Ask 'em My Questions And Get Some Answers...

Since I have gotten the gift of watching The Little Mermaid more in the last two weeks than maybe I have ever watched it for the entire 25 years since it was originally released, I decided to write about a few little nuances I never noticed before. I'm wondering if anyone else has ever noticed!!

Ariel has this amazing voice, right? She sings 1 song. ONE. I don't really count the reprise of Part of Your World because it is basically the same song. Don't get me wrong, that one song is incredible, but I had never really noticed it was only one.

Right after Ariel sings part of your world and just as she notices the ship passing over her cavern Sebastian tries to talk her out of her nonsense of loving the world of humans and he says "come with me, I will fix you a nice warm cup of...(he then gets cut off)" Warm??? Warm cup of what? And how is Sebastian going to get something warmed up when you are in deep ocean water?

Speaking of Sebastian - I don't think there are any crabs whose heads are actually outside of their shells. I did a quick google image search and I just don't see any real life crabs that have the anatomy of Sebastian.

Max the dog puzzles me. Why do all the other animals talk, but Max the dog cannot talk? Poor dog.

I'm a little annoyed that Grimsby doesn't seem frantically worried that Eric might have died in the shipwreck (where Ariel saves him). He seems like he was walking the beach absolutely expecting to find a surviving Eric. I feel he should have been much more concerned.

During the song Kiss the Girl, I actually think they might kiss. Every. Single. Time. My brain knows that they don't, but my heart seriously thinks that maybe this time Eric will man up and go for it.

And in the end, no matter how many times I watch it, I will get choked up at the end. I've noticed a few weird bits about it, but for the most part I still love this movie - it is definitely in a tying position for my favorite 3 disney movies of all time. Which coincidentally are also Noelle's at the moment. Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Frozen. She has impeccable taste.

And "Part of Your World" update...

Noelle now tries to rein-act Ariel as she is singing it ("flipping" around, lying in the sand, arm movements, etc)

She says "feet" with Ariel...she says "sure" in the "Sure, she's got everything" part. And she also sings "burn" with Ariel when she wonders what a fire is.

And if Noelle is upset in the car but I don't have the song with me, I can just sing it from memory and she is satisfied. Therefore, I AM the Little Mermaid :)

Part of Your World

I HAD to blog post about this today. I have been chuckling to myself since these things happened, and telling Josh and my mom just isn't enough!!

So I was wanting to get a couple more CD's in my car. I was tired of the radio and connecting my phone to the auxiliary connect just felt like too much work. So I whipped out the old cd cases to see what I could put into my car. I haven't bought new cd's in ages (thanks iTunes) - but I discovered many of my old "mix" cd's that I would make. I hated writing out all the songs on the cd's so I would just say "May Mix 2003" or "February Mix 2007."

This afternoon during an errand I took "May Mix 2010 - Fun CD" and put it into the player. Fun CD sounded promising. I was enjoying the randomness of whatever I felt like listening to back in May 2010 and then track 7 came on. And Noelle got really excited. If you read the title, I bet you have guessed what it is!

Yes.

Part of Your World - courtesy of the one and only Ariel.

Well that came on and Noelle got a big smile and said "Ariel! Ariel!" She then zoned out and enjoyed the rest of the song...I imagine she was thinking about the movie and replaying it in her mind...well, that's what I used to do in the car when listening to the Little Mermaid soundtrack.

Right after the full version of Part of Your World came the Reprise of Part of Your World. We enjoyed both. And then Michael Buble's Save the Last Dance came on, and Noelle did not want to be a part of his world - ya know what I mean?

So back to Part of Your World we went...and again....and again...and again...

Here's video proof...pardon the two different video angles:

Then we got home that evening. And she started playing with her Disney Princess little people castle.

And this happened:

I'm dying of cuteness over here!! I think this would officially make it the first song that Noelle has really really tried to sing. GAH! I'm in love :)

Now, I am thrilled about all of this. I love the Little Mermaid and it was totally my dream that Noelle would love it too. It's a little bit of a careful what you wish for moment...because now I can't listen to anything else in my car. At least I love it too and I sing along with everything I've got!

In the words of Ariel..."I don't know when, I don't know how...but I know something's starting right now...."

What fun new things happen every day during the 2's!!

A Day with Two (and a bit with 3!)

The first week of June I got the privilege of watching little Charlie Gotcher for a day. Charissa's mom was on vacation and she needed some help while she was at work. Charissa has helped me SO many times with Noelle and I was so excited that my schedule worked out that I could have little Charlie for a day.

Charlie was born in January of this year, and he is just the sweetest and most easy going baby I have been around. That is even counting Noelle (don't get me wrong, Noelle is the most amazing kid, but she wasn't the easiest baby in the whole world - really really really great - but not nearly as laid back as Charlie boy).

It was really fun to experience a day with two. It could have been that Charlie is just so awesome, but it almost felt like 2 wasn't much more work than having just the one!

