities, my friends, are Bratz dolls. As my late Grandma Ruth would say, they look like streetwalkers.

And don't even get me started on Halloween costumes. When did it become cute to dress your child/pre-teen up in something that could double as an outfit for a stripper?


No ma'am. Absolutely not. My goal is not to tell Molly she can't dress like this, but that she would never even desire to.

I realize that a lot of new parents are probably horrified by "what society has come to" but as God as my witness I will not succumb to what society has deemed normal and acceptable.

And here is a recent shot of my angel who will wear a chastity belt until she's 35:


-J