She loves them!

Already! Phoebe Loves Shoes! Well, not always on her feet, but she does love playing with shoes; the Mister's shoes, my shoes, her shoes, she loves them.

Last week Phoebe got fairly steady on her feet and I decided we needed to go get her some of her own shoes - some white sandals to go with everything- mostly to protect her sweet little feet from the concrete. This turned into a two day event.

The first day we went to a store in DuPont that I thought would have toddler shoes but it turns out they don't carry them anymore. The sales lady was a wealth of knowledge regarding shoes for walkers. After that conversation I realized we are dealing with very impressionable little feet that NEED the 'right' shoes. It was getting close to lunch time so we ended our shopping outing with no shoes.

The next day we trekked out to the 'burbs to a store with the 'right' shoes. This very nice lady greeted Phoebe, the way she was trained to (I am sure), and spent a good bit of time interacting with her to put P at ease. I thought this was good, and I was hopeful that this would be a good experience. We quickly learned that Phoebe is a 3.5 and would probably need a 'W' (wide). The sales lady went to the back and brought out one pair of sandals - I guess it was the only one wide enough? But, for Phoebe's little chunky monkey feet these were not wide enough. The sales lady went in search of the XW (extra wide) sandals. They were all sold out.

We tried a few other scenarios; size 4 W (way too big...which matters a lot when you are first walking), size 3.5 W in a few other shoes (still not wide enough), size 4 XW in a few shoes that run a little small. Nothing worked. And this lady that seemed to be so great with Phoebe didn't really have the communication skills to help me understand why this was becoming such a difficult experience. (Why aren't there any more option in 3.5 XW? What other options do we have? Can I just order them somewhere? Do they only make a few pairs of these assuming no children can walk with such short, fat feet?) At this point I figured I would just go home and order them on-line.


Ha. The Internet laughed in my face! Turns out 3.5 XW is all sold out....everywhere...there isn't even anything on ebay.

What I have gleaned from the Internet is that most toddler walking shoes are size 4 and up. (walking shoes: they have a rubber sole, provide arch support and help develop the arch, lightweight, etc. - distinctly not the soft soled robeez that we have) Another lesson learned is that if you have a child with short, chubby (so cute!) feet, you have to buy the shoes before they are all sold out! How are sandals all sold out by mid (ok almost the end of) June? And all the other stores that sell cute baby shoes are made for babes with skinny feet, so there really aren't many other options until her feet grow, which apparently happens really fast at this age.

Now, we have gone to plan B...well it was plan A but then the first sales lady spilled her fountain of knowledge on me regarding shoes and I changed my shoe priorities...and I ordered our little lady her first pair of crocs. They should be here this week. Again, I think sizing will be an issue...they come in size 3 or size 4-5. I am not sure that either will fit, but they come in a very nice shade of cotton candy. What little girl doesn't want shoes in that color?

The Street

Mr has been on this street about 8 years. I have been hear about 3.5 years. P just 1 year. We have had neighbors come and go. Mr. James is a staple, he might always be here it seems. Mrs. Johnson was here for 40 or 50 years and she left us to be with God recently. Johnny, he will be here forever too. Some people who live on this street do so because the house was handed down through generations. But there are other houses that seem to welcome owner/renter changes.

We have a quiet little street that is only a block and a half long, so we are fairly aware of all that happens here. It is a nice little community.

Last week I looked out the front door and saw this:


I guess we will be saying good-bye and hello soon. The house sold just a few days after it was put on the market.

Phoebe on the Move

Hopefully this works now...enjoy!

A Thing of Beauty

Right now the Mr and I are sitting a few feet away from one another working on separate computers (I get the cool one) on completely different types of 'work'. This exclamation of Beauty just showed up in my inbox sent from his computer:

=(((1+(L34/100))/((1+(J34/100))^0.5))^2-1)*100

Yup, that is my Mr! The things that he finds beautiful are sometimes really confusing to me.

What are you looking at?

Today as P and I were outside the Metro, outside the ATF building, outside the new Courtyard Marriott, right next to people having lunch at Au Bon Pain, we witnessed something that was a little disturbing.