Noelle was great too - she actually seemed more independent than a normal day, and she wasn't jealous at all. She WAS very concerned about how the baby was doing. She was obsessed with all the buckles on his car seat and bouncy chair.

Charlie had a great morning nap and we had lots of fun playing and eating lunch after that. Then I decided we should make a quick trip to the park. I put on my ergo baby carrier and Charlie was happy as a lark. By the end of our park trip he was already starting to doze off again.

During his second nap and Noelle's first nap I managed to get an hour of work done...then Lillie came to play for a little bit & shortly after that everyone woke up. She and Noelle just love to hang out together. Lillie loves all the different toys and Noelle loves watching how Lillie plays with them and joins in.

Lillie was very excited to see Charlie - way more excited than Noelle had been. But what was funny was that Lillie was a little jealous of my attention to Charlie later on. She didn't want to share my lap at one point and was highly annoyed that I was holding them both at the same time. Noelle meanwhile just did her own thing with her toys during the whole interaction. I felt very loved that Lillie was jealous of my attention to Charlie!

Now obviously It would be physically impossible for me to have birthed Noelle, Lillie, and Charlie on my own...but even so - I am pretty sure I don't want 3 kids. 2 is just enough to have hands for both :)

But it was very fun with 3 of them for a window of time. I had them all watching Frozen at one point, which was awesome.

Around 4:30 Charlie went home and shortly after that so did Lillie. Noelle and I had a quiet evening and I think we all slept well that night.

Here's some fun photos from the day's events!

Noelle was glad to see charlie, but couldn't wait to play with his buckles

Charlie immediately just made himself at home and chilled in his chair!

Then Noelle wanted to examine the buckles on the chair

More buckle examination

Noelle shared Nemo with Charlie. Everyone loves Nemo!

I haven't fed too many babies bottles since I breastfed Noelle!

Noelle loved joining Charlie during tummy time!

She also shared three-legged squirt with Charlie. They had a chat.

Off to the park!

And on the way home I had a snoozer in the ergo!

Lille was excited to play with Charlie!

She also loved watching Frozen, and wanted to show me her Nilla wafers snack.

Whenever Lillie comes over they play in the toybox/ottoman :)

       

2 Year & Family Photo Shoot

I haven't gotten to post the awesome pictures that Gary took for us in honor of Noelle's 2nd birthday. She was not easy to photograph at this age, but you can't tell because G is so talented!! (www.garywatkinsphotography.com)

I am so glad we took these though, as Noelle changes so quickly, and honestly we are too lazy to break out the fancy camera all the time. We end up just using our iphones for most of the year, and MAYBE 3 times a year we break out the big guns. I did it much more when Noelle was small and was changing SUPER fast, but now...meh.

So I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we do. I'll try to do my usual photo commentary in the captions for extra tid-bits of what was happening in some of the photos.

She cracks me up. She was loving her new ballerina slippers from CC - and she is just obsessed with shoes lately. First thing in the morning after I get her out of the crib...Shoes?

She was probably playing on the iPad and G managed to make a noise to get her attention.

Clearly saying something, but so very cute at it!

She loves when Josh is silly with her, and just giggles her head off

This was when Josh was playing with the blower while G was taking photos. She made it into a very cute game.

Tousled blown hair look :)

These photos in the weird vine/tree are amazing...and you can see here in the bottom left corner my head. That is because I am totally holding her up in these photos. It was uncomfortable but she thought it was hilarious and therefore we got amazing photos!

Being in a tree is very fun.

Looking so grown up here!

This one looks a little mischievous!

We got these photos so quickly b/c she was starting to get antsy - but thanks to Dada making her laugh they came out fantastically!

Ugh. Love her.

When she is in the right mood, she will give you kisses OVER and OVER again!

We got to capture her just running around. She is very into shadows lately and on occasion will give her shadow a high five!

That face.

She loves to pretend she is thinking about something....

And then pretend that she thought of it and is excited! So cute! Josh taught her that game.

We managed to get a good family shot - G was so good at getting it quickly, because Noelle did not want to sit for long!

Our other family shot, after we looked for Nemo in the pond.

Noelle refused to take another family shot, so Josh and I decided to pose without her. So glad we got this one :)

Then G got this one...I love the lighting. It's my glamour shot, lol.

After our photo shoot we went to a Vietnamese restaurant and G took a few more photos while we waited for our food. The table had an awesome reflection and Noelle was full on posing for the camera sometimes.

She's just the best. I'm telling you...I am not biased!

She looks really grown up in this one...before I know it she is going to be 18.

Blog Re-vamp!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to "Really Deep Waters" - still me, just a new title and a new look thanks to the very talented and helpful Josh Watkins - www.joshwatkins.com

I changed the title because basically, I can't have a blog all about Noelle for the rest of my life. It would get really weird when she is 15, or if she were to get a sibling...they might feel terribly unloved because Mama's blog was only named after Noelle (no, I'm not pregnant). So, just did a switch up to make it more usable for the long haul.