A young pregnant woman seemed to be walking away from a man that she had some sort of relationship with and he was yelling at her, pulling her back by the shoulder strap of her purse. In the time I first noticed them to the time we got right next to them the pushing and pulling had gotten worse and was turning into a serious physical abuse situation. I stopped and watched, thinking he might stop if he knew I was watching...clearly not. And, I wasn't the only one watching. I looked around and saw a few others watching as intently as I was. I mentioned to a guy sitting having lunch, who looked like he could take care of the situation, that maybe something should be done. He agreed and continued to eat his lunch.

At this point I realized no one was going to do anything...they were just going to watch. There are normally security guards standing around at the ATF building, maybe one of them could do something? But there were none in sight.

Everyone just kept watching and the situation was getting some energy.

Finally, I said, "Ma'am, do you need some help?"

I think this made things worse for her, but whatever. I pulled out my phone and asked her again if she needed some help and assured her that if she wanted this to end I could help. I started dialing the 9...not really sure if this was what should be done. Finally, a manager came out of the hotel (a rather large manager) and broke things up. I darted to the Metro and so did the lady. She said thank you and we went on our way.

I just keep asking myself, what were all those people looking at? Do they think it is ok for a man to treat a young pregnant lady that way? It really got to me! I am proud that I said something, but I am so sad that I had to say something; that no one taught these two young people how to deal with frustration other than physical and verbal abuse. And I am so sad for the people around them who didn't feel like it was their responsibility to step in.

I don't know what was going on with that interaction, but the reality of that moment was that this man was treating this woman in a way that is not respectful of life.

Photographer

We got Phoebe a new camera for her birthday (we wanted an excuse to buy a new camera). She (we) have been loving it...now we at least stand a chance at catching that photo we really want before Phoebe moves...it really is for her- you see!

The Mister has been trying his hand at 'photography'. We both have a lot to learn, but I thought you all might appreciate the art and composition of some of his still life work.

Cat in the Hat in the Hat

On Top of the World

Time Flies

We are having a lot of fun around here at 207. Phoebe did in fact just turn 1, and we had two full weekends of celebration...we believe strongly in the full week birthday here, sometimes it even goes for a full month. We are just starting her in on the idea from birthday 1.

Since there haven't been many posts lately, I thought I would just break the fast with a little update list...it is hard to get back into posting after taking a vacation because I don't know where to begin...so here goes...

Phoebe Updates:

• walking: almost, sorta, kinda...she stands for multiple minutes and takes up to 4/5 steps at a time but crawling is still the preferred method of travel
• milk: she has made the switch to cow's milk- she likes it in a bottle so at some point we will have to switch to sippy cups.
• toys: she LOVES all her new toys that she got for living one full year- Favorites are her doll and her Dora car/push toy. And Elmo is still probably the most favorite.
• books: Counting Kisses by Karen Katz and Polar Bear What Do You Hear by Eric Carle
• teeth: 6 and more on the way
  
• stats: 20 lbs. 28.25 in.
• playgroups: 2- yes we just got invited to join a 'closed' playgroup today...mostly because of Phoebe's cuteness factor- and that she doesn't pull hair!

Mrs. update

• I started doing a bible study with a friend- which fits into one of my new year resolutions...to connect in new ways with my girlfriends.
• I am helping read applications for a new pastor at our church and help guiding the process of hiring (we don't really have a process so we are figuring it out as we go)
• Our church's moms group is hiring a babysitter every other week to have some time of prayer together that I am hosting at our house.
• i am reading a book called "A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul" which I am really excited about.

Mr. update

• He should probably be writing this but I will take a stab.
• Home Improvement: always a project...always hard at work...we hired a some handy men to do a few project around the house because we can't get to everything
  
• Work: things are going well and he continues to thrive at work
• Friends: constantly counseling friends in difficult and life changing decisions- he is good at this!
  

And we continue to come to grips with our finiteness...we can't do it all...but we are trying to have fun as we do life together.