And I will take this opportunity to explain to you the idea behind "Really Deep Waters" - so exciting, right?!?

One of my favorite chapters in the bible is Isaiah 43. I return to it time and time again...when I need courage, when I need hope, when everything feels difficult, when I need to remember just how much I am loved. It is a constant reminder to me that the bible is living and active - that there is always something new to find in His word. So if you haven't fallen in love with Isaiah 43 yet, I invite you to "dive in" and enjoy it for yourself.

The particular part that  this blog is inspired by is Isaiah 43:1b-2a:

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown."

No matter what you are going through, Jesus promises to be with you. He's more faithful than we could ever imagine.

The other side of it is that I love mermaids...and mermaids live in the water. I've loved mermaids as long as I can remember, and they just make me feel happy, young, and just a little big magical. As I get older I am remembering more and more of the things that I love and that make me uniquely me. It is so fun to get more and more comfortable in your own skin. I think it is a glorious plus of being in your 30's.

I found this image on pinterest and it is actually some type of print on Etsy, but I saw it and went...YUP, TRUTH.

courtesy of - https://www.etsy.com/shop/blackandtypeshop

So I hope you enjoy the re-vamp. And this doesn't mean I am going to blog ridiculously more, but I'm going to keep up with it just a little bit more. #1 - because I LOVE having something to catalog all the cool stuff that happens along the way (especially with the little nugget) and #2 - because it is a creative outlet for me, which always spurs on the rest of everything else I do.

Let's go find some deep water!

The 2 Year Checkup (Or Death Trap)

So today we went for Noelle's 2 year check up. I didn't think much of it because I didn't think we had any shots coming, and we'd been to the doctor plenty and it has never been a big deal. The last time we went to the doctor was in February when she had pink eye, and it wasn't a huge deal. It wasn't awesome, but nothing traumatic.

Something has happened though. Noelle has developed a deep fear of the doctor. All was fine when we walked in, and she thoroughly enjoyed the fish in the waiting area.  But the minute she had to step on that scale all hell broke loose. She immediately started crying, and I don't think she stopped until we left an hour later.

Here's a run down of what we did and my interpretation of how Noelle reacted....
Getting weighed - HOW COULD YOU ASK ME TO STAND ON THIS SCALE??!!!!
Getting height measured - WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION??!!
Getting head measured - IS THIS SO YOU CAN STEAL MY BRAIN?!?!
Getting eyes checked - THIS MACHINE IS GOING TO STEAL MY SOUL!!!!
Getting ears checked - THE PAIN - YOU'RE PIERCING MY EAR DRUM!!!!
Getting mouth checked - I WILL DIE IF I HAVE TO OPEN MY MOUTH WIDE!!!!!
Reflexes/joints checked - YOU HAVE BROKEN MY LEGS, I KNOW IT, EVEN THOUGH I CAN STILL KICK YOU WITH THEM!!!
Glands checked - Actually, I think the doctor decided to give up on that because Noelle was acting a bit like a possessed demon child.

Please notice, how nothing painful happened during that little run down. But Noelle kept asking, ALL DONE?! ALL DONE?! 

She had held on to me so tight, and I had to restrain her for all of those things to even happen...she was clawing at me trying to escape from our doctor (who is quite possibly the sweetest doctor you could EVER have, I love her...)

THEN the Nurse came in. And we had to get a toe prick to check blood and the last of her Hep A shots.

Let me just say, to hold her leg still to get a prick on her toe was FAR MORE painful to Noelle then when her toe actually pricked. In fact, I think she even calmed down as she got pricked and was just more upset that we were restraining her. The poor nurse was doing everything she could to get a band aid on that foot afterward, and Noelle thought that maybe getting a band aid on your foot meant that she might never walk again.

Then the shot...she was once again, terribly upset at being restrained...crying her head off for sure. But then when she actually GOT the shot, she looked so surprised and just started shouting "OW! OW! OW!!!" It was almost as if she was surprised something had actually caused her pain, because honestly up until that point, nothing actually caused her pain...she was just TERRIFIED.

So, my doctor let me know that 2 year old check ups are the absolute worst. She said next year will be much better. HO-LY COW. I also apologized for my insane child, who I promised was normally the most delightful little girl.

I had told Josh about the appointment and said you can come if you want, but no big deal, don't rearrange your whole schedule for it. Well...I called him afterward and let him know that I am never EVER going to a 2 year old check up appointment alone as a parent. Yikes. Lesson learned.

On a bright note, Noelle is growing just great. At 28 pounds she is in the 67 percentile of weight, and she is 34 inches tall and at the 56 percentile of height...and that little noggin' - well it is still in the 95 percentile! The doctor even said that if she had to guess what height she would end up as an adult it would be 5'4" - which is just an inch taller than me.

I would have snapped a few pics of the trauma so you could see what I was talking about here, but given my description of the events, I think you can see that an extra hand to snap a photo was completely unavailable.  

I think tomorrow will be much better